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Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine. It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.

Zero Dean

Author | Photographer | CG Artist | Filmmaker

Self-fulfilling cycles

Whether directly or indirectly, what we choose to pay attention to can have a dramatic impact on not just how we feel, but on our life experience as well.

Expecting negative things to happen is not just more likely to draw our attention to their existence, it’s more likely to prolong it as well. This, in turn, can create a self-fulfilling cycle of negativity.

Energy is contagious. We tend to absorb and proliferate the type of energy we consistently pay attention to. Therefore it is imperative that we be intentional about where we place our attention and be conscious of how it makes us feel.

Rather than monitoring and confirming to ourselves how bad things can get before they get better, making positive changes efficiently is much more likely to involve focusing on the actions one can take to initiate positive change and then performing those actions as effectively as possible.

Remember this day

Remember this day as a fresh start. A new beginning. A clean slate. An optimistic look forward. Remember this day as a day of hope. A day of unlimited possibilities. A day of immeasurable potential. Remember this day as an occasion to learn. A day to improve. A day to get things right.

Remember this day as an opportunity to make a positive difference in someone’s life. A day to have a lasting positive impact on those you come in contact with. A day to lead by example.

Remember this day is a symbol. Because this day, this moment, and every moment that follows is an opportunity to not only be the type of person you want to be, but the type of person you want to be remembered as.

This day is not just a fresh start that comes but once a year, it comes every day — every moment you exist. This day is your life. And this day and all the days that follow are your legacy.

No one has more of an impact on this day and every day that follows in your life than you do. Make it a good one.

Originally published Jan 1, 2015

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As one year ends and another begins…

As one year ends and another begins, let us move forward with an open mind, an open heart, and enduring hope for the wondrous possibilities that lie before us.

But let us do so wisely and without blinders on.

Because although the year ahead may be great, it will not be without its challenges. We will be tested in ways we cannot foresee. But with every challenge comes an opportunity for us to demonstrate our strength, patience, tolerance, and resolve.

Every surprise that the coming year has in store for us is an opportunity to show that we’ve grown. That we’re stronger. And that we are ever bridging the gap between the person we are and the person we wish to be.

Let us remember that it is through the process of overcoming challenges that we develop strength. And that every time we face temptation, heartache, friction, or failure it is an opportunity for us to act in ways that we can be proud of.

No matter what life has in store for us, let this be a year of love, encouragement, and forgiveness — of others and ourselves.

Let it see us act bravely, boldly, and taking consistent action towards our goals. Let it see us correct our bad habits and add to our good ones — making us healthier, happier, and more capable of living the kind of life we desire. Let is see us push forward into the new year knowing that we are not only capable of handling every adversity that lies ahead, we can do so in a way that makes us better.

And because we know that life isn’t always easy, let us remember to not just be there for those that we know, but also for those that we don’t.

Happy New Year.

Sincerely,
Zero Dean

Originally published: Dec 29, 2016

Happy New Year.

Wishes for the New Year

May the new year bring you an abundance of amazing opportunities, beautiful moments, and joyful experiences. May your positive actions & attitude inspire others.

May the new year bring you an abundance of amazing opportunities, beautiful moments, and joyful experiences. May your positive actions & attitude inspire others.

May you be brave enough to take on and overcome rewarding challenges. May you find yourself in high spirits & excellent health. May you love with all your heart and find peace in even the most turbulent of times.

May the love you give find its way back to you. And may you forever be filled with the hope & strength necessary to make your dreams a reality.

Sincerely,
Zero Dean

Originally published on: Dec 30, 2013

Like this post? Be sure to see others from the New Year category.

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May your coming days be filled with memorable moments…

May your coming days be filled with memorable moments and positive life experiences. May you find the strength and determination to overcome challenges and persevere through tough times. May you find pleasure in simple things and encounter love & joy in unexpected places. May you leave the world a better place for having been a part of it.

And may you not only have a great day, may you help make it great for those you encounter.

Originally published July 7, 2014

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Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine…

Excerpt from: Not everyone will understand your journey.

“Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine. It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.” — Zero Dean


September 30, 2015:

quote-investigator-banner-smallToday I am truly honored by Quote Investigator (AKA Garson O’Toole), a person whose work I’ve respected for quite some time.

After thorough research, Garson has concluded that I am the author of the often shared, but rarely attributed quote, “Not everyone will understand your journey…“.

Thank you, Garson. It truly is an honor.

In 2015, on Facebook alone, “Not everyone will understand your journey…” has been shared with over 15 20 MILLION people …

Which is kind of great. I’m extremely pleased that people like the message so much! The only issue is that it’s being shared without any attribution and often with someone else’s company, logo, and/or website attached.

