There is no excuse for not being the best you can be all the time. Be grateful for friends, family, neighbors, and all those you interact with each day. Last but not least, be grateful for who you truly are. You are a perfect creation that is fully part of God. Not only are you a child of God, but you are also an extension of God. Why do we end up with so many excuses about what we cannot do or achieve in our lives? We have every resource we need within us. One small step to change from the excuses of 'I can't because' to 'I can because' starts with changing a belief. Here is part of my 'no more excuses' journey.

 While I intentionally set out to change my behavior by practicing The Four Agreements as much as possible, I took on another challenge as a result of another self-help book: Dr. Wayne Dyer's book Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong Self-Defeating Thinking Habits.

'If no one told me who I was, who would I be? Quietly meditate on this by spending some time in the spaciousness of not knowing. Imagine that your subconscious mind is nonexistent, and there is no storage receptacle for excuses during your life. There's just an open and inviting clear space inside of you —a tabula rasa, or blank slate, with a magical surface that nothing adheres to. You might imagine that your everyday conscious mind doesn't absorb the opinions of the folks you grew up with. In this little fantasy, there's never been anyone telling you who you are. So, who are you?' ² - Dr. Wayne Dyer

Who am I? Given the above scenario, this question was huge then and still is today. About halfway through the book, I began to believe it was a matter of will to change my behavior yet again. Dr. Dyer lists a range of excuses that many of us use just out of habit. There are excuses that are convenient to use. One of my convenient excuses for unhealthy habits was 'We are all going to die anyway. Right?' I was very young at the time, so the discussion about excuses was eye-opening. I had no idea that repeating this thought could change my brain's physical nature due to the low-level negative emotions attached to this statement. It sounded awful. It was awful. 

Once I began to eliminate excuses in my life, I could see how many times I chose not to pursue a goal or a dream because of some excuse. I found out how often I said 'no' to myself. No one else needed to that job. I was pretty good at doing that to myself. I also realized that it is easy to make up a future scenario in my head as an excuse to avoid something. For example, when I discovered how much I really liked exploring my psychic abilities, it was okay to keep that to myself. When I discovered that I could divine answers for others, I came up with all kinds of excuses why I should stop that practice. Excuses like 'I could be setting myself up for an afterlife in hell', 'I could be wrong', 'I don't have enough experience', 'The religious people I know may lash out at me for doing readings', 'I probably like this because it is some kind of ego trip. That's not good either.'

 One day I decided to keep the phrase 'Excuses Begone' in front of me because I needed a constant reminder. Since I spent a good chunk of my day at work, I wrote 'Excuses Begone' on the white board in my office. This mantra influenced the way I made decisions and the emotional tone of my emails. I wanted to avoid sharing an excuse for feeling blocked on a project that was behind schedule. I did not want to respond with an excuse that sounded like 'blaming others' for anything that did not go well. This change in thinking forced me to acknowledge the situation. When I quickly acknowledged the problem, possible solutions easily flowed into my mind. I found that when I eliminated the excuse, I felt better because the focus was on the best way forward. Dr. Dyer's book, if you are willing to read it, helps you to look at habitual positive and negative thoughts to uncover another aspect of who you are.

My willingness to observe my use of excuses, helped me to no longer use them to stop doing what I really enjoyed – practicing my psychic abilities. I finally accepted the passion I have for understanding and utilizing my psychic abilities. I demonstrated this by providing readings and teaching classes that help strengthen psychic awareness. No more excuses! I now have plenty of days of gratitude that I found this one book that convinced me to make a change in my favor. No More Excuses and Filled with Gratitude! I think God smiled when I made that declaration!

Blessings from my Soul to Your Soul, Always

Medium Kimberly Thomas

2 Dyer, W (2009), Excuses Begone! How to Change Lifelong Self-defeatingThinking Habits. Hayhouse Publishing