8 Steps to Breaking the Cycle of Life

I want to take moment to express how fortunate I feel to have such a loyal group of individuals who have made the commitment to embark on the journey to BRANDENTITY, while leading the IDENTITY REVOLUTION. I know I consistently express my gratitude to all of you, but I think it is important to acknowledge the people who make this possible. With this being said, the message I am going to share with you today is one that is the direct result of an enormous amount of feedback from my recent post, “HAS A CYCLE BEEN PASSED FROM GENERATIONS AGO?” I literally had people from around the world comment on the blog, write me emails, send me Facebook messages, twitter questions, etc., and the common theme was that this message echoed in their lives in a profound way. Each of these individuals are living a life where a cycle has been passed from generations ago, and as a result, they do not know how to start the process of living on their own terms. What I realized, based on all of the feedback, is that in theory this concept makes sense, but in reality, the complexity leads to stagnation. In essence, we need to create a model that will allow all of you to choose a brand new cycle of opportunity, while destroying the rat race of despair.

I have already addressed the concept of epigenetics, or in other words our learned behaviors, but I want to emphasize this point once again because this is what has created our cycle. What we see, hear, and experience on a regular basis influences how we live our lives. Unfortunately, during our formative years, when we are still unable to truly think for ourselves, our parents, teachers, preachers, and society conditions our identity in a way that is more often than not, completely incongruent with who we are as a person. We are trained to believe that there is a “pill for every ill,” obesity is hereditary, addictions are inevitable, and divorce is something that will take place at some point in our marriages. But it is critical for you to understand, prior to implementing the 8 Steps to Breaking the Cycle of Life, that your belief system is based on what YOU BELIEVE, not what you are told to believe. If a mainstream philosophy does not feel right and does not resonate with you, then stop adopting these epigenetic principles into your life. We were all born with the FREEDOM to CHOOSE how we want to live, what we want to believe, and who we are going to be.

I believe that most people are able to recognize what areas of their life they need to change, but what prevents this transformation from taking place is the fear associated with the unknown and the inability to conceptualize how this process will begin. In essence, many people attempt to implement the philosophy of, Starting With the End in Mind; however, get overwhelmed and never take the first step in the direction of where they WANT and NEED to go. But Lao Tzu said it best in the famous TaoTeJing, “The journey of a thousand miles began with only one step.” Therefore, the time is here and the time is now to begin this process and realize that the cycle that has been passed to you needs to be broken, and you must take the first step today.

With no further adieu, here are the 8 Steps to Breaking the Cycle of Life…

1.) Examine Your Life

The first step is to examine your life in order to realize where your transformation needs to begin. Look at the people in your world and society in order to determine how you have been influenced over the course of time. Think about your life objectively and begin to come to terms with whatever cycles are preventing you from reaching your authentic self. This could be the cycle of difficult relationships, obesity, drugs, compromise, financial woes, etc. This is the first step for the rest of your life, so take as much time as you need in order to determine, WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE?

2.) Be Completely Transparent

What I have found is that when people examine their lives, they often prevent themselves from reaching the root of their pain because the emotions which arise are overwhelming and debilitating. They simply scratch the surface of whatever is holding them back because the thought of delving deeper into the core of their existence leads to an uncomfortable feeling inside. But in order to break the cycle in your life, you need to understand where it began and what emotions are allowing it to fester in your existence. Think about a weed in a beautiful garden, the only way to completely eliminate the weed is to dig up the root and remove it in its entirety. The same goes for your pain and the emotions that are correlated to the events of your past. Be honest with yourself while giving yourself the permission to discover a part of you that you have never met before.

3.) Recognize your disgust and disdain

At this point of the process, there is a chance that you will have extreme disgust and disdain for living a compromised identity. I want you to know that these emotions are actually ideal because you are going to do something that you may have never done before by harnessing these feelings and using them for the purposes of motivation. This philosophy is congruent with my last blog post, A PRUNE WILL CURE CONSTIPATION, because emotions equal life, especially when you are in control of the outcome that is achieved. Harness these emotions and use them to catapult you to the next level. Your disgust and disdain will become the fuel to your motivation because living with a cycle created by someone else is unacceptable from this moment going forward.

