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the ancient Greek philosopher epicurus
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said
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that this too is one of the evils of
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foolishness it is always beginning to
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live this too is one of the evils of
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foolishness it is always beginning to
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live what he's calling us out here for
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is our Perpetual
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attempt to finally make a change to
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finally start to become the
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person that we know we need to
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be and how do we go about
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this we say next week next month next
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year in this new year I'm going to start
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out being exactly the person that I know
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I need to be that I've always want it to
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be and I'm just going to continue that
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way I'm going to have my perfect life my
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perfect
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streak this day is done this year is
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done the next year and
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tomorrow I will achieve it I will make
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another
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attempt and don't you realize don't we
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realize what happens every time we make
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this promise in which we
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say okay today is dead and gone I've
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failed and I've been failing but
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tomorrow is a new day
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okay and when I wake up I'm just going
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to start to be the person in this new
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year whatever it may
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be that I've always needed to
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be and what happens
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is we slip up something or we don't do
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something to the degree that we have
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promised ourselves to
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do and we give
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out we say oh well failed again but try
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again
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later and we talked about this before on
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this channel every
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challenge is an
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opportunity but what we see challenges
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as are are battles that we need to
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win and if we fail we have failed and
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we're
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failers where is
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reality we can recognize a challenge for
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what it really is an
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opportunity for
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advancement I've said it before in every
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challenge either the challenge is
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overcome and we have advanced or we
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failed the challenge but we can advance
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towards
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advancement what I mean by that is we
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must finally stop
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to begin only to stop again but instead
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we should just
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continue let's not call this a new
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beginning let's just call it a
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continuation because everything we've
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been through so
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far even though we have not achieved
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that what we really truly wanted to
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achieve and still want to
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achieve but every single challenge has
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brought us closer to
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that yes we didn't over the things that
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we want to overcome we haven't stopped
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being the person that we want to stop
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being but every single challenge that we
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in our eyes failed was a step closer to
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that and this is exactly how every
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single challenge that we fail to
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overcome gets us to
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fail it
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succeeds when it succeeds to make us
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think that
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today is lost and that we may get to try
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again
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tomorrow take a simple thing as your
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diet if you want to lose
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weight what you do is you today you have
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the
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Temptation and you give into the
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temptation as as we've always done
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that's why we're in need of the diet
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right
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and as soon as we've given into the
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Temptation we count today as
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lost is that not what we do we say well
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well I've already eaten this I've
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already been
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over my goal of my caloric intake so I
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might as well just eat even more today
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because today is lost I will try again
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tomorrow but today is lost so I might as
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well indulge
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but again as our Roman Emperor stoic
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philosopher friend Marcus aelius
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says it's about making the best move
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possible yes you have eaten yes you have
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made a mistake yes you have given into
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something that you no longer want to
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give in give
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into but
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this there's still the best move you can
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make from now on for the rest of the
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day and that way yes maybe you've failed
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your challenge but you have advanced
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towards
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advancement so the one mentality that
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keeps us from achieving our goals is
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this giving up on today and hoping to be
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able to start again to live finally
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tomorrow
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but another one is the past and the
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future when the challenge arises and
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notice how the challenge always arises
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within the present
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moment nothing is ever asked of you in
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the past because that would be
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impossible the past is
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gone and the future is yet to come so
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the
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challenge the achievement of all all of
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your
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goals the path that leads to becoming
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the person that you want to
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become the challenge for that the test
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for that and the and the point at which
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you make yourself that
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person is always the present never the
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past and never the
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future
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but what weighs on us in the present is
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is always the past or the
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future what weighs on us in the present
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is never the present it's the past or
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the
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future again Marcus aurelus
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says tell me what in this present moment
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is so
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unbearable and you will be ashamed of
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your
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answer and it's true
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whenever the challenge arises whenever
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the Temptation comes whenever that
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happens what always happens and what
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finally needs to stop
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happening ask yourself what in this
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present moment is so
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unbearable what's
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wrong and you will realize it's not the
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present moment that weighs on you it's
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the past or the future it's your past
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what you regard as traumas the things
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that happened
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beforeand
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that you
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think has made your identity has shaped
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your
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identity and all the regrets and the
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shame and the and the resentment that
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you have from the past is what is making
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you act in the way that you don't want
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to be acting in the
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present or like we said it's the future
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that makes us do these things in the
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present future worries future anxieties
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things that you
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anticipate will
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happen but that have obviously not have
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happened yet is what makes you now in
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the present shape that
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future everything you ever wanted to
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achieve ever could possibly want to
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achieve ever could possibly dream for
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anyone else to
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achieve is always achieved in the
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present
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moment the only time we live is
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now life is lived by one present moment
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after another we cannot live in the past
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we cannot live in the future we all know
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this but when it comes to
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in the exact
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moment we're always weighed down by the
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past or the
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future have to
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realize that the present is literally
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all that anyone ever has we all have 24
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hours that consists of many many little
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moments in the present in the
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now and all we can all we ever have at
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our disposal
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to do anything whatsoever with our lives
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is the material of the present moment
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that's all that we have that's all that
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anyone has ever had to do anything is
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the present moment this one and this one
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and this one and the next
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one so we must get rid of all the things
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that prevent us from using the present
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moment isn't that clear
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enough if all that we have is the
