If you have ever watched or read any type of presentation of Peter Pan growing up or in present time, the make-believe world is full of mystery, opportunity, and a sense of adventure. However, Captain Hook tries to end the fun for Peter and his friends, both existing and newly formed, which has too many parallels to the “real world”. This story often begs the ultimate question: how can we lead the best lives without feeling pressures from those that do not want us to explore Neverland? In this episode, we will explore techniques that will allow us to be intentional with creating mystery, opportunity, and adventure in our lives while avoiding the Captain Hook in our lives, whether they are fictitious people or not.

• National Suicide Lifeline (988) (https://988lifeline.org/) - This dedicated webpage talks about the various amount of resources that are available when dealing with a mental health crisis of any kind. DO NOT DO IT ALONE! Find resources in your area (even outside of the United States) if you need assistance with a crisis.

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Intro/Outro By: Michael Dugan, Podcast Host: Voice4Chefs

Welcome to the podcast where relationships, confidence, and

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determination all converge into

an amazing, heartfelt experience.

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This is Speaking From The Heart.

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Joshua: Welcome back to episode

number 89 of Speaking from the Heart.

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Today, we're going to Neverland.

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That's right: the place of imagination,

creativity, and opportunity awaits us.

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Are you ready to go on that

magical ride, visit Tinkerbell,

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perhaps Peter Pan himself, and

maybe even duel with Captain Hook?

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Now, if you're not familiar with this

age old tale, we'll spend some time

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talking about it, but I often think

about the possibilities that we have

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if we're able to explore that mystery,

that opportunity, that adventure that

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lies ahead if we're able to create not

just these opportunities in our lives to

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explore and to be able to understand that

we don't always have to do the day to day,

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but if we're able to think about what we

can do for the future, that's going to

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make such a big difference, and it does

tie in to self development, personal

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development, professional development,

even business development for that matter,

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and I'll certainly make that point as

we go ahead in this exciting episode.

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Now let's give you the synopsis of

really what happened during Peter Pan.

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I know I'm not giving too much of a

spoiler because this has been around

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for 120 years, so if you haven't

read Peter Pan yet, be advised, you

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might want to skip ahead so that you

get past the storytelling portion.

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This story of Peter Pan was

actually started by James M.

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Barrie's 1904 play, which he originally

wrote Peter Pan, which has been adapted

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into a variety of different films,

TV shows, and other animated series,

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but it's all evolving around three

children: Wendy, John, and Michael,

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which are all part of the Darlin family.

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Now these children were swept away by

Peter Pan into this imaginary world

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of Neverland where essentially there

was this war between not only Peter's

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gang of ragtag runaways which often

were attributed to being orphan boys

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which takes place essentially in the

areas in which children were housed

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in London, England during that time.

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That war between the runaways and

the evil pirate Captain Hook took

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place in this Neverland adventure.

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Essentially, between witnessing the war

and seeing that this was happening back

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and forth, Peter Pan rallied up the

runaways and was able to fight back

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successfully against Captain Hook.

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Part of the story that is really the

pivotal point of what we want to talk

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about today is the fact that the family,

the Darling family themselves, the

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parents, didn't believe in this nursery

of Neverland and getting fed up about

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the stories that were being told about

being able to solve all kinds of problems.

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Neverland would never exist by the fact

that if we weren't able to think about

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what opportunities that we have in our

lives to explore and potentially achieve,

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they would not become what they are today.

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Peter essentially helps, with the

assistance of Tinkerbell, which is

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the fairy that assists along the way

to help create these opportunities to

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not only address Captain Hook and his

dangerous ways of how he was thinking

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about handling all kinds of different

situations, but essentially realizing

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that in hope and finding that we can

have this make believe adventure,

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we can make everything come alive.

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Now, I know I really butchered telling

that whole story in a very few amount

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of minutes, but the main point of

it is to focus on the fact that the

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parents, who didn't believe in fairy

tales, nursery rhymes, make believe,

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were often then on the other side,

after the adventure ended, to connect

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with their children and see some of the

things that were missing in your life

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if you just take some time and refocus

on what is actually in front of you.

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Peter and his friends did go through a lot

of different things in the overall story.

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That includes not only the treachery

that took place between the different

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types of people that were involved with

the whole story, even the different

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things that would happen that led to the

fact that Tinkerbell, along with other

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friends, were able to save the day.

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I don't know about you, but for me,

listening to this story as a kid growing

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up really made me feel a sense of comfort.

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I was really a fan of the Robin

Williams adaptation of the whole

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Peter Pan story, which is called Hook.

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It was a movie that was made by Disney

based on real life characters that played

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Peter Pan and the rest of the family.

