Maybe you're not that bad. Dust yourself up a little bit and you're ready to go into new territory. Many of us have been on a fixed road, a now familiar road, or a well-worn road that is wearing out it's welcome. We haven't taken to many chances when it comes to exploring new territory that we, might actually enjoy.

When can I break the code, break the code of negativity, of not feeling like I can ever do this. When can I break the code of being on the outside of what I really want, looking at everything I want pass me by in a world I can't obtain.

I can also think of the exact. Exactly who could you be, if you gave yourself this chance?

I was talking to a basketball scout about a NBA prospect, who he compared to a current NBA all star player, and he said that this prospect could be that exact player. He could be exactly like that NBA superstar.

In fact, let's get rid of these restrictions and get the right stuff. It's been a long time but let's get back there. We're going all the way to the moon this time, our time.

We don't want to shrink from all those good things out there for us this time.

Stop moving in the direction you don't want to go, and start moving in the direction you do want to go. Why borough deeper into the hole you are already in?

Sometimes we have to just see where it will take us, this idea, this situation, this interest, this potentiality. Without knowing that exact road, we can still take it and see where it takes us.

New territory is representative of and is amass in potential, potential that does exist but may and often in fact will never be realized. There is a lot of potential out there, but within and without, but just because we see the chance doesn't mean we will take the chance. For this potential to have a chance to be realized, we need the opportunity to first freely explore these positive potentials and the freedom to capture some of this potential. Any given situation could have a representation of potential. We need freedom if we so choose to encourage, sustain, and further develop the potential we already see.

I might be trying to vie my way through the Rock of Gibraltar. I could instead try to find a more malleable course. If someone is traveling through a river, why wouldn't they try to find more favorable currents within the currents of the river? I could try to find a more malleable course, a course more to my liking and fondness that might be a bit easier.

I might begin to see a talent that I have and come to rely upon it. It is probably better to rely on talent than not to rely on it. It opens up a more sustainable course. I might want to further explore a talent I see to get a better view of it.

People get caught in patterns and then fear the drift instead of the welcoming waters of the new.

Instead, can you move this time with your own interests, move with your better ideas, move with the happier times that could be there for you.

When, where and how this potential will ever come to a realization will depend in part if we can see ourselves freely through. I might want to power my way through, but if I can't see my way in freedoms paths, I may never get through.

Then there can be the easy way through, the better way through, the smart way through, the more exciting way through, the more relaxed way through. All of which might lead us to new paths. But the tendency is to rush through never finding those little branches of possibility that could have bloomed had I ever really seen them at a slower speed.

An absolute key to freedom is recognition. Everything I ever wanted could be standing right in front of me staring me in the face, but it will never happen if I can't recognize it. From the point of recognition, I can go just about anywhere, forget my fears, and leave them in the dust of yesterday. If I can get on that trail and recognize my way through, I have it.

An example could be something you could do. You meet someone who is doing this and you recognize within the discussion that you share many similar or some of the very same enabling qualities that this person possesses. You in fact also possess these qualities and you are beginning to recognize that this person took these qualities and got to a desirable place with them and you recognize that maybe just maybe, you could possibly do the same.

There are many roads I can take but if I never begin to walk down some of these roads and give myself a chance to go further I may never get to see what might have been possible. I might need to begin to lift some of the restrictions I have brought with me from my past and let go of some of the baggage I have carried with me that says I can't go this way or walk down this new road.

It is only natural that we go with the familiar. But, are we giving something new a chance to get into the range of the familiar. For example, I am thinking of going into something new, yet I want to be pre acclimated. I want the acclimation process to be done and over with before I am even started. I am thinking of a sojourn into the North Pole, yet I sit on the beach in sunny, Florida in preparation for the harsh conditions of the North. I want to get acclimated to the territory without actually going there first. It's like asking someone to read an article for you. How can that work into a true understanding of what you think the article was saying?

I might want to readapt to my current interests. For example, maybe a person has been living more or less as a recluse, they want to socialize more, and maybe they did socialize a lot sometime in the distant past. They would need to readapt to that lifestyle of being in tune with the social. The good times are rolling in and I just need to readapt to them. See your better self, even if that self is years away now, in the more distance past and look to find that self again and readapt to the person you could be. Look for the best you and readapt to that person. Those good times can be there again for you, just readapt to them. Maybe you loved the 60's, the 70's, or a particular summer you once had. Find out where that feeling went, get it back and readapt to it.

I might be looking for the edge when I don't necessarily have to go or search for the edge to get into new territory. You might be worth a lot or have a lot going for you in the circle of your interests without going outside of that circle. I might want a relationship with an exciting person, being an exciting person myself I am then already in that circle and therefore I don't need to dye my hair blond. For example, I travel to Rome to see some of its history and also its catch a breeze of it's modern culture. The experience itself brings me into new territory. I don't need to rewrite history or effect a cultural change in Rome to meet with the new right now. Looking for the edge is a trap at times because I might have something already and I am looking further on. I have a workable stretch of coast and I am seeking another type of coastline. Charles Wang of Computer Associates is starting to revamp the whole historical village of Oyster Bay. He has the means to do this and it is okay to do this. But is seems to be searching for that edge but while that is okay it isn't something that he has to do. . But having the means doesn't mean he could have also taken Oyster Bay as it is now without trying to effect change. Two people who are meeting each other for the first time do not have to make this a radical experience or bring this to an edge. Two people just being themselves on a first meeting is involving the formation of new territory without necessarily seeking or finding an edge to the experience.

You never know what someone is looking for across the river. For example, the studious girl who likes to sit in the library all day might like the physicality of an athletic person.

You might get another chance to channel. It might be just one big roadblock that you have to get past and if you do there would be this vast open landscape in front of you. It would be like trying to enter a National Park but there is a temporary roadblock. Once you get past this block, it just a vast open enjoyable landscape for you.

