Rejuvenate You!: How to Re-connect with Your Passion and Purpose

Acknowledgments and Thanks!

I want to thank my wife Liza … you have always had my back, you are my best friend; you were there when the sun was shining and you were my light when the times were darkest. We have had some crazy adventures…and more to come for sure!

To my three amazing daughters: Samantha, Sabrina, and Sierra. I am so proud of you for the people you have become. I could not have asked for any better kiddos. I love you with everything I have and everything I am.

To my parents for showing me how to be a good person, and for your support always … no matter how crazy life got. You were a calm in the storm, and I always knew that I had a home I could come to.

To all my amazing family through marriage: Abe and Carm (thanks for saying yes I could marry your daughter), Arnold, Chris, Chloe and Jenna; Ador and Helene; Joel, Ada, Azia and Kruz (in order of oldest siblings lol!). You have always made me feel welcome, right from the start.

To Uncle Rol and Alysse and kids. We have had some crazy adventures (with hopefully more to come). You always want the best for people and I know you want to make a difference. We should never be afraid to think big!

To all my cousins from both sides … you have all contributed in ways you are not even aware of … thank you.

To all my school friends over the years who have shared in so many adventures. People like Steve, Scott, Kevin, Duane and Sandy, I love you guys.

To all my amazing reps and friends at VM (there are SO many of you), especially Jim K, Rancha, Joe G, Joe C…and a special thank you to my Royal City Wolfpack reps/friends, especially Anne (The Rottie), Melanie B, Greg H, Darryl, and Tara B for helping me get through the darkest period of my life that anyone should ever have to battle through … you are all simply amazing people.

To authors from a distance who inspired me and motivated me with their writings.

To my shining lights in Reiki: Peggy Marguarite, Helen, and Barbara. You have shown me there is so much more to life than we realize, and you’ve helped me to help others.

To my new friends at ITM, thank you for providing a place of safety and love and support … I can sense the love in you and know you (we) are destined to help the world heal.

To my mentors who have had tremendously positive impacts on my life:

Don Freida – You are someone I look up to, a true gentleman, a professional. You guided me in business. You are the consummate leader. You were the reason I wanted to succeed at VM … you will always have my respect and admiration.

John Beyer and Robert Christopher from EJ … thank you for giving your time so selflessly and giving me role models to emulate. You helped more than you will ever know.

Joel Bauer – You helped me get back on my two feet; you helped me once again feel like a fierce warrior when I had been beaten down by events in life. You have a unique ability to uplift people. Your fire, your intensity, your communication skills, your passion for helping people, and your never-ending support will never be forgotten.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments and Thanks!

Table of Contents

Introduction

Here’s My Story … What’s Yours?

Get A Journal Before We Go Any Further

Instant Energizer - Breathing and Visualization

Identify Your Warning Signs

What Is Your Purpose?

Go On a Quest

Instant Energizer #2 - The Power of Music

Energy Givers or Energy Takers?

Learn to Say Yes

Learn to Say No

Instant Energizer - Gratitude

What Are You Focusing On?

Awakening from Feeling Dead Financially

Instant Energizer: Actually Do One Thing You Have Been Procrastinating About

Don’t Make a BIG Decision When You Are Feeling Down

Go All Out at Something!

Instant Energizer - Declutter/Clean Up

What are You Fueling Your Body with?

Develop A Morning and Nighttime Routine

Instant Energizer - Getting That Feeling of Accomplishment Buzz

Are You Getting Enough Sleep?

What Do You Do When Crappy Things Happen to You?

Seasonal Affect Disorder (Are You Getting Enough Light?)

Is It Possible to Reduce Antibiotics (To Be Healthier Naturally?)

Wrap Up

Appendix A: How Reiki Saved My Life (in many ways)

Introduction

I can remember, as a child, the satisfaction of working hard with my friends to rake up the biggest pile of leaves we could and then the absolute joy of finally jumping in them, leaves flying everywhere, up my nose, in my shirt, down my pants, then throwing leaves at each other, smiling, laughing, raking them back up, and starting the whole process again for hours on end.

We would ride our bikes, stop at one of our houses for a cookie, then play hide and seek until it was too dark to see. We would make plans to hook up the next day to walk down to Norm’s variety store for some Double Bubble gum. At night, I would lie down in my bed exhausted and sleep like a baby, the next morning waking up feeling refreshed, alive and ready to take on the world.

Here’s a question for you: When was the last time you jumped in a pile of leaves? Or made plans to go get some Double Bubblegum?

It seems to me that we begin life full of amazement, full of wonder. To see a butterfly up close. To lick the spoon after mixing up cookie dough.

And then, life gradually happens. Little by little we can get worn down. Often, we don’t even realize it is happening. Like the frog in the pot that gradually heats up, we don’t realize we need to jump out until it is too late. It can be different reasons, different experiences for everyone. Little by little we may lose our zest, our passion … until one day we suddenly realize that we don’t feel like the person we used to be.

Maybe we are tired. Jaded? Sad? It may just seem like everything has started to blur together. You may yearn to just feel that simple joy again of jumping out of bed excited for a new day.