[From Reddit to Facebook to Pinterest to Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter, this actually happens with many of the things I’ve written, but this is the most popular and also most “dear” to me because it’s so reflective of my personal journey that inspired it.]

If you see my work in the wild without proper attribution, it would be tremendously helpful to me and those who might appreciate some of the other things I’ve written if you mentioned the source.

~ Thank you.

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Healthy habits harbor happiness.

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Healthy habits harbor happiness.

Unhealthy habits hinder happiness.

Choose your habits wisely.

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What it means to “live life to the fullest”

Living life to the fullest means continually reaching out for newer, richer, deeper, life-changing experiences. It means using those experiences as a means for personal growth and pushing the boundaries of yourself mentally, spiritually, and intellectually for the betterment of yourself and the world at large.

Living life to the fullest means taking an active role in your own development. It means steering the rudder of your own life and taking advantage of your unique and powerful potential as a person.

It’s about how the things you do in your life motivate & inspire others to do something motivating & inspiring in theirs — and, if you’re lucky, leave a legacy that long outlasts you.

“Your story is the greatest legacy that you will leave to your friends. It’s the longest-lasting legacy you will leave to your heirs.” — Steve Saint

To live life to the fullest means to maximize your capacity to experience what life has to offer around you. This, in turn, expands your consciousness resulting in even more opportunities to have an even broader range of life experiences.

To live life to the fullest means facing your fears with bravery, an open mind, and a lack of prejudice. It means making the most of what you have and never settling for less than the life you are capable of living. It means being truly alive and awake to life and not asleep in life’s waiting room.

There is a reason why Neale Donald Walsch said:

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

The key to living life to the fullest is opening your mind and stretching beyond your comfort zone. Because if you’re not being challenged or intentionally pushing yourself beyond the realm of things that are familiar to you, then the experiences you’re having are no longer changing you.

If we are growing we are always going to be outside our comfort zone.” — John C. Maxwell

Anything you do that limits your ability to experience the breadth of life reduces your ability to live life to the fullest. While this can include doing things that have an adverse effect on your health, it can also mean living in such a way that your lifestyle restricts your ability to have new experiences.

While living life to the fullest can, at times, involves living dangerously (in a life-threatening fashion), if you’re living in such a consistent fashion that your life expectancy is greatly reduced as a result, then this is simply thrill seeking. If the point of living life to the fullest is to maximize your capacity for taking advantage of what life has to offer you, then this involves maximizing the length of your life as well.

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” — Diane Ackerman

While living life to the fullest often involves travel in order to experience new places, languages, or cultures, it isn’t a requirement. It is quite possible to push your personal boundaries simply by reading, performing a creative activity, or taking charge of one’s education — all of which can be done in the comfort of one’s home.

But simply “being busy”, having a full schedule, and living a life of routine is not living life to the fullest.

Working during the week and partying it up on the weekends is not living life to the fullest.

Going on a tour guided, everything-is-taken-care-of vacation, or a pre-packaged “adventure” every year is not living life to the fullest.

“The comfort zone is the great enemy to creativity; moving beyond it necessitates intuition, which in turn configures new perspectives and conquers fears.” — Dan Stevens

While living life to the fullest is about collecting experiences, it isn’t simply about knocking items off a bucket list. And it isn’t a competition to “do the most things before death.” It is about acquiring strength and wisdom from the challenges one has overcome and having experiences that alter how one perceives the world.

Living inside your comfort zone is one of the surest ways to know you’re not living life to the fullest. And as long as you are comfortable, you are not growing.

“Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you’re not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you’re not demanding more from yourself – expanding and learning as you go – you’re choosing a numb existence. You’re denying yourself an extraordinary trip.” – Dean Karnazes

If you really want to live life to the fullest, make a habit of always reaching for new experiences that push you to grow. And when you’re growing, and your growth is having a positive influence on others, you’ll know you’re truly maximizing your life.

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Life is hard. And it isn’t fair

Life is hard. And it isn’t fair. And it really hurts like hell sometimes. But if you focus on what is within your power to change for the better, you can. And you will.

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Not everyone will understand your journey…

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Not everyone will understand your journey…

The only person that is truly aware of your emotions, your intentions, or your interpretation of experiences — which is all they can be — is you.

As much as others may — at times — identify with you or your actions, it is impossible to go through life without occasionally being misunderstood. While you can control what you say and how you act, you cannot control how others choose to interpret it. And it may sometimes seem that no matter how much you try to explain yourself to others, they just don’t “get it”.

This should be expected.

Not everyone will understand your journey. That’s fine. It’s not their journey to make sense of. It’s yours.


September 30, 2015:

quote-investigator-banner-small

Today I am truly honored by Quote Investigator (AKA Garson O’Toole), who, after thorough research, has verified that I am the original author of the often shared, but rarely attributed quote, “Not everyone will understand your journey…“. Thank you, Garson.


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