I can be in a bad spot or a good spot but from either spot I can get to Hawaii. So either though I might feel that bad spot is where I am destined to stay, that good spot can still be found from the bad spot.

Go far enough to give yourself a chance to see that you could or might go further. Plug in freedom and see how it feels.

Maybe I have been doing well on some or one of my fronts, but there are other fronts I could have considered, other ways I could have paid heed to.

I can go elsewhere with this. I can go into previously unmapped territory, and I'll be the one to map it. I'll put this on the map for others or myself and I'll draw the map.

I can go anywhere with this. What is this, this is that asset I have that might have universal appeal and applicability. As I travel, the asset goes with me. The asset can bring me anyplace. I have that insight to go anywhere I have the cleverness to go anywhere, the fortitude to go anywhere. This strength I have is strength in any locale and I bring it with me wherever I go.

Okay, but maybe I can't go anywhere with this but I can certainly bring this to more than one table.

Miss U.S.A, Miss Russia can also be Miss World. Her beauty applies anywhere, she can go anywhere with this asset.

We purport to be followers of freedom, but do we give it just oblation when seeking new territory? Or was it just fanfare in those distant days gone by, a ceremonial salute to what might have been, had I been willing to take a chance in freedom?

Think of how often something new is portrayed as giving or having freedom. This even works down to the personal level for you and me.

I was walking down the country road as I was going to my favorite store. I looked at the time and I realized I was going to get there after what was closing time. But as I approached the store, I saw the door still swung open, with the open sign on the door. The territory then I wanted was still open., I still had a chance. I went in, had a good conversation with the owner as usual, and brought what I wanted.

The territory is front of us is more wide open than we think in many ways, both big and small. For example, in my routine I might visit 3 or 4 favorite libraries. But there are many other libraries that are open to the public. Lot's of other books I could open. There are small ways in which more is open than I would think and it is helpful to contemplate for example that I can go to different restaurants, and get a new menu. I love to hike and there are so many places and paths that are open to me that I can still hike.

We don't have the reference points since we haven't gone into new territory yet. Estimations are involved again. Do you really estimate in some value to this? This road you're on? You can estimate you might.

Even if I never actually get to the new territory, I am still free to contemplate it and its possible ramifications and new designs.

Maybe the road we have been on just has too much length. Our way of thinking, our approach has worked into a very long road and maybe it's time to consider another road of thought that has shorter paths to nirvana. Maybe you have been on a long road to nowhere and you have traveled a long way only to find yourself just about in the same spot ,why then do you still think you can get there on this road? Give yourself that space and room in freedom to get off that long road and find a new way. Maybe we just need to get to that next shade of insight.

John Travolta, playing Bill Clinton in the movies, says in a later scene in that Southern accent," It's been a long road." Well, you don't always have to stay on a given road.

Imagine having this out of your life? Can I get to a place where I am getting some distance from this? There is a subtle difference to seeing things this way. Say for example you suffer from some kind of dearth or lack say even a lack of money in your pocket. Don't just imagine having the money but also imaging the lack or dearth being gone from your life. Imagine no longer lacking the necessary funds for whatever you want to do. One of the things you might not want is lack in some area.

That feeling and reality of lack becoming more and more distant. The difference here is that you are obtaining the distance from what you don't want and you can feel better from that distance. The people on the next island over from Mount Vesuvius felt better about their position because they had some distance from the exploding volcano.

Distancing can be very helpful and something like sitting somewhere say in a park you have never been to read a book can give you the effect of being distant from your usual rounds and routines and that little bit of distance, that distant view might be the one that gets you closer to the truth of where you are and where you might want to go or brings you a sense of relief and release and breathing room..

With distancing, it could be akin to being someone else or somewhere else where I can get the view of the outsider.

My reasons not to can be often be good and valid. But what happens is these reasons might begin to operate on several planes including the plane of being another excuse to operate with and carry with me. With this, even if my reasons not to where eliminated, contradicted or contraindicated, I still might look to hold on to them or find replacements because they also had the role of being excuses. If I lose my excuses, I need someone else or something else to play that role in my act.

What do you want to see? Columbus wanted to see that new coastline which later became known as America. .

Even if you still might fail, it helps to keep in mind what you want to see. First, ask the question, what do I want to see and begin to get real with in some way? Even if it's just activating your imagination towards this or just lining in you hopes along those boundaries. You might want to see how you would do in a given area. Maybe you would like to see how you would do if you played a round of golf. Maybe you would like to see how you would enjoy a particular type of novel, or see how you would react and feel in a certain situation because you just don't know and you need to take a chance with yourself to find out. Maybe you would enjoy giving that big speech even though every other person says they dread public speaking, you don't have to see yourself that way or with that vision or address yourself with that tone.

What looks good to you? To answer that question, I would need to also look at freedom as well as the deeper answer or the next level. If it really does look good to you, then you might begin to see it that way if you take the chance and go further down the coast.

But why divert from what you really want to see, avoiding the issue. Today I want to see how I will do on a hike. I stay home in front of the TV. How am I going to see what the story is with hiking when I am digressing from this? Go forward, and then decide.

I could go forward and then I could begin to say that I want to end this. But this would always involve a tail off and maybe it's better to see it that way, . It doesn't have to be seen as a seismic change that I might be apprehensive about, but maybe I'll tail off on this approach that I have been using but maybe hasn't worked in the way I had hoped. . Maybe I have been working in an office, I can see the tail of that comet, and I can begin to look at another type of work without seeing it as an abrupt ending, or sudden divorce. Just see yourself as being involved in a tail off on this interest approach or lifestyle as you make room in freedom for the new territory. I'll see you, I am taking off, and I'm heading in a new direction.

I want to see how I relate to a given person on a date. However, I just think about this and theorize about it. How am I actually going to see how it would go unless I take the chance and actually go on the date? My own actions might speak louder to me than my own words speak to me at times.

