 Welcome to Dare to Dream. This is Debbie Daschinger, your host. I've been doing this for 14 years, and thank you to those of you who have been following the show for low that many years, as well as those who are fairly new. I just want you to know I read all your comments, and I do get back to you. I appreciate so much the feedback and that you're on the journey with us. This show has been nominated for several awards, including People's Choice Podcast Awards, Webby Awards, and we were just featured in Welp Magazine. It was a great surprise to me as one of the best podcasts that you can listen to in 2021. So thank you to Welp Magazine for recognizing us. And the show is sponsored by Dr. Dane Here and Access Consciousness. They do beautiful energy work out into the world, anywhere in the world. So if you're ready for a class or to become a facilitator or a program, check them out, Dr. DaneHere, h-e-e-r.com, as well as accessconsciousness.com. Today's going to be a great show, like all others, and I'm always anxious for the conversation because this episode is about using ancient wisdom for a modern world, very apropos for today. And I'm Debbie Daschinger. I teach entrepreneurs, and speakers, and coaches, and business people with time-effective steps to write a highly engaging book. Here's what's terrific. Right now, we have a few openings in my book writing membership. So if you have a book inside of you but don't know how to get it out and don't know how to write a page turn or something you feel very proud about and know how to do start to finish to publish, then join us. A few spots are open, best news ever, because my students, my authors, have finished their book and they're publishing. So if you want those spots, it's only $197. The price is going up next week. Go to Debbie Daschinger.com slash visible visionaries. That's one word, visible visionaries. And again, it's d-e-b-b-i-d-a-c-h-i-n-g-e-r.com slash visible visionaries. Today I've got Jim Phillips here. He's a life strategist speaker and America's leading authority on living in full expression. And his acronym for that is life. Jim has been engaged in the business world for over 40 years, offering strategy sessions, coaching, writing, and more than 20 international business conference presentations. Jim is a best-selling author with three books to his credit, including the one we'll be talking about today, The Key to Life, Living in Full Expression. Jim is a featured expert in becoming the keys alongside other transformational notables. And Jim believes this is the greatest time in history of humanity, where there is a need to understand who we are and why we are here. He delivers this message through personal experience and a seven keys to life mastery program. Jim's work has been featured on CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, and hundreds of nationally syndicated TV, newspaper, and magazine outlets, including Thrive Global, Bodhi Tree Magazine, Whole Living Magazine, 1111 Magazine, and Inspire Me Today. If you'd like to learn more about Jim Phillips, learn more at livinginfullexpression.com. And with that, I welcome Jim Phillips to the Dear to Dream show. It is so great to have you. How are you? It's my pleasure to be here. Awesome. I'm so grateful to have this opportunity to get to know you because you and I have danced around the same circles, we've been part of some of the same Facebook groups. And I've noticed you, you've noticed me, and here we finally are. So meant to be. And I know that your jam, if you will, out into the world is that you want people to know, you want, and I love this word, you want them to know they're relevant. That feels so powerful. You want them to know they're relevant. You want them to know they have a purpose. So if that's truth for you, that we each have a purpose, how can we get to the truth of our relevancy and our life purpose? How do we unearth that? Well, I think one of the important things to understand is that, and I get asked the question all the time about whether or not someone is relevant and what their purpose is. And the answer to that is simple. And the answer is, you wouldn't be here if you weren't relevant. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have something to share, something to do, if you didn't have something to allow to express through you and as you. So then to get to your question about how do we unearth, how do we allow that through us? First and foremost, we have to want it to, we have to have that intention of wanting whatever that is within each one of us that has a desire to be expressed through us and as us to come out. And then we have to be intentional about discovering what that is for ourselves. And that is really looking at what's important to us, looking at what we're good at, what we're passionate about. I mean, all of those things are a part of it. And we've given signs all along the way about what that is. And I think one of the keys to all this is, and this actually is one of my seven keys to life mastery. And that's awareness. And that's just paying attention to what shows up, paying attention to those opportunities that were given to do something that we have a strong desire to do. I love that. I really love that paying attention. You know, I've always called it the energy that presents. And honestly, it's why I am here. If you had asked me a couple of decades ago, Debbie, you're going to be doing, you're going to be a radio person in a podcast, you're going to be writing books, you're going to be coaching people on writing books and et cetera. I would have, you know, an expert being interviewed, I would have been like, haha, I don't think so. There was no trajectory. I mean, I was a professional actress and singer, but at some point, because I felt something shift inside, I didn't know what to do with it. I surrendered. And the outcome was not knowing it all, but for three years, all I could do was follow energy. And I would do something for a while. I spoke with Toastmasters. I sang with a big band and a jazz band. I made jewelry and had a business. I, and all these switchbacks, interestingly enough, ended me after doing voiceover work with a radio station who would have found. So I love how you said that because there's a lot of letting go in that. There's a lot of not knowing, right? There's a lot of letting go, a lot of knowing, and there's trust. And in my, in my book, and I have quite a few acronyms that are in there, along with a lot of different quotes. And one of the acronyms that I use is the word faith. And I think we all have an understanding what faith is when you look at it from a religious perspective, you know, what is your faith? I'm this particular faith. It's also about trusting. So when you have faith in something, you're trusting. But I use