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What made the story so appealing in

that adaptation is the belief that

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we have everything that we can ever

achieve right in front of our eyes,

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but we should never lose sight of

what we're potentially able to become.

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Now why is this so important when

we think about developing ourselves?

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In many episodes, we have talked about the

importance of being able to stay focused

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on what the goal is that we're trying

to achieve, whether that is something

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that we're trying to build a routine in,

or even create opportunities to excel.

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We have to be consistent in being

able to understand where are some

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of those pitfalls that take place,

but those pitfalls, or those issues

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that might come up, don't always

translate into the fact that we have

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to overcome and address situations

that are often out of our control.

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In other words, these distractions

that we have in our lives, whether that

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is through Netflix, whether that is

through alcohol, whether that is through

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family obligations, no matter what you

want to call it, it's something that

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often distracts us from being able to

achieve what we truly want to have.

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Whether we have that fitness goal,

whether we are trying to make sense of

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the educational components of being able

to learn something new at our job, in

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education and getting that new degree,

we have to figure out what is it that we

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need to do to translate that imaginary

opportunity into the parallel real world?

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This story that is about Peter Pan

and the orphaned children, let alone

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the family that is represented, often

begs this ultimate question: How can

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we lead the best lives without feeling

pressures from those that don't want us

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to explore our own version of Neverland?

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For many years, I was distracted by

the opportunities that were set forth

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by not only the things that I was

accomplishing, but even what people

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said I was able to accomplish, meaning,

I had many distractions and they stood

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in my way from ultimately achieving

what I wanted to do in my life.

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It's not very easy sometimes to take

a big step back, look at the bigger

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picture and say, "This is what I

wanted to do for the longest time.

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Why can't I set aside time to be able to

do it?", and I find it even interesting

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in my own coaching business, looking

at a variety of different people

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that have approached me for services,

never wanting to take that first

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step, although they keep talking about

wanting to take that first step as well.

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I have even had people go so far as

they are threatened by my existence.

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Threatened by my own existence?

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I am the Captain Hook of not only personal

and professional development to them, but

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not being able to grow, because of me?

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How absurd!

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But there are people out there,

which I have also said to many of

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my guests, that sometimes, finding

the right person that isn't your

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Captain Hook is really truly needed.

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If we think about the fact that Captain

Hook in itself is a manifestation of

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resisting that temptation to change,

that ability to create that best value

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in our lives, whether that is making

more money, having more clients,

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whatever that end goal is that you

set for yourself many, many episodes

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ago, or many, many years before that,

you have to understand that sometimes

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the enemy is standing right in front

of us: ourselves, being Captain Hook.

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Now I've said a lot, and I mean a

lot, when it comes to just those

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last few statements, so let's

break that down a little bit.

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First off, why would I ever say that

I am Captain Hook in the first place?

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If you think about it, change

in itself was something that

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Captain Hook was afraid of.

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He would constantly fight this ragtag

bunch of people, these kids for that

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matter, being able to address, or

return, to a life in which they are

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able to explore who they really are.

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They knew that if they were to release

these boys, Captain Hook would be

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in dangerous trouble, so if I were

to release some of the dreams and

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aspirations and goals that you have

locked inside yourself, would you be

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afraid of actually trying to achieve them?

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Would you feel self conscious about having

someone else work with you to create

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those opportunities that you are trying

to explore and exacerbate in your life?

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Absolutely, which is why many people

put off the opportunity for coaching,

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let alone even reaching out to have

that discussion in the first place.

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Change actually means being intentionally

conscious of the ways and means in which

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you are able to reform and redesign

the things that you have in your life.

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Most recently, I have been doing that.

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The last four years.

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It has now been over four years since I

tried to end my life, and I know that this

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topic in itself does have some trigger

points for many of us, so I encourage

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you, if you are exploring this sort of

idealization of trying to end your life,

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or feeling that you're alone in this

adventure of yourself, please know that

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you are not alone, and I encourage you

to call 988, and find your way in which

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you can get back on track, because,

let's be real, sometimes we need that

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extra help to be able to do what we

need to do to create that best value in

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ourselves, but even with that said, even

if you don't do that, even if you do

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call 988 or visit the website which I'll

put in the episode notes, remember that

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talking about this and exploring this

idea means that you have to understand

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that you have opportunity in this world.

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When I tried to end my life, when I tried

to put away all these different issues,

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all these different problems that I've

had, what I always encountered more

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than anything else is the realization

that Captain Hook was trying to get me.

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The people that were trying to say

no to me were the loudest voices

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in the room; all the other pirates

that were trying to consume my life.

