It is possible to say that our world will never be the same because of a group of heroic, courageous, and fearless leaders, the US Navy Seals, who put their lives in harm’s way in order to end an era of toxicity which was led by Osama Bin Laden. I am not here to go on a political tirade, nor am I am going to discuss my beliefs on what will manifest as a result of our actions, but what I will do is share an interesting philosophy. On May 1, 2011, the United States of America began celebrating the death of an infamous figure, who was responsible for one of the most viscous and tragic events which has taken place in the history of the world…9/11. But as the United States culminated with cheers of joy, there were people in other countries who were not rejoicing, but rather paralyzed with anger and pain. The same event happened in the same world, but yet, people from two distinct geographic areas and beliefs, interpret these events completely different. This obviously held true on 9/11 because as the United States suffered and mourned the loss of so many people, (and our sense of security); other countries raided the streets in fits of joy, excitement, and the illusion of power. Once again, the same event took place in the same world, but yet, people from two distinct geographic areas and beliefs interpret these events completely different. So although there are a plethora of lessons which can be discussed from what took place, I believe most of these principles are on a macro level and somewhat abstract if applied in our everyday lives. But as I was working out early Monday morning, and the nine flat screen TV’s in my gym were all echoing the same sentiment about the events from the evening before, I began to think about what YOU AND I can learn and integrate into our lives. And then it struck me…

The same event took place in the same world, but yet people from two distinct geographic areas and beliefs, interpret these events completely different.

Whether the “event” was the end of Osama Bin Landen’s life, or the Yankees winning the World Series, or the changing of power in the House, these are all events that represent the law of DUALITY. One group celebrates, while the other suffers. Same event, same world, different interpretation.By no means am I comparing the Yankees to Osama Bin Laden, but I wanted to emphasize this point, and then help you realize where this COULD be showing up in your life. Those of you who are blessed with the fortune of love and intimacy by means of a marriage or relationship may have had this exact same experience surface at some point during your life. For example, has there ever been a time when your significant other asked you to spend an evening doing something that you really did not want to do? Your immediate reaction may have been “NO or NOT INTERESTED!” That moment represents an event where the premise of DUALITY is flagrantly obvious as you celebrate your fictitious victory by “not giving in,” while your significant other suffers. This could also “show up” in your career, your relationship with your children, with your personal health, and many other areas as well. What I encourage you to recognize is that there are ALWAYS two sides to each event, one that celebrates and the other that suffers. So why is this so important?

 When it comes to Osama Bin Laden, some would say justice has been served, while others believe that a monumental leader has died. This might be an extreme example, but regardless how many times have you asked yourself, “How will the other person feel based on my actions (or inactions)?”

It comes down to a simple premise to live by…CONSIDER the perspective of others! I know the macro event of Osama Bin Laden does not even compare to telling your significant other that you do not want to consider their request, but on a micro level, within your relationship, it means the world. So my challenge for you is the following…

Today or tomorrow, operate from a place of consideration, where you literally put yourself in the shoes of the opposing party, and think about how you would feel based on the action, or inaction, that will be exerted from where you were prior to making this shift. This philosophy is something that will yield magnificent achievements in your life because it will have you recognize the power of duality, which I define as…

For every action (or inaction) there are two perspectives present, one which celebrates and the other which mourns.

Therefore, prior to the action, or inaction, place yourself in the perspective of the other party and then ask yourself this question… “Is it worth it?”

When it comes to Osama Bin Laden, the answer is obvious and I want to commend the US NAVY SEAL, and our entire country, for never giving, never backing down, and for BE-ing an example of what is truly possible when you combine a vision and never give up mentality…I am proud of our country.

But for all of you…HOW DOES THIS SHOW UP IN YOUR LIFE? 

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

Some pictures from Flickr.

Since this is the first message of the New Year, I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for allowing me to do what I do. For the past six years, I have had the vision of starting a company that would be the catalyst for sustained change in the lives of the masses, where each product, service, message, quote, and everything about the culture which was developed, bred positivity, risk taking, and a never ending desire to become clearer about your authentic self. Even though we are only two months into this adventure, I know we are headed in this direction and beginning the manifestation process.

Last week, I had one of the members of BRANDENTITY ask me an interesting question about how I can be so certain the IDENTTIY REVOLUTION will truly have the far reaching affect that I guarantee will take place. I was intrigued by this question and answered in a simple, yet complex fashion, “When you lead with purpose, drive with passion, clearly define your outcome, and deflect challenges, manifestation of your vision is the only possible result.”

This response might seem somewhat abstract, which is why I am going to go into greater detail, but I firmly believe that this pertains to all of your lives, regardless of what you are looking to accomplish.

