davidmastersadmin | David M Masters

What is my life’s purpose?

Wandering through life you may ask yourself, “What is my life’s purpose?”

Depending upon the life that you’ve lived up to this moment, the answer may – or may not – be obvious. Fortunately for me, I have lived a life in harmony with my life’s purpose, which I have been aware of from an early age.

Others have lived a life unempowered by their sense of purpose, instead being coached by parents, family and friends to focus their efforts on a worthwhile career so they could have a reasonable chance of being able to survive in this rough and tumble world.

It’s not uncommon for someone to be able to remember what their purpose was early in life, only to have it regarded as fanciful folly, as they were urged to spend their time thinking more responsibly with feet placed firmly on the ground.

As you grow in age and responsibility, your sense of purpose slowly fades away…

Until the day comes when you realize that all the things you fought for, the money, the cars, the jobs, the relationships, all the things that you believed in and thought would bring you a sense of belonging and purpose, leave you feeling little fulfillment, as you discover happiness remains elusive.

Still, as you look back through your life up to this point, you’re likely to find clues and have endured a precise succession of experiences designed to reintegrate you with your purpose. In this case, you can see a higher power gently nudging and preparing you for this moment.

While you have not originally focused on your life’s purpose, your purpose has never left you behind and has attracted challenges and circumstances to align you with your purpose, having trained you for this unbeknownst to you.

Ever wonder why you started asking the question, “What is my life’s purpose?” now?

This is how the higher power works. It is no coincidence that you have come to this place at this time, as these moments have been divinely conceived and executed. You have trained and you are ready to fully engage in your life’s purpose.

As you begin to reorganize your life to accommodate answering the call and accepting your life’s charge, you begin to feel a growing sense of meaning which has eluded you until this time and place.

You have a knowingness that you are doing something meaningful with your life and as you take responsibility for singing your song, that song that is uniquely attuned to your mission and message, gratitude and joy begins to well up inside.

Your heart fills with love which spills out to the lives of those who are close to you and fuels your desire to contribute to the greater good and the community at large.

You discover the time has come to Live a Better Life, Your Best Life and Make the World a Better Place.

It’s never to late to start aligning yourself with your purpose, though it does take courage to do so, regardless of what the Nay sayers may have to say about it.

Why would people who appear to care about you not want you to pursue your life’s purpose?

The answer is this:

They, too, have neglected their life purpose. If they could allow themselves to concede that you – or anyone, for that matter – could possibly have a higher purpose in life.

Why?

Because that would mean that they, too, would have a higher purpose… and their conscious mind and their life could not accommodate such a thought (at this time).

It’s okay, you can do this without their approval.

Thank them for their support and have the courage to do that thing you were called to do.

The Student Becomes the Teacher

In the life of an educator, teacher or trainer, there is no greater honor than the moment when the student becomes the teacher.

The student has persevered, struggled through late nights, studied rigorously and may have isolated themselves somewhat from ordinary life while immersed in the learning process. No one ever told you it would be easy, but you knew on day it would be worth it.

It is one thing to complete one’s studies (it’s the alternative to dropping out, which in itself can be another learning process or continuing to study ad infinitum) but to put what you have learned into practice is where the satisfaction leads to action.

There is no greater action, or honor to the teacher than seeing the student become a teacher. It is the secret hope of one who bestows education to the learner, that one day the student will take up the gauntlet thereby multiplying the efforts of the teacher.

Life is the School

When you made you debut in this life, you enrolled in the University of Life and just like any other student, there are many responses and choices to be made throughout your course of study, and you will study under many teachers.

Will you drop out? Will you do that which is minimally necessary to get by? Will you put what you’ve learned into practice? Will you opt for higher levels of learning? Or,

Will You Become the Teacher?

Is it too difficult to stretch your thoughts just enough to include the possibility that there is a specific reason that you have endured certain scenarios in this life (or survived difficult but specific trainings) all to increase your expertise in your field of study?

Your individual curriculum has been divinely structured for you.