Then we could say, what does something represent? You win a settlement or award of 100,000 dollars. You might think this money represents a few trips abroad, investment money I can parlay into even more money, or maybe you could buy a fancy car and impress the ladies. But this $100,000 may represent such things or just as easily it may not represent that at all. We can consider what we think something represents and the possibility that we could be wrong or at least that we are assuming representation that may or may not actually be there or happen. In the same way, one or a few bad experiences might not be representative of what the territory could be for you in its more positive fashions and designs.

If I want to venture out, more than likely I will feel better if I can find my way back if I want to or have to. For example, some friends and myself are going to explore a deserted island off the coast. On one side of the island, a boat is waiting for us at the end of the day to bring us back to the mainland. But what if we lost track of how to get back to the boat ad we meander through this unfamiliar island. We might not feel as good about our venture. Or what if we weren't sure that the boat would still be there waiting for us if we didn't get back in time.

Two friends go to the riverbank. One-friend checks to see that the water isn't too deep so he can feel more comfortable in his swim. The other person checks to see if the water is vastly deep so his jump of the 70-foot cliff is into deep enough waters that are safe for that jump. Two individuals, looking at the same new territory but each with differing perspectives as to what each wants from that same territory.

Often the question and the subject matter at hand are open to interpretation. That there exists openness as to how I can interpret this or that has implications that I have some freedom within this openness. How we go about arriving at an interpretation and where we actually end up with our interpretation might and sometimes should bring us to new territory. Remember that whatever approach you are taking amounts to an interpretation that you can still reconsider and remand into something new.

New territory might be something we prefer not to deal with, as it's something that's set in the unfamiliar. Anything that is truly new I haven't seen yet. It's a sun set in an unfamiliar sky. A sky I haven't seen yet.

Can I give the unfamiliar a chance to get the familiar? Since I realize that I prefer the familiar, I still need to give situations a chance to get familiar, where they then will be preferable as they are now familiar. I want to travel along from the unfamiliar to the familiar. For example, I traverse an unfamiliar road, now it is familiar, I have changed this course from unfamiliar to familiar, I have changed this road into a familiar road.

New territory could be as simple as a new conversation with an old friend or a conversation with someone new. New territory could be a new turn of thought, a novel approach, and another way of looking at things.

Freedom could be simply having the chance to think about something else. Maybe my goal is the pursuit of wealth but that can start to dominate my thoughts and am I free to take a break from this and think about something else, somewhere else or somebody else? . Can I give my mind the leeway and freedom to take another view in my contemplations? While I am concentrating on my job, I have to think about it. Would another job or pursuit give me a chance finally to think about something else?

Dive a little deeper in the pool of your own thoughts and imaginings. Your own thoughts could have as much potency as anybodies. Why not? How about the character actor in the movie who requires a bit more depth? Can you go there into that deeper section of the pool and play that part?

I can alter the lines of my thinking now. I can think along different and maybe better lines for myself. I can ask the question, maybe I don't have want I always wanted but what can I be happy about right now? And I am free to change even what I want.

Of course, there will always be stray thoughts no matter what the lines of our thinking are or what lines I choose to center on. I can always stray away by choice. Some of these thoughts could be positive and worth heeding even though they seem to stray from the course, we had set for ourselves. And it is true that sometimes we might pick a course that just isn't going to be there or will drift away from the landscape of what is possible. Then they might be negative and we can pay too much attention to these stray thoughts, which might divert us from the good and which might as well be stray bullets for all the good they do for us.

What's right and what's wrong? It might be that 80 percent of what we are involved in could think about or that which we have is right. But we focus on what the 20 percent is that seems wrong on an exclusive basis, thereby losing sight and remembrance of that 80 percent that is still here in a way that can work for me, thereby leaving me stranded from the island of what is yet possible. I choose to focus on the 20 percent that is negative rather than the 80 percent that is positive. The 80 percent I still right here with me, but I choose to ignore it.

For example, I am on a cruise in the Prudoe Bay in Alaska. The scenery is great and the company is great. The engines stall and the boat is stranded for a few hours. I let this ruin my day when everything else is still here, my good companion, my own intelligence, and my eagle eyesight. The great scenery that surrounds me in the great weather is still here, and the ship is still running its specials. But I choose to forget what is still here and focus on what is not and that the trips itinerary will be delayed because of this.

One way that people trip over situations is that always look for something that compares favorably. You can also look for the comparable or something that compares within. Why does it always have to compare favorably. This way for example, if you like travel, you can look for a comparable trip to one of your favorite trips rather than just a new trip that would only compare favorably. If I am just looking for something that compares favorably, I might miss the something that is only comparable. For example, I go on vacation to Hawaii. If I need on my next trip something that compares favorably, where I am going to go? If I am looking for just the comparable, I have a lot more places I can consider because it is just something that compares that I want. They say it got lost in the comparison, I say I lost out with the comparison I wanted that had too many demands that I couldn't set my sails to.

At the same time, I can use positive comparisons. The girl can say her hair looks as good as the supermodels. Or maybe her eyes are comparable. I can play a round of golf and for one round maybe I could putt in a way, that compares to Tiger Woods. Maybe I could have just one drive that compares to Tigers Woods. As I search for these positive comparisons, I can use them to climb the ladder in my thinking in that at times I can be comparable in freedom to those that seem to be on another plane. And I need to remember, that in so many cases, what I'm doing is not the final out, there will still be remaining incentives to continue forward.

