Jobs are hard to come by, layoffs have been slower but still prevalent, industries are shrinking and disappearing and all that we have has lost a lot of its value. It’s been called a recession, it’s teetered on a depression, but what has failed to be mentioned is that it’s also a time a time of great permission.

When the rules change and the status quo is gravely interrupted, it is actually a time of great opportunity for those that are not too terrified (or paralyzed) to act on it. If we give ourselves permission to follow our own hearts and inner road maps instead of waiting for a new status quo to take root, we are looking at making new rules and shattering preconceptions about what can and can not be accomplished.

Take a walk in a big city. It could be Chicago, Boston, LA. Smell the faint stench of sewer on a hot day, observe shadows of glistening buildings hulking over you.

People pass on all sides in waves of color, bearing with them their own shadows, just as you, when sunlight touches them and stretches around. They might be lawyers, prostitutes, clergy; no ethnicity is excluded. All are equal; they have shadows. It’s a law of nature, of the physical world; every material thing casts a shadow of its own.

Take a walk in the countryside. It could be in the farmland of Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, perhaps a forest of trees. Smell the fragrance of spring blossoms, manure fertilizing crops, observe shadows of trees rustling in the breeze.

The most powerful pharmacy in the world is right between your ears!  Thoughts are things. They can heal or harm. Beliefs mold your brain.

Other than eating breakfast regularly, and eating more fruits and vegetables, the one characteristic that is present in all healthy older people is resiliency – that hard-to-measure quality of adapting to change, shifting with changing tides, and seeing the glass half full.

This is because your thoughts have real and measurable effects on your body and brain. Every cell in your body listens to your thoughts. Your immune cells know your deepest feelings.

Your stem cells are wired to your brain and help you repair and regenerate. But they ONLY turn on and make new brain cells when you relax!

In my role as a counselor, teacher, and parent, I’ve heard many reasons that people use to explain an unhappy existence . . . and almost all of them inevitably fall into one huge category, which I call “excuses.”

The rest of the chapter will introduce you to 18 of the most commonly used ones, along with a brief commentary about each of them. This will give you a primer before you go on to learn the Excuses Begone! method that’s detailed in the rest of the book.

Here they are, in no particular order: