11. CLOSING THOUGHTS
Thank you for taking the time and effort to read, study and work through Change Your Life in Ten Weeks. I trust that the book has proved helpful in some way and has been instrumental in getting you to look more closely at your lifestyle and to take steps to improve its quality and joy. I hope that you have examined the Phoenix Self-Help Life Plan thoroughly and have – in a fashion suitable for you – made use of the method of self-change it proposes. If you have not yet worked the Plan, I do suggest you give it a try.
The Plan, and the book, are necessarily imperfect but they do point in the direction of striving to make life more tolerable and personal peace more attainable. Both reflect my own philosophies and the manner of my personal efforts to improve my life and my birth inheritance. For me, the Plan has worked fairly well while some other approaches have not. You alone must be the judge of what the Phoenix Self-Help Life Plan, or any other self-help program, will do for you.
What seems certain is that whatever method you choose to follow, in attempting self-improvement in your lifestyle, you will not achieve any worthwhile progress unless and until you are prepared to put in the necessary effort. Most of us start off very well-intentioned to work for change, but are easily diverted from our course by the sheer pressures of everyday realities and demands. The message here is that we must be willing to acknowledge that being knocked off course is normal and likely and that we need to have the spirit to rise again and keep going. Not once, or twice or thrice, but until we reach out selected goal.
At some stage in the past, the title of this book grabbed your attention. You locked on to it and considered that it might offer something of value. Clearly, you then had some misgivings about the way in which your life was proceeding and you acknowledged that change was needed. If this book has developed your thinking about your present lifestyle and led you to take steps to improve matters, that's great and it pleases me. However, if the book has not given you the assistance you needed, or has not presented for you a method that seemed worthwhile, do not give up. Find another way to deal with things. Search for and discover a method of self-change which will work for you.
However, a word of caution. There are certain authors and philosophies in today's self-improvement world which seem to assert that anyone can achieve anything provided they put their mind to it or allow the law of attraction to bring them all the things they need and desire. It may be that I am unfair to such theorists or that I have not personally succeeded in inculcating this life-change philosophy into my belief system, yet I hold that there are limits to self-change. It seems to me that there is strong evidence that some aspects, or pre-dispositions, of personality are inherited and that our boundaries for change are, to some extent at least, set and defined by the range of talents and deficits gained by our birth inheritance. My purpose in mentioning this here is to advise the reader to give full consideration to the possibility that a particular form of self-change or improvement sought after may be outside the scope of one's potential. The Phoenix Self-Help Life Plan underscores this and suggests that selected goals are checked out with a buddy. However, if a goal is thought to be appropriate and yet it is not achieved, even after many consistent and diligent efforts, it would be wise to check its suitability. After all, most young footballers – if they were to adopt a goal to become a world class player – will never make it, nor is it likely that a beginner keyboard player ever attain concert pianist status by practice alone.
I have already mentioned in a previous chapter about the importance of self-acceptance and its link with spirituality. I draw attention to this again for, in my view, there can be no real self-development without a full sense of self-acceptance. I am also inclined to argue that without some kind of spiritual framework which is satisfying to the individual there can be no lasting or worthwhile equilibrium in life. I am not a protagonist or practitioner of any formal religion, established or new, but I am close to believing that there is more to human existence than the path from birth to death. It may be that the reader would benefit immensely from exploring this aspect of life. I will leave it to others to advise and guide you in this momentous quest.
There is a fair bit of repetition in the pages of this book. This is not accidental nor necessarily a flaw in its composition. It is a deliberate device used because we need to keep coming back to face the same questions and tasks:
By approaching the same questions from a variety of stances – as set out in these pages – it is hoped that the reader will be able to tease out those aspects of daily living which need to be addressed if lifestyle transformation is to be achieved. At the same time, I hope that by working through the Phoenix Plan you will be led to create a vision for your own future. This will assist in providing you with a clear purpose for living and may enhance your sense of spirituality.
I stress again – as mentioned on the Title page- that Change Your Life In Ten Weeks is essentially a workbook. This means that true value from its pages will only be realised if the exercises contained in it are fully considered, completed and personal notes recorded. I urge you to follow this approach.
This book has not been written as a vehicle for financial profit. Rather, it is an attempt by a retired person to pass on to others what I see as some important considerations about how to make life more meaningful and fulfilling. As such, it is offered as a free public service. Additionally, my own web sites linked to the book are generally without any commercial ingredients and personal details are never sought from site visitors.
When you write a book like this, it is exceedingly difficult to know or to find out whether the program set out in it does or does not help people in their path to a better and more qualitative lifestyle. For this reason, reader feedback is sought and greatly encouraged. Though I am aware of many shortcomings in Change Your Life in Ten Weeks I do sincerely believe that the Phoenix Self-Help Life Plan which it contains is a sound and valuable program for self-improvement. However, I would respect your opinion about it and about any aspect of the book. You may contact me at
ambrosehardy@yahoo.co.uk
and I will acknowledge any comments you make. If the book and Plan do prove helpful, I would be most grateful if you would pass on information about it to any person or persons you think it might help in their struggle to improve their lives.
I have not provided much information about my own life or biography. Suffice it to say that I am a retired school teacher, now aged 75, who has lived and taught in various parts of the world. Throughout my career, I have been involved in various self-help projects and have run classes in stress management and relaxation. Like most others of my age, I have experienced a wide range of personal upsets, crises and achievements. I have battled to overcome difficulties and made more than a few wrong turns. Overall, I have made immense progress and achieved a fair level of self-acceptance and personal peace. However, I am still working on the spirituality issues. I now live in Liverpool [England] with my wife who has encouraged me to produce this book.
Though we live in a world which, at times, seems full of troubles and where hardship and pain abound for many, I earnestly believe that the bulk of humankind seeks a better way. I remain optimistic that life for all can get better when individuals work to achieve fulfilment and peace in their personal lives. Just as the last hundred years has brought great benefits to many, the remainder of our century has enormous potential for the world's betterment.
I encourage you again to make a determined effort to look at the shortfalls in your lifestyle and to commit yourself to do all in your power to change your life to the way you want it to be. Do not be put off by repeated lapses in following your goals. Get up again and keep going . If you do, you will surely – in time - get to where you want to be.
It is my fervent hope that the Phoenix Self-Help Life Plan and the thoughts set out in this book will inspire you to take the necessary steps to improve your present life and to lead you towards greater fulfilment, healthier living, better relationships with those you come in contact with and increased personal joy and peace.
MAY EVERY BLESSING COME YOUR WAY