Lead with purpose

The first question you need to answer is often the reason why many people do not even begin this process because your response might be hidden amidst many layers and it will take time, energy, and effort for this discovery to take form. But with this being said, “What is your purpose?” We can define purpose as your mission in life. It is what you are looking to accomplish, whether it is of great magnitude or somewhat trivial. When finding your purpose, it is critical to avoid the nightmare associated with comparison because it is not something that will be found based upon observing what others are doing. Your purpose is what enables you to get out of bed in the morning, and although this might seem abstract, everyone has one, but very few actually discover their purpose over the course of their lives. Your purpose is what enables you to spend your life outside your comfort zone because you realize that this is where your growth will occur, regardless of your fear of the unknown. Your purpose will allow risks to be taken because your will be working synergistically with your values which happen to be your guiding principles in life. Your purpose is similar to your DNA because there is NO ONE that has your exact mission in life. Therefore, what is your purpose?

This is how I would answer this question: My purpose is to see something in people that they do not see in themselves, and once I find these hidden strengths, I must ignite each individual’s self belief system, through the written and spoken word, in order to allow them to see what I see and begin living a life which is congruent with their identity.

Drive with passion

In the e-book I published, 11 Principles to Lighting Your World on Fire, the eighth principle is to LIVE WITH PASSION! This philosophy is not something that I created, but rather something that has been in existence since the birth of time. People who drive with passion are the ones who live a life where the majority of their dreams become realities. Passion is the fuel that enables you to overcome barriers in your world. Passion, when combined with purpose, is the most powerful tool that all of you possess because when you are living with this profound emotion through your conscious state, you will realize that challenges are actually opportunities for something incredible to take place. Passion is what enables you to stay up late into the night, and awake early in the morning, with newfound energy and excitement for the day ahead. Passion is what permits you to love the people in your world, with everything that you have inside, because you are living in fulfillment enabling you to experience abundance. Passion is not something that can only exist in one area of your life, but rather needs to become part of your way of BEING as you progress through the manifestation process. Therefore, what is your passion?

This is how I would answer this question: My passion is to witness the tipping point in the lives of the masses, where they finally realize what they deserve in life. My passion is my family and my ability to unconditionally love and support each of these individuals through eternity. My passion is my health because without health, you have nothing. My passion is me because I realize that I was born with a gift, like all of you, to use my internal tools to create something incredible in this world. My passion is YOU!

Clearly Define Your Outcome:

This component to the manifestation process is something that many of you have heard time and time again. But the reason it is reiterated is because it is essential to your success. If you do not know what you want to achieve and what you want to manifest, then you have chosen to go on a vacation without ever deciding on the destination. The result is futile because you may be headed in a direction which is completely not congruent with what you want from your life. For example, if your manifestation process deals with becoming a stay at home parent in order to support your children and cultivate them through their youth, but you begin to choose a path of corporate employment that consists of excessive traveling, long hours, and deadlines; than your outcome has not been clearly defined and may never be achieved. But at the same time, this is not the first principle that needs to become part of your existence because without realizing your purpose and driving with passion, you will be unable to clearly define your outcome because of your inability to envision what this would mean in your world. There are incredible benefits to clearly defining your outcome because it leads to a sense of excitement as you can now see what you will be, do, and have in your life. Therefore, how would you clearly define your outcome?

This is how I would answer this question: I will host seminars around the world for couples who need to establish an identity together and also an identity apart. I will publish three New York Times Bestsellers. I will have an intimate relationship with a partner who is congruent with my purpose and passion and also wants to contribute to our mission which we define together. I will have a family that understands the power of positive self talk. I will constantly get healthier because of the choices I make in my life. I will always focus on living to my full potential while never taking a second for granted.

Deflect challenges

There is no question to answer in this component, but rather a level of awareness that needs to take place. The manifestation process is definitely not the easiest path to pursue, but it is certainly the most liberating and fulfilling experience that will take place in your life. With this being said, challenges will surface throughout the entire process. There will be people telling you to stop dreaming, barriers which force you off course, thoughts of giving up, feelings of being lost, etc. What you must realize is throughout this entire process you are growing. When challenges surface, accept them, recognize them, deflect them, and continue to lead with purpose, drive with passion, and clearly define your outcome.

Manifestation of your vision:

It is now time to celebrate because you are working towards achieving whatever it is you desire and you have the ability to enjoy and grow from the journey. There are trials and tribulations throughout this process, but what you will realize is once everything begins to manifest, a body in motion tends to stay in motion, as said by Isaac Newton. You will begin to witness other dreams come to fruition and accomplish more than ever before because momentum leads to results.

Therefore, whether your desired result is to support your family, earn $1 million, patent a product, see 1,000 patients in your practice, get selected in the first round of the MLB draft, raise capital for your start-up, break an addiction, or anything else you are looking to accomplish in your world, this approach will provide you with the framework for the manifestation process to take place. But you must not cut corners, and instead, enjoy the entire process, whether it is the highs of all highs, or the lows of all lows, because regardless of your perspective of the events which take place, you will still get to the point of manifestation as long as you do not lose site of your purpose, passion, and defined outcome.