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present moment and clearly something is
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in the way of us being able to use this
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one and only material of
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life then we must get rid of whatever
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that
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is and we just had a hint of what that
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might be when we talked about the past
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Weighing on us or the future Weighing on
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us either with past regrets or what
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future worries but we
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also have to make sure that our goals
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for which we only have the present
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moment to achieve them are the right
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ones because it's also possible that our
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own being is trying to tell us that it's
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not right for us that this goal we've we
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set for ourselves and that we keep
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trying to achieve keep failing and and
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spiraling to this that this might be not
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be right it was a
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simple and perfect way of finding that
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out and is to go inside to examine our
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own beliefs and to ask this simple
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question how many of my
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goals how much of me and how much of
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what I want to
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be is determined by my identity
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how much of this and what of this am I
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trying to do because I'm trying to be a
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good husband a good wife a good brother
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a good sister a good friend a good
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worker because I'm trying to
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impress this or that
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person
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or how what of
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this is me trying to live up to the
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fantasies that I've built up as a child
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how much of this adult
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me is going around in the world trying
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to satisfy the fantasies of the
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15-year-old
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me how much of my life am I trying to
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make look like what I had imagined it
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would be as a
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child it's amazing with how many
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preconceived notions and goals and
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Ambitions we walk around that we have
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formed formed when we were a child
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essentially and how we as adults try to
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live up to the fantasies of a teenager
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of a
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child we need to drop all of
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that we we almost literally many times
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have rocks in our pockets and we're
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trying to swim
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those possessions that you try to get or
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rocks that weighing you down in every
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possible sense you regret not having
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them you worry never having them and you
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spend every single present moment on
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somehow trying to attain
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them we only have this present moment to
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live what we spend this present moment
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on is little Lally
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everything our entire life is in the
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nil we think that the present is such a
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small
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sliver the present moment is such a
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small sliver of our life because there's
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there Decades of our past and decades in
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our future and it's just this one moment
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right now that seems so small but all of
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life is contained in that one moment we
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do not have
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another space another time to live in
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all of life takes place in this exact
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present moment and everything that gets
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us to not be present in this present
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moment is everything that keeps us from
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living because if we're not living in
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this present moment now we're not living
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at
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all to spend the present moment on
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regrets in the past or worries in the
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future is to not spend it on life on
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living go through all your
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Ambitions all your
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goals and your entire identity what you
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think your achievements are what you
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think your traumas are what you think in
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the external world has been holding you
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back all these years
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and will hold you back in the coming
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years and realize all of it is self
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imposed look around
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you the world requires nothing of
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you not a single thing that you do is
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required by the universe by God whatever
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you want to call it these are all
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self-imposed requirements
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your deadlines are
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self-imposed your worries are
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self-imposed most of your regrets are
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self-imposed they don't have to be
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there all the things that you need to
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do and all the certain ways in which you
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have to do them and all the certain
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times in which you have to do them by
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are
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self-imposed requirements and
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obligations that come from our
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identity I just said recently in a
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video yes all those bad things that
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happened to you in the
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past did
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happen all the things that you feel like
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are holding you back yes they did happen
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but they don't have to Define you they
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don't have to be your
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identity when you think of yourself as
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that person when you think of yourself
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as that
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victim you think of yourself as this
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disadvantaged person that's being held
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back by the entire world outside of
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them you do nothing other than give the
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present moment over to the past or to
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the Future and that's something that you
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do no one else does
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that again no one's denying that these
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things have
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happened that people treat people
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unfairly that people lie that people
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cheat that people aim to hurt
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others no one's done any of that but we
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must not add to it by making it our
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identity
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if someone came in here right now and
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insulted
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me it's not like I would say that didn't
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happen yes this person came in and they
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said what they
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said but it is on
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me to go
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around offended by that resenting that
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hating it regretting it getting angry at
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it telling others about
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it having that anger in me and that
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resentment and that and
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that just Fury about how a person could
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act like this and how this how this is
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unjust and unfair and and improper I
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could go around the rest of my entire
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life doing
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that and at some point the vast majority
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of our
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regrets of everything that we
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resent is our own regret and our own
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misery it's not the vent itself at that
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point we have regretted it resented it
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been Ang angry at it so much both in
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time and intensity then most of what we
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are angry about the most of what we
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resent is actually our own anger our own
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resentment we've added so much to it
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that the thing has become mostly what we
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added to
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it and so from this day
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on and this New
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Year stop always beginning
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new today is not lost tomorrow is no
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different than today
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really it's the present moment any
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challenge anything that you ever need to
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face you will face with the same mindset
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with the same Tools in this present
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moment if you can't do it now if you
00:20:02
feel like you can't do it now you won't
00:20:04
be able to do it tomorrow
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either and the only way to be able to do
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it
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tomorrow is to do it in this present
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moment as
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well it's always going to be the same
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challenge it's always going to feel the
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same it is always going to be just as
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much as difficult tomorrow as it feels
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like it is right this present moment the
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Challenger is here the challenge is
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now and it's only this present moment
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that you need to deal with there is no
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past there is no future it's this one
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little slice of time that is all that is
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ever asked of you to deal
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with it's only that slice of Temptation
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only that slice of challenge only that
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slice of difficulty that you need to
00:20:55
deal with nothing else nothing else even
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exists
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let go of the past let go of the future
00:21:06
the slice that is in front of you now is
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all that you have to deal
00:21:11
with and so stop beginning to live a new
00:21:15
every single time the challenge presents
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itself and simply make the very best
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move you can in this present moment
