Core confidence comes from the inside out as does empowerment. Empower is just that, power coming from within. When I refer to core, I’m referring to the Authentic Self AND I see an acronym within the word.

C is for Courage, O is for Open-mind, R is for Reflection and E is for Enthusiasm. Within the word enthusiasm is “theos” which refers to God/Spirit and “en” is “in”/within.

So, in order to be truly empowered, your confidence and sense of self-esteem has to start from the inside out. As long as you look outside of yourself for security, love and self-esteem you are in trouble. Why do we allow others to tell us who we are and what we can do?

It’s primarily because we don’t trust ourselves. We’ve forgotten how to listen to our own intuition and guidance from spirit. We don’t “trust our gut”. This tends to come from years of not believe aware of how e wire our beliefs and just giving away our power out of fear of rejection. While rejection is particularly scary for children, and I do understand why, as grown adult women, we can make a decision and then set an intention to learn how to let go of the old stories that are wired into our own brain, nervous system and hence body.

Yes, this does require courage. Courage is not the absence of fear. FEAR here as referred to is Fictitious Evidence Affecting Reality – it’s psychological in nature. When I first started this journey, I had to first open my mind to new ideas. Trying to get a new result using the same information and doing things the same way really is a form of “insanity”.

I had to reflect on the thoughts feelings and emotions and stop judging them and running away. There is much wisdom to be gained from reframing our stories.   I learned how to make friends with them and “update” my belief system.

Lastly, instead of looking for transient artificial happiness “out there” somewhere, I realized that as I dropped the old stories that my body felt different, my perception of self and others changed, and I started feeling natural joy within – and it was more often than not independent of what was going on around me.

This is true enthusiasm. It comes from within, from the Authentic, spirit self. You see you do not need to seek the Light outside of you; the Light is already within you. Our behaviors and attitudes are not the same as who/what we are. They are just a reflection of what we believe. In fact, at your core, you are already “ok” right now – just because you breathe. What do you think?

Empowerment and confidence is about choice. It’s about awareness at it’s foundation as if you are not aware that you have choice, you will not exercise your will and your will will become flabby.

While I think that we have natural gifts and talents and that we have a purpose that is unique to us, I believe that whether or not you live out your purpose or just your fate (meaning weaknesses, strengths, environmental and genetic tendencies) will be determined by how clear you are and how much courage you have. Courage and confidence does not mean you have no fear.

Fear is ubiquitous and is just a part of the human game. What will determine if you can feel the fearful feelings and proceed forward anyway is based upon how awake and aware you are about the options that you have. Do you believe you are “only human” or are you also tapping into your intuition and spiritual nature?

If not, you are weakening yourself and doing yourself a disservice. Are you are of how to consciously operate your own brain and mind? Or is it set on the default button of FEAR: Fictitious Evidence Affecting Reality? Either way, there is no judgment from me, I don’t think it’s “good or bad”.

The question is, do you want to live an abundant whole life or do you want to continue to play the role of the hapless victim and miss out on the incredible experience that you could have if you would choose to stop listening to the outer voices that keep you stuck, struggle and playing small.

You too can begin to Empower UP and Play Big when you learn how to get in touch with your CORE confidence from the Authentic YOU and learn how to operate the greatest “supercomputer” on the planet – your own brain and mind. Who do you think you are? It’s time to “Breakthrough to the Real YOU”! What do you think?

Empowerment involves awareness. Becoming aware of how to consciously operate the greatest “supercomputer” on the planet is very important, more now than ever. Guard your focus, because what you focus on expands and if you want an abundant, whole life, focus on what you want and learn how to get excited and expect this.  I use to think that the way I saw life was “just the way it is”.  Actually, perception, HOW we see the facts that show up in our lives, or what we think we can have or not is relative.  It’s relative to what we believe about ourselves and the way “life is”.  I have lived in the “hostile” universe model and I am now living in the “friendly” universe model.  As Einstein said:

“The most important decision you will ever make is whether you live in a friendly or hostile universe”

Yes, you get to decide.  It depends on how you see it.  Let me tell you, friendly is much better and peaceful.  No, I can’t control everything, and I no longer try, when I stay aware and present (happening more and more these days, yeah!).  I do what I can do, feel good, get clear as I can, and release it to the Universe to take care of the details.  This is making for an adventurous life instead of a life full of fear, resistance and struggle.  You interested?  Come join me.

