Today, I am celebrating the 30th anniversary of my motorcycle accident. At fifteen I crashed into a wall with out wearing a helmet. I was left on the street for dead.  By chance a neighborhood friend was in the area, ran home and told my brother Esteban, about the accident.  Esteban a few years later recalled the incident, “you were laying on the asphalt, your head was cracked open and it was disgusting.  I had to scrape every part up and hold your head together until we got you to the hospital. If you were not my brother I cannot ever imagine doing that.”  Lucky me, I made it, with a little less brain cells but still functioning.  :)

So what did I learn from it?

First and foremost, wear a helmet when riding a bike.

Second, I learned to appreciate life at its fullest everyday.

Third, before I complain about life, I think of someone who died and left this world too early.

We all have dreams, but only a few are willing to accomplish them. The majority is afraid of trying, risking and failing. Errors are part of life and growing up, there are called experiences! If you are not failing it is because you are not risking enough! If you are not risking, you are not living!

I took this paragraph from Taking Risk "The majority of times when you talk to an older person, they will say “IF I was your age, I WOULD be doing so and so….”, when I get older I will say “ WHEN I was your age, I WAS doing so and so…” I was there… very important.  Rich or poor when you’re lying in bed as an old man, the only thing that you have are your memories or regrets!"

So while celebrating my anniversary I know that each day is a gift and I will enjoy it. 

Enjoy life, you only have a few decades!

When I have an idea or a problem, I think about it before I go to sleep. I fall sleep thinking about it and most of the time I wake up in the middle of the night, scribble my thoughts in my notebook and go back to sleep. Numerous times, by the time I awake in the morning the solution or the idea is complete in my head…

How do I manage to find the solution in my sleep?

It seems like my subconscious is doing all the work while I am sleeping.

There has to be an explanation.

Well, bare with me, it is a complicated explanation and I will try to explain it in the simplest possible way...

Subconscious is defined as the part of the mind of which one is not fully aware of but which influences one's actions and feelings.

Bruce Lipton explains that there are actually two minds in every person, the conscious and the subconscious. He explains that 5% of our mind is conscious and 95% is unconscious. Conscious is what controls the intent and desires. It can imagine the future, and remember the past while making you aware of it. Subconscious is the hard drive with your memories and the good and bad habits. It is invisible and you are not aware of it.

When you learn a new skill like riding a bike, driving a car, lighting a match you start off by doing it all on a conscious level. You are focused. Then, after several failures you eventually learn the skill where then it becomes an unconscious habit. The subconscious takes over and you can perform the task automatically without having to think about it.  Every habit you have is driven by your subconscious mind even with the ones that harm you.

What this means is that our subconscious mind is almost in control of every behavioral choice we make. Our lives are a reflection of our subconscious habits, good and poor habits.

The good news is that we all have the power and ability to change our habits by learning how to access and use the power of our subconscious mind.

Hindu philosophy, long before Christ, was aware of the subconscious or unconscious state of mind. This concept is being revived and talked about lately. Our subconscious mind is the unconscious part of ourselves that creates and controls our life. The essential is to bring our subconscious and conscious mind in collaboration for a better health and mental wellness.

So to take control of our lives, first we need to understand who we are and what we want to become. Understanding our habits and know that we can alter them. For that, our conscious mind has to be aware of what needs to be altered, and we have to make a conscious effort of wanting to adjust.

Now, there is another theory where it states that there is a relationship between the subconscious mind and your dreams and that you can train your dreams to change your subconscious.

What is the connection between the subconscious mind and dreams?

Our experiences get stored in our subconscious mind.

When we are asleep our conscious mind sleeps as well but our subconscious mind remains awake. At this point the connection between dreams and the subconscious mind starts to appear.

If we go to sleep thinking about problem or an idea our subconscious mind will show it to us in our dreams. 

Dreams have the ability to arrange the information we received in our subconscious mind.

Dreams can also result in a change in our emotions and affect our subconscious mind.

If we had a dream that had an impact on our emotions, it might affect our behavior when we wake up.  This is the result of our dreams affecting our subconscious mind.

To recap:

1. Our mind is made up of the conscious and subconscious parts
2. Conscious mind is in control of 5%. Subconscious is in control of 95%
3. Conscious mind is aware of the past, present and future
4. Subconscious mind is not aware and bears all of our habits
   
5. Conscious mind goes to sleep, Subconscious mind does not go to sleep
   
6. Dreams can affect our subconscious
   
7. Our habits can be changed if we make a conscience effort
   

Finally, I understood how I am able to solve problems at night during my sleep.

So how does one get started? 

To get started,  Danica Collins provides three actions to alter our mind.

• Repetition: by repeating a positive action again and again until it is habit, your subconscious mind will reach for it first.
  
• Visualization: picture the reality you want to live in full color; this can be done in your mind or with the benefit of a vision board.
  
• Emotion: go through each day with the mindset that you have already achieved your goals. 
  

In order to accomplish our goals we must constantly make a conscious effort to train our subconscious mind with new habits.  