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I know that's a very rudimentary and cruel

way of which we're able to design and

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explain what this concept is all about,

but if we really break it down, Captain

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Hook in itself might be the manifestation

that is creating all these issues in the

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first place, which then begs the next

question: What is it that we're able

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to do, today, that allows us to explore

the opportunity to be able to understand

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and build upon that adventure in our

lives, even when Captain Hook and other

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fictitious people, or maybe real life

people for that matter, stand in our way?

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We have to design a world for ourselves

that allows us to not only crave

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opportunity, to excite ourselves with

the ability to learn and grow in a

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variety of different ways, but we

also have to understand and realize

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the true potential of ourselves by

not being able to visit Neverland.

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Neverland takes many different

forms, whether that is being in

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a car driving long distances.

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Whether that is understanding and

creating that oasis in your own house,

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maybe at a local park, maybe in a

loud, crowded environment, regardless

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of where that environment is, we

need to be able to go back to it.

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We need to be able to form that

opportunity in our lives to explore,

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gather our thoughts and realize

that we have had these dreams, these

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aspirations for such a long time.

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The hustle and bustle of old life always

seems to put us off pace of what we're

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able to really accomplish, and that

means that we have to take a big step

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back and look at the bigger picture.

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We have to understand that sometimes

trying to go through life and

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navigate through all the different

types of issues means that we're

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going to be put off course.

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In other words, being on that ship

that we're sailing on, being a prisoner

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of Captain Hook is sometimes when we

need to break free, be able to fly

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away into another land, and be able

to learn from other children, and

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other opportunities of people that we

get to associate with to help create

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what we want to create in our lives.

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How can we lead our best lives

without feeling pressure from those

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that don't want us to explore this

Neverland, or that real world that

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we want to create for ourselves?

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I can't tell you enough that it's

just about giving yourself some

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space, giving yourself the ability

to create, inspire, and set yourself

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onto a pedestal of your own.

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Give yourself that attention where you

otherwise wouldn't be giving yourself

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any attention or mind to what you look

like, feel like, or even think about.

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Many people that I have worked with,

even associated with learning from

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other podcasts, reading books, or even

designing and infiltrating new thoughts

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and ideas into the mantra and the work

that we're trying to create in our lives.

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It takes hard work, and I don't know

why, but today, it always seems that we

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have some sort of excuse to not do the

hard work, whether it's the distractions

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of everyday life, whether we're trying

to be busy, in air quotes, busy, or

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just trying to have an excuse to not

do what we should really be doing.

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Trying to explore our Neverland means

that we have to understand ourselves.

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We have to be able to learn and grow from

the things that we're developing inside

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of ourselves, so that we're able to

explore with other people that are going

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to inspire and push us into new levels.

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That's the whole purpose of even

doing coaching, which is why I try so

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hard to get mentored and coached by

others, because I want to be learning

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and growing all at the same time.

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Staying stagnant is never the answer

because when you stay stagnant and you

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stay focused on just the goals that you

have on a daily basis, as opposed to

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looking at the long term, you end up

like the parents of the Darling family:

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not feeling like you're able to see

the bigger picture, and unfortunately,

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not utilizing your imagination.

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This world is ever changing, and if

we're ever going to continue to have

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a voice in it, we have to keep using

our imaginary voice at the same time.

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Don't be afraid to challenge yourself in

the vast new opportunities, whether that

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is defeating Captain Hook, or even flying

around like Peter Pan, with his companion

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Tinkerbell, to be able to fight and sway

the different people that are feeling

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ashamed and ridiculed for their actions,

for their desires, and for their dreams,

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because if you live that best version of

your life, not only you going to create

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the opportunities that you want to see,

not only are you going to feel much better

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about flying around, but you're going

to be looked at as somebody that might

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join those lost boys in Neverland, and be

able to teach them a thing or two about

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not only responsibility, not only things

like determination, confidence, and the

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ability to form relationships, but you're

going to be able to help so many people,

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and yourself, learn new things, and hey!

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While you're doing it, why don't

you craft that new idea and stop

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putting off that plan that you've

been putting off for so long.

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You can do it in Neverland, and

using your imagination will allow

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it to turn into reality, and

reality is where it counts the most.

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Let's stop holding ourselves back and

start letting ourselves move forward for

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the opportunities that Neverland presents.

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Thanks for listening to episode

number 89 of Speaking from the

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Heart, and I look forward to

hearing from your heart very soon.

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Outro: Thanks for listening.

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and future shows, search for Speaking From

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Visit us at www.yourspeakingvoice.biz

for more information about potential

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services that can help you create

the best version of yourself.

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See you next time.