What are you looking to manifest?

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

Some pictures from Flickr.

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I want to share a story with all of you today, which is something I have rarely discussed with anyone, because there was a time in my life when I almost gave up! I am not sure if the story I am about to share is going to seem critical, but the message and the underlying premise should ring loud and clear. Many of you might be aware of my original email subscription, Jared Yellin Revisited, which began in November of 2007 and lasted until the day Brandentity was launched. The purpose of these inspirational messages was to communicate my feelings on a variety of topics concerning the establishment of your identity. After four months of successfully growing the distribution list and receiving unbelievable feedback, I was in the process of composing my Valentine’s Day email. Upon completion of this message, where I felt an enormous amount of pride in myself for sharing my thoughts on LOVE, my computer froze and the work was lost. For about forty-five minutes, I just stared at a blank computer screen with feelings of resentment, aggravation, and gloom surfacing. I felt completely empty as I realized this was going to be an important decision in my life—to write or not to write—that was the question?

Many of you might think that I am dramatizing this situation, but I encourage you to think about a time in your life when everything seemed to be coasting, you were gaining momentum, achieving success in whatever it is you were doing, and simply feeling wonderful about life. This might have been when you were in relationship, pursuing a career as an entrepreneur, or participating in an activity that was a passion for you. As you are picturing yourself taking part in any of these situations, I want you to try and feel the incredible energy that began to surface as a result of your excitement and enthusiasm. As you begin feeling the emotions of this event, I want you to think about how you would feel if everything all of sudden became frozen, you lost the feeling, and the only way to get it back was to start from scratch. My passion at that time, since I was on Wall Street and living an identity-less life, was spreading a message of hope because it was therapeutic for me to discuss topics that were prevalent in my world. And then the computer froze and a message about LOVE was lost in cyberspace.

The question I would like all of you to consider answering is when did this happen in your life? I am sure at some point in the past you were passionate about something, until a barrier stood between you and the passion, resulting in an abbreviated journey. But as you stood looking at this barrier, which could be a lack of identity, an injury, divorce, and a variety of other challenges, you had the opportunity to ask yourself—to continue or not to continue—that was your question? Only you know how you answered, only you know if you are still pursuing whatever it is that was halted, and only you know if there is an empty feeling inside because you gave up on something you loved dearly. I am not here to put you through a guilt trip, while putting myself on a pedestal, because I obviously did not allow myself to give up, but I am here to tell you that one of the reasons you might be struggling when it comes to establishing your identity is that this scenario has taken place on a number of occasions in your life.

Since this might be the case, I am going to provide you with the Six Steps To Continue, which enabled me to look past the barrier of a frozen computer, to the endless opportunities which were on the horizon:

1.) Make a list of how not continuing has or will change the way you live your life.

In order to begin this process, you will need to forecast what you believe your life will look like if you decide not to continue. For example, let’s pretend that you were beginning a diet and exercise program, and as you started to gain momentum, you broke your foot which prevented you from the physical aspect of this lifestyle change. If you allow this injury to keep you sidelined for longer than you need to heal, then there is a possibility that you will allow yourself to gain weight, raise a family that is unhealthy, have additional hours of sleep, have a shortened lifespan, etc.

2.) Write either a P for positive or an N for negative besides each of these items.

Each of the consequences that you find will lead to a positive or negative interpretation. Everything happens for a reason and the barrier you are facing on your journey may have developed for your own good. Only you will be able to determine if the benefits of not continuing will outweigh the advantages of enduring.

3.) For the items that received a P, determine what actions will need to be taken in order to continue.

This is your opportunity to create a strategy to succeed with this continuation process. In the example from above, you could hire a personal trainer who is going to create a program for you to follow once provided with the approval from your doctor. You could prevent yourself from binging on processed foods and instead focus on consuming healthy alternatives. You could purchase a clothing item that is too small for you, but your ideal size, in order to inspire yourself to fit into the outfit. You could commit to a gym membership for your entire family so that this can become part of the culture at your home.

4.) Consider the potential barriers that could surface

By addressing the challenges that you could face, before they even happen, you will be prepared to navigate past these circumstances and achieve your desired goal. I believe that preparation is one of the fundamental elements of success, and by addressing the barriers prior to them surfacing, you will be fully equipped and ready to take on the challenge.

5.) Imagine what you life will feel like once you make the commitment to continue

This relates to Starting With the End in Mind because once you are able to envision the emotions associated with overcoming the obstacle and continuing the journey, you will do everything in your power to make this a reality because victory is far too sweet to neglect.

6.) TAKE ACTION!