This could be preparing you to achieve personal growth imbuing you with certain tools, skills and ability to better navigate the remainder of your journey, or there could be an underlying higher calling beckoning you to teach others what you have learned – or better yet – you are so motivated to teach others while you are still learning.

There is no better method of learning than to teach others.

When you share what you are currently engaged in learning, you maximize your learning exponentially. You are also the beneficiary of new insights that may not have been gleaned by following your structured field of study. You have access to statistics, data and responses of students that you could have never experienced had you not become a teacher yourself. In this way, the learning process flows in both directions, the student learns from the teacher and the teacher learns from the student(s) also.

As a student/teacher your information processing kicks into high gear, because your students are relying on that which you can bring to the table for them to examine. You are more attentive while you are learning, and you look for unique perspectives while peering between the lines of structured study texts.

Your Calling

Ultimately, the greatest satisfaction comes from surviving a difficult field of study… a tragic life course that might devastate someone else. Yet, you, with your individualized abilities to do what is necessary to successfully manage the harshest circumstances have made it – or are making it – to the other side.

More often than not, when a client comes to me faced with tragedy it becomes clear that he or she has been selected to be the recipient of a full scholarship in this most complex field of study.

Have you suffered through a difficult learning experience or are you neck-deep in a personal course of study that seems like there’s no way out?

Then you may have been called to the ministry of teaching.

What’s your best course of action?

Reach out to others who may also be enrolled or struggling with the same classes, and teach. Answer your call, reach out to others and

Become the Teacher

Veterans Day

Veterans Day is the day that we honor those who have served in the United States Armed Services consisting of the military services of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard.

To those who have served and continue to serve, we offer up a huge debt of gratitude and heart-felt honor from those of us, the citizenry of the United States of America, whom you serve in our stead.

There have been times when serving in the US Armed Services was not an option. Those of us who are old enough, saw our friends and family mandated to serve in the military, forced to fight on our behalf by law, sometimes against their will. Regardless, whether a veteran volunteered or was drafted, you were placed in a position – that for whatever reason – I and my fellow Americans were spared.

You, our United States Veterans are the true heroes of our nation and in my opinion deserve the highest respect and honor.

On July 4, 2009 PFC Aaron Fairbairn was called upon by the President of the United States and God Almighty to pay the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Years have passed since then, and the pain of that day is still ever present, though my thoughts of what took place on Aaron’s fateful day have run the gamut. I have had other relatives who served, though they lived long enough to be honored on this day. I knew there would be times Aaron would be at risk, I expected him to return to American soil, as did my other relatives.

When I talked to him on the phone the evening of July third (after a period of imposed “radio silence” during which he was not allowed to call) he assured me that everything was okay. During that short phone conversation we talked and laughed before exchanging I-love-you(s) as he longed to phone other friends also while he had time. None of us had any idea that it was going to be the last time we would talk with Aaron.

Though we honor all who have served, are serving – and some are volunteering even as I type these words – some have made and will make the ultimate sacrifice carrying out their oath of service. For Aaron and all those who were called upon to deliver this fateful level of service, America honors them on Memorial Day.

I can’t help to imagine what it must have been like for Aaron and his brothers in arms in the Battle of COP Zerok Paktika in Afghanistan that ensued that day, but it must have been horrifying. As unimaginable as it is for me to think that Aaron was having to draw fire on the enemy, I couldn’t help but think the young man who was shooting at him was someone else’s son, who also made the same sacrifice for what he believed in that day.

No matter what you think of war or the military in general, it can be a very nasty business and thanks to Aaron and all who have served, the rest of us are able to have the freedoms we are offered by the USA while we are spared the potential horror and/or loss of life thanks to their service.

To all Veterans:

May God bless everyone who has taken the States Armed Services oath of service. I will be forever grateful for your courage.

Thank you for your service.

This day, I feel that we are blood brothers and I honor you.

What Are You Going to Do About It?