In the article "Self Improvement" I explained that  for anything to become a habit, one must practice it consistently for 21 days. When we want to start a habit, we don’t try to do it for life. We focus and convince ourself to stick to it for 3 weeks. After we see the results, our subconscious will continue with it. 

So before falling sleep, I focus on finding a solution or changing a habit  and then my subconscious will work on it during my sleep.

“Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious.” – Thomas Edison 

I was looking at Lola, a dog that we rescued a few years ago, and made me think about how important it is to have the right attitude and disposition to accomplish anything.

During our family vacation at the beach in Ecuador, we were having lunch at a local seafood restaurant where you can have a fabulous ceviche, fried fish and lentils. A place where the locals enjoy home made food.

While having Lunch a small dog, made of skin-and-bones, with a crooked back and almost no hair came under the table. The dog began to play with my kids, although the dog was a disaster it did have a great disposition… instantly the dog adopted our family. Stayed with us during lunch and followed us for a walk

Isabela my youngest daughter asked if we could take the dog with us. I told her, “sorry, this mutt belongs to somebody and we cannot take her.”

Next morning, as soon as Isabela got up she ran to my bedroom “Mauchy, (my nickname), can we go back and find out who is the owner of the poor dog?” 

When we got there, we found the little indefensible dog surrounded by two large dogs. It was evident that this poor dog was mistreated, abused and soon she would be dead. 

So as a family we decided to adopt this dog. The kids understood that if we bring this creature to our house, we would be responsible for it, she will become part of our family, she could be very sick, but from now on she will be our responsibility no matter what.

We bought some special soap and powders to try to get rid of all the fungus and ticks that covered her.  We did our best and then put her in the car and drove her back to the city. The veterinarian prohibited us to bring her to the house until she received several treatments at the hospital. Her skin had to be treated before allowing her to be with the kids or the rest of the dogs. 

Lola, which is the name that my kids chose for her, had to be quarantined for 45 days.

When finally she got home, she was like a bag of bones.  When she was fed, she could only eat 4 to 5 bites of food and it was difficult for her to swallow.

My kids where committed and gradually, day-by-day, Lola was able to get her health back.

Now, why am I writing about this experience with Lola? 

I think there is a lot to be learned from this anecdote!

First, Lola is the best example of a great disposition. She was in a very difficult situation but she did not give up. With her great attitude and personality she was able to win our family’s heart.

Second, Isabela’s persistence and determination to save Lola! Although we already have decided that we would not take the dog, she ran to my room the following morning asking and insisting to go look for Lola’s owner. 

When Lola finally arrived home, she was weak and was constantly fighting to survive. She remembered her past, where she had no food or shelter. So when she was given a treat, she will hide it and save it for a later time. She did the same with toys, shoes and socks. She was always preparing for a reversal in her life where she would be back on the streets. 

Today from all our dogs,“5 dogs”, she is the smartest and the most pleasant. You cannot trick her and she learns very quickly what is right and wrong she is the last one to fight. She is grateful for her new life everyday!

At the end, the fact is that we did not choose Lola, she chose us. She decided to adopt us and teach our family great lessons in life! 

People, like animals, must posses the same attributes in order to thrive: One must be positive, determined, committed, resilient, persistent and most important one must be kind whenever possible. 

While learning about our dreams and our conscious, I came across this book, “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, which has been around for 15 years and sold millions of copies. When I started reading it I could not put it down. It brought me back to my favorite book, "The Greatest Salesman in the World" by Og Mandino

In the book Paulo Coelho talks about identifying and living the life purpose for which we were born to live.

He says there are 4 obstacles why people do not reach their life purposes.

The first obstacle is how we are raised. When we are little kids we have dreams, but they slowly disappear because people tell us to be real and that everything we want to do is impossible or difficult.

The second obstacle impeding our dreams is love or family. This represents the safe and secure surrounding we live in.

The third obstacle is the fear of failure.

The fourth obstacle is the fear of realization.  If one can actually realize their dream can they handle it or manage it?

So, why is it so important to fulfill our purpose in life if we are only going to suffer more than other people?

“Because, once we have overcome the defeats – and we always do – we are filled by a greater sense of euphoria and confidence. In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. Each day, each hour, is part of the good fight. We start to live with enthusiasm and pleasure.”  Paulo Coelho

We all need to find our calling, but not just in life. 

Universities and professors need a purpose of creating successful people. The goal is not just to provide a degree to their students.

Businesses and entrepreneurs need to have the purpose of helping people and providing services and products that will help their customers and employees to have a better life.  The goal is not just to make a profit.

Governments and politicians need to have the purpose of helping the nation, promoting health, education and growth. Not just feeding their ego and fighting to hold on to their positions.

The dictionary defines purpose as the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exits. To have one’s intention or objective.

We all need to have an intention or objective and be able to confront our obstacles.  We cannot isolate our life to a limited parameter and have a narrow view, but look at our life and its impact on our World.  By identifying our purpose we can direct our intentions and actions in fulfilling our purpose and impacting our World in a positive way!