The expression is, get of the box. I can also think about what boxes I am putting myself in and on what basis. If I am going to be in a box at all, which one would I prefer to be in? I can change my thinking and put myself in a more desirable box. I can get out of the box that is undesirable that I have first put myself in and find my way either out of all the boxes or in another more desirable box. For example, I win the lottery, now I am in another box maybe. I might have the financial means available for a more lavish lifestyle. And this is based on one criteria of event. I finally swim across the English Channel and now I can put myself into the more desirable box of being an adventurer. I am dealing with a more favorable comparison because a box deals also with comparisons. If I didn't swim the English Channel, the comparison is more difficult and I am not as sure that I can put myself into the box of being an adventurer.

I can think about the ideal and what that might be. But I can also choose to go off the ideal, off from that mythical center, and search out other course ways.

The concept of a sabbatical gives someone the freedom to free up their thought process for a period of time. One of the advantages of traveling or vacations to someplace else if it helps free up our thinking. Even something you want that has positive connotations is something that you don't have to think about incessantly. It could be as simple as giving your mind a chance to wander into new or previously uncovered territory. Unlock some door. A different thought process can be a chance to bring your thinking into more of an exploratory mode. The basic question is, "Can I think about something else." I can give my new territory some time. I don't have to look into it for all time, but for a certain frame of time, yes I will give this a try.

Often though if we aren't doing something, and we think we can do something, we often will feel a pull towards that something. We want the freedom to consider what we think we can do and what to do with the pull. I can swim in the ocean but if the waves and currents are pulling me in an unfamiliar direction, I can resist the pull or go with the pull. If it's pulling me into the shore, I might go back with it. If it's pulling me out to sea and I might not be able to easily get back, I might not want to go with it. But either way I should recognize the pull as I maneuver through the surf.

The pull we find in everyday life might be representative of an inner magnetism, which is being pulled from within. I feel this pull because there is something within me that is being pulled. Can I begin to recognize what it is that I have that have that feels this pull?

. If you think you can do anything that's positive or fruitful, bring to bear some freedom for that reason alone. I can sprinkle my fruitful efforts with freedom. You think you possibly can do this and what you think counts. .

What happened is we have gotten on a fixed road and our flights of fancy have taken flight. We want the assurances that the new roads will be a certain way. We want to be sure before the fact we want an advance and abundant notice on the facts.

Or maybe we are homeless, clueless, penniless, topless on the beach with no one to see us, but regardless of it all, if we aren't freedom less we can make some changes, take some chances and move along the coasts.

How do we get to new territory, and why do we want to get there?

A lot of this comes back to estimation again. In many ways, society has become number oriented. We put things on a scale. Personal net worth is defined with reference to numerical concepts. Take away the numbers and the concepts formed from them and who am I now. In many situations involving new territory I can't always refer to the cliché's, axioms, adages and I can't always get an appropriate number off the clicker that will help me. I am lost without the numbers. The reason I am lost is that the numbers don't clearly apply to this territory and I have to see what else matters here, maybe it is more elusive and less measurable concepts like creative vision, and ability to feel my way that will find me through. . So when you first go into new territory, you want to realize that the concepts I am referring to in my thinking involves broad and general estimates. Any type of prior conclusion as to the content of the new territory is formed off estimates because I'm not there yet. I estimate I will enjoy this trip, but I have never been to Italy so I don't have a first hand report to refer to. But the concepts that I need to bring to bear need to be reviewed for their true applicability as I go forward. Conceptually, does the million dollars I have in my pocket help me enjoy this scenery and landscape or is it just my inward appreciation of natures wonders that might propel me forward or transform the moment.

It helps to gather our thoughts. You might have a constellation of ideas leading into a galaxy of options. But from that galaxy of options, you might want to make some picks before all the games are over. Options might seem to hang on a tree like unpicked fruit. Your thoughts and ideas might have more potency than you would think, if you let yourself actually see them and remember them.

I might want to have some freedom to explore many options but don't give up on your better options for a fuller exploration of your less than better options. Don't take your better options of the table right away.

Write something, say a short story or essay or even your isolated thoughts, lose that notebook and then try to write the same thing again. It isn't going to be easy. In effect, you have probably lost some of your thoughts. We can capture some of our thoughts if we carry a notepad or tape recorder. We might have a merry go round of usable thoughts, good ideas, within our excellent mental capacities, which can help us personally in moving to new territory if only we capture them. Our better solutions may have come and gone because we weren't paying attention at that moment. Capture that faint whisper in the warm afternoon breeze that is telling you the way to go.

We need to some freedom to look into and begin to traverse the unknown. The day itself is always going to have some unknowns otherwise it would be at full predictability for us. . As an exercise showing just how easy it is to get into the unknown, look at a paragraph or two of information on something, and then give that same information to someone else eliminating just one pertinent sentence. See how much less they might know because of how this reading was trimmed. It is that easy to get into the territory of the unknown. As I go into the territory it also helps to be aware of how much I don't know as well as how much I might know.

Master Yoda in the latest Star Wars would know some things happened as they were happening. We don't necessarily have that privilege.

Then some of us are stuck on our seeming failures. You don't have to slide off the planet because you think you failed at something. After all, you haven't gotten an invite off the planets anyway. A lot of times the phraseology you use counts. You could say, I struck out or you could say I didn't hit a home run. When I say I didn't hit a home run, I am still referring to what might be possible next time. I could say I failed or I could say I didn't get an A because that A is possible next time down the road. I was talking to a baseball coach who said who turned the team around by taking over for a coach that had lambasted the players and then going low key on them himself as a different coaching style. They went from a losing record to an 18 and 3 record. The key was to give criticisms in a way that ended up being encouraging, where the players still wanted to be there.

Are you going to let failure hawk at you like a bird from an Alfred Hitchcock movie? For example, I go to my baseball game and I strike out every time. I did however forget to pack my glasses and I couldn't see well. A better analysis of the situation would be not to make a conclusion about your hitting ability on this. You did fail to bring your glasses, but that doesn't securely make you a bad hitter of baseballs. I wouldn't secure a conclusion on that being you didn't see well. Maybe if you had not failed to bring your glasses, you would have had a Titanic home run.

I am free to plug in all sorts of reasons as I go forward but why not plug in some of the reasons that are supportive towards what I might actually want. Then maybe consider unplugging some of those reasons that always seem to say nay.

Your boat is sinking, why not pull the plug, and let it sink all the way and we will join up with Paul Newman in the Drowning Pool. Or is something yet worth salvaging? Are you going to let failure beat you up all over again?

How often do you and I beat up ourselves so much that we don't want to be there anymore?

I didn't know I had it. Some times this could be true. Another reason to give ourselves a chance to see what we have in freedom. Suppose you could be a popular movie star. You might have this right now and yet be sitting in an obscure corner of an office feeling pretty anonymous.

It is interesting how there can be an appreciation within the group. I would play basketball with some college players and you would often hear, nice shot. Here are grownups appreciating an athletic move that some people could actually care less about. But within this group there is real appreciation between the members. To each his own also applies to groups. Even the scene at the beach could form into a group, where everybody is appreciation each other's shapes under the summer sun. Some people have their appreciations in tune with one another at least some of the time.

You can consider what you have by using the word some. If you can't find all in your initial search, look for some. Some of the evidence is there. I have some of this. You just read a complex book, so you have some reading ability. You do register on someone's Richter scale, why not your own? You might not be the best reader on the planet or you don't know how you rate in this area but you have some ability. Maybe you have a job involving negotiation where you have gotten good feedback on your negotiating abilities. You could say, I have some negotiation ability. You don't know if you could negotiate for the nations but you do have some negotiation skills. You can take the some as a sign and encouragement to proceed.

People joke and say about themselves or one another your semi intelligent, semi attractive and so on. However, semi could be that and more, and it does include the quality itself. The girl goes to the high school dance. She has her eye on one guy who doesn't reciprocate and she says nobody finds her appealing. In the meantime, 4 other guys ask her to dance. She could say from that, I have some appeal. I have a bad shooting game playing basketball. In the warm-ups I hit 10 in a row from 30 feet. Even with the bad shooting game, from the warm-ups I can say I have some shooting ability.

Then lets look at the highlights. What were the highlights for you in the past or what could be the highlights for you now and into the future. How am I going to these highlights and why and where have I missed them? You can allow yourself some freedom to highlight strengths, highlight ideas, interests, what could yet be good points, and to highlight your better thinking in a given area. Maybe some of those highlights didn't come because you didn't give yourself the freedom then and if you had really stayed in the ballpark of freedom., you would have had those memorable moments. Maybe you were circling the stadium of freedom and change but you never entered the glory.

As the expression goes, use it or lose it. But does it really matter how or where we lost it? If you haven't used it, you might think you lost it or feel you lost it. If this is how you feel, in effect it is the same as if you really did lose it. Another reason to use it is to be able to say or at least think I have it or I might still have it. I fathom myself a good reader of science fiction but I haven't picked up a book in that area for years. . Or I say I am good skier when I haven't skied for years past. . Can I really easily say, I still have it? Moreover, even if I say it, do I really think it and feel it?

Another question to ponder is what I am not using. What do I have now that I could be using and I'm just not using. The answer to that question might begin to lead me into new paths. I might be using only 10 percent of what I have for this. Think about anything you might want to do and the percentage involvement that you are at right now with it. That might include the brain itself, that old theory that we use only 5 percent of our brain capacity.

By looking at where I might have some but maybe not all of the pie, I can free myself to go further in my thinking on the issue at hand.

It helps to have some buoyancy, confidence, or trust towards you own instincts, abilities, capacities and talents as you attempt to travel new territories. If I can find that walkway of feeling confident, feeling okay, having some self-trust, then that would help. If birds could talk, actually some do, suppose one said to you, I don't trust my instincts to fly and migrate further down the south as the seasons change. I might end up at the North Pole. You got it right in part in the old territory and you will probably get it right in part in the new territory. You can look for a situation that will at least give you a good start up point even though you don't know where it will ultimately lead. You can go forward and then decide later. Hold off on finalizing your decision.

Our talents might always lie fallow, unless we begin to cultivate the new ground.

As far as making choices to go into new territory, what do you think could possibly take the lead? For example, I work in an office. It is going fairly well but I think I might be interested in acting, which is unfamiliar turf for me now. However, and this is the key, if the acting did go well with me once I got to that territory, would this then take the lead over working in an office which is also going well. A key is to try to evaluate what could take the lead for you if and when it does happen, even if it is now unfamiliar territory.

You might want to think what really might have the bigger hand in a situation. For example, in thinking about job or career moves, I might be thinking the most important things are money and prominence where something else might big the bigger hand, maybe just having a job that gives you a more positive view of things might be more important at this time.

Be flexible in your thinking and don't say I'm ordained to do this or that. We aren't mannequins. You don't want to let your ego hinge and deflate or inflate totally based on what is circumstantial. We tend to convict ourselves on circumstantial evidence. We might get off in court but we certainly aren't going to let ourselves off the hook. Letting seeming failure harangue us when it might be just circumstances that might not be within our control. If I really despise something, I can look for a route that doesn't include this.

Those patriotic feelings you had extended so far and so wide and distant but failed to include yourself and your own wants and interests. Old fears stepped on today's plans. You couldn't even recognize your own wishes and desires, which were as strange and alien to you as the distant planets. I continually maintained a distance from my own wishes, that I might have expanded upon. My first stop as I looked for territory should have been a stop to see what I wanted and what I was interested in. Your future could still contain what you wanted then.

The original plan might be lost forever, but there is a remaining hope that the portion I first wanted might still be there for me in some fashion and I can still get a piece of that pie.

I might be unhappy about my circumstances or situation. Not only am I unhappy about this situation, I am also missing the enjoyment of the positive situation that I am not it. So it has the effect of a doubling.