You gave it your best shot. You had faith, did the work and worked hard at it. You courageously supported, promoted and pushed all your chips onto the table in this deal in an “all or nothing” proclamation of your earnest belief that this was the answer.

Now, you realize – more than ever – sometimes things don’t turn out like you had planned.

You are mad, your feelings have been hurt, you feel betrayed, embarrassed even victimized.

As others are silently watching you, they are waiting to see how you are going to respond to this situation. After an uncomfortable state of shock, you react. Onlookers are taking note of the words that escape you mouth (or fingertips) in this moment.

Some people may unjustly mock, attack or ridicule you based on those first words acknowledging your pain or disapproval of seeing your hopes and dreams demolished. It is a brutal world, full of self-centered cynics who could care less about your emotional state in this tender moment, when you feel as though your world – undoubtedly the one that you so believed in – has crumbled to dust.

Inside each tragedy of life, there lies a hidden treasure chest. Only you have the key to see what’s inside. It’s in times, like these, that we can be empowered for massive growth and change.

there-is-treasure-in-your-tragedy-only-you-have-the-key-david-m-masters — There is treasure in your tragedy only you have the key

When I look back on my own setbacks, like the loss of a marriage and family, betrayal of family or friends whom I trusted, investments that evaporated or the loss of a son in a battle while he was serving offshore in Afghanistan, all of it – no matter how ultimately tragic it was at the moment – was an opportunity for me to grow and live a better life.

Many of us have suffered though what appeared to be insurmountable obstacles. Even though we may have felt as though life was so awful, we were able to push through and enjoy what life was holding for us on the other side.

So, after you’ve gained your balance, it comes down to this:

What Are You Going to Do About It?

This is where the rubber meets the road, or as my grandfather would say, it’s what “separates the men from the boys.”

Maybe you’ve expressed your feelings about your loss shouting from the rooftops, or you may have held your shattered dreams close to the vest, either way, following the realization that things didn’t turn out like you had hoped,

What are you going to do about it?

You could do nothing. You could play the role of the victim, or you could take action, determined to live a better life, your best life, and make the world a better place.

This is when you come face-to-face to the person you were meant to be. You can turn these inner feelings – that could ultimately destroy a normal person – into the fuel necessary to launch your new life or change the world in a major (or even some small) way.

You could talk about it, or you could rise up and take action. In times like these, you give birth or bolster the leader or warrior within.

Start evaluating your life. Look around and see who truly has your best interests at heart. Do some social housecleaning. Maybe it’s time for a change, possibly massive change of career, or location.

Is it time to leverage your skills, to assemble a team or mobilize a movement?

Once you’ve taken action, you realize what a powerful force for good you can be. Go forth in love, with understanding and benevolence, without judgment or disrespect and make the world a better place.

This is your moment.

This is your time.

It has all come down to this,

What will you do about it?

All Things Work Together for Good

In a world that appears to be so unstable, when life tosses you about like a rag doll, it’s easy to settle into the ol’ Charlie Brown line, “Why’s everybody always picking on me?”

As you begin to awaken, live more life and live it more fully, compassionately, enthusiastically and lovingly, you also begin to see this life through a new set of enlightened eyes. With these eyes you can see that even when you thought things were at their worst, looking back you can see those things were moving you toward something better.

Even in those deepest and darkest moments, something beautiful springs to life within you or around you and in retrospect you realize, though it was painful, it was necessary, in your best interest and may have been the only way, you could have redirected you to live a better life.

Enjoying the long distant vistas from the mountaintop of your life experience, you can see how all the events, the good, the bad and the ugly, were all perfectly conceived and enacted in such a way to bring you to this place as your heart wells up with gratitude and love for every inch of the journey.

In fact, on the map of your life, you can see each event – even those that you thought were accidents or coincidental – were perfectly precise pins, strategically placed leading you to where you are today. It’s almost as if, each step was divinely guided (you might be surprised to discover that each step was). In this way, we can rest in the assurance that,

All Things Work Together for Good

Then you ask yourself, “Is ‘good’ good enough for me?”