it a little bit differently. And I use it with regard to getting out of our own way, which is one of the biggest challenges we all have. We all, we block, we block that purpose that we have, we block that whatever it is, trying to be experienced and expressed through us by our thoughts and beliefs and things like that. So I just say have faith. Faith is the acronym for fully allow it to happen, which is in essence, get out of your own way. So fully allow it to happen. And it gets back to what you were talking about, Debbie, when you said that you had all these different career opportunities outside of doing what you're doing right now, but you followed all of that. And they were all very similar. It was a very similar thread. And you are where you are right now, allowing that which desires to be expressed through you to be expressed. And I know you're also swinging singing now again. So that's another thing that you have that's wanting to be expressed through you. And you're giving yourself permission and that opportunity to do so. Yeah, that's beautiful. And it's like, I don't know that we're ever fully cooked because I'm still a work in progress. I've been doing this a long time. And I hope people can relate to this because something else can present like you mentioned, the singing was very unexpected, hadn't done it for 13 years. And yet here I am with my partner performing at parties and events and being booked for things festivals. So who knew that this was going to show up? But I was a heck yes, this is a great ride. So getting out of the way, having faith, the truths that you talk about, Jim, are there particular truths that would actually set us free? Well, there's three truths that I that I speak about. But before I get into that, what I'll also say is that anything that anyone holds is true can be true, but it's only true to them, but it doesn't make it the truth. But we act on that. So, you know, I can have a belief or an understanding and I can act on and make decisions. I can have consequences come as a result of that. And whatever the consequence is, that's going to make whatever I believe is true, true. The consequence is going to follow that belief, but it doesn't make it the truth. So the whole idea is throughout our whole lives, given every opportunity we can to get closer and closer to the truth, whatever it is. In fact, I believe the purpose of life, the purpose for any of us being here, the purpose for this journey is for the progressive realization of the truth. Every situation we're in, every interaction we have with other people, every experience we have, is an opportunity to gain more of that understanding of the truth so that we move closer and closer to the truth, the eventual truth. So to get to your question about the three truths, and these are three that I think are really solid, and I think that most people can understand them. But one of the challenges is, again, we have to have faith, we have to fully allow it to happen, we have to get out of our own way. So the first truth is, you can have anything and everything you want in life. It's a truth. Now, of course, some people are going to say, no, I wanted a million dollars and I don't have that. Or they're going to say, I wanted this or I wanted that. I don't have it yet. But when I say you can have anything you truly desire in life, it's not those simple material things. It's about whatever that within your soul is what's wanting to be experienced and expressed. It's the big event. That's what we're all here to allow to be expressed through us. And so when I say you can have anything and everything you want, it's really about that. It's about those big expressions, big experiences that we're trying to create. Then the second truth is, you are worthy of everything you desire in life. Otherwise, you wouldn't have the desire. And otherwise, you wouldn't be here. So one of the quotes in my book is, you wouldn't be inspired to do something if it wasn't intended to be. And then the second part of that is, if it is intended to be all for it to be is provided. And I want my whole heart. So if you're inspired to do something, again, have faith. You got to follow it. You got to follow the thread of the desire or the inspiration that you have. See what shows up just as you've done with all these threads you've had with these different aspects of your career. And it all comes together because it's all woven together to create whatever the final picture is or the final product, if you will. So the second one was that you are worthy of it. And the third one is, you're capable. Because, again, you would not be given an inspiration if you weren't capable of achieving it. I don't think that we get these big inspirations for the universe to all of a sudden pull the rug out from under some laughing. I get some big cosmic joke. So I think these inspirations were given are our soul's intention. And that's why we have to pay attention to it. I get back to awareness. It is paying attention to what is your soul saying to you? What is your soul? And you know, when I say what is your soul saying to you, it's actually what are you saying to yourself? But so many people look at that. I think we have some freezing going on here. So I'll just cover this space while Jim unfreezes. We must have so many people right now on technology, on computers and on Zoom that this is happening. Because this is, it's unprecedented, but we know we're in unprecedented times that people are using computers more than ever. So I will, there we are. You're back. Wonderful. I was just covering for you because you had a big freeze there. But we heard the three truths. And just why don't you just reiterate what the three are? We kept that. Okay. The first one is you can have anything and everything you desire in life. You can have anything and everything you desire in life. Love it. Second one is you are worthy of everything you desire in life. You are worthy of everything you desire in life. And the third one is you are capable of creating everything you desire in life. You are capable of creating everything you desire in life. Okay. That's beautiful. That vibrates as truth to me. And what I know is we are in the beginning you were describing all the things that get in the way. And I concur for all of us, this journey is very, very interesting because we may have soul experiences. We may have this lifetime experiences. We may have cultural, societal, religious, etc. Experiences that create beliefs that do not allow those three truths to be so, nor to set us free. So if we recognize, I'm not fully living in that expression that you're talking about right now, but boy, that sounds good. How can we shatter those limiting beliefs? And I'm going to even go a step further and say, and if you have any examples, personal