You may have just come to a place where you have realized that something needs to change. That you need to reignite your personal inner flame again. Something needs to happen. Somehow.

And so you wake up, and while lying in the warmth of your bed you wonder … how would it be if you could feel alive again, feel fully alive again? A faint glimmer of hope causes your heart to skip a beat. Maybe, just maybe.

But then reality sets in again. And, it is so easy for that tiny spark of hope to be extinguished.

After all, you need to be realistic. You need to get up early to go to work tomorrow.

You need to drive your kids to their sports practices across town.

You need to figure out how to get the money to fix the roof on your house. Your aunt just got out of the hospital and needs you to go and take her to do some errands. Your shoulder has that little persistent ache that won’t go away. And you are tired. Just tired.

Maybe next week.

It is so easy to get stuck in that vicious cycle. Again and again and again.

I am just a guy, a guy who had some life events kick him in the gut. A guy who had lost his way in life, who was just unhappy with how life was going. A guy who still functioned, who still worked, who still spent time with his family. But, a guy who most of the time did all of those things on autopilot, without joy, without wonder, without passion. I was a guy who yearned to be happy again, to feel alive again, but didn’t even realize it.

And when I looked around me, I saw that I was not alone. There were many people I saw day-to-day who seemed to have that same lack of expression on their face, who shuffled down the street with no zest in their step. I came to think of them as zombies, as the walking dead. And I was one of them. So I went on a journey … a journey to bring myself back to life.

And that is what this book is about.

It is about my journey to feel fully alive again. It is about things I have experienced and learned over the past twenty years. I want to share it with you. I want to save you the twenty-year learning curve that I had to go though.

And to be honest, I still struggle from time to time. I struggle with some depression, some bouts of lethargy. I can get high and I can get low. I can feel the future is unlimited some days, but I can also feel like all I want to do is crawl into bed and sleep some nights.

I can have these things happen to me, but there is a BIG difference now because I know now how to get back up.

I have discovered warning signs, signals to myself that I am falling and need to get back up, now! I have set up a simple system. Simple steps to go through to reboot myself quickly if I am down. I will share those with you. And, I know that as I write these down to share them with you, I will grow even stronger. And, that is exciting.

Together we can rise up! We can do this. You can do this!

We are not meant to just blandly exist. It is not natural to not feel joy and wonder each day. We were all put on this earth full of passion, excitement, and wonder. And, we can all return to that state of being. If you have become zombie-ized, it is time to wake up.

This is your wake up call.

I am so excited for you to join me on this journey. Odds are, we will not reach our destination overnight. There will likely be challenges. We will likely suffer some setbacks along the way. But, nothing worth doing is necessarily easy. And, the feeling is soooo definitely worth it. 100% baby!

I am not a famous celebrity. I am not a guru writing to you from the top of a mountain. I don’t have six-pack abs. I didn’t become an overnight millionaire using my laptop from a beach. I am just a guy. A guy with a family, who has worked hard in a business environment every day. A guy who got a little beat up by life. A guy who lost a child. A guy whose body crashed and who lost his health. A guy who suddenly lost his job just a few weeks after buying a house. A guy who had his heart stop on the operating table and had to have it kick-started again.

But, a guy who has brought himself back to life. And a guy who knows that you can too, and perhaps most importantly, get back up when you fall down from time to time.

Let’s do this!

Welcome!!

Here’s My Story … What’s Yours?

My first real job after university was as a salesman with a marketing company, just a few days after arriving back from my honeymoon. I was very fortunate to marry a beautiful woman who was (and still is) the love of my life. I had always been a shy kid most of my life, and I remember with amazement that calling up prospects and doing sales presentations was one of the most exciting things I had ever done. It sure took me out of what I thought was my comfort zone, but it also sure made me feel alive. My positive attitude (and results) must have stood out, because I was soon made an assistant manager in my office. After that, I was asked to be an assistant manager for a new person starting out with their first sales office. Then, I was promoted to open an office myself! If was exciting! I was on fire!

I loved what I did. I got to interview people, to train and teach them, and to hold exciting and motivational team meetings. We recognized people and gave out awards. It was such an empowering atmosphere. It was great fun!

But, I also worked very long hours, often seven days a week. I would leave the house around 7 am and often arrive home well after midnight. And, I did not take care of myself … at all. My office was an hour away by car, and I never brought lunch, snacks, or dinner. So I ate fast food all the time, every day of the week: burgers and fries, burgers and fries. My snacks were chocolate bars, potato chips, and cola — lots and lots of cola.

When I was younger, I exercised. I rode my bike, went jogging, and played team sports. But now, I wasn’t exercising. I gained weight. I gained quite a bit of weight.

I wish I knew then what I know now, about life and health and wealth. But I was a young kid who was on top of the world, who thought he was invincible. I didn’t need to listen to my wife or my mother, or heck, anyone else.

We decided it was time to add to our family, and our whole extended family was so excited to have what would be the first grandchild for our parents. In my second year of running my own office, my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Samantha. I remember watching her emerge into the world and knew it was the most amazing and breathtakingly beautiful thing I had ever seen.

One of the nurses said her breathing sounded a little funny, so they took her over to check her out. Then,