I may be caught in the trap of indifference. No one or no thing out there is watchful of my interests and wants. I need to begin to work with concepts and ideas that have more universal appeal to who I am and who I would like to be and have at times more long lasting consequence. .

If both situations were stretched out equally or fully extended, which would I prefer? Take two flowers, you can only choose one this time. It would be best to look at both flowers in the full bloom.

I may not have any inward affiliation or inward affection left for my current course. Why not end it. I can move on, seeking other avenues and ending the affiliation. There may be nothing left to this that you want or care to learn about.

Why must I continue to shoulder the negativity when I want to lift off to the moon, yet I hold on to this albatross. Can I begin to dismiss it now?

How about when I have already made the choice, even though I might not get what I choose. I have an already in place choice, tentative to it actually happening for me. I buy a lottery ticket. I have already chosen to win, but of course, I am not going to win, except in the very rare occasion this choice will not manifest. . But the acceptance of winning, of that choice, is already in place, even though it will likely never take hold.

Or I am thinking about working the winter months in Chicago and the summer months in Montana where I will sit and work by mountain lakes and send my reports in from a computer. I am used to working in Chicago year round. However if I get used to the new approach and lifestyle, which might inspire me in that I like the outdoors, could it take the lead in what I would like to do. Probably, once the course comes into full view, it could take the lead for me. The lead might continue for me. The new territory might further inspire me as it unfolds in its surprises.

How I might value the new territory is a similar consideration. I may never get to the moon but it might mean so much to me if I could get there. It really will not take on that full value until if and when I get there, but if I got there I would really appreciate it. I can't really put full value on Hawaii because I have never been there and experienced it firsthand, but if I even went to Hawaii, from my enjoyment of the show Baywatch Hawaii I might really put a high value on this territory and it could be a lead territory for me if I ever get there.

Maybe your dream is coming true right before your eyes. Check your glasses first or put on another pair of sunglasses. If the second look says, yes, stop right there, this is it, the territory. Stop. Stop for your dream. I could continue on forever and I could miss out that way.

How many of you value the convenience of a cell phone or a personal computer. This is new territory for everybody and for some of us that didn't have this convenience in their earlier days really value it now, especially those who needed to say use whiteout on a typewriter. The personal PC for at home use was in the 1960's was almost unfathomable even to those in the computer business at the time.

You can do better. Reverse that statement. How can you do better, if you can't be free to do at all? You aren't even allowed to go there. I can I get better at skiing if I'm not allowed on the slopes? How can I play a better round of golf if I'm not allowed on the course?

One area where people are stuck in old territory is the area of work. They feel they are stuck with something. They might feel they are continually going to be below water on key components, which could include salary, creativity, interest level, satisfaction, intellectual stimulation, and overall good feelings. Things might have fallen into place all the way across in negative fashion. There needs to be some freedom to examine the alternatives, the alternative ideas, ways of thinking and perspectives on what you could do next that might be different, ways in which you can reverse course and follow into something new and perhaps more interesting to you now.

One of the problems with work today is lots of us are just following the leader. There is sometimes a lack of original thinking and fresh insight. .

Where and how can you set the standard? Bill Gates and friends designed computer software that has set the standard around the world and their designs can be found in most offices.

I might want to establish a more comprehensive floor and get away from just being in the reactive mode. I can stop and pull up for a jumper instead of always driving right to the hoop.

One of the issues to consider in the current work environment is to what extent are you dealing with dated material. I am working into a stampede on something that might be outdated in a matter of days. I crunch the numbers and the market quickly changes everything. If you're writing on current affairs you want to rush your product to the market, if you are writing along the lines of Plato and Socrates, you have some time to launch your material. The material might have that evergreen effect. It's like those 2000 year old trees. The top Wall Street analysts have their recommendations quickly turn to naught if the market dives suddenly.

You might phase out on whatever you are doing. It is possible that it would be something you really liked previously but you just lost interest. People continue on working in something they have phased out on. The mastery that they have obtained hasn't extended into continued interest. The shelf life has become shorter. Even if I am doing the photo shoots for Baywatch Hawaii it is possible to lose interest years later. Not likely though.

If you find you are losing the handle on something so easily, then maybe it's not worth it. If something has to be that propped up in terms of interests only to have the dam burst back at the first setback, it might not be worth being there in the first place.

Then another thing to think about is what exactly am I in the middle of? Often the regular employees are more like pawns in the middle of larger trends or wars, with others doing the conducting or real orchestrations to someone else's benefit. . Maybe the waves are crashing on you from all directions you are in the middle of something with no side representing your interests.

You can talk to people in the field or others who don't know you that well and can be for this moment an outside counselor or an independent source. Someone who is too close to you including yourself might be telling you what you want to hear.

Take for example a new conversation. I start the conversation and you give me one-word responses. I begin to estimate that this isn't going to be a great conversation. Or you are beginning to engage in neat dialogue, so you will begin to form a more positive and productive estimate of this new conversation. The crispness of the moment might be indicative of more good conversation to come.

The reason why estimation is the key is because we often have little factual information. I only have my best guesswork. Traveling is a perfect example. How are you going to get an exact prior impression? Where and when can I meet exactness? Who are you going to meet? What will your exact experiences be in this new city or country where there will likely be no familiar faces? You made a decision that will put you in a new country for two weeks, but exactly what those two weeks will consist off is almost subject to total guesswork, as the territory is so new and unfamiliar. We first need to realize that our prior impressions we have formed and founded are based on just estimates and therefore we also can realize that it is realistically possible we are not estimating correctly. But if we are on a search for certainty and exactness, we are just as likely to lose our way trying to walk down that road. Because that excitement and certainty I am, looking for might not even be there in the first place and I am looking for something that doesn't exist. I might yearn for exactness, but don't set that up a precondition or demand that I want to see settled before I move forward. As I go along, I can correct into something else. I can in fact, give pursuit to something else, somewhere else. .

