karen salmansohn: enough, dammit

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THE IDEA FOR THIS BOOK:To create a self-help book that uses playful, easy-to-understand analogies and graphics to explain serious, complicated life theories (from Modern CognitivePsychology, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Sociology, Biology, Eastern Philosophy,Darwinism, Quantum Physics, the Zen of Enchiladas…and then some) so it’sactually fun and possible to finally figure how to take control of your swerving,careening life.

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WARNING #1:You must always make sure that it is your trueinner passion that is driving you forward in life.

EXTERNALLY DRIVEN PEOPLEWILL ALWAYS CRASH AND BURN!This book will check for hidden defects in yourmotivating drive.

WARNING #2:“Whatever you are, be a good one.”

—Abraham Lincoln

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…and growing.but as a “growing up.”

You don’t like tothink of yourself as a grown up…

You want to always be growing…

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Which brings you to…

And you knowwhat keeps youfully alive, thriving,growing…

After all…growing is a sign you arefully alive and thriving.

when you are being honest with yourself and bravely following your heart.

Just as some of us were puthere to be doctors...some ofus to be musicians…some of us to be full-time mothers…(and at least one of us was puthere to invent that doohickeythat holds up the lid on thepizza box!)…you have beenput here to do what you dobest…live your passions totheir fullest.

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Thepurpose of your life is to find and do the purpose

of your life…

LIFE LESSON

#1

or what you like to call your DREAM QUEST.

Birds gotta fly. Fish gotta swim. Dancers gotta dance. Business owners gotta own businesses.

Gardeners gotta garden.Mothers gotta mother. Ice sculptors gotta makeice sculptures. You gotta_______________________

( fill in the blank withyour Dream Quest. )

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And you know as surelyas the Wright brothers,against all odds, livedout their passions tomake certain our planethad flying winged steelvehicles (then, later, tinyaluminum pouches ofpeanuts)…you too willdo what you can tomake sure your DreamQuest flies.

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Sure, your Dream Quest mighthave set off buoyantly a fewtimes already…then crashed afew times already…then again…so did the Wright brothers’planes crash at first.

And heck, if the Wright brotherscould eventually make a ton ofsteel fly through the air with thegreatest of ease…it makes sensethat it’s possible for your DreamQuest to fly eventually too!

You just have to see obstaclesthe Wright way…with patience,focus, and optimism.


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Although life is unpredictable,

it does come with a100% GUARANTEE.

LIFE’S 100% GUARANTEE:While on your path headingtoward your Dream Quest,you will 100% be bombardedwith a series of obstacles thatwill make you mutter, “Whatthe %$#! is going on here? I need a nap!”

LIFE

LESSON

#2

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And although, admittedly, it’s very hard to dealwith all life’s crazy vicissitudes (even harder tospell the word vicissitudes…so you always lookit up first)…you thankfully also know that all life’svicissitudes can eventually be overcome.

All life’s lions andtigers and bears caneventually be tamed.

Or as Dorothy once said,“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!”

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There’s nosuch person as

“LUCKY SO-AND-SO.”Every “LUCKY SO-AND-SO” was at one time

“A VERY-MUCH-TESTED-SO-AND-SO” who had faiththat The Universe would provide…

and thereby kept on pursuingtheir Dream Quest.

You know it helps if you remember…all achievements were at one time but a mere“dream bubble” floating above a dreamer’shead that the dreamer kept on believing insoooo much that eventually the dream had no choice but to become a reality.

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Then there’s Sylvestor Stallonehimself. He didn’t go into the moviebusiness thinking, “I’m just somechump from south Philly with greatpecs. What do I know about film?”

No, Stallone believed passionatelyin his Dream Quest of making agreat film…and therefore make agreat film he did.


For example, Rocky didn’tgo into the fight thinking,“Geez, I might not win!”

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LIFE LESSON #3


There is no rational reason toremain a pessimist in a worldthat is full of so many miracles!

The Wright brothers flew a plane!

A guy with great pecs from SouthPhilly made a film that garneredawards and gazillions of dollars!

A broke single mom created theinternational success of HarryPotter and became one of themost respected, wealthiest people in the world!

Are you going to insult this complex,infinite miracle-making machine calledThe Universe with your lack of belief in its grand abundance to provide youwith what you need?

You don’t think so!

YO:

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Lots of pessimism will never get youwhat you want. Lots of pessimismwill only get you lots of opportunityto be right about your pessimism.

You don’t want to be a pessimistwho succeeds at being right aboutyour pessimism.

You want to be an optimistwho succeeds at success.

LIFE LESSON

#4


Which remindsyou of a quotefrom Henry Ford: “If you think you cando a thing or thinkyou cannot do athing, you’re right.”

You knowHenry is right.

You know that if youallow yourself to foolishlybelieve that you willnever be happily married,never be professionallysuccessful, never besexy as the dickens, youfoolishly never will be!

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Similarly, positive thought seeds (faith, love, harmony,creativity, kindness, peace, forgiveness, acceptance,enthusiasm, discipline, bliss, abundance mentality) willalways grow positive habits that will grow into positivelife circumstances.

LIFE LESSON #5There are many psychological reasons for whynegative thinking brings negative life circumstances.

Luckily you can sumthem all up in onesimple sentence: Your psychologicalbeliefs create your dailyhabits that create yourlife circumstances.

Just as daisy seeds will always grow daisies… negative thought seeds (despair,blame, regret, fear, anger, shame, guilt, resentment, self-pity, hate) will always grow negative habits that will then grow into negative life circumstances.

Luckily you can also sum all thatup in one simple metaphor:

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Your psychological

problem: Sometimes the seeds of your negativebeliefs are buried in your subconsciousmind…planted so deep in your lower consciousness that you’re not even aware they’re down there…

and so you can wind up growinglots of weedy negativelife circumstancesyou didn’t even know youplanted in the first place.

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More dirt on yourthought seeds:Your lower consciousness seems to havethe ideal dark and musty climate for negativethought seeds to grow. So, if you want toensure you don’t grow a jungle of negativelife circumstances, you’ve got to prune andnurture the garden of your subconsciousmind on a regular basis.


You’ve got to conscientiously pluck out anynegative thought seeds the moment you findthem — before they grow untamable! And asfor whatever weedy negative life circumstancesyou already have growing in your life, you mustbe sure to pull them all out by their deepestroots…so they don’t grow back in again whenyou’re not looking.

karen salmansohn: enough, dammit

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