PATRICK MICHAELS

“I want my life, my work, my family, I want it to mean something. If you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time. Your life will become better by making other lives better.” -Will Smith


Introduction

“If your dream isn’t bigger than you, then there’s a problem with your dream!” - Hall of Fame Speech by NFL great Deion Sanders

     The human spirit and the human soul can endure. It can fight back when it is being attacked. It can mend and strengthen after it has been weakened. It can pull you from the depths of hell and the ultimate bottom, and take you to your “dream scenario.” When you feel you have nothing left to give, it can help you rise. It can help you ascend to the person you were always supposed to be- the best version of yourself. It can help you pursue your hopes and dreams and turn them into reality.
     If you commit yourself completely to what you want in this life, and go after it without fear, the human spirit will carry you there. You must give up your past, all of it, go to the depths of your mind, heart, and soul, dig through the hurt, the pain, and the sadness, to pull out the courage and dedication you have always had, but have lost along the way. You are worth it, but you must believe it. You must feel you are worth it. You must feel you deserve it. If you are willing to sacrifice, truly sacrifice, you can achieve this. This life can beat you down, it can take everything without asking, it can leave you lifeless gasping for air, it can devour you whole. This can only happen, though, IF YOU LET IT. You are in control of your life, every aspect, every moment. Your thoughts and feelings, that you control, dictate everything. Your decisions and your actions directly result in the next event in your life. It has always worked this way, and it will always work this way. You create the life you want, and no one can take that away from you, unless you let them. You decide how your story unfolds and how it ends. No one else can, just you.
     For the majority of my past, I let people dictate how I felt about myself, I let them dictate how far I could go and what I could achieve. I let people talk me out of truly striving for my dreams, and going after what would make me happy. By allowing this, pain and sadness was the end result. During this time, I achieved good things but negated them by the bad decisions that I made. I paid the consequences for them all. I tried to bury or run away from my fears, my worries, and my sadness. I didn’t have the courage to stand up for myself, to face myself, and confront those who opposed me.
     My experiences, which you will read, have changed me, shaped me, and taught me that I have complete control over what comes next. I wish I didn’t endure these events, but I believe they were needed to finally awaken me. It took massive changes in my faith, my expectations, and my beliefs, to turn my life around and have it heading in the right direction. It wasn’t easy, but nothing with any significant value usually is. I had buried bad memories and sad times, and wondered why I still couldn’t move forward. I decided one day that I had enough. I decided I wouldn’t run away anymore, but instead, I would stand and face my past demons. The burden had become too heavy to carry. I decided to only follow one voice, instead of the many that I had before, and that one voice was my own. I decided to stop the bad things from happening by taking full ownership of my past and moving forward. I have seen the ultimate bottom, the last gasp to survive, the hopelessness, the despair. I have seen the rise of my being, the hope, and the courage restored. I am not proud of some of the decisions made in my life, but I finally owned up to them. I have finally owned up to all of them. You can do the same. It can be done. You don’t need to feel that you are at the effect of the things around you. You can dictate the terms. You don’t have to feel like the victim anymore. You don’t have to do this alone, God knows I couldn’t have survived without support from my parents, close friends, and beautiful wife. If you don’t have this support system, let my words serve you. Let my words be the push and support that you need.
     In my experience, my healing process began with reading of best-selling book “The Secret,” written by Rhonda Byrne. This inspirational book caught my attention and helped me recognize and address the lack of faith I had in religion, the outside universe, and my overall psyche. I remember when I was a little boy, watching athletes like Joe Montana and Michael Jordan on television. I would sit there and wonder how they reached the pinnacle of their respective sports. Sure they were talented, but their attention to detail, relentless work ethic, and their unwavering confidence to remain calm in pressure packed situations, is what I believe set them apart from their competition. I was always fascinated watching them in action and leading their team to victory, then I would patiently wait for the post game show to hear them speak with the media about what went through their minds in certain critical points within the game.  I would always hear the words, “trust,” “confidence,” and the phrases similar to “expecting positive outcomes.” I would replay their words in my mind, but not until I read this powerful book, did I know there was a scientifically proven process behind their ways of thinking and the results they were achieving. I didn’t fully understand or appreciate the relationship I possessed with the Universe. Once I became aware of the Law of Attraction, I chose to replay and intently listen to past NFL Hall of Fame Speeches of past greats to see what they all had in common. After listening to NFL greats such as Jerry Rice, Deion Sanders, and Thurman Thomas, I realized they all thought this way and understood how to use “the law” to achieve and materialize their greatness. They all had outside influences that pushed them along the way, whether it be proving someone wrong who doubted them, bringing their family out of their past financial troubles, or to reward certain people or past coaches who believed in them. They all had something driving them, a goal larger than themselves, something or someone that they refused to disappoint. What fascinated me was that most of the players came from poor upbringings, and the average person evaluating their current situation or surroundings, would completely discount them from achieving anything noteworthy with their lives. One thing they all had in common, however, was their unwavering belief to achieve greatness. Their ability to visualize a life, much greater than their current circumstances and surroundings, was amazing to me. 
      One speech that had always resonated with me is when I listened to the great cornerback Deion Sanders. He stood confidently at the Hall of Fame podium in Canton Ohio and stated, “The difference between me and some of you children, some of you adults, is that I expect to be great.” He would later go on to say, “Expect what you desire.” Once I heard these words, it stopped me immediately in my tracks. So much so, that I had to replay it again countless times. He understood and mastered the law of attraction to the fullest extent. He grew up with a mother who worked several jobs, one of which being in a hospital, where she walked up and down the halls pushing a cart to clean up the facility. Deion made it his sole mission, a promise to himself, to make sure that one day he would be the reason why she stopped pushing that cart. He understood that the promise he made to himself was a responsibility, one that he had to take full ownership of.  His speech was moving because I finally heard it from a different perspective.
The process of self-healing continued on with reading, “Money: Master the Game” by Anthony Robbins and “The Success Principles” written by Jack Canfield, who provided me with vital information on how to save and create wealth through commonly used financial products like index funds, and made me look deep inside myself to what motivated me to want to create wealth and prosperity in my life, along with the deep rooted relationship I had with money and the means that wealth would help me achieve. My self-healing progressed exponentially further with the completion of this book. 
    This healing process helped me put the past away for good and allowed me to fully and truly move on. I could have let this story stay in the shadows, in some closet or shelf to never be read again, but that does no good to the millions of people that this could benefit.
     The armor is off, the guard is down, I am completely exposed, and truthfully, I have never felt more at peace than in this moment.  I believe this is what it took for me to start achieving and receiving. My life is smeared across these pages for the world to see. The story needs to be told.
     Thank you for taking the journey with me and I hope you find value in the pages ahead. Are you ready? Let’s do this together.

                                                           This is my life. This is my journey. This is my story.