Not to go on is a decision on the decision tree that also follows into many road and consequences. My decision to by pass a given opportunity might carry unknown and unseen loses.

Any decision presupposes some freedom of choice. By definition, the idea of a decision means we are pondering some choices and we are free to peruse these choices towards a selection. Someone says, "You decide". That statement is assuming that you have the freedom to do this.

What happens then, if we do judge a book by its cover? We look at a book and just glance over its cover and estimate that the book isn't worth reading. Maybe we are unnecessarily chilling our interests and prematurely saying no. You may have really enjoyed the book as something new. Once you got into the process of actually reading it. You can start the process you can always stop again. Anytime we quickly and rapidly sum up on anything, realize that we are estimating, and the more rapid our conclusions, the more likely that our estimates may have been wrong for us because of the lack of due consideration rendered to all the searchable potentialities. We don't have to go into new territory full blast. We can try it out. For example, I have never had an apple. I go buy a couple of apples. If I don't like these apples, I don't have to continue in this new territory of the apple for me I don't necessarily start out buying a carton of apples when I am not sure of the territory.

One thing that might be helpful is for us to give it a trial run or balloon and try out the new territory. You can introduce yourself to new territory gradually. You don't always have to make the big splash. Give yourself an easy start for opening day at Shea. I can gradually introduce something new into my life. You might find your game again in the new territory, the renewed energy, and second wind you wanted in the new territory.

It might be that if something is going to be that difficult and take that much time, it might not be always worth it, especially if it seems like we will never get on even terms with the situation. If I want to play major league baseball and I don't have a very good swing nor a good natural arm, when and where and how am I going to get on even terms with the situation? It would be better to look for and chart an easier course for me. If I do feel overwhelmed that is my signal that I am pushing too much or in some cases to little or just pushing wrong buttons. A key word is overwhelming and if that is happening I do need to adjust in some ways. If I am never going to be on equal terms with a situation, I can bid my final farewells knowing it wasn't there for me. Also, remember that you have your plan A but are the supporting reasons still there for it. Are the pillars still there for plan A.? Can I find a way to abandon plan A if I have to? At least check for the continued viability of the path you are following. Things change. The territory you may need to go into next is the plan B or something you have not planned for that might , it might have been previously. .

Then don't always go for the big W. There is a smaller w in the alphabet. Bernard King after scoring 45 points in a game for the Knicks said it didn't matter because we lost. I'm sure the 45 points entertained the fans even if they were rooting for the Knicks. Bernard had to have some good plays within the game to score 45 points to be happy about. There were some smaller w's within the game. Little wins are still wins. You can also get in the groove off little wins as well.

Smaller changes, adjustments, and accomplishments might get you going. For example, you're on a sailboat in amidst pristine waters in the midday sun. You want to go in the water. You dive or jump from the edge of the boat into the water, a small move. Not a continental shift or a big move but it gets me in the water, so cool and refreshing. I had the freedom to adjust to the new reality, I'm in the water, which is where I wanted to be at this moment.

We might want to consider condense some of our activities, and then seeing again from a lighter schedule what we want to expand into rather than going from an expanded list of activities to another expanded list of activities or territories we want to cover. We can let everything go, at least in spirit, and see what if anything we want back or what is that which seems to will its way back to us.

And we can consider what qualities we have, such as intellectual curiosity, depth, an appreciation for beauty, or whatever quality we might have that could be brought forth into the new territory.

It helps at times to view yourself independently from the situation or territory. Whatever situation I'm in or I go into, I am not the situation or territory so it helps to be able to get a detached view of independence as well. In freedom you will come up with something, you can concoct something for yourself that will work. Don't just depend on them.

At times some of the things we tell ourselves or we are told about ourselves simply are not true. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school team early in his high school days. That he was simply not good enough for a high school team even if he was a late bloomer was simply not true. Whoever made the decision to cut Michael Jordan from a basketball team got the wrong answer from on his test of true or false. You might be regularly telling yourself things about yourself that are simply not true and often they are negative things. These things might inhibit our free approaches to new territories. What I am saying to myself in fact might be false.

I might have an interest. With this interest, I could say, what would come on top of this. Not just as a frosting but as a continuance upward and onward of the interest. It's not a roller coaster ride I'm on but a smooth ride with an upward tilt. There is still room for elevation. And what can I get into and actually ride with? For example, I like to read about travel, I like to watch travel programs. On top of this, I could travel myself to one of these places. I enjoy reading book reviews and hearing talks on books. On top of this, I could read on of these books from cover to cover.

I enjoy from a distance the grace and beauty of the female form. I enjoy women singers, movies stars, and so on. I could on top of this, I could personalize this and seek one of these persons as a companion.

