Have you thought that as we go through life we are very often living two lives at the same time?

The one life is the life we presently have along with all its rewards and challenges, its hopes and desires and its fears and concerns. This is the life we presently have.

The other life is the life we say we want. It is the life we aspire to each and every time we set out to make some change in our status quo.

This is the life where we want to weigh less or the one where we want more money or the one where we wish to forever unshackle ourselves from a long-term habit.

This is the life we often take to bed each night while hoping to wake up with the life we want.

It’s as if we are in a battle for our life. This is not a life or death battle, it is a life or life battle – the life we have versus the life we want.

And only one can win.

What is so thought-provoking is how we may outwardly speak of striving towards the life we want we are, on the inside, making decisions and fighting hard to retain the life we have.

It has long been said that actions speak louder than words and it’s interesting to note that while we tend to judge others by their actions, we judge ourselves by our intentions and in so doing, we frequently hang on really tightly to the life we have while affirming to ourselves our intention to create the life we want.

Think of it this way.

We live in a Push/Pull world. It is always perfectly balanced and each time we push something in one direction we are pulling something else an equal distance in the opposite direction.

For example, if the life we want is a life with less poundage – we are trying to lose weight – the Push/Pull effect comes into play each and every time we put food or liquid into our mouths.

That remarkable gift we each received at birth – the incredible power of choice – allows us to select each and every behaviour or action we take. But along with our ability to choose each behaviour, there is a second choice which comes into play each time. It is the consequence of that behaviour and it is what creates the Push/Pull effect on the life we want versus the life we have.

Every time you choose to eat something the consequence of that choice will be to either push the life you want away from yourself while simultaneously pulling the life you have closer back into yourself or you will be pushing the life you presently have further away from yourself while pulling closer the life you want.

This notion of Push/Pull repeats itself in almost every action or behaviour we undertake.

An extremely powerful question to ask ourselves each and every time we are about to choose a behaviour that relates directly to the life we have versus the life we want is this: “By eating this chocolate cake – even though it’s only a tiny little sliver and I’m only going to have the teeniest little piece – will I be pulling the life I no longer want to closer to me and pushing the one I truly desire further away or will I be pulling the life I want closer and the life I no longer want further away?”

One could indeed make an argument for our lives always being in perfect balance because we choose by our behaviours to constantly move closer towards, or further away from, what we have and what we want.

My own personal experiences and those of many of my clientele have repeatedly reminded me that in the long term the feelings we get from pulling closer the lives we want and pushing away the lives we are trying to replace far outweigh the momentary pleasures we experience when we reverse this practice.

It is not possible to push and pull the same thing as the same time.

Till we read again.