or with people you work with, please share some of those too. I think the first thing to do is we have to be willing to let go of whatever it is that's holding us back. And to me, it's a matter again, getting back to awareness. What is it that's preventing me from going after what it is I really have a strong desire to do? And then we can also, you know, if you say that I'm not worthy of something, okay, well, where did that come from? Why do you feel that you're not worthy? And then look at, well, what have I achieved in my life to this point that is something above and beyond maybe that I thought I'd be able to experience, but yet I did. So the proof is there that we have these potentials, we have these, these, these skills, we have the capability, if you will, to create much more than we, we believe we can when we get to that, that big belief, if you will, you know, as far as what we're really trying to create experience here in our, our overall lifetime. But I think it's just, it's a matter, excuse me, it's a matter of just working through the process of, you know, I hate to use the term peeling back the onion, because it's too overused, but it is about getting the layers of untruth taken away so that as we, as we, as we remove the untruth, what are we going to be left with? We're going to be left with the truth. And that's really what I believe the process is about is about getting to that point where what's left is who we truly are. And then also with that, we'll have removed and shattered these, excuse me, these limiting beliefs that have been holding us back. Let me, let me give you an example. I've been in the real estate business for a long time. I owned my own company for 25 years. I was with another real estate company and the owner of the company died of a massive heart attack and his wife took over. I was running the company at the time. She and I did not see eye to eye. She, in her infinite wisdom, she decided to fire me. So she fired me after about six months after her husband died. I had a lot of people who were coming to me telling me they wanted me to work for them to help build their company the way that I had helped build this other company. And yet they would always say, however, don't try this on your own. And I'm thinking, why do people keep telling me not to try this on my own? There's something there that maybe I'm not seeing or that I just need to work through. So I decided to go ahead with a business partner and open up my company. However, I had zero money, zero. But I went through the process of laying out the plans. I had this incredible vision of the company I wanted to create. I did all the things that we talked about as far as seeing what it's going to look like in three months and nine months and a year and five years. I mean, all that visioning that we do, I had absolute belief that it was going to be successful. I had no money though. And the day that my business partner and I signed a franchise agreement, we met with the gentleman who sold us a franchise. And my partner and I are laughing at each other because we honestly didn't have two nickels to rub together. And here they signed us to this multi-year franchise agreement that was going to cost us a lot of money. And we had no clue how we're going to do it. So fast forward about a week, my next door neighbor came over one day and he said, I understand you and your partner are going to be opening up a real estate company. I want to invest in it. And I said, no, because my pride wouldn't allow me to have somebody invest in it. And I didn't want him to know I didn't have any money. So I said, no. And he said, okay, he said, that's fine. But if you find that you are looking for investors, let me know. So a couple of days later, he came by again. So this happened three times. Each time he came by, I would say, no, that we're fine. Then finally, on the third time, he said, are you sure you don't want to have an investor? And I said, but what are you thinking about investing? How much money do you want to put into it? And he went and wrote me a check for $30,000. And he handed it to me. So we opened the company on that money. Oh, we've got a cliffhanger here. Oh my gosh. Okay, sorry. So complete there. So he gave you a check for $30,000. You opened the company on that money. Keep going. Well, we opened the company on that money. And within 18 months, we became the broker of the year for an international franchise. And it was, it was crazy. I mean, it was absolutely a crazy ride. And far surpassed what anybody thought we were going to do. Now, I will also say that there was a little bit of extra motivation on my part, because I got fired from my other one. And I was trying to prove people wrong, you know, about me. So there was that aspect of it, but it wasn't anger. It wasn't hate. It wasn't fear. It was just about trusting in myself and then allowing the universe, if you will, to provide whatever it was that we needed to open up the company. And we did. And I sold the company six years ago to another much larger real estate company. It was pretty amazing rise. So I love that. What is the takeaway there? How did you shatter things? What allowed you to precipitate all of that and create something wholly different? Well, I think I could have allowed what the wife, the spouse who now owned the company, I could have allowed what she said about me to not only to meet, but to other people, I could have allowed that to hold me back and say, yeah, you're right. I'm no good. Now, what I will also say is that company, which had been a company that had been in existence for 30 years, folded in 18 months. And it's not because I was there or wasn't there, but it was just that was what happened. And then we became the company that we were. But I think the takeaway is, number one, you've got to have a dream. You've got to have a vision. You've got to trust in the process. You've got to take the steps that you know you need to take on a daily basis. And it is, you know, we hear this all the time. It is about the tiny steps that you take that you just, you just keep moving forward. You persist and you hold on to that dream. And then you pay attention. Now, the other thing that I'll say is too often, when we have an inspiration or we have something we really want to accomplish, we'll put on, you know, we'll get laser focused. And of course, if you can see me right now, when we, when, when I describe later as a focus, I go like this, right, which is what most people would do. These are blinders. These are blinders, right, because you're going like this, so you're blocking everything. So I call that tunnel vision. And what I tell people to do is have funnel vision. So you have it from out here, and it comes in. So you're allowing all this other stuff to come in