One of the greatest benefits of writing and teaching the things I do is that the insights I try to share, which I hope are helpful and useful, are often reflected back at me tenfold, with readers adding their own observations and insights that end up reinforcing my own beliefs. I have lectured to and corresponded with people from all over the world, but recently, one of the greatest bits of wisdom I’ve received came from a longtime friend, who, with his wife, owns a furniture store (Hudson’s Furniture, almost in the middle of the towns of Taylor and Snowflake) barely more than a mile from where I’m sitting. I grew up with his older brother, and I can almost see the house he was raised in from my Studio. An excerpt from his letter to me is below, and if you’ve read any of my Meditations at all, especially the book he quotes from—Drawing Out The Dragons—then you’ll understand pretty quickly why this resonates with me:

“As I have thought about your writings I latched onto what you said when you wrote “if you really want to do something, no one can stop you. But if you really don’t want to do something, no one can help you.” This reminded me of a story a friend of mine once told me about how one day when he was younger he was in the yard with his dad and their neighbor came over and asked his dad if he could borrow their ax. His dad replied “no, I need to shave tomorrow.” The neighbor left surely confused as was my friend. Once the neighbor was gone he turned to his dad and asked why he responded the way he did. His father remarked “when you don’t want to do something, any excuse will do.”

I believe that what you wrote and what my friend learned, along with the new addition to his quote, are pretty much the same thing. Desire is the biggest advantage we have in this life of agency. Desire leads to action, whereas a lack of desire results in a lack of action. I have been guilty of this way too often in my life. I hope that I have learned from my own personal experiences that it is up to us to create our own destiny. God, being the supreme being that He is, endows us with the power to create. He then employs us, His children, to assist Him in creating not just life but our own lives if you will. We don’t have to worry about right brain left brain when we choose to determine our own destiny. Actually, if you think about it, it is a “no brainer.” Our spirits already know how to accomplish all that we have learned about choosing our own destiny. All we have to do is submit the flesh to the spirit.”

Well said, Aaron. Thank you for this. And to the rest of my readers: you get to decide your destiny. You already know what you want. You have today, only today, ever, in which to do it. Make it matter.