The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.

Do you believe in fate or destiny?

Fate implies an inevitable and usually an adverse outcome.

Destiny is defined as a predetermined course of events often held to be an irresistible power or agency.

As a storyteller/writer, I love both of the words because they imply a higher force acting upon the character. But as a person, working my way through life, I resist both of these concepts because of the two dominant words in their definitions…. Inevitable and irresistible.  Both of these words make me feel as if I have lost control of my future in favor of a higher force.

Not being steeped in a traditional religion that allows for God to be controlling my life in either of those capacities, I have explored numerous other explanations, from Karma to the Law of Attraction, and tried my best to decipher where in the universe such powers would arise. Do they stem from my own consciousness? Am I thinking things on a daily basis that are creating my destiny, or does any of what I am doing even matter because all of it is entirely out of my hands anyway?

As soon as my logical side gives way to the writer’s brain, I see these dominant forces and if everything is preordained anyway, I conclude, why even try? If the outcome is fixed, it does not matter what I do. But the lack of any logic to support that premise floods in immediately to wipe that sentiment out, in favor of giving life everything I’ve got, in order that I may create the outcome of my choosing. I cannot find my way past that logic, no matter how alluring the fictional concepts of Fate or Destiny truly are.

We grow up with these words being used in real life as if they are genuine forces to be reckoned with. We hear phrases like, “She was destined for greatness,” and “It was his fate that it ended that way.” These support a rudimentary concept in all of us (each, being the hero of our own story) that there are forces in life that will sweep us up and carry us to the outcome. Yet, from all of my reading and exploration, the best I have been able to manifest in my search for these answers is that what you think, you become. This concept is stated in many different ways by Buddha, and probably many wise people before him. Certainly countless others who have come after him perpetuate the same idea.

I like to hold confidence that I remain in complete control of my own future. I practice the mental balance of visualizing what I want to achieve, focusing on it and working by the minute to see it come to fruition. It is a daily exercise that requires my attention and focus, for without those, I am reduced to a cork on the ocean, aimlessly floating on the tides and currents, allowing them to carry me where they may.

Happy Thursday!

If you like what you are reading in the blog, you will even love the book more. Take a free preview below and watch the Sizzle Reel. It will give you a sense of how this book might be of help in your life when you are looking to make some tough decisions.

Specially priced at $11.11 for those who are tuned in.

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Written by Brian Weiner
When I was 5 years old, I discovered that the lemon tree in the backyard + dixie cups + water and sugar and I was in business. I have been hooked on that ever since. In 1979, I borrowed $14,000 to create a brand new product... photographic greeting cards with no text on the inside, called Paradise Photography. That was the start of The Illusion Factory. Since then, The Illusion Factory has been entrusted by all of the major studios and broadcasters with the advertising and marketing of over $7 billion in filmed, live, broadcast, gaming, AR, VR and regulated gaming forms of entertainment, generating more than $100 Billion in revenue and 265 awards for creativity and technology for our clients. When I took a break from film school at UCLA to move to Hawaii, my mother did not lecture me. Instead, she took 150 of her favorite aphorisms and in her beautiful calligraphy, wrote them artistically throughout a blank journal. That is the origin of the Lessons from the Mountain series. Since then, on my journeys to the top of a mountain to watch the sunrise, I have spent countless hours contemplating words of wisdom from the sages of all races, genders and political persuasions, constantly accumulating the thoughts to guide me on my life path. I hope you enjoy my books. Please let me know your thoughts, as I highly value your feedback!