that's going to benefit you that then gives you the opportunity to bring it all together, to have it coalesced so that you have everything you need as opposed funnel vision instead of tunnel vision. Yeah, that's really powerful. So in your book, which I see is right behind you, and I have right here in front of me, the key to life living in full expression, you write, this is a way I've never heard of before, you write about the simplexities instead of the complexities, you combine the word simple and complex, which is beautiful. So the simplexities of life. And you mention in your book, life is difficult, and it's intended to be. Why is that so? Why is life intended to be difficult? And you also mentioned the importance of being able to measure and experience the extent of our personal power. So if from simplexity, life is actually difficult or intended to be so, why is that? What is what? Who benefits? Why are we on this ride if it's difficult? Well, if you look at life in general, life is very simple. Flowers grow, trees grow, the wind blows, everything happens in nature naturally. There isn't any resistance to it. I mean, we even see plants growing out of concrete. So it's effortless as far as nature is concerned. This works through all of these things. Our lives are that way as well in terms of what shows up, what experiences that we have. We decide to bring complexity to it so that we make it more difficult for ourselves. As an example, if you know that you want to have a certain experience, and you know that there's certain decisions you need to make and certain actions to take that would help you have that experience, but then you all sudden do something that's totally 180 degrees opposed to what it is you want to do. And now you're going to have the consequences of that decision, which are not going to impact your ability to move towards the actual goal that you have in mind. You've now made it more difficult for yourself. You made it more complex. You've got all these additional things now to overcome. Whereas if you didn't make that one decision that made the decision that would take you more towards what you wanted to create, you'd be much further ahead. But that's also the joy of life, right? I mean, we create these opportunities for ourselves to not have the experience of the difficulty, but to have the joy of overcoming them. So let's go a little deep dive into that about your personal life, because you start out the book with a story about you, about something that happens in the fall of 1967, something that forges the course of your life. I'd love you to describe what happened, how it impacted you, why we're here today together. Well, the interesting thing about that, nobody knew about that until I wrote my book. I didn't even share it with anybody in my family. And it was an experience I had when I was 13. I was sitting in church with my parents. I was born and raised Christian, not that that matters, but just to put that out there in terms of what my background is. I'm sitting in between my parents, 13 years old, I'm fidgeting like I think most 13 year old boys would do. I wanted to be playing baseball with my friends, but here I find myself in church. Ministers up front delivering the sermon, and there's some folks over to my left that are getting ready to pass an offering basket or something like that. And I remember just thinking about something being off, and I couldn't really understand it. I'm 13 years old, I really wasn't thinking about it, other than I just didn't feel comfortable. So I'm thinking about it, and then all of a sudden, the right hand side of my head is this clear voice that said, you're going to be doing something, you're going to be doing this someday. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm going to be doing what? There is no way I'm going to be standing in front of the church leading a congregation. That's about as far from what I can see myself doing as anything on this planet. And so I remember thinking about that and just wondering, you know, number one, am I crazy that I really hear that voice? And then a couple minutes later, same spot up here, right hand side of my head, the voice that you're going to be doing it differently. And then again, I went back to doing what? What does this mean? What is this all about? So ever since I was 13 years old, I held that in, but yet I always knew it was there. I didn't talk about it, but I'd have things happen in my life that I'd be able to reflect on and say, okay, is this part of whatever that is? Is this part of that, doing this, but doing it differently? In terms of sharing information, being like a minister, ministering to people, but not necessarily in a congregation. So I've been told what I do through my speaking, writing and presentations that I am in fact ministering to the people that would hear what I have to say. That's a different take on what I would call being a minister, but yet it is the same thing in terms of being in front of people, sharing information that can benefit them. And so that really was the beginning of me really looking at life a little bit differently, because that happened and always questioning, well, what is it I'm supposed to do? But I'll also say that there was always this feeling in me that it was about a message that had to be delivered. And I wasn't sure what it was. There just seemed to be something that needed to be spoken through me. And I think that's what this is all about. The quotes that I get are very unique quotes that I get during my early morning walks. And they're usually answers to questions that I ask. And I find some of them to be very profound. And in fact, I open my book up all the time, just to random pages to see what's on there. And typically what happens is the code is something that will benefit me during that day. Yes, I this is so great. I tell my authors that in my classes all the time, because, you know, they hem and ha that are what it takes to get through a book. And I'm like, Oh, no, when you're ready, and the whole context is, when I say to them, first draft first, once you complete the first draft, then you read it out loud to yourself, right? You know what you have, then you tweak what you have. But I always make sure they know it's going to be the greatest joy in your life. It's not arduous. Because this is where you hear the wisdom that flowed through you. And I completely resonate with what you're saying. I'm also a little jealous, Jim, because when you talk about going for a walk in the mornings and receiving downloads, how does that work? That's never happened for me. But I would love to experience that. But how do you open up so that could happen during walks? All of a sudden, because I actually started when I was writing my book, and then a lot of it came