This can actually be a trap, because since we are so conditioned to reject ourselves, especially women, if we refuse to look at our feelings honestly we will never be able to release the stories about our self-image that are holding us back.

They are only stories, as there is really nothing “wrong” with you. What you think and what you do, is not the same as WHO you ARE. At our core, our Authentic Self is “powerful beyond measure”. Unfortunately, if we don’t peel away the “cataracts of the soul” as I like to call them, these stories, we will stay blinded to our true potential and we will tend to continue to believe that we can’t be as successful as we could be.

I am now free of the identity story that “something is wrong with me” or that I am not “good enough”. I suffered through life unnecessarily believing this for most of my adult life. Now that I’m free of it, it is much easier for me to change, take risks and have the confidence to throw off the opinions of others – just think about it a moment.

As women, we are bombarded with comparison of ourselves to other’s standard very early in our childhood and it only gets worse as adults. The media is constantly telling you to change something about yourself and it profits greatly off of our insecurities. Men of course, are not conditioned in these ways to reject themselves.

Just notice the ratio of the references to the image or self-esteem of men compared to women as it relates to the need to “improve” something and you will see implied deficiencies in women far, far exceed those made for men. What is self-image and why does it matter in business? We cannot rise above our self-image and stay there in peace.

Self-image is just that; it’s the way you see yourself. In the days that I had inner turmoil around worth, being enough etc, though I used a lot of will power and determination to achieve my goals, I tended toward self-sabotage or stress in attempting to maintain my station. If you are not obsessed like I was with proving I was good enough, chances are, you will not be able to overcome your inner self-image in the first place.

I find that what defines self-image is so often misunderstood, and there seems to be outright ignorance around why it is so important to life success.

Here are a few facts and myths about self-image that can be related to business success. The facts about low self-image are:

1. Contributes big time to worry about what others think and say about you
2. A MAJOR contributor to stress, and this has been studied in science
3. The reason why many, many women do not speak their truth or speak up
4. A cause of poor or dysfunctional relationships, fear of networking
5. A contributing factor in fear of risk taking or expanding business growth

Here are some myths about self-image:

1. Physically beautiful women always have high self-image
2. Intellectually advanced women by default have healthy self-image
3. Having lots of education and degrees eliminates self-image issues
4. All wealthy women/people have high self-image
5. Arrogant people have a high self-image or they would not be arrogant and rude (this is one of the biggest myths going on out there – just the opposite is true)

This list is not complete. There are other facts and myths as well. The point I am making is that until you understand what the symptoms of low self-image are, you will be inclined to think that “it’s just the way I am or the way life is”.

Life is a mirror to what you believe at a subconscious level and until you recognize this, you may continue to live in unnecessary struggle and emotional pain. Awareness is power. I know from experience that most of the myths are false, as I lived them. My self-image was so low I could not even fake arrogance.

I had an “I am not good enough” complex that was generally pretty obvious if I even dared to let you get close enough to figure it out. Truth really does set one free, free from the nonsensical stories that we believe to be true, yet are only one way of seeing life. If you believe it then it’s true for you. I believe what I believe – until I change my mind.

You have the ability and the right to change your mind. This is the ONLY way you will grow and expand. Whatever you have in your life is there by right of your consciousness, your awareness. Want more abundance and peace in your life? Be it unto you, as you truly believe.

We will become more successful as women entrepreneurs when we get to the heart of the matter and let go of the myths and deal with, without judgment the facts that we see before us in our lives. And here is the good news. You already have “got the Power”. You’ve just been looking for it in all the wrong places – hint: look within you. What do you think?

Empowerment is just that – power within, coming from the inside out. This blog post is introducing my new video series, “BreakThrough to the Real YOU”. Do you know that there is an area in the brain known as the area of “autobiographical memory”? It is the STORY of who you think you are. When I wrote my book, “Empower Up and Play Big: Winning at Life from the Inside Out”, I called it the “Mental Me”. You can also call it “ego”.

