Do you believe it happens for a reason? That events are connected?

I do. My life has changed dramatically since I stopped seeing events as luck or chance, and instead have learned to see opportunities and read the signs and go based on my heart and my gut rather than feel the world is against me.

Take, for instance, the circle my wife and I created. After my success as a student of Mike Litman, my wife and I decided he would be a great source of a referral for her to have her own coach for real estate. So, we asked him for a referral. He suggested a man named Scott, and after Scott's coaching, my wife has literally watched her business explode. She was sharing a testimonial with Scott, which he forwarded onto one of his other students.

The student replied and told him ... wow! Then went on to share something interesting. The student explained how we were all connected. He had been listening to my coaching programs, even participated on the calls, and picked up my Become the Journey CD (the first in my 5-CD set). He listened to the CD and received value from it. Then, one day, browsing my site or reading my Lose Fat, Not Faith e-Zine, I'm not certain which, he came across my recommendation for Mike's product. Mike has a free CD called Greatness Held Hostage that I recommend whole-heartedly to anyone ready to make a major difference. When I shared this with the list, it was a great example of how people receive value into their lives ... many people unsubscribed, a few sent me hate mail ... and then I began receiving the flood of e-mails thanking me for sharing this powerful resource.

I always love sharing offers like that with my list. It allows the cynics and skeptics a chance to unsubscribe, so that whoever is left are people willing to receive value. It doesn't mean everyone tries it out - plenty decide it's not for them and simply decline. You can tell the people who are broke and are not willing to make a change in their lives, however, because instead of just deleting the e-mail or unsubscribing, they give up control, get angry, and spend time typing up negative e-mails. If they spent half that energy focusing on abundance instead of complaining out of lack, imagine where they'd be!

This student bought that CD and to make a short story boring ... hired Scott as a coach. So, we are all connected ... my coach to my wife's coach to the student who was actually a student of mine in a sense! Mike recently released another package, Unleash Your Greatness, which is aptly named because it helped me do this with my own business.

I must admit this was quite a week for me. I haven't focused so much on being productive rather than just active (i.e. doing busy work) in a long time. At the end of the week, I felt a little drawn out. I was even feeling a bit frustrated. It was then that I decided I deserved a break and watched a favorite movie of mine, The Gladiator, and it helped put things in perspective for me.

The movie is really about something larger than life ... a vision. An era. It takes a historical story but tells a modern tale ... because it is about being a part of something inspirational. And that really drew it all into focus for me. Weeks like this are awesome. I spent the week building, calling, connecting, coaching, growing, learning, teaching, and doing so many things. I was too focused on what the result at the end of the week would be, instead of on the important aspect ... the seeds that I am planting. Seeds that are bigger than I am. As long as I do this selfishly, wondering what's in it for me, then I will receive something small because I can only hold so much. When I tap into the vision of something greater, when I do it not just for me, but for the lives I can change and the people I can reach, then suddenly I am lifted to a new level because while I can only hold so much, the vision and the inspiration are larger than me and they can hold a lifetime, many times over!

It is very powerful. I have visions of creating change ... starting out with just one person or couple at a time; giving them freedom when they thought they had none by assisting them with overcoming their struggles with health and weight. Eventually, however, this can impact one person, then another, then another, and ultimately "pay it forward" to ripple into many people's lives.

And that's what REALLY keeps me going. The fact that I can be a part of something larger, that it's not just about Jeremy and Jeremy's company, but instead the impact we can have and the positive changes we can help create.

Exciting! Motivating and inspirational.

I could not have this passion working for someone else ... I have to be free to build upon my own creative energy in order to get closer to that dream, that goal to be prosperous and give out of abundance. It is very exciting and I look forward to the projects we will take on and the lives we will change.

The end of the movie brought me to a place that I don't visit often. This is probably what inspired me to come write this ... I had been tired and was set on just going to sleep, but I felt some strong emotions that I had to release first. At the end of the movie, and this is a spoiler in case you haven't seen it, so don't read this if you don't want to know the ending ...

... but at the end, there is a powerful scene. In the context of the movie, something great has happened, something greater than the main character, something that would change the majority of the world and not just those standing around him. However, the focus draws into to this great man and what he has done. A senator steps forward and asks who will help him carry the body.

This is where it really grabs me.

Part of what helped move me into action ... part of the "click" or "trigger" that prompted me to make a radical change in my life ... had to do with honor and carrying that body. I wrote about this in Lose Fat, Not Faith, and will share it here.

