It will be difficult… It’s going to be risky… There will be family drama… I can’t afford it. Do any of these statements sound familiar? They are just a sampling of the list of 18 excuses Wayne Dyer outlines in his recent book, Excuses Begone!. What’s at the root of these excuses, and how can we turn them around?

Do you ever “push” when the door says “pull”? A few weeks ago, a client made the very astute observation that when it came to finding his calling in life, it felt like he’d been pushing on the door that said “pull.”

How often have we done that ourselves?

Last Monday, I received news from my vet that my 15-year-old cat, Fiona, was not going to live forever. On Tuesday, blood test results came back. It wasn’t good. Her kidneys were kaput. He was forecasting that without intervention, she would live a month, at most.

A transformation took place within me: I started to see Fiona as a cat that was dying, instead of one that was living. She seemed smaller, quieter, vacant. She reflected my profound sadness.

In the 2001 movie “America’s Sweethearts,” Eddie (John Cusak) spends some time in a wellness center, recovering from the very public breakup of his celebrity marriage. Part of his program includes expressing gratitude: “I’m grateful for the earth… I’m grateful for the stars and the sky…” While the movie portrays his chanting of gratitude as a point of comic relief, there’s truth to the scenario.