You believe there is more to this life. You desire more, and you begin to query as to,

What else is possible?

and/or

How much better does it get?

This is the moment you decide to take a proactive approach to creating your own experience in the world.

For instance, you can look around at the world to see it as it is. In your mind’s eye you can see the world as you might like to see it, not only for your own enjoyment but for the benefit of all creatures inhabiting our planet. And you ask yourself,

What can I do to make the world a better place?

While there is so much beyond your control, you reason there must be something you can do to make the world a better place, even if only in some small way. As you ponder these things your mind is quickened with ideas about how you can make a positive contribution, affecting change in the quality of your life, your community and/or the world at large, without having to fight.

Want a different world?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed

No leader, politician or

President will do it for you.

Only you can change your world.

As you take personal responsibility for changing your world for the better, you realize the time has come for you to

Live a Better Life, Your Best Life and Make the World a Better Place.

And so it is.

Sometimes Things Don’t Go as Planned

You may be a doer (you know I love doers, happen to be one myself) and if you are, you may find yourself at risk of finding yourself in awkward situations resulting from your tendency to do a thing (rather than just sit around and talk about it, like other folks).

We all have to deal with fear of the unknown whenever encountering a new opportunity in uncharted territory. While some people allow this fear to overtake them, some of us rise to the challenge, muster up as much courage as possible and forge a new path through an unfamiliar terrain.

While many onlookers watch us in amazement doing things like nobody’s business, they are thinking or caught saying things, like

Wow, I wish I could do that

Or alternatively

Whoa, I’m glad that’s not me

Depending on the circumstance.

sometimes-things-dont-go-as-planned-swing-batter-batter-swing — Swing batter-batter, swing!

It’s not unlike a batting average. You have to swing at a lot of balls to hit a few out’a the park. The more you swing, the more you are going to totally miss. Some will be good base hits, and a few will be home runs.

Regardless of your confidence level, if you keep swinging, your chances are you will do one of two things

You will achieve a level of success or competence

You will learn something and do things differently next time

Of course, there will be those who will internalize the circumstance, fueled with self-doubt will bail out of the game altogether; never to play again because they believe they were better off not having tried at all.

Nonetheless, there are those moments when things do tend to get awkward, or embarrassing. Not just in business, as we tend to apply these very same stormtrooper methods to other areas of life also.

All the while, our friends continue to look on in amazement, uttering those very same lines, “Wow, I wish I could do that,” or, “Whoa, I’m glad that’s not me.”

Being the doer that I am, I have a laundry list of faux pas that could fuel a career as a stand-up comic, though I remain focused on my personal mission and message. So, I’m more likely to find myself staying on track, rather than try my muster at the local comedy club. But, it is great fun and entertainment to swap stories with other doers who have similar tales to tell.

Although, I’m tempted to relate a few of those stories here for your amusement, I don’t really see any value in memorializing the most awkward or embarrassing moments of my personal and/or professional life. Suffice it to say, that no one who is gathering enough courage to go where no man has gone before (or, at least where the individual has never been before) is likely to do so without dealing with challenges, obstacles or unforeseen occurrences, only to find themselves thinking, “Well,

“That’s not the way I planned it.”

How could anyone have known?

Okay, maybe a little more due diligence may have avoided this or that. Maybe a better background check might have been warranted. Maybe projections were off, finances could have been handled better, packaging or branding should have received more attention, and what is it they say about location, location, location?

The list goes on and on… because hindsight is always 20/20. And this is how we learn.

Sometimes all the education, practicing and planning in the world cannot adequately prepare you for that moment, when you’re staring down the pitcher, noting the position of all the other players on the field. Bases are loaded as you wind-up… It all comes down to this.

Crack!

That ball travelling at 80 MPH lands smack dab in the pitcher’s mitt.

It happens.

Just as Tennyson wrote, “Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all,”

It is better to have tried and failed, than never to have tried at all.

