How do you fulfill your dreams when you don’t know where to start and worry about the time and money that it may take you?

It can sometimes feel rather overwhelming to make the type of major life changes that lead you to meet the goals you’ve always dreamed of reaching. So if you find yourself pondering that, “where do I begin?” question, try these 4 simple steps for identifying the path to fulfill your dreams without getting “off track”.

Fulfill Your Dreams: Step One

Pretend for a moment that you have all the courage you could ever possibly want, and that money is just not an issue for you (no matter how much in reality it may be). Take a clean sheet of paper and at the top of it, list one area of your life you’d like to change. This might be something with your relationship status, career, spiritual connection, a creative endeavor, your physical condition, something environmental or anything else you choose.

Fulfill Your Dreams: Step Two

Once you’ve chosen the area you’d like to work on, draw two vertical lines down your piece of paper to divide it into thirds. On the far left side, write down what you dream this area of your life could be. Let yourself have the freedom to make the dream as far-reaching as you could want it to be. Identify your highest potential in this area of your life that you are working on right now. Let yourself be as imaginative and upbeat as possible. Then, just as you’re able to pretend you have the ultimate amount of courage, pretend that no limitations—self or otherwise— exist.

Fulfill Your Dreams: Step Three

On the extreme right side of your sheet of paper, write down a summary or list of the factors as they currently are in your life relating to each aspect of the goal you have on the left side of your sheet. In other words, what is your situation in this area of your life now? On the left side you have the ideal and on the right side you have your present situation. Make sure you thoroughly identify your status quo, even if it’s a painful prospect to acknowledge.

Fulfill Your Dreams: Step Four

Now, finally, in between what is ideal on the left and what is real on the right, find the transition factor in the middle column of your paper. What are the steps you are willing to take that can help you to shift your situation from what is now, to where you want to be? This is the path for transitioning your dream to reality. In other words, use the middle column to reconcile the right and left sides of your paper to identify that path to your ultimate goal.

If you complete this exercise, you’ll be on the right track to begin a life-changing journey inspired by your own dreams. There is never a better time than now to take any area of your life from where it is, to where it could be!

Word of caution: “Start working to fulfill your dreams, otherwise someone else will put you in work to fulfill theirs.”

-Author Unknown

In fact, life’s greatest wisdom is usually enclosed in short inspirational quotes, sayings and proverbs, not in books and books of knowledge. They speak the most to our heart. Like powerful success mantras they keep us going when things get tough. They remind us to zoom out and stay focused on the things that matter most. They give us a boost of motivation and make us strive a little harder, dream a little bigger and be a little more patient with ourselves and others.

Enjoy 40 Short Inspirational Quotes below. Pick your favorite ones and use them as your success reminders. Put them on your desktop wallpaper, attach them to your fridge, write them down above your to-do list, but most importantly share these short inspirational quotes with others!

40 Short Inspirational Quotes

Live Fully:

1. “Live and let live.”
~ Yiddish Proverb ~
2. “May you live every day of your life.”
~ Jonathan Swift ~
3. “Life is a promise, fulfill it…”
~ Mother Teresa ~
4. “I’ve got nothing to do today but smile.”
~ Simon and Garfunkel ~
5. “Life is to be enjoyed, not endured.”
~ Gordon B. Hinckley ~
6. “Make each day your masterpiece.”
~ John Wooden ~
7. “Life is a choice.”
~ Author Unknown ~
8. “Live simply so others may simply live.”
~ Mother Teresa ~
9. “You get what anybody gets – you get a lifetime.”
~ Neil Gaiman ~
10. “Life is just a chance to grow a soul.”
~ Powel Davies ~

Love Fully:

11. “Loving can cost a lot but not loving always cost more.”
~ Merle Shain ~
12. “Life teaches, Love reveals”
~ Author Unknown ~
13. “No Feeling is final.”
~ Rainer Marie Rilke ~
14. “Be Curious, not judgmental”
~ Walt Whitman ~
15. “Big egos have little ears.”
~ Robert Schuller ~
16. “Make yourself necessary to somebody.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

Strive for Success:

17. “Nothing recedes like success.”
~ Walter Winchell ~
18. “Success can’t be forced.”
~ Loretta Young ~
19. “Beginnings are always messy”
~ John Galsworth ~
20. “Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.”
~ Author Unknown ~
21. “The grass is greener where you water it.”
~ Neil Barringham ~

Embrace your dreams:

22. “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.”
~ Delmore Schwartz ~
23. “Aim for the highest.”
~ Andrew Carnegie ~
24. “Powerful Dreams Inspire Powerful Action.”
~Jonathan Lockwood Huie ~

Keep on going:

25. “Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
~ Oprah Winfrey ~
26. “Failure is success in progress.”
~ Author Unknown ~
27. “Failure cannot cope with persistence.”
~ Napoleon Hill ~
28. “The shortest answer is doing.”
~ Lord Herbert ~

Choose your attitude:

29. “Choose the World You See.”
~ Jonathan Lockwood Huie ~
30. “Reflect upon your present blessings.”
~ Charles Dickens ~
31. “All limitations are self-imposed.”
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes ~
32. “The greatest prayer is patience.”
~ Buddha ~
33. “You are your choices.”
~ Seneca ~
34. “Luck is believing you’re lucky.”
~ Tennessee Williams~
35. “Everything you can imagine is real.”
~ Pablo Picasso ~

Various Pearls of Wisdom:

36. “Knowledge is Power.”
~ Francis Bacon ~
37. “Wisdom begins in wonder.”
~ Socrates ~
38. “Success is the worst teacher”
~ Trace Cohen ~
39. “Worries end where faith begins”
~ Author Unknown ~
40. “The past has no power over the present moment.”
~ Eckhart Tolle ~

What are your favorite short inspirational quotes?

