When we reach a certain stage of life we are confronted with the reality – and question – of how we have lived that life. Did I care passionately about something? Did I care about my own unique contribution to life and if not, what DID I care about? How has my life mattered in the grand scheme of things? These and other questions have occurred to me since I first sat down to write “Healthy Aging & You” just before my 60th birthday in 2006. I have noticed as the years have passed since that moment that I have become acutely aware of the power of my thoughts, words and choices.

I feel liberated now from my past and not concerned about the uncertainty of the future because I am now part of the “flow of life” – living in the present. As I have become inspired to write again, I am feeling blessed to be able share with you the lessons I have learned along the way that enabled and empowered me to find my own voice and arrive at a place I call CLARITY. Being clear on WHO you are, what you BELIEVE to be true, and WHY you are here makes life seem so simple – and yet exhilarating – and surprising. I feel alive and hopeful and grateful each morning when I wake up. With this idea in mind I enter each new day with a passion I cannot diminish in any way.

What can you expect from today? How will you BE in life today? How will you respond to the challenges that come your way? Finally, what choices will you make today that WILL influence your tomorrow? I will share three key ideas with you that will help you answer these and other important questions that most certainly will arise as you “grow older – and not old”.

Thoughts

In my spiritual philosophy one of the principles we learn is that “thoughts are things” – meaning they are REAL – and from them springs forth our reality in form. Each of us is the vehicle through which our reality forms based upon our thought patterns and biases. What we entertain mentally has a profound effect upon how our lives unfold. Thoughts are creative. They form the foundation of our contribution to life itself.

The thought that I needed to write again occurred to me when I became aware of the ideas I was thinking about this past week. The article on learning to value oneself was the first one that had been present in my consciousness. Today my focus is on helping you “find your voice” and so this article is now “front and center” in implementing my new choices. I respond to these – and other thoughts – the same way as I have over the past decade – by taking specific ACTION – with purpose.

Since writing is a part of what I consider to be one of my natural gifts, I will express these ideas in written form today – and as a speaker at a later time. My purpose is to help “change one thing in one person’s life today” as I have alluded to on my new website (healthyhappyfit.com). This process repeats itself quite easily for me now because I have become “responsive” to life’s urgings within me and I no longer question the process. I just DECIDE and follow my thought patterns to my next step and then wait patiently for my next thoughts to emerge. This is HOW life unfolds if we allow it to BE in our lives.

Question: When do you schedule time to “listen to your thoughts” and let them find expression in form in your life? Something to consider.

WORDS

Words are the form our thoughts – and subsequent ideas – take when we allow them to move forward in our consciousness. Consciousness is nothing more than a “state of awareness” and without coming to a place of awareness we cannot grow from where we ARE to where we want to BE. I am very careful to choose words that are hopeful, loving  and filled with a sense of gratitude for when we are grateful for what we have – more of the good of life can be added to our experience.

I want more in my life of all that is good – and that I finally know I deserve.  Some of this good is recognizable to all of us and includes inner peace, prosperity, abundance, friendship, health (both inner and outer), harmony – and many others too numerous to mention here. You get the idea! I no longer want to “fight” for I want in my life because fighting implies opposition to something and I am no longer in opposition to anything. I have decided to “reach out by reaching within myself” and let my gifts do my work for me.

If your words DO indeed have power within them then CHOOSE them wisely. As Thumper’s mom said to him (Bambi) “if you got nothing nice to say then don’t say nothing at all”! That sentiment seems to work fine for me so remember your words are the vehicle through which your thoughts become “real” so choose them wisely and you WILL rewarded in kind. Your life will have become so much more meaningful and fulfilling just by simply letting your thoughts be heard in the kindest and most loving way. “Getting” becomes “giving” and this is where life expands to “meet the thinker”!

CHOICES

Making choices represents the REAL power of living life ON PURPOSE. It is in making choices – from the simple ones to the complex ones – that we set in motion the outcomes we will experience in the future. Being “in the present” means NOT staring at your phone 24/7 or not “looking up” to acknowledge another human being with a smile – and a greeting. I see this everyday in my life and it is MOST disturbing to me. Technology “runs” our lives and we have become oblivious to our surroundings – or the people that inhabit them. We CANNOT succeed in life if there is no longer a present because we are living in the past – or preparing for a future that has not yet come.

Choices reflect our priorities – or lack of same. I never want to NOT think about my choices because I know they establish my path forward. Writing and speaking come naturally to me and I want to “embody” my choices because I want them to represent me in the BEST possible way. I am always going to choose that which will enable me to be “the best example of the change I wish to see in the world”. How about you? What is your best look like to you? THINK about WHO you ARE today and ask yourself: Am I choosing wisely and if now why not? You WILL BE rewarded in kind for your “thoughtfulness”!

IN CONCLUSION

Our thoughts, words and choices reflect WHO WE ARE today. Are they helping us or hindering our progress? Finding “our voice” means that we know WHO we are and WHY we are here. Let your thoughts speak volumes FOR you through the words you choose and the choices you make. Let the world “see” the REAL you and know within yourself that you not only CAN but ARE making a difference by your very presence in the world. Leave your regrets behind and never have to live with guilt again. Be free to live the life you always dreamed of living and START TODAY! Don’t wait for tomorrow for we may not get tomorrow. Believe in your power and express it with love, authority and clarity! You will be amazed at what happens next! Travel well.

Reprinted with permission from Nicholas Prukop.

Nicholas Prukop is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer & a Health Coach, a fitness professional with over 25 years of experience whose passion for health and fitness comes from his boyhood in Hawaii where he grew up a swimmer on Maui. He found his calling in writing his first book “Healthy Aging & You: Your Journey to Becoming Happy, Healthy & Fit” and since then he has dedicated himself to empowering, inspiring and enabling people of all ages to reach for the best that is within them and become who they are meant to be – happy, healthy and fit – and be a part of a world where each person can contribute their own unique gifts to life.

If you need help in designing a fitness plan, you can contact Nicholas Prukop via email at runningnick@sbcglobal.net or read his inspiring book Healthy Aging & YOU.