This is the most common regret of those approaching this life’s exit point: “If only I’d…”

Don’t let this be you.

Dare to do that thing, and…

Don’t quit.

What Are You Attracting?

Ever wonder why things are the way they are in your life?

The people, peculiarities, situations and circumstances that appear in your life do so according to your beckoning. You called all these things into being by the power of your thoughts, or even more powerful: your spoken words.

According to the Law of Attraction, what you think or speak about is what you are attracting to you, even if it your thoughts are in the negative form. For instance, if you were to think, “I want to see a black cat,” or alternatively, “I don’t want to see a black cat,” the universe responds by providing you the opportunity to see a black cat.

If you add an enormous amount of energy to what you don’t want, like emphatically telling all your friends that you don’t want to see a black cat as long as you live, possibly scream it at the sky or pray fervently about how much you never want to see a black cat again, guess what?

You got it: A big black cat… maybe even a barrage of many black cats.

If this is true, then everything in life that surrounds you is a product of your thoughts or the words that escape your lips. And it is likely, the more things you don’t want (especially if you’re enthusiastic about not wanting it and/or clearly express your not wanting it) the more opportunities you have to interact with what you do not want.

What do you want?

The answer is easy: Start thinking about and professing what you do want.

Even religious texts urge us to think about good things, so this is nothing new. For if we focus on the negative, this is what we get, on the other hand if we think only about those things that are good and lovely, beautiful, honorable and bring us joy, then more of these things are added to our life.

Stop thinking, speaking (or even worse: obsessing) about what you don’t want and start focusing intently and enthusiastically about what you do want.

The people who seem to have the best lives, the best luck and attract the best opportunities and circumstances think and speak positively about their expectations and (here’s the next piece) believe these things will come to pass.

You are energy

As much as we’d like to believe that we are flesh and bone, there is a much greater more powerful version of ourselves accompanying us on our journey on this planet. We are actually more energy than we are matter. Our energy emits a certain frequency and everything that exists around us is a perfect match to the energetic frequency we send out.

When you have a powerful, energetic thought which is contrary to your normal frequency or vibration, a powerful burst of energy explodes disrupting the vibration to which you have been so accustom.

While this creates a weak spot in your normal vibrational frequency, it is not enough to permeate your field of vibration for longstanding change.

Sustain

That is where belief comes in. Thinking and/or speaking disrupts your current vibration and belief sustains the new frequency. In this way, the more you focus on the new thought pattern and the longer you trust or have faith that it will come to pass, the more certain your positive results.

What if I doubt?

Doubt is an explosive energetic demand that the universe return you to your previous vibration or state of affairs. You can correct for this by immediately initiating an emphatic positive affirmation, in essence, changing the channel back to your higher frequency or vibration. Continued doubt, will result in sustaining the old vibration and returning you to that which you’re more used to.

What about the how?

We can get distracted by trying to figure out the how. This is where logic gets in the way of the power of the universe. If we can stay focused on only the end result as non-specifically as possible, this allows the universe to fully engage bringing to us on that which is our highest and best, in ways we may not have been able to imagine, with a far greater end result.

To change your life all you need to do is to change your thoughts/words (the more enthusiastically the better), continue to believe the new results will appear, to be open and allow the details to be delivered in the best way possible, and you will find yourself enjoying having the things you want in your life, the way you want them, or even more.

Lead With Love

Gone are the days of heavy-handed leadership in the civilized society. Civilians are less likely to respond well to militaristic management styles. As we continue to evolve beyond our basic humanity, there is an awareness emerging, a sense that there is something more to life than just being a simple worker bee.

This urge to sense there is more to discover is the root of an enormous awakening in humanity, though the professional communities are more likely to convince you the urge can be (and should be) focused on your individual quest for meaning and purpose through your career choices or working environment.

Excellent upgrades are permeating the workforce of America – and the world – as we look at better ways to treat workers, because the militaristic methodologies or slavery-style leadership is being viewed as cruel or inhumane as workers feel they bring more value to the planet than being reduced to simply being a cog in the wheel.

