CHAPTER 1
Here We Go!
The club is pumping tonight. Bodies are moving spasmodic to the loud music and pulsating base. The smell of smoke, sweat, and wet soil from the outside rain brings back past memories of fun and joy.
I can feel the rhythm of the music vibrating through my clothing and it thrills me. The joyful shouting and chanting from the crowd in front of me is energising and fun to watch. Every beat changing the dance floor continuously with convulsing colourful bodies as lights and lasers decorate the darkness in flare and in tune to the loud music. This is truly an experience to enjoy.
But then I notice the crowd dancing in front of me, the people moving around me. I don't mean just seeing them and how they dance, smile, and move. I mean really notice them. The way they look at each other to find acceptance, the constant analysis of everyone dancing around them, and the longing most have for attention.
I find myself looking at their eyes and body language while they dance and interact. I start seeing the fake and momentary joy as they all seem to find courage in the alcohol they consume and people they surround themselves with. I see men hunting for beautiful and vulnerable girls and girls trying to show off themselves in seeking attention.
I see sadness and longing and hidden pain and rejection. I see false pride and neglect. There is a lot of longing for attention and protection, especially from the ladies. I see men disrespecting men and ladies. I see aggression, selfishness, and isolation. It saddens me.
It all seems to come clear that most of the people here are looking for temporary or long-term security, acceptance, or pleasure in people that seem to be just as lost as they are. Guys that use drugs to make themselves look bigger and more muscular, girls that dress in as little clothes as possible, guys and girls that are fit and well built, guys and girls that are obese or very overweight, clean people, dirty people, intoxicated people, well-dressed or poorly dressed people, and everyone in between all have one thing in common: trying to find who they are and obtain some value in people who are looking for the same thing.
As I stand there looking at all these weird and wonderful people each caught up in their own little world of the here and now, I realise a very simple truth once again. I realise that there are so many people in this world who are going to wake up tomorrow with the same question that they went to bed with the previous day.
In this place, the music is nice, the people are nice, the energy is nice, and momentary short-lived joy is great. But in waking up the next morning, will your life be different, changed, improved, or more exciting?
Maybe ...
Maybe you met this one person who changes your life for the better or worse. Or maybe something happens that opens your eyes or cripples you forever. Maybe we walk out of this club and someone decides to bless us with a fortune of happiness and joy.
Whatever happens or might happen and whatever the consequences of this night, the one thing that alters the outcome and changes the odds in your favour is the one thing that I realised not many in the club understands or knows. It's the one question that changes lives, households, communities, and countries. It's the answer to the question that everyone is asking themselves every day and most are looking for in the wrong places. This answer is the Holy Grail of all you can be and is destined for.
And the question that you need to an answer too is the one that made you curious about this book. You know it ...
Who am I?
CHAPTER 2
Who Am I?
In the recesses of what we call our individuality, there is a lingering longing to be accepted, to be adored, to be loved. Deep inside us is a realisation that we are worth something and that we are special and unique, that there is a reason that we are here. In the deep recesses of our mind is a deep longing to know who we are and what we are worth. It's what drives us to do the things we do and make the choices we do. It's what guides us on how to treat others or where we end up in life.
It is the single biggest driving force of you as an individual, and it is the central most important aspect of your individuality. In the end, it comes down to the one question that you not only ask yourself daily but that the others around you ask themselves about you as well ... that single question that pulsates through our reality and that governs our interaction is the one question that more than the majority population does not know the answer too ... that one question is 'Who am I?'
But then, it's not that simple, is it? How can I make a statement like that?
Well if you provide me with your time I would love to explore this statement with you and in doing so possibly empower you with the knowledge to take your life and understanding thereof to the next level. After all, knowing who you are and what your capabilities are will in essence enable you to tap into the very energy that creates success in faith, business, relationships, and life in general. If I ask the right questions and provide the right mental directionality of the answer to the question, would you want to be in a position to answer it?