4.) Know your limitations

This is an important step in the process because everyone will interpret this message in a unique manner based on what works best for each individual. Breaking the Cycle of Life is something that is not for the faint of heart, but rather for people who desire to create a better tomorrow. With this being said, there is a good chance that you will need accountability in order to keep you on track, challenge you beliefs, and never allow you to give up. Many people are able to provide this to themselves, but others need to seek an outside source. If you are able to look in the mirror, for thirty minutes each day, with the discipline to take one step in the direction of your ideal life, then keep on holding yourself accountable; but if not, SEEK HELP. Subscribe to blogs like BRANDENTITY and others, hire a therapist or a life coach, find a friend or family member you can trust, or anything else that makes you uncomfortably comfortable. Accountability is KEY to the success of breaking your cycle so know your limitations and take action!

5.) Find a spark

Even when you think you have lost your identity and have become a shell of who you are, there is always something left that will provide you with the spark that is needed to jolt you in the direction of where you want to go. This spark might be minuscule in nature, but it will be a mere glimpse of your past or future as you discover the ghost of passion, love, and soul. Whether it is music, art, writing, sports, driving, or movies, find it, cherish it, spend time doing it, and it will eventually grow. Even if you feel depressed while implementing this process, because emotions from the past are surfacing, there is always something that will enable you to lose track of time and place resulting in the SPARK needed to break the cycle.

6.) Start loving who you are and who you want to be

You are unable to change the past, but you are in control of how you live today, tomorrow, and everyday going forward. This is critical to remember because if you stop loving yourself, regardless of circumstance, you will never truly be able to break the cycle in your life. Love is the fuel of purpose and the oxygen of honesty. Love is what enables you to look past what you have yet to accomplish, while focusing on the incredible achievements in your life. Love is what allows you to realize that a cycle needs to be broken because the life that you are currently leading is unacceptable and that you deserve more. Be honest with yourself because this will lead to change and could also help you become someone you can love.

7.) Envision a BROKEN CYCLE

Visualization leads to results, especially when it is done in a controlled environment and on a consistent basis. For the purposes of your life, the controlled environment is that of your mind and the consistent basis is everyday until you achieve the results that you desire. When you are able to literally visualize the cycle in your life breaking, begin feeling the excitement associated with this happening, and believing that you are capable of living on your own terms, you will finally live a life that is congruent with your authentic self. Close your eyes and picture the cycle of yesterday being broken into pieces…

8.) Celebrate the big and small

There is no set time for the completion of these eight steps and what you will realize is that there will be victories scattered throughout the process. You will become conscious to patterns from the past which have changed in your present. Some will be magnanimous, while others trivial, but regardless, celebrate the growth when it is happening and acknowledge yourself for having the courage to do what others would never even consider doing. One of the most profound experiences that will take place as you begin breaking the cycle of life is your newfound ability to look in the mirror and see who you truly are, as opposed to who you want to be, or who you once were. This will be enlightening because it will finally allow you to begin recognizing you for being YOU. You will no longer feel the need to compare yourself with who you could have been and instead acknowledge yourself for who you are today. When these breakthroughs take place, celebrate in a way that you have never celebrated before because the cycle of yesterday will be broken into pieces and the cycle of today will just be getting started.

The goal of the Eight Steps to Breaking the Cycle of Life is to recreate a cycle which is healthy, congruent, and allows you to grow. I want to recognize that this is an ongoing process that will manifest in the way you desire once you dedicate your entire being to the transformations that need to take place. Those who are committed, and sick and tired of living on someone else’s terms, will be the elite group that reaches a place in their world that at one point seemed impossible. I want you to know that these eight steps will elicit results, but the degree of results is in your control. With this being said, I encourage you to read and re-read this message so that you can truly grasp the importance of breaking a cycle that is impeding upon your growth. There is nothing that results in an emptier feeling than living a life where you are shell of what you could be. Therefore, embrace this message, make it your own, and start the process of BREAKING THE CYCLE OF LIFE!

Are you READY to start the process?

What does this mean to you? Please leave a comment.

Some pictures from Flickr.

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