As humanity continues to evolve society must discover ways to accommodate the evolution of the human mind, body and spirit as we head into the future.

The emergence of a kinder, gentler counter leader approach to leadership is gaining ground among professional management, rather than leading with an iron-fist, we are finding that the most productive leaders

Lead With Love

While this may be a difficult concept to embrace when you are first introduced to it, we all can agree with the idiom, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” It becomes necessary for leadership to treat their workforce with respect imbuing them with a sense of belonging, dignity and worth to achieve maximum effectiveness and higher retention.

It follows, if leadership were to turn up the volume on respect to its highest level you would be looking at “love” face to face. Hugely uncomfortable for some, but a brilliantly enlightened approach to team-building and the creation of uplifting support staffs.

Promoting camaraderie and a joyous work environment is trending in business cultures and the effects are paying off for the businesses and corporations utilizing these tactics… but as the workforce continues their evolution, there is an increasing sense of finding more meaning in what they do.

The most basic need of humanity is to love and be loved. Though we try to beat the sense of love or being worthy of love out of our societal structure (and certainly society has initiated many campaigns to persuade us to believe that love is folly and fleeting) innately we know that we were created to love and be loved, even if we’re unlikely to agree with the concept in the moment.

Work for Free

I work with leaders who lead with love. They are bold about it and their cultures radiate it within their organizations and to the communities they serve. Even though these workers are being well compensated, they are not motivated by the money at all. In fact, they have said – and I believe them – that they would work for free because they love their work.

To them, love is all there really is.

Now, that got the attention of leadership. Think about it, to have a team that was so in love with you, your business or organization (and each other) that they would work for free to support your vision.

Of course, leading with love and creating a culture of loving lovers is a daunting task if you are not truly a lover yourself. For those I know who lead with love, they are supported by the most amazing love cultures, and it just comes naturally to them.

Their business culture is an extension of who they are. As they are evolving into more loving individuals the love bug infects their entire organization like a sacred virus.

I am confident that as more people awake to the enlightened sacred virus, they will expect and eventually seek love in their daily lives even more than monetary reward.

How can you better lead with love?

Cancer of Giving

‘Tis better to give than receive.

That’s what they say.

So, the most benevolent of us often finds ourselves giving and giving upon giving for the benefit of others, while we sacrifice ourselves to death. It is not uncommon for these massively unselfish individuals who would give you the shirt off their back, the shoes off their feet and even their rent money to develop cancer and die. In some cases, the cancer and the idea of passing from life to death is comforting because the patient feels as though their reward for their selflessness waits on the other side.

Yet, not all who give of themselves unselfishly get sick and/or contract cancer, some actually are flourishing as others deteriorate suffering from a variety of ailments.

So what’s the difference?

You

You are the difference. How do you feel when you give?

Givers who give from abundance and joy give from a cup that is full… and they may have multiple full cups to give from. These are they happy, healthy givers. Giving from one cup – which may be low – may be emotionally financed from another overflowing cup.

In this way, you could have two people both with the same amount of money in the bank. They both give all that they have in their bank account to help a family who has lost everything due to their home being burned to the ground. One is enthusiastic, energized and happy about the gift, while the other is discouraged, depleted and depressed about the gift. Though I have used money as an example. I’m referring to giving of anything, like time, attention, talent, belongings, location, etc…

Those who are constantly asking, “What can I do for you?” and those who are inclined to offer unsolicited acts of kindness are superheroes in our society. But if your giving is not making you feel good, then you may be practicing unhealthy giving and this unhealthy giving could be killing you.

Self-sacrificially giving to make you feel better about yourself (if you’re not feeling well, suffer from feelings of inadequacies or unworthiness). while there may be a temporary surge of feeling better (it does make you feel good to help someone else) the longer term effects can exasperate your health and wellness.