through during that process. And the one quote that I already shared about you wouldn't be inspired to do something if it wasn't intended to be came as a result of writing the book and questioning like I'm sure you had in many of your authors do. Why me? Why do I think I have something to say? Why do I think people are going to buy my book? Why do I think this is important? I mean, all the stuff that I think we go through, all of which are limiting beliefs, and that's part of what needs to be shattered when you're in the midst of writing a book. You just have to allow the information to come through, be put on paper or in your computer, whatever you're doing, and then allow it to kind of sit and marinate. And then I mean, to me, and I'll get to my point, to me, what happens is when I write, I'll write something when I finish writing it. I won't like it. It won't sound right. So I'll leave it for a couple of days and I'll come back and it's like somebody or something has rewritten it. And then it makes total sense to me. And it's just a really weird thing that happens. I know nothing has happened in my words, but I just perhaps see it a little bit differently. Or maybe something's happened in the meantime. So to get to your question about the early morning walks. So I was in the midst of writing my book, having all these questions about why me and all this sort of thing. And so I asked the question, why am I having such difficulty? And it wasn't the material. It was just the mental part of writing a book going through the process. I said, what's going on? Why am I struggling with this? How can you help me? And I say these things out loud. And the answer I immediately got was that quote, you wouldn't be inspired to do something if it wasn't intended to be. So I said, okay, so this book is intended, I'm inspired to do it without question. So I took that and anytime I'd be challenged with what I was working on, I would just say, okay, this is intended to be, let it flow. And I would get through everything that I needed to do. I finished writing the book. And then that's, you know, that's the challenge to me. When you finish the book and then you have to go do the marketing and everything else that comes out of the package. So I was concerned about that. I never written a book before, never sold anything like that. Wasn't really sure what I needed to do. So I went back for a walk and I said, now what? I said, I have no idea what I'm to do. My book has been written, it's about to be published. And the answer I got immediately was, we gave you the first part, which was you wouldn't be intended to do, you wouldn't be inspired to do something if it wasn't intended to be. And the second part is, if it is intended to be all for it to be as provided. And so again, it's about opening up and just allowing. So does that mean that your marketing came together after all something presented to you that you were able to use to get your book out there? Yeah, to me, what it was, was about bringing clarity to me about things that I needed to do. It was about being interviewed. I had a lot of interviews right after that happened. I was writing additional articles. I did a book signing at a bookstore. And one of the people that came through the bookstore was an editor in New York. And she wanted a copy of my books, I gave it to her and she called me a week later. And one of the things she said to me, which I thought was really interesting, and I've only followed through on one thing that she said, but she said, your book is full of so much information, you have the opportunity to probably write three or four books, if you dig deeper on some of the topics. So I did write a second book, which I just, it's a, I call it an ebook more than anything else, and it's called from inspiration to intention. And it's about following through on the inspirations we get with intention to bring it to fruition. Because that's what a big part of it is, you have to be intentional about it. It's going to be presented to you, but then you have to be intentional about doing the things we know we need to do to make sure that it actually comes to be. 100%. Oh gosh, okay. So you talked about a quote, you're giving us quotes, which I love, and these downloads you got. So I want to also meet you with some quotes that I loved, I've highlighted your book, and I won't be able to get to all of them, but let me go through at least one or two. So one of the quotes from your book is, we worry about things that have happened and things yet to come, all of which takes us out of the experience of the present moment, the only time there is when we are in flow with life. Life is simple, not easy, but simple. Question on that quote, when people only know this paradigm of worry, anxiety, God knows there's a lot of anxiety today and fear. It is hard to break the pattern because the movie that they're living in is real. So how does one go from this pattern of the fear and the anxiety, the worry, and let go and move into the flow? So the words are great, but the actual, how do you bridge that gap? What has to happen for somebody to be able to do that? Okay, I'm going to give you another quote, and I don't know if this one's in the book or not, but the angst that we have is the challenge and the difficulty that we continue to experience in life. So I say that's the hell we experience, right? So the quote is, the hell we experience is the hell we so dearly cling to. So we're holding on to it. It's about taking responsibility, but it's about recognizing, I'll give you this example. I was speaking to a woman who was a, she's a psychic, and she had become a friend of mine. And I met her at an event we were both speaking at. And I went up to her, we were just talking about a lot of different things. And she's a, she's a whole Pono Pono expert, which is the Hawaiian healing method. So we were talking about that. And then we were just talking about present moment and all of the things that I think a lot of times people talk about when we get together. And she said, let me give you a good example of what you can't do and why, why what happened in the past doesn't matter because you can't do anything about it. And she said, go sit up straight yesterday. And it was, I mean, just like you, I laughed, it's a stupid statement, but it made its point, you know, go sit up straight yesterday, you can't, there is nothing you can do about yesterday. And the reason that what happened yesterday continues to bother you is because you hold on to it. It lives because we hold on to it. It no longer exists other than the space we give it to exist. And then because our, our mind is capable of taking any of that and allowing us to relive it, physically have the experience of it. That's why it feels like it's still living in the present