We are all the authors of the rest of our lives, based on the truths we choose to follow and the risks we decide to take. Very few are in a position where success is given to them, and even then only time tells of whether or not they stayed successful in the major aspects of their life. If you look at how many seemingly successful artists and actors fall from fame through drugs, relationships that fall apart, health that deteriorates, and the total destruction of so many lives irrespective of their money and fame, only one question remains ... Who were they really?
So where are you currently in your path to the rest of your life? What are your goals and your vision for your future? What do you base your expectations and visions on? How are you limiting your future by your thoughts and negative views? Has others restricted your views and expectations by their negativity and influence? Are you where you want to be? Who are you?
Please follow me down this journey to unlocking the truths that govern our reality and how you can rise beyond your current circumstances and reality. Allow me to show you how you are the author of your future and that every choice you make and every thought you decide to accept is stealing your future or building it. Please do not misunderstand my previous statement. You are not the author of your salvation. When you die, the consequence of your life will have an effect. This book is based on your life, not your salvation. Only one name can bring salvation and peace through his love and grace, but that is another story that you will have to discover for yourself.
Let's walk the road to obtain the guidelines that made so many rise up from the dark, miserable reality that was given to them through circumstances created by others or the wrong choices they made, to being some of the most inspiring, richest, happiest, and noticeable figures of your everyday life.
I cannot give you happiness, nor can I make you rich. But I can certainly share some of the secrets that would enable you to start rewriting your future if you accept and grasp the concepts provided to do so.
Only you have the power to discover the secrets, capability, and power within you, and the first step to do that is to ask, 'Who am I?'
A few pages back, I made a statement that the single biggest driving force of you as an individual is the question of who you are, and it is the central most important aspect of your individuality.
When a person loses faith in themselves, things around them collapse and eventually they do too. When a person does not know their value or base their value on the truth, they will attach their value to external things as money, success, acceptance, substances, clothing and jewellery, cars, houses, to win all challenges or many other forms of false self-worth.
When these things are removed, the person will crumble or act out and often face various levels of depression.
Emotional instability, aggression, abuse, and many other self-centred actions are often based on a low self-worth and the inability to feel important, good, or acceptable enough in front of others. This will be in many situations as in sport, social events, conversations, and especially with family and close friends. If you know who you are, what you are capable of, how others and the connections to others work, it will improve your life and it will not matter what challenge you face. You will be able to overcome.
In my life, it was my faith and understanding of the aspects in this book that saved me many times.
Let's have a look at what aspects I am speaking about.
CHAPTER 3
The First Truth — You Are Priceless
I would like to share the first truth by stating that you have more capability and creativity in you that you realise. You see, every person is born with a variety of skills, capability, and gifts in various combinations. Yes, you need to learn to use them, but it is something you are born with and develop over time. In essence, it's not just your DNA that makes you different, but you're a magnificent blend of thoughts, energy, ideas, concepts, variety, influences, gifts and skills, vision, culture, and a variety of different other aspects. You have so much capability, waiting to be unleashed.
This is true no matter with what defects you were born with or what culture, religion, environment, class, society, or country you were born into.
To put it plainly, you are unique! A jewel. Precious in every way. And no matter how you feel or what you have been told, you are one of a kind and rare. No one has the right to tell you otherwise.
You see, just because people feel threatened by you or because they think you are weak. Just because they imprint their failures on you, or point out your failures. Just because people mistreat you, misuse you, hurt you, or reject you. Just because they force you to be who they never could. It does not make any of this real or true.
Even though it feels like it to you, and its seems like it to you, and others force it onto you, and even when you see it or struggle with it, it does not make it true and it certainly does not make it right.
The first truth is, therefore: 'No matter how it seems or how you feel, you must focus on the truth that you are awesome!'
The truth is that no circumstance and no amount of criticism, abuse, or any other form of negativity can change how valuable you are. Only your reaction to it and your acceptance of it has the power to make or break you. Only your own decision to accept what was provided to you would influence you and determine your reaction and future decisions. But even that does not change your value. You are still unique and precious; a little misguided and dirty with negativity maybe, but still extremely valuable.
When you realise that your value is not based on others' opinions of you, words or reactions towards you or your apparent past failures, but rather on what you are in spite of it, you will suddenly possess a power that no one can stand against.
