Dear All,

Thank you very much for reading the Embrace Possibility Blog. I'm happy to hear through the comments and emails that you enjoy the content and find it helpful. Thank you for allowing me to pursue my passion.

I'm leaving in a few hours for a trip around the world and I'm not sure if I'll have the time or resources to write articles while I'm away. I'll also have very limited access to email but be patient and you'll eventually get a response.

I'll be back early 2013 with even more insightful articles on personal development, health, financial freedom, professional development and relationships. In the mean time, I recommend re-reading some of my previous articles. As you grow, your focus when you read will change and you may be able to take away something new that you weren't paying attention to before.

Enjoy the holidays and stay safe,

Robert 

 PS - Below is an article from the Embrace Possibility Monthly Newsletter from October that I thought was appropriate. Usually it's exclusive content for newsletter subscribers but I'm going to make an exception.

Enjoy!

Why I'm Going Around the World and Why You Should Consider it Too

I've always enjoyed travelling - the people you meet, the foods you eat, even the tired feet and airline seats.

There are so many benefits to travelling and you should not put it off because it will pay dividends for your life both personally and professionally.

Here are a few reasons why travelling should not be seen as a reward for hard work but rather a worthwhile and necessary education for those who want to succeed in life:

Improves Relationships

Mark Twain describes a virtue of travel perfectly when he said,

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."

You don't know what you don't know. If you've never visited a foreign country, there is no way for you to feel the discomfort of being made fun of or yelled at for actions that you have always believed to be the norm. Every time I return from visiting a foreign country, I find myself more accepting and open to the people from that country because I understand why they act the way they do and how it makes sense in their country even though it doesn't make much sense in mine.

The more places you go, the more you begin to see that one way of life is really no better than another. Realizing this has allowed me to be more open to other people's ideas and I find that I can relate to others on a much deeper level when I take time to be curious about their way of thinking and of life.

Improves Creativity

In my article, 3-Sure Fire Ways to Generate New and Great Ideas, I list travelling as one of the best ways to boost creativity. All new things are really remixes of old things. When you travel, your five senses are completely engaged:

• Smell: exotic foods, strong spices, intoxicating fragrances
• Hear: new music and sounds, different languages
• Touch: interesting people, new goods, unfamiliar textures
• See: vivid colors, animals, architecture, scenery, people
• Taste: local drinks and cuisine

All of these new experiences will also change the way you experience familiar things and the more unique experiences that you have, the more interesting your remixes will be. This is an excellent example of why you shouldn't put off travelling. Think of all the new ideas that you could be having if you make time to broaden your experiences.

In addition, travelling gives you time to think and to read. It takes about 15 hours to go from the US to Asia and you can make use of that down time to feed your mind and to cultivate your thoughts. At home, it's all too easy to get into a routine of trying to get as many things done that we don't take time to really think. I have found that some of my best ideas come from time spent on airplanes.

Improves Happiness

Do you want to know the secret to being happy?

You're in luck. I'm going to tell you, with no strings attached and it's only two words:

Living Intentionally

This means to live a life that you've chosen for yourelf. Unhappy people are those who feel as if they don't have any control or options. They live by coincidence and feel trapped in a life that has been chosed for them. On the other hand, happy people choose the life they want from a endless sea of possibilities.

So why do people let others decide their lives?

They don't want to take the blame when life goes wrong. If you listen to other people and something goes wrong, you can always blame the other person. What you probably don't realize is no matter who makes the decision, you are the one who has to live with the consequences. Think of a time when you blamed someone for something that happened to you. Who ended up paying for the consequences?

Lesson: Never let someone else tell you how you should live your life.

Ever since I read Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne as a child, I thought it would be great to take an adventurous trip going literally around the world. Growing up, to travel around the world was just not practical and it was always something that I'll do when I win the lottery or when I retire. Over the last 3 years, I've realized just how wrong that type of thinking is. There is no reason why I should defer my dreams. When I do so, I am living the life others have chosen for me.

We're not promised tomorrow. We're not even promised the next 5 minutes. I find it useful to ask myself: If I pass away tomorrow, would I regret how I've spent my time last week? How I spent today?

I haven't won the lottery and I am not retired but I'm still going to travel around the world. It wasn't money that was holding me back, it was my own beliefs. When people ask me about my trip and I tell them my itinerary, they usually say, "That's amazing. I wish I could take a trip like that". My reply to them is "Why don't you?" and they go into a small rant about all the reasons why they can't. They usually end by telling me it's on their bucket list or if they ever won the lottery, that's the first thing they'll do. Usually I just smile because that's exactly what I would have said not too long ago.

By now, you know my passion is to help people move forward to live their best life. I hope that this article and my life will inspire you to start living the life that you really want. Stop seeing life as trade-offs. There is no reason why you can't have everything you want.

I hope you enjoy this month's newsletter and thanks again for helping me pursue my passion!

Robert