I recall as a child being mildly scolded after coming home from Kindergarten and telling my mother all about the new word I had learned - the "F" word. Spray painted across some garage door on the way to school, I guess I thought it sounded like a neat addition to my vocabulary. Not!

Now, as an adult, there's a word that doesn't quite have the same phonetic ring, but sticks out as much as the aforementioned expletive whenever I hear it. It's the "IF" word!

As human beings, almost all of us have been raised in the genre of past generations replete with all the innocent but self-limiting behavior. And there's no better word to exemplify these stunting characteristics than "IF". "IF" only I had done this. "IF" things were just different now. What the real "F" word is to the vocabulary, "IF" is to the spirit!

The mere subconscious mention of this word, and phrases such as "I wish" puts us into that conscience state-of-mind where we believe we are powerless. Powerless to change what we in fact have the power to change. Once we believe it, we act accordingly and then of course, we become powerless.

Many of you who have read me in the past know that I don't preach the rhetorical "anything is possible" gospel, because only truly reachable things are. I try to bring a realistic plate to the table. However, I do believe and firmly, that our minds and our spirits are infinitely stronger than most of us believe. Taken in the reverse and to the extreme, we can be our own worst enemies!

Why? Again, because we have been immersed in the misguidance of our ancestry. Patterns of learned behavior permeate both our aware and unaware beings and sabotage our very existence. Growth is almost impossible when we believe we can't, or, believe not to believe.

A few years ago I was involved in the writing and production of a CD of motivational and inspirational music. Called "On My Way", it walked the listener through many dimensions of personal growth and "good stuff" for career success. One song that was not recorded for the project, was entitled "I Will" and it would be most appropriate for me to share the lyric with you here:

I WILL

Sometimes the hardest thing

Is simply to decide

To make the choice to change your life

To change it from inside

The journey's uneventful

With waters calm and still

Never clear destinations

Until you say - I Will

I Will because I can

I'll Do cause I believe

The strength I need to make the change

Is deep inside of me

I'll Walk where I have crawled

I'll Run til I can fly

My wings will fill with winds of change

The moment I decide

The power of decision

Is the greatest force on earth

Opening the hidden doors

To all the universe

The second you discover

The strength that stirs in you

You'll feel your dream within your grasp

Because you said - I'll Do

I Will because I can

I'll Do cause I believe

The strength I need to make the change

Is deep inside of me

I'll Walk where I have crawled

I'll Run til I can fly

My wings will fill with winds of change

The moment I decide

The promise of tomorrow

Is the vow I make today

New horizons will appear

The moment that I say...

I Will because I can

I'll Do cause I believe

The strength I need to make the change

Is deep inside of me

I'll Walk where I have crawled

I'll Run til I can fly

My wings will fill with winds of change

The moment I decide

Please bear in mind that this is a song lyric and as such does not allow for the extended expression of say, an article, however, what is written here is in direct contrast to thinking, or worse, saying and acting out, the "If" word. Or, "I'll try" instead of "I'll do".

Not one to heartily subscribe to much of the mental exercise stuff found in books and on the lecture circuit (after all, we are only human and hate exercise of any description), my advice is very simple. Whenever you catch yourself thinking, or saying the "IF" word - STOP IT! Erase that mental blackboard image and rewrite it with an affirmative. Say, for example, "I WILL do this the next time I am in the same position". Make your thinking about that particular situation a valuable and positive lesson leaned.

As a matter of fact, the biggest favor you can ever do for yourself is to change every negative thought into a proactive one. After all, we are what we think!