Share your quotes in the comment section below!

They say that with great power comes great responsibility. Mastering the art of body language is a great power and you should be ready to assume the responsibility that comes with it. For one you will start noticing that people tell more untruths than you would have ever imagined. In fact, researchers have discovered that 60% of people lie at least once during a 10 minute conversation with an average telling 3 false things during that time span.

Most of the untruths that we say are white lies, such as “those jeans look great on you”, “sorry, I didn’t hear your phone call” or “there was a lot of traffic on the road”.

We do it quite often ourselves and we accept that others should be “tactful” enough in order not to hurt our feelings as well.

However, sometimes the issue is too important and we need to be sure if the person is telling the truth or is trying to hide something from us.

Here are some of the little-known body language signs that will allow you to spot a liar and get down to the truth:

1. Lying with the eyes.

Usually when people tell a lie their eyes give them away in two ways, depending on how well they are prepared and their efficiency at lying. Inexperienced liars (including most kids) usually avoid making eye contact for two reasons: they are ashamed and they are making the story up as they go.

Experienced liars know this and rehearse their lies before telling them, so they make it a point to hold eye contact for as long as possible. In this case their blink rate slows down and you may get a feeling that the person is staring at you or giving you an innocent wide-eyed Bambi look. (read more about body language of the eyes here).

2. Lying with your hands.

Hands are associated with honesty and openness of the heart. We embrace people with our hands, we close a deal with a handshake and we say that we “wash our hands of something” when we don’t want to accept responsibility for something we don’t believe in or consider unjust.

It is only natural that our hand gestures can give us away when we are being deceptive.

• When a lie escapes our mouth, our first instinct is to conceal it in some way. If a person is making repetitive and slight movements to cover up their mouth by touching their lips, throat or touching the base of the nose, it is a signal to you to stay on guard for their lies.
• Hiding hands by putting them into pockets, clenching them together or holding them behind the back are subconscious hand gestures that we use to prevent another person from discovering the truth.
• Another sign of spontaneous lying is excessive hand gesturing, especially twirling with hair, drumming fingers, adjusting clothing or nervously playing with another object, like a ring or a pen. It can also be a sign of nervousness, so you will have to interpret this gesture in the context.

3. Lying with your lips.

Deceiving someone is not a pleasant task. Our mind and body protests against it and it goes to a much deeper emotional level than you would imagine.

One such gesture is sticking your tongue out slightly to, sort of, lick the lips. An interesting thing about this gesture is that it is not only a sign of nervousness. Its origins go back to when we were toddlers and would reject food we did not want to eat by sticking our tongues out. As we grow older we might have the same reaction to lies that don’t sit well with us. We try to reject them!

4. Lying with our voice.

A person, who knows that they are not being honest, tries very hard to control their voice and prevent themselves from portraying their true emotions. Often they overdo it by speaking in a low, monotonous tone. If you notice such speech alterations, pay greater attention to the person’s body language, because there is a high chance that the person is hiding something.

Another way lies affect communication is called “speech hesitations”. Frequent pauses, throat clearing or filler pauses such as “ums” and “ers” may indicate that a person is making the story up as they are talking and needs some time to reflect on what to say next. Paying attention to these verbal clues will help you to spot a liar easily.

5. Lying with our body.

Just as we don’t want to give our lies away with our tone of voice, we try to control our body language. The only way we can do this is to try to keep gestures and facial expressions to a minimum. As a result, our body looks stiff and facial expression guarded. Of course, there are people who can sweet talk others and even seem relaxed, but the vast majority of us are not experienced at lying. So just the thought of being viewed in a negative light or being called “a liar”, makes us nervous.

6. Lying with our mind.

Sometimes our mind can act as the devil’s advocate, trying to bend the truth, find loopholes and come up with rational justifications of our irrational actions. It also uses some pretty advanced deception techniques by picking some obscure point and talking about it excessively instead of confronting the main question.

The strategy between non-stop talking is very simple – shift the conversation away from the unpleasant topic and do not let another person ask other clarifying questions that could uncover the lie.

Note: Just one gesture or facial expression indicating deception does not automatically make someone a liar. You need to look for clusters of these body language signals.

And one more thing… before offending someone or labeling him or her as a “liar”, stop and think how often you have expressed politically-correct “untruths” or bent the facts to make yourself look better?

Actually, here is a great experiment I want to offer you. Next time you catch yourself telling a half-truth, pay attention to your own body language.

Can you recognize some of the ‘how to spot a liar’ gestures that give YOU away?

I know that I am guilty of #1 and #6.