Have you ever driven somewhere with your mind on auto-pilot, and then wondered how you even got there?  It's an incredible ability we all have: once we know how to do something, we can just switch our mind off and achieve complex tasks without thinking.   

But you know what, this skill...can also be a curse.  If you look around in the morning traffic, everyone staring ahead bleakly, going to work and coming home, year after year, doing the same things they have always done... many of us live our entire lives on autopilot.  Most people never even stop to ask- am I living the life I want to be living?

It's a question we resist asking, because for many, the answer is a painful one.  No- I am not livingthe life I want to be living.  And then we are left with a challenging choice: will I do something about it, or do I accept that what I am today, is all I'll ever be.

For some of us, that's not an acceptable choice.  When I looked at my situation several years ago- no money, no time, no choices - I knew in my heart that I had to change.  I had a vision for myself and my boys, that our life could be different.  I begun daily affirmations, "I will be happy, I will be successful, I will be influential, I will take my kids around the world..."

But for some reason the affirmations sounded empty.  They lacked power or inspiration.  The reason is because "I will be...." creates no emotional momentum.  It leaves our dreams in the distant future and is a statement that could be true indefinitely- and therefore does not demand change.

'I will be' is the a confession that 'I am not'.

"I am" on the other hand is a statement that inspires change.  It calls us outside of our comfort zone and wakes us up from the auto-pilot of a mediocre life.  "I am" is your war cry declaring that you have left your old self behind.

Before I open my eyes each morning, I start the day with a list of declarations:  I am so happy and grateful now that I AM ... 

There is nothing more satisfying than watching your life transform, when you switch off the auto-pilot and take control of the steering wheel of your life.