The quality of life we live, is based upon learning we derive from our experiences. I know that for myself, it is sometimes easy to feel that "Life has taught me some tough lessons, and scars do not heal easily." When I find myself thinking like this it means that I have fallen into trap of believing that "It is ‘only natural’ that an ‘X’ type event or relationship, will lead to a ‘Y’ type response." At other times it becomes apparent that if I had somehow learned something different from a particular challenging situation, quality of my life would be much more rewarding.

In working with a client struggling with alcoholism, we spent our first session with client telling me in detail how he had come to live such an unhealthy debilitating life. In short he said: "Both my parents were alcoholics, and both of them were physically abusive to me. I grew up never knowing what bad thing would happen next. I learned from my parents that best way to not have to feel pain and uncertainty of life was to escape into an altered state of alcohol induced euphoria." When listening to a client tell such a sad story, it is easy to believe that their situation was all but preordained.

How many of you had a delightful toy where you swiveled end piece and bits of colored paper or plastic created new shapes continuously? Maybe you have grown-up version using glass pieces encased in a heavier material than cardboard that you still point at light and ooh and aah at. Perhaps it's time to go and get one as a reminder to let yourself be in awe of wonder of how simple changes can be made and new solutions found through a little twist.

I worked for a company that named one of their post-production special effects products "Kaleidoscope" because of it's ability to take images and merge, convert, and generally perform magic. If you watch any movies or television you have seen amazing results that technology allows people to achieve. Think of your brain as an incredible piece of equipment powerful enough to mimic this exercise. Study after study has shown that we use just a small portion of our brain's capabilities - and much of that is on logical and analytical portion.

Want to know how to encourage use of your imagination to create more instances of achieving those intuitive a-ha solutions and moments of knowing that you are on right course? That flash of insight feeling? A direct knowing or comprehension. How about that spontaneous understanding of how or why of something. Whether you pay attention or not is a matter of trust in yourself. Of being willing to accept that what you have just realized is valid. Even if it isn't final solution - it's a step up ladder to creating a better you and a new opportunity to reaching goal you are currently pursuing.

Are you providing outlets for your creative senses and need to stretch your boundaries? Allow yourself to feel and act beyond your typical innovative and inventive styles so an even more original strategy can evolve. This generally requires you to be willing to accept ideas from wherever they may emanate (the concept of allowing universe to bring to you what you need and want). Is your mindset one of limitations or expansiveness? Are you willing to think bigger than "normal"? Or are your patterns of thought more in realm of being squished inside a box because that is what you are used to?

Some people believe that you have to be very specific about what you want your outcome to be. It's true that some tasks or projects require an understanding by everyone involved. It's essentially starting point from which you then work backwards to figure out best way(s) to get to that level of achievement. This may be referred to as having a common vision or a shared sense of purpose.