Ego is just your personality and even in the word personality is the word “persona” which means, “mask”. Ego is not “bad”, in fact you need it to play the roles in life that you play, and unless you plan on eliminating this area of your brain via a stroke or something, you WILL have an ego to manage. The ego serves an important role.

You just need to understand that it is not the Real YOU and that these stories that form the ego often need to be updated and rewritten as they often disempowered you. I used to think of myself in very negative terms; notice I said THINK of myself. This is what forms our self-image. And the cool part is that we are really making it all up.

If it is keeping you small, then learn how to Self-correct it. I say “Self” in that the True You, the Authentic Self is the real you anyway. I call it the “Magnificent Me”. In Quantum Physics it is called the “Observer” or “Consciousness”. This is where your life force power comes from. When you make the time to listen to your intuition and nurture this spirit self, your essence, you can get in touch with your unique soul “blueprint” so to speak so that you can live the life you came here to live.

Not a life that is weak, fearful and disempowered, but the life you were meant to live – one that is creative, adventurous and fun. Aren’t you tired of struggle and feeling insecure? Comparing yourself to everybody and everything around you? This is no way to live.

I think all of this change going on in the world is a good thing. It just gives us all more incentive to stop playing small and to breakthrough the Mental Me stories, or “Cataracts of the Soul” and live our lives at a more empowered level. What do you think?

Not the “fake it ’till you make it” to whatever status you believe holds the magical key to empowerment. I’m referring to knowing that you know that the “real you” is already ok, just because you breathe. The starting point from this place is assuming that you are not broken, just in evolution, like the plant in the garden that is in the process of unfolding to its true beauty and potential.

We as a society tend to come from a mindset of lack and deficiency – the old paradigm of selfishness and “survival of the fittest”. This is just one way of seeing life; it is not the only way. We live in a world of infinite potential, and what determines how you experience “reality” is based on your perceptual system. How you wire your brain and nervous system really matters.

And get this; what runs your life is generally the 90% that is out of your awareness and comes from the unconscious part of your mind. So, why is self-love so important and why is it not ok to beat yourself up and put yourself down? Aren’t we taught that this is “humble”? Isn’t it “pride” to think good of yourself? Isn’t it “narcissistic”?

Narcissism stems from fear and is often rooted in insecurity. When you come from core confidence, you know that there is no need to compare yourself and judge worth and value between people. Yes, we vary in the expression of our gifts and talents, yet at our essence, the “founders” of our country had it correct when they said, “all men (and women) are created equal”.

When you come to know this Authentic Self, the essence of your very life force, you can begin to separate yourself from the “stories” of who you think you are that keep you stuck and playing small. These stories that you’ve wired into your mind and nervous system can be re-written when you are ready to accept the challenge. And it is much simpler than you may think.

In the meantime, rejecting yourself will only keep you stuck. Why or how does this work? Here are 3 reasons why self-love is not narcissism and why you want to convert to self-love and stop putting yourself down.

1. Narcissism by definition is rooted in fear and judgment. It is seeking hierarchy and “power over” others based on comparison and disrespect. When we come from “I am better than you” or “my needs are most important – period”, we are coming from lack. Often, low self-esteem and self-absorption based on this is the cause of narcissism.

2. Self-love stems from awareness of the Divine spirit that is within you and the source of life itself. It has to do with respect for self and all of life and just acknowledges the gift of life that you are. It is compassionate and says, “I’m growing” and I can see the abundance in light in life, instead of coming from a place of fear and lack. It is giving our self space to grow and expand without shame and guilt – which are the two “terrorizing twins” that keep us playing small and losing in life. Love grows and expands us; fear constricts.