And when you realise that the circumstances that you find yourself in do not define you but are rather defined by you, you suddenly have the power to change it.
Remember that the same counts for those people who project all the above- mentioned negativity onto you. They are just as lost and do not know or understand the effects of the energy they produce. They are the victims of people like them and they never chose to follow the path of love and mercy. What they say should have no effect on you, no matter what you feel towards them. There is no point in submitting to the words and actions of broken and disrupted people. I am not saying that you should disrespect or react aggressively in any way towards them, but I am saying to take anything others say to heart. Find peace in knowing that you have your own path, direction, gifts, talents, and value.
Yes, it hurts for various reasons, but attacks against your character are fake and full of emotional self-centred lies. Ask yourself, what is the motive?
Parents, friends, teachers, siblings, your children, and no one else have the authority or right to tell you how valuable you are because your value is not based on their opinion or perception of you.
As we go through this path to the truth of who you are, you will realise that all the fundamental truths of 'us' has a connection to this fact: 'No matter where you were born, who you were told you are, how much money you think you have or who your family is, you are precious beyond compare.'
And in that value is hidden the fact that your value is not in money (because you are priceless), but rather in what you can provide to the society of man. And once you start tapping into your true value, you will see man's reaction to you adapt accordingly. I will explain this a little later. Our lives are about what we can do for others and what they can do for us. I will go into detail about this law a little later as it governs all aspects of who we are and what we can become.
Your true power starts within and then changes the world without.
Have no doubt that people react to you as you project yourself to them. You project your emotions, expectations, and self-worth onto others.
This brings us to the second law:
The law of projection
CHAPTER 4
The Second Truth — The Law of Projection
When you look at a picture of a happy celebrity or a successful businessman, how do you feel? Do you look at them and think, 'I wish I was like him/her, they look so happy ...', or do you rather despise them for their perceived happiness. What if the same person is on the news and they suddenly look depressed and unhappy, do you still want to be like them or even feel happy at their fall due to jealousy?
Have you realised how you react to people that you meet who are happy and confident? How did you feel around them? Did you feel comfortable and even a little addicted to them? When you are around happy and laughing people, how do you feel? Maybe a little happy yourself?
When you are with unhappy and depressed people, how do you feel? Do you suddenly burst out of your seams with joy? If you do feel happy and joyful after extended exposure to unhappy and depressed people, I would suggest seeing a good psychiatrist.
When people laugh around me I tend to laugh a little too, no matter what emotion I might be caught in. How about you?
You see, each person is surrounded by a layer of energy that affects everything and everyone around them. I am sure you have been in a room and when a certain person walks in you felt the atmosphere change, or when you meet a person that you suddenly feel relaxed and at peace, as if you just want to be with the person.
This energy has many names in many cultures and religions of the world, but at the end of the day, it is what separates the successful and happy form the unhappy and unsuccessful (not specifying in which area you are in your life and not insinuating that is the only thing).
A successful salesperson, businessman, entrepreneur, actor, pastor, or just about any successful individual in any walk of life has that energy they project that affects others to accept and work with them or reject and avoid them. It is the energy they project that is such a powerful force that it affects you even through electronic communications, videos or even images.
It is the power of projection.
This power comes from within, not without. When researching it, it provides a realisation that no matter what happens around us, we are still in control of who we are and where we are going. It is the power to take control or lose control. It's the internal energy that can build or destroy our future.
So where does it come from?
It is always present, always active. Every person has it. Every person has the ability to control it. Your mindset, realisation, or perception of who you think you are and how valuable you realise you are, determines the perception of others around you, about you. Whether you have a spirit of humility or of arrogance, your perception and content with who you are influence the environment and atmosphere around you.
So how do we control it?
You focus on the realisation that you are valuable irrespective of your past, present, deeds, choices, circumstances, or others' thoughts about you. You choose not to accept the perceived realities of your current situations or instances and decide to pulsate your potential and worth.
(This does not in any way refer to arrogance or pride.)
Yes you have potential, lots of it, and we will touch on that shortly.