This is plain and simple because once you follow the prior five steps, the last thing you must do is TAKE ACTION on all of your findings, believe in yourself, and never allow a barrier to prevent you from accomplishing whatever it is that you desire in your life.

I think it is important to commend all of you because as you can see from the list above, the first step to reclaiming your identity is to begin realizing when it was lost. This does not necessarily mean you are all of a sudden going to find the root of your pain, but you might be able to discover something that has contributed to your feelings of loss. Once you determine what this is in your world, and follow the steps from above, the sixth and final step is simply to take action, and reclaim whatever it is that was left behind. As we progress on our journey to BRANDENTITY, there will be countless times when you are faced with similar challenges, and once again, you will be forced to ask yourself—to continue or not to continue—that is your question? But this time around, I am confident that continuing will be the only strategy you consider…

When have you allowed your “circumstances” to prevent you from pursuing a passion?

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

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I was having a pleasant debate with a friend the other day about the concept of acceptance. He began expressing his intense feelings about the semantics of this word because he believes that there is an aura of “weakness” associated with this term, signifying giving up. This conversation was eye opening for me because many of the points he made were completely valid and I firmly believe is part of the mainstream thought process.

When you think of the term “acceptance,” what is the first thing that comes to your mind? I can imagine that it instigates feelings of emptiness, regret, deceit, or even exhaustion because the memory of whatever it is that you are holding onto feels like you are literally carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. This emotion has the potential to present a barrier to your personal growth, as your frustration and animosity for what once was has a paralyzing affect on your overall well-being. This unfortunate sense of consciousness might consume your mind as you begin to reflect on what happened in your past.

Path Of Achievement

I am not sure how palatable the term acceptance is for you, but what I can tell you is that there is infinite potential associated with its meaning. It deals with letting go of the frustrations of yesterday in order to enjoy the moments of today; it focuses on knocking down emotional barriers which have presented roadblocks to your personal growth; and as Denis De Rougamont once said, “Happiness can exist only in acceptance.” Because the Power Of Acceptance will enable you to travel down the Path Of Achievement.

This path is headed in the direction of your personal BRANDENTITY–where you begin to live the life that you create for yourself, as opposed to the life that someone or something has created for you to live. In this scenario, the something that is stealing your identity is simply a memory, one that has impacted the way you live your life for quite some time, but I am here to tell you that you have the ability to recognize what took place in your past. This acceptance has nothing to do with giving up, but everything to do with giving to yourself and moving forward.

The Directions

When traveling down the path of achievement, it is important to bring directions, so that you know exactly where you are looking to go and what you are aspiring to achieve. Therefore, I am going to provide you with 6 Steps that will enable you to accept what happened long ago and start living in an entirely new way.

• Write a list of areas where acceptance would heal- The first step is to determine exactly where your frustrations are taking place in your life. It could be a prior relationship, your career, past events or anything else that tends to surface in your world.

• Picture yourself when you were child - What stress existed at this stage of development? Maybe this was a crayon that was broken, a peer knocking down your blockhouse, or having a crush and being denied.

• Envision yourself 5 years into the future- This will enable you to look at the current situation in your life through an outside perspective.

• Laugh – When you have placed yourself in the future, in a figurative sense, and then look back at the prior years, you will begin to LAUGH because the areas which resulted in stress were nothing in the big picture of life. Similar to how the emotions associated with a broken crayon are of little importance.

• Take Action – Now that you have laughed at your past self because of the stress which you ALLOWED into your life, it is time to TAKE ACTION and begin accepting. This might result in calling long lost friends, forcing yourself to move on, or making amends between family members. The stress associated with these negative events does not serve you, but rather consumes you, and needs to be eliminated from your existence.

• Recycle – We are all human beings, and as a result, this is not a one-time process and instead something that needs to be utilized and implemented on a regular basis in order to induce sustained change.

Life as a Puzzle

It is important that you clearly understand the quote by Denis De Rougamont because this captures the essence of acceptance as it is IMPOSSIBLE, to be happy until we accept what took place in our past. Remember, life is a puzzle, one that has millions of pieces which represent experiences that have taken place in your world. Similar to how a puzzle needs all of its pieces to be complete, your life needs all of the experiences for you to grow and establish your personal BRANDENTITY. Some of these experiences will be ones that you cherish for a lifetime, and others will represent areas of your life that you resent, such as a difficult upbringing, arguments with in-laws, a horrible marriage, or mistakes from the past. But what I encourage you to realize is that until you learn to accept what you are still holding onto, there will be no room for positive experiences in the NOW. So remember, the semantics of the term acceptance mean nothing because the Power Of Acceptance will enable you to travel down the Path Of Achievement, to a place where opportunities become endless, happiness is a virtue and your BRANDENTITY is revealed.

What area of your life can you begin using your POA?

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

Acknowledgements for picture 1 and picture 2 from Flickr.

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