Another thing is that we might be looking for too many outcomes from the new territory at the outset. I was watching this years NBA all star game. The West team was winning with Kobe Bryant taking numerous shots in the first half he ended up with 25 shots for the game. Simply outrunning players to the basket got some of these shots, he worked hard for these shots. The announcers talked about his chucking and lack of passing. The announcers harped on this point throughout the game. I thought, well usually they harp on who is going to win the game sometimes at the expense of the good play by play calling of the game, now they have two outcomes they want, one is that a team will emerge with a good victory and that same team will have a well balanced scoring attack. At the same time, they did see the West team took a commanding lead with Kobe back in the game. What did they want to have happen, have Kobe lead his team to a big lead without shooting or everybody having the perfect amount of shots? Imagine Kobe about to dunk the ball and thinking wait, I want to win this game but this is one shot too many on my part, I'll pass the ball. A good goal, yes, but they were looking for nirvana on many fronts and sometimes that isn't as easy. In the same way, or are we looking for more than one outcome and therefore compromising our lead outcome or the lead outcome we most want by expecting so much of the new territory. But this is common. People might be going on a date looking for good conversation, romance, or a lifelong mate and if all three elements aren't there then forget it. Maybe just going for the outcome of good conversation might be better as an easier approach to the new territory. Make good conversation your lead outcome on your aim and if you get that first, more good things can come your way. You might be okay with looking for all you're hoped for outcomes right at the outset of the new territory but you are free to not do this and look for only for example one of a basket of hoped for outcomes. Maybe you were looking for a good related job as well as a degree from your studies but first give yourself credit for the stand-alone outcome of achieving the degree. Or if I go on a ski trip maybe I want good conversation, a warm evening by the fire and all great runs down the slope. I get everything except some of the runs down the slope were sloppy. All of the outcomes I want would be good. None comes first. Don't disregard the other good outcomes because you had some trouble at times, with your skiing. Each expected outcome can be evaluated on a stand-alone basis rather than just looking at the whole basket of outcomes, you want. I can freely going into the territory of reading a novel for the outcome of just enjoying a story in the moment. I can go to a scenic locale just for the outcome of enjoying scenery in the moment. You can freely adjust your wanted outcomes to different new territories as well. If you're a good but not great college basketball team, do you go into a game against Duke wanting the outcome of a win only? Winning is supposed to be first but realistically we are playing Duke and they might lose two games a year. Maybe an individual player could hope to score 20 points and they could say I scored 20 points against Duke and this might be a more realistic as an outcome to put first than a win. If I'm a major league baseball team and I'm playing the Yankees I don't necessarily expect to sweep a 4 game series. You are free to focus on the outcome of your choosing in any order you wish and put differing weights of your choosing on each of you're hoped for outcomes.

Just the idea of doing anything on your own relates to having the freedom to do so. You can talk with your best friend or personal coach about your date, but can you bring your friend or personal coach on a date with you in most cases? A learners permit gives someone permission to drive with a fellow driver next to them. An actual license gives someone permission to drive by themselves is they so choose. Freedom also relates to independence in many cases. I can give you a book it is up to you to read it or not as an independent effort on your part.

I can also give myself credit for cumulative efforts. I might have taken a series of courses leading to a degree. This was a cumulative effort that I couldn't have done on a one shot basis. I read a 1000 page book. This was a cumulative effort I couldn't have done this in one reading. I run a marathon. Whatever the time I finish at, I can give myself credit for the numerous training sessions and runs that had amounted to a cumulative effort that enabled me to run this marathon and establish this course.

It is important to see some efforts as cumulative. The reason is that it helps me guard against some obsessions against my goals. If I take 20 graduate courses and I get one C against say B plus to A's in the 19 other courses, I don't have to obsess about the C as I made a good cumulative effort.

I read in Yankee magazine about a professor from Tufts who had hiked about 49 mountains to the peak and was at the final mountain when I tremendous snow storm started. He continued to hike to the peak of his last mountain, the highest in the range. His determination formed into an obsession and he was lost forever in an avalanche. He had the intelligence to see otherwise as he a professor at Tufts. But sometimes that determination becomes obsessive and if he had given more credit for his cumulative accomplishments he might have been less obsessive about hiking the final peak in a terrific storm.

Some things might require certain keys to proceed, to unlock the possibilities. One of the keys might be confidence to proceed. If I don't have that leg of confidence to walk on I may not travel to that territory. Do I really have the level of confidence I need for this new territory? In this case we don't want to bring our worst estimates forward in our thinking. Or if we do this, at least give the more positive estimates some time and occasion in your thinking as well.

How does new territory relate to freedom? Well have I given myself permission right now to explore this new territory? I have the right to explore this. Even if there is a rule that I'm following, what exactly is the rule and why does it apply here?

The rule seems to be that new territory will be harder. But the territory you are in now might be harder than the new territory you could go to. For example, you have been running hard marathons and you are contemplating taking relaxed bike trips through different scenic locations as a different type of a workout. . Or you have been hiking the highest peaks in the Himalayas including a trek up Mount Everest and now you intend on climbing some completely new peaks in Europe and Africa and although the terrain is different and unfamiliar, it might be easier.

And something seemingly harder might be easier for you. You might be pushing paper with difficulty in an office and you could easily be the movie star for the ages.

Or ironically a job with lower status might be harder for you, if your on the top you can move around just based on a handshake, if your on the bottom of the barrel you might get have to go through grueling interviews only to get a job involving grueling details. You might not be seeing any light at the end of any tunnel. It best not to rely on any one thing in a working situation or work in general. There isn't going to be one or any one answer you can rely upon as you go forward, no one platform you can rely upon, in many ways we are dancing on rocks.

Where is my money? People work and then ask that question. But how about introducing some other questions. Where is my happiness here? Where is my time with this? Where is my enjoyment here? Where in the interest, the fun, the excitement, the revue, the verve, the forward thinking here? Could I even have a dash of what I wanted? Where are the good times and when are they going to roll in from the fog? Of course, you never know how things will roll out for you but some scenarios do carry a level of predictability with them. However, you will never know how those falls are going to wash over you in particular.

Then you say where is my mentor? If you can't find one, you can search the territory for insights, books, and isolated conversations, look for any real and viable source.

I have been in National Parks where some of the terrain was obviously not well traveled off the known and previously mapped trails for hikers. I had an interest in hiking these thick woods. There was no specific law saying I couldn't hike this way, but that fact that there were wild animals including bears in the park, especially off the trails made it less likely that I would wander off the trails myself with confidence. I did go into that new territory, where there were no old soda cans and apparently maybe no hikers on the immediate terrain in years. Then I did happen upon a giant bear which was apparently a grizzly while hiking off the trails. At least I was with a fellow hiker. I said to my friend, only half joking, "if this bear turns and runs towards us, I only have to outrun you."

So we need to consider new territory and the safety factor. I could also reference th