3. One cannot rise above and stay above their self-image. Your brain seeks to make you “right” in the way that you really “see” yourself (self-image). When I lived in self-rejection, I used sheer will power to push my way to my goals in the hopes of finding abundance and peace. What I realized is that self-sabotage, in its many forms (even Tiger had to learn this one), will kick in if you do not deal with the “blind spots” that distort your self-image in a proactive way. Also, be informed that negative self-talk has been shown to provoke the stress response in your body and stress accounts for up to 90% of primary care doctor visits. Your subconscious mind is going to show you via the Mirror of Life what you REALLY believe about yourself and life.

In this time of change there is also great opportunity for growth. The more you embrace who you are, with love and compassion, the more likely you are to be kind and accepting of others. This is a winning formula for success as when you feel deserving of success, you can stop all of the procrastination and confusion around your business success, relationships and you are even likely to stay healthier and have more life energy.

Core confidence can only come from the inside out when you make the time to consider – and love – who you really are.  What do you think?

There’s truth to the saying “your attitude determines your altitude”. So, why is change so challenging? There can be several reasons, yet at the root of it is social conditioning. This conditioning is not really intentional; it is actually habitual and passed down through generational thinking. We often think that the way we see life is just “the way it is”.

Actually, reality is “mind-made”; it is a way of seeing or perception. Perception rules as it wires your brain to see what you have decided to believe as true – whether it is or not.

Once you believe something, your brain will seek to prove you right. It becomes a “self-fulfilling” prophecy as your nervous system will screen in the things it has been wired to look for and screen out the things you decided don’t work or may be harmful to you.

Of course these things could certainly just be relative and based on assumptions that are not even factual. It does not matter; this is why what you mind matters. What you keep your attention on can ultimately manifest in your life, so it can manifest, or turn into matter (a science term for physical form).

The trick is to stop focusing on what you fear or don’t want. If you associate change with “don’t want” or “bad”, then your emotional reaction will gear up for battle in the classic “fight, flight or freeze” response.

This does not have to be. I know, as I used to respond to change with much fear. It often took summing up all of my courage to push through to where I wanted to go. While you may require courage for some advances in your life, life does not have to be lived as one big struggle. I have come to embrace change, as it is one thing in life that is guaranteed.

When we resist the inevitable, we self-inflict suffering. While it is fine to have likes and dislikes, the key is to see them as merely preference and not become so attached to the outcome. Expect the best and let go. Of course, this in and of itself will require you to recondition the belief that somehow disappointment is “fatal”. I could write another whole separate post on our fear of “disappointment”.

Here are three uncommon factors that are associated with fear of change and what you can do to begin to rethink them and retrain your brain for a more empowering outcome:

1. Feelings – Let me ask you this; when you stop having any feelings at all, where will you be? (Clue: “6 feet _____”). Feeling is actually a type of emotional guidance system to let you know if what you are thinking is based in love or fear. You can consciously manage them and even change our outcomes in life by paying attention. Repressing undesired feelings instead of learning how to release them is actually hazardous to your health – really.

The first step? Learn from science what feelings are and how they become formed in the first place so that you can diffuse all the mystery about them right out the gate.

2. Clarity – Most people can tell you what they DON’T want but have little idea about what they DO want. Your nervous system functions as a missile-seeking machine and it does not judge “good or bad”. It’s goal is to take you wherever you focus your attention. Now get this: the stronger the emotional charge, the faster you are likely to manifest the outcome or results. Hence, once again, you are better off learning how to read and direct your feelings consciously instead of trying to keep them stuffed in the unconscious closet of your body.

One way to clarify what you want is to take the opposite of what you have feared. So, if you “fear poverty”, get clear about desiring abundance. How does abundance feel? (Abundance is a quality of love, by the way)

3. Stress – Realize that stress is “mind-made”; it is not “out there”. It is an inside job. Stress is all about perception. It is a story about a given set of “facts” and it is unique to you in general. So, many people are focusing on the fear of losing their jobs, etc and so they feel this fear in their bodies and it shows up as “stress”. Stress comes from feeling disempowered or expecting the worse. It is a form of faith for what you don’t want. Can you see how this ties into points one and two above? What can you do?

There are several approaches but the most long-term, lifestyle changing one to do is to learn mindfulness meditation. This form of meditation has been called “hygiene for the brain” for a good reason. It has really elevated the quality of my own life.

