{"id":1434,"date":"2015-02-18T04:27:15","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T04:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/?p=1434"},"modified":"2015-02-18T17:50:54","modified_gmt":"2015-02-18T17:50:54","slug":"are-you-growing-or-just-growing-older","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2015\/02\/are-you-growing-or-just-growing-older.html","title":{"rendered":"Are you growing, or just growing older?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2015 Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This is true as it gets!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As of the time of this writing, today is my 37th<\/sup> birthday, as well as celebrating the 4th<\/sup> anniversary of my radio show, Rise UP with B. Dave Walters<\/a>. \u00a0In honor of the day, I talked about several of the most common questions I receive<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In honor of my birthday, we’ll talk about:
\nHow to conquer FOMO, Fear of Missing Out.
\nHow to have unshakable confidence.
\nHow to know if you\u2019re really in love.
\nHow to trust, and how to forgive.
\nHow to know why people do what they do, and what they\u2019ll do next.<\/p>\n

So here, I want to leave you with the number one thing that I have learned in my 37 years of life.\u00a0 The good news is, this is the key to all power, and the secret to have absolutely anything you want to be, do, or have in this life.\u00a0 The bad news is, you won\u2019t want to hear it.<\/p>\n

The secret I this: You have absolute control over your life.\u00a0 It is now, and will always be what you make it.\u00a0 Your life right now, your relationships, your finances, your vocation, your body, and everything else are a direct result of the choices you\u2019ve made and the actions you\u2019ve taken up until now. And there\u2019s nothing wrong with your life right now; it is exactly what it needed to be to get you to this point, and you are exactly who you needed to be to make it happen.\u00a0 And in that, you are perfect. Right now, in this exact second, you are perfect.<\/p>\n

But if you want to be, do, or have, something else, you\u2019re going to need to make some different choices and take some different actions.<\/p>\n

If there is anything you are unhappy with in your life, I would ask what did you do today<\/em> to make it better?\u00a0 How about yesterday, or the day before?\u00a0 If the answer to any of those is \u2018nothing\u2019, then I may have found the problem!\u00a0 And more importantly, now you know where to focus your energy to start creating the change that you want to see.<\/p>\n

Give that episode a listen (you can click here to listen<\/a>), since I gave dozens of tips you can use to help you make that change.\u00a0 Just remember, above all else: You deserve to have a life you are proud of; you deserve to have the very, very best.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Feel free to comment down below!<\/p>\n

You are great, and I love you!
\nAnd if you love me back, click ‘share’ up at the top!<\/p>\n

B. Dave Walters Writer, Life Coach, and Talk Radio Host<\/p>\n

Find out more about me:\u00a0http:\/\/about.me\/BDaveWalters<\/a><\/p>\n

Ask me anything:\u00a0http:\/\/formspring.me\/BDaveWalters<\/a><\/p>\n

Become a supporter of my work:\u00a0http:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bdavewalters<\/a><\/p>\n

Pages I support:
\nJesus and Buddha<\/a>\u00a0— Interfaith dialog<\/p>\n

Gnostic Theism<\/a>\u00a0— Religion and Spirituality for the 21st Century (Join the Movement!)<\/p>\n

Love One Another<\/a>\u00a0— A group for the coolest Spiritual people on the Internet!<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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