moment. So to get to your question about what can people do, and it's what I share with people that I'm coaching when they're in this situation, it's whenever they're starting to worry or think about something that happened in the past or something to worry about in the future, I'll say, what's happening right now? Where are you right now? Where are you sitting? What's happening around you? And none of that stuff's going on. You know, I'm sitting right here at my desk, we're having this conversation. Yeah, there's lots of stuff going on in the world, but my experience right now is right here. It's not what happened yesterday. It's not what's going to happen yet tomorrow or a month from now or anything like that. But here's, here's to me, the key to this, what I do right now in this moment either keeps the past alive, which could be horrendous experiences because of my thoughts about it, or I could be thinking about something that's going to happen, creating situations that'll make a bad event. If we can use that term happen two days from now. Sure. But if my time is spent making decisions and doing things that are leading me towards the positive experience I want to have, then the likelihood is that's going to be the event that unfolds for me. Okay, so let me see if I can recap this to get this right. So we could be living in the past rehashing what's happened, clearly not present, or we can be in the worry of the future, which may eventually create that future anyway, because of the energy we're putting out there towards it. Right. I think I hear you saying, Jim, is instead if you will, the way to pull yourself back here right now is to engage in the right now. What are the questions? What are the actions? What are the things I need to be doing? What else could people do to be here now? What can they do when they're here now? Yeah, to keep themselves very engaged in this moment, in the present. Well, you know, one of the processes we can go through is we can look at the way that our thoughts and whatever results from our thoughts are tied together. So if you've been having challenging thoughts and all of a sudden you have nothing but challenging experience, understand the correlation between the two. I mean, really pay attention to it. Also, obviously what's happening inside us, because that's really where everything is evolving. So if you're about to make a decision and you feel you feel stressed, you feel anxious, you feel a knot in your stomach, you feel whatever it is you feel, then the question is, is this decision the best decision for me? And more often than not, it's not the best decision for you. So what's a different decision you could be making? Think about it and then sense how it feels within you and then follow that as the course of action or whatever it is. Here's a quick formula for people to follow. Our thoughts and beliefs are what we base our decisions on. Whatever we believe, whatever we hold is true, whatever thoughts we have, when we're given an opportunity to make a choice, we're going to make a choice based on that, whether that information is true or not. Now, anything that we think has the potential to come into existence because we have made it, we've thought of it. So a thought creates potential and the way that we bring something from potential into our lived experience is by believing that it's possible. So that's a part of that formula too. So once we have these beliefs and these understandings, the next step is we make a choice, whatever it is, we make a choice and then after we've made a choice we take action, whatever that action is based on the choice. What we don't choose is the consequence. The consequence will always come as a result of everything else that preceded it. So if we're doing things that are not in our best interest, not allowing us to create what we're truly trying to create and then we have the consequence of that difficult situation, we have to look back at how we went through that formula. What are our thoughts and beliefs? What choices did we make and what actions did we take? And then change it. What do you want to have happen? What thoughts can you create around that? What affirmations, if you will, can you create about what it is that you want to experience in life? What affirmations about yourself can you say? You can use those three truths that I shared as three very powerful affirmations that would reinforce within anybody that they have the opportunity to create anything they want in life to experience it. They have the capability worthy of it. I mean, all of those things are very powerful affirmations that someone can use. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for taking us deeply into that. Another quote I have from you from the book is, the world returns to me what I believe about myself. So this is really in concert with what you just said. And furthermore, the quote says, my inner relationship with myself, your inner relationship with yourself is what is reflected in the outer world. We know this is metaphysicians, right? But it's maddening sometimes. I mean, it's wonderful when you're seeing magic and opportunities and, you know, beautiful things and love and friendships and career and what you manifest and where you live, et cetera, your health. However, truly maddening when you've got a situation potentially that is not what you prefer. And maybe you're trying a lot of things to access your inner world and somehow there's something stubborn happening that is not changing that. So would we go then to the cycle of life breakdown, the four phases of life cycle, or where would we go to handle this so that we can change the inside and the outside? Yeah, I don't think going to the cycle of life is the place to go. That's just describing the process we go through. I don't think people have to be conscious of it. I just think that's what happens as we go through that. But a question I asked myself whenever I'm in the midst of a very difficult time. And it reflects the quote that you just mentioned. And the question is, what is it in me that this is so? Where is my responsibility in whatever it is that I'm experiencing right now? The other part of it is that no matter what experience I have, there's something to be gained from it. So then the question is, okay, I'm going through this terrible experience. I don't like it. I want to get out of as fast as I can. The way to get out of as fast as I can is gain from it whatever I'm intended to gain from it. So show me what that is. And then pay attention. It really is again about being aware of what's being presented so that we gain it. And I think what happens from that point when we understand that that's what's taking place, next time you're in a difficult situation, you go through it much more quickly. It