When I was at an all time low ... when I was one of those people with a lack mentality, who was cyncical, skeptical, and always focused on the negative — who blamed the world for everything — I made a major change in my life by deciding to up the drugs, cigarette smoking, and other addictions. I was with the wrong crowd and though I do not know where the courage came from, I decided that my friends were not helping me move forward so I would have to leave them behind. I did this not just figuratively, but literally, by moving to Atlanta.

At the time, I thought it was irony, luck, or chance, but now I know it was synchronicity. When my boss left the company that I was working for at the time, the head of the telecommunications department stepped in as interim boss. I was really young at the time, but he was one of the few people who really saw my potential and chose to help bring out my assets and skills. He fought for me to have a raise and get paid more what I was worth rather than the laughable salary they gave me due to lack of experience and lack of a degree. He also spent time mentoring and coaching me. The twist of fate, as some would call it, or synchronistic event, was that he left the company before I did, and ended up in Atlanta working for the major airline there ... while I ended up moving there for a company that specialized in online systems for tracking in-home healthcare.

When I moved to Atlanta, I did not know a soul ... except Brian. Brian welcomed me into his home, gave me a place to stay when I'd drive up to Atlanta from St. Petersburg to go house hunting, and even tried to take me into places and introduce me to people to help me get into the "dating scene." (That's an entirely different story ... let's just say I was called words like geek and nerd as a child and did not exactly have the social skills to go out and meet people ... fortunately, I met my wife the first week I was there and was saved from having to brave the "dating scene"). When my wife and I were married, it was in Brian's back yard, as we had become close friends by that time.

The Lord took Brian out of my life and that is not something I will be selfish about because he also left his wife and most importantly, his children behind. I won't share the details because they are not important ... I delayed in getting to him to see him, and when I finally visited, he was asleep. He chose that moment while I was waiting for him to "wake up" to instead move on.

I received the honor of carrying him to his final resting place. Before that day, I did not know much about honor or respect. I was more concerned with vanity and wrapped in too much ego to pay respect to others. That was a lesson for me. I cannot tell you how humble it was to carry the weight of my close friend to that place where we hold onto the remnants of what is earthly as we know the spirit has moved on.

This is so powerful for me because it was his memory and that humbling experience that gave me the drive to lose 65 pounds and transform my life. When I was struggling to jog up a hill or finish a workout, and almost gave up, it was Brian who helped me finish ... I couldn't give up with my friend watching over me. Ultimately, it was that experience that led me to begin a relationship with Christ and become baptized with my children.

Aside from that scene, there was a gift he gave me that is an amazing gift. Not just the encouragement and the ability to overcome adversity and get through the pain of transforming my beliefs and growing up from being a scared and hateful kid to a loving and forgiving father ... but something more simple than that.

You see, when I was living in a 10' x 12' garage apartment, barely making rent, and constantly deciding between food or cigarettes at the local convenience store (the one that would tear open the boxes and sell individual cigarettes for those of us who could barely scrape together a few quarters) ... Brian was a father to me. I didn't even realize this until now, writing this. It wasn't that my stepfather wasn't there for me, but that I had rejected him and pushed him away.

So it was Brian who I went to one day when I had to wear a tie, and had no clue how to tie it. Brian patiently worked with me. I asked him because I remember others at my company always commented on how well dressed he was, and how he had great taste with ties. He taught me how to tie a double-windsor with a perfect traingle and a nice dimple down the middle.

Now, every time I wear a tie, I have this precious gift he gave me ... the memory of his love and how he cared for me.

What a powerful gift! Thank you, Brian. Tonight, as I watched the ending of the movie, I remember honoring you ... and that was one of the greatest honors of my life.

And it made me stop to think, and realize ... here I was earlier, frustrated about this, that, or the other, instead of praising God for my gifts! Whether it was the times he took care of me and what he taught me of respect, or the gift I received of being able to forgive and stop rejecting my stepfather and bring his love back into my life, or meeting my wife and gaining an incredible son who has taught me so much about being a father, or the gift of our love that laughs and hugs me every morning and has the name of a flower that is echoed in the movie ... we named our daughter Alyssa after the flower, and in the movie you hear him speak of running through the fields of Elysia, the Roman concept of an afterlife filled with flowers of the same name.

Isn't it great writing late at night ... I can ramble more, get more poetic and emotional, maybe tap into a little more of the marrow of who I am.

Thanks for reading this, I appreciate you.

Blessed be,

Jeremy Likness