All resources are not created equal, some balance sheets have a greater value than others but combined they could represent a healthy portfolio from which healthy giving could flow, even if one account is low, the other accounts can subsidize the giving.

20 Ways to Fund Your Giving

These various accounts represent things other than the cup the gift originates from. In example, here are twenty cups that could help you finance your giving to others, such as (1) Food/Shelter/Clothing, (2) Self-confidence/esteem, (3) Optimistic Outlook on Life, (4) Good Health, (5) Loving Family, (6) Good Friends, (7) Cuddly Pets, (8) Transportation, (9) A Good Job, (10) Low (or no) Debt, (11) Worry-free, (12) Creative Thought Processes, (13) Enthusiastic Hobby and/or Ongoing Projects, (14) Reading Good Books, (15) Trying or Learning New Things, (16) Extra Time on Your Hands, (17) You Treat Yourself First, (18) Open to Receiving, (19) Happiness (present and past) and (20) Gratitude.

It is the combined balance of all these accounts which fuels your ability to participate in healthy giving.

If you are giving due to lack of any of these accounts, the results can be destructive to your body, soul and spirit.

Does it mean to stop giving?

Well, if your giving is killing you or making you susceptible to attracting cancer or other diseases, it may be time to cut back on your giving until you’re able to build up balances in other accounts first.

This is an exciting journey.

Manage what you can in the best way possible for living a better life.

Stars and Stripes Motivation Fuel

In my work with people and their businesses to increase their prospects in life, I find the underlying motivations for increasing their market share has a long reaching impact on their potential success and sustained longevity in a particular marketplace.

Stars and Stripes

They can be basically represented by two categories, Stars: those who are driven by a desire to achieve fame and/or fortune and alternatively, Stripes: those who are driven by a deep sense of purpose and/or desire to disseminate information, skills, techniques or insights that may significantly impact our planet or its inhabitants.

Stars are those who will do anything to raise their status whether in terms of celebrity or increased cash flow or financial status.

Stripes are compelled or inspired to help others and/or make the world a better place. They would serve the greater good or community regardless of recompense.

All personality types and economic conditions are represented in both categories of Stars and Stripes.

The only significant difference is found within the heart of the individual which fuels the fire of desire.

There are basically two types of fuel that powers the engine enabling a person to take quantitative action toward establishing a particular goal. One is ego-centric, while the other is soul-centered in nature.

The ego-centric fuel burns brightly for the shining Stars but does not sustain power for long requiring more fuel to be added to the motivational furnace. Ego-centric fuel originates from outside the body. It must be measured and obtained from exterior sources, such as the response from, or comparison to, others.

The soul-centered fuel which powers the Stripes comes from within, it may not burn as brightly but sustains a consistent flow of energy that is both efficient and sustainable over long periods of time. Although approval and support from others may increase the ultimate effectiveness of the impact of Stripes, it is unnecessary for sustainable results.

While Stars may leave behind a decent degree of recognition or in the best case scenarios a significant inheritance, Stripes leave behind a legacy and an aura of having made the world a better place, even if only in some small way and may also have acquired substantial wealth doing so.

We may often think that money is the result of hard work or the ability to take from others to achieve a desired result, but money also seems to come to those who are congruent with their sense of purpose and service with a pure heart, if they are open to the idea of receiving. In terms of abundance or the Law of Attraction, the process is effective if worked properly regardless of whether you are a Star or Stripe.

The main difference between Stars and Stripes comes down to the way they feel about what they do.

Stars tend to experience more anxiety and are driven by measuring themselves in comparison to the competition. Always measuring their level of fame or success which may (or may not) sustain the power required for pushing through boundaries with little more than brute strength, leaving one feeling exhausted in trying times.

Stripes experience more peace, a sense of losing track of time because they love what they do, as they focus their efforts to achieve the results they are so compelled to pursue. While they, too, may face obstacles and challenges they keep moving forward with a sense of doing the right thing, though they may tire and reward themselves with a bit of relaxation to regain their composure.

Are you among the Stars or Stripes?