doesn't make it easier. Just as I said earlier, it doesn't make it easier. You're still going to have the challenge, but you understand you're going through the challenge for the benefit that it holds for you, as opposed to it being the universe throwing something to knock you off track. That never happens. It's never intentional to knock you off track. It's to get your attention. It's also to let you see how powerful you truly are to give you that opportunity to overcome what seems like an insurmountable obstacle. Yeah, because you say in your book, what if instead of questioning why this is happening to me, we ask why this is happening for me? What can gain from this experience? Yeah. Let me just say this. I question all the things that you're asking. I wrote the book. I read the quotes. I read the book and I'm going, okay, so what do I do with it? I think an interesting thing to say, and I think you'll share this with me, or share this thought, and that is that people who read my book or might read your book or see has it made. She understands it. She's got it. Her life is this wonderful, easy flowing thing. It doesn't end. Just because you have a certain amount of knowledge or wisdom or whatever we want to call it doesn't mean the universe sits back and say, okay, you're going to have it easy for the rest of your life. I actually find it gets more challenging, but it's also more fun because I understand the process a little bit better. And so I'm always looking for the advantage. I'm looking for, okay, so what does this mean for me? What can I gain from this? And then the outside part of that is what will this allow me to do and share with other people so they can benefit through my experience. Okay. Beautiful. Thank you for that. That was very humble. I appreciate that. You know, that you're a work in progress as well, and that, you know, you do question this too. And it is true. Life is very interesting. It certainly is. How do you get through life? Is there a ritual gym? Is there a practice that you do every day that keeps you really grounded and centered? Yes. Well, I do my morning walk, which I call being immersed in the silence of the dawn. So that's my morning walking meditation, if you will. So I, as I'm doing that, I do have some, you know, kind of mantras that I would say, you know, out loud, just in terms of grounding myself. And one of the things that I say, and I say everything three times because of the, what I understand is the magic in the three, you know, just in terms of it being repeated three times. There's, and I don't even know exactly what it is, but the, the inherent power within the number three. And one of the things I say is what is required of me to allow the I am that I am to more fully, completely and wholly experience and express through me and as well. Oh my God. So I asked that question every morning. That again, that was really good. What is the power? Go ahead. What is required of me to allow the I am that I am to more fully, completely and wholly experience and express through me and as me. So that sets the tone for the day. I don't get answers to that when I, when I say it, but it opens me up to whatever is being presented to me so that I'm available. And then I just go through my day and then it's about having faith fully allowed to happen. You know, you talked about surrender before, and I think unfortunately too many people look at surrender as waving the white flag. I look at surrender and it's not about giving up, it's about giving into the divinity within us to allow that to be which now experience and expressing through us. So that's what's taken the lead. You know, not my ego, but it's about allowing that, that which desires to be expressed through me to do that, to have that opportunity to do that. Is there a lesson in your life that is taking you the longest to learn? That would be a yes. I still question, you know, I can say, I can say why me, I still question the the information that I get and what is this coming through me? You know, what is it, what is it about me that this comes through? And I don't know. I mean, I look at people who are psychics and I go, why them? How do they have these abilities that I don't have? Not that I want it, but it's about, okay, this is just what it is for me. And I just accept it. But I also want to say this, and you mentioned a minute ago that you thought I was being very humble. What I do and what I experience is not just for me. Anybody who wants to open themselves up to receive information from the divine or whatever you want to call it, it's a matter of having a conversation and then listening to whatever you get back as your response and then understanding, even though it might sound like your own voice, trust it and act on it and see what happens. And then the more you do that, the louder the voice is going to be, the stronger the guidance is going to be and the greater the results are going to be. And then it just becomes this very easy process. And it was a 30 year process for me. I've been doing this for 30 years where I've been asking questions and getting answers and going from my walks. And it still astounds me from time to time when I get an absolutely crazy response. And sometimes I have to laugh. I'll give you another one really quick. And then as I was walking one time and I was questioning why I was having such a hard time with my life, because I had this idea of what a person who is spiritual, what they're supposed to look like, you know, maybe in my mind, it's the white robe and all that kind of stuff that you're, you know, you just kind of go through life. And as you walk down a path, flowers start to grow, you know, you have this incredible ability to do all this stuff. So I'm thinking, okay, well, that's not me. So I must not be spiritual. And I said, I also know the thoughts that go through my head. And those are not very spiritual. I also know some things I've done in life. That wasn't really very spiritual. And so I said, what is this about? And the immediate, this is one of the times that I actually laughed out loud. I said, what is this about? And the response I got was quit trying to be the perfect human and just be perfectly human. And it's like, okay, so that's what we're here for. We're here to be a human. We're here to be here in this physical form, to have all the experiences we can, to have all of the emotions going through us, to be, to be in fear, to be in love, to have compassion, to have the experience of hate, to have forgiveness. I mean, all of these things are part of what we're here to have. But we're here to have it as an experience. We're not here to become that. And so that's why we allow it to come through us. And then we recognize that that's just the experience we're here to have, so that we understand what that is. And people who are listening, who are saying, I'll have some of that, please. They'd like to become a creator. They'd like to be in charge of their life script. Do you have something that you teach your clients or when you speak about how people can fully step into being the author of their life, being the creator, co-creator in a really powerful way that nets results? Well, the first thing is to recognize that you already are and to quit denying it. Because whether you believe it or not, you are creating your life. You are the author. You're the producer. You're the editor. You're the whatever you want to call it. And once we acknowledge that, and I think that's a big part of it, acknowledge it. Okay, I am creating my life. What is it I want to create? What can I do moving forward to make my life more of the way that I want it to unfold? We had talked a little while ago about the whole idea of living in the past or worrying too much about the future. So another quote that's in the book is, life is the autobiography we write as it is lived. Be careful that you're not so attached to what you have written that you're not available to what you are writing. So it's about the past was an experience. That's all it was. And yes, some were challenging, more difficult than others. But when you get down to it, it was nothing more than an experience. So what is it I want to experience now? What is it I can do moving forward to create the life that I have this really strong desire to create? And, you know, there's all these people out there that'll say they have the formula, they have the magic wand, they have the magic, whatever they have this modality and that modality. You have to do the work yourself. You have to go through the process. You have to have the experience. You have to come to terms with who you truly are. You're not what you see when you look in the mirror. You're actually what is seeing what you see out of your eyes. And then you're also what's thinking about what you're seeing, which is not the physical body, right? So we're that we're that essence within this physical body that is that is aware of all of these things that are taking place. All these things that have happened in the past, all these things that we want to create. Awareness and consciousness, that's interesting, looking at oneself. And so this is Dear to Jim. What are you next, Dear to Dream? What are your future dreams and goals? Well, I'm writing, I am writing another book. So there's, there's a lot more information I'm trying to put out and it all will follow in suit with a lot of the stuff in the key to life but on a little bit different level. I'm putting more personal stuff into the book that I'm writing right now too, just because I've had a lot of people ask me, like you have asked me, well, what has my process been? I don't like writing about myself, but I've decided to go ahead and put a little bit more of me in this book. So that's a part of it. It really is my big dream is to see how big I can dream, how much I can create. And the big dream he was saying is to see how much he can dream, how much he can create. I love that. So that last sentence again, please, you're cutting out a bit. Oh, technology, you are trying us today. But his message is coming across loud and clear, I have to say. So if you're there with us, say that again, please. What it was, I don't even know what I said pertaining to... You were saying the big dream is the big dream. What else can I create? How much bigger can I get? And that's where we left you. Yeah, I mean, that's my big dream is seeing what I can create, how much I can create, how big can I create? And that's not about ego. That's about really taking advantage of the magic that's available to all of us. And then it's also about as I do that, I'm serving as an example to others of what's possible for them. And what's not putting myself up there or out there as being somebody that's different than anybody else, it's saying, you and I are the same. You and I are alike. And this is not in reference to me, but I'm going to put it out there and it just happens to be where we are. But Jesus said when he was asked about the miracles that he created, he said, these things and more you will do. And in essence, you are the same as he is. We create miracles. We have this opportunity to create whatever it is we want to create. We are divine. So we need to accept that. And that's the hard part because we have this idea of what that is. Just like I said before, I had this idea of what a spiritual person would look like and feel like and be like and how they would think. Well, this is what's here. This is the divine experience in expressing through me. One of the first pages in the book says that as we live in full expression of ourselves, the divine is in full expression. Yeah, it's beautiful. So again, your website, livingandfullexpression.com, what would you like to say to the listeners and the viewers here at the end, Jim? Two affirmations. One is you are far more powerful than you believe yourself to be and you're far more powerful than you give yourself permission to be. Give yourself permission. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. I got some nice little gems out of this. Thank you. This is my pleasure. Yeah, this is inspiring. I end today's show with this quote, let it all go. Surrender to the present moment and know that the universe has a plan for you and everything will work out just fine. Subscribe to the Dare to Dream podcast. It is your number one transformation conversation. My guest next week is Leah Guy, who's a spiritual teacher and energy healer. Leah is a top media outlet expert speaker and Leah Guy will be here to discuss trauma, mind, body, connection, energy, medicine, and emotional healing. If you are enjoying the podcast and you would like to see what I look like and the guest talking together and I highly recommend you do. It's a whole different experience. Go to youtube.com slash debbie dashinger and subscribe and enjoy. And additionally, if you are inspired by what you heard today and you're ready to let go and write your book, please join us. We've got the membership and a few spots open. It's debbie dashinger.com slash visible visionaries. And additionally, if you've already written your book, my company takes your book to a guaranteed international bestseller. You can write to me on my website, debbie dashinger.com, contact me and I can give you the details of how your book fully done for you will become an international bestseller. Thank you for joining us today. I'm Dare to Dream. And remember, don't just dare to dream, dare to turn all your dreams into your reality. And I think you were given a lot of takeaways by Jim Phillips today in order to do so. Thanks for joining us.