So, empowerment comes in a lasting way by thinking outside of the box and pulling away from the old paradigms about “survival of the fittest”. You can be successful and happy in life without seeing the universe as fearful and constrictive.

In fact, the more loving and collaborative you become, you will find that life starts to open up and you can become even more successful than you ever thought possible. This all begins within. Making change your friend begins when you set intention to breakthrough to the real you and live from an empowered sense of Authentic Self. What do you think?

What we learn is not only contrary; it’s often outright backwards. We think that how we think about ourselves is independent of how others think of us. In fact, we think that what others think about us is more significant than what we think about ourselves.

For example, from the time we are two, we are unconsciously taught to seek for love, security and self-esteem outside ourselves. This is where we first start “looking for love in all the wrong places”. We are taught that the opinions of others are more important than our own, and that our significance comes from our associations, titles and material possessions.

Considering that these are all external to our very Being, it is no wonder that we give our power away regularly. We even make the mistake of trying to “get” love from others when we don’t even give it to ourselves.

Actually, we are love by nature. If you are a part of Life, Spirit (wake up call – if you are not, then how are you alive to even read this?) then your source of love is coming from the inside out. This is where love originates, from Spirit.

The problem is, we have lost sight of ourselves, our True Self that is. Instead, we become so lost in the illusion of the “Mental Me” the part of our brains that forms the “story of who we think we are”, that we think that we are these thoughts of ourselves.

Yes, there is an area in your brain called “autobiographical memory”. I call it simply ego or Mental Me. Ego means “I” in Latin. You see, the ego isn’t “bad”; it is just a function of your nervous system to help you feel like a separate individual, it is your “social identity”. Where the danger comes in is, when we lose sight of our inner spiritual self and buy into the belief that life is all about the “survival of the fittest” and that we are all alone we get into trouble. We unwittingly train our brains to focus on lack and FEAR (Fictitious Evidence Affecting Reality).

Now here’s something very important. Perception rules and reality is relative. Your brain will wire into your body what you keep your focus and feelings on long enough to form a belief. It then will slip into your subconscious mind and affect how you perceive the world and others. Here’s the important key: how you see yourself is really going to be reflected back to you from others, meaning if you don’t love yourself, you will continuously interpret the behaviors of others as being unloving toward you.

In fact, you are likely to actually attract the people, situations and circumstances to prove you “right” – that you are unlovable or whatever other lie you believe. This is called the “Mirror of Life”. The brain is not discriminatory. It is a faithful servant to find what you are looking for especially unconscious beliefs, as these are very powerful.

If you don’t give yourself love, don’t ever expect to receive healthy love from others. Oh, you may attract lots of dysfunctional drama “love”, but you will always be searching for love when you don’t feel it for yourself first. Or, you will somehow not achieve the level of success and happiness you desire because you have unconsciously cut yourself off from the awareness of the love within for you from the Universe.

It’s all here, right now – if you can only perceive it! Love flows to and through you, but you can block it with self-rejection. The first step to core confidence, true empowerment is to learn how to love and accept yourself. Then you can come from a place of abundance instead of neediness.

Then you can free yourself from the shackles of shame and live the abundant whole life with whole relationships, first to self and then others. As you give love to YOU, you will magically start receiving it from others. I have absolutely experienced this for myself as I came from a place of “enough never enough”, I’m unworthy, unlovable etc. Empowerment is just that, power from within.

And it begins when you look within and remember who You are and that you are already ok – just because you breathe. What do you think?

One thing for sure is that we cannot solve some of our current challenges by looking in our current memory toolbox of how to solve problems. The consciousness or “mindset” that that got us here will not be the same ways of thinking that help us to change the world.

I don’t equate change with “bad”. Why not just see things as evolving to the next level, especially when it comes to individual growth? Now here’s the dilemma – the Universe is still expanding and unfolding, yet, because of the way that we have as a whole conditioned our brain we tend to fear change.

We are still “unfolding” just as the Universe is. While there is more to us than meets the eye, meaning at our core we have a spiritual essence, a “True Self”, we still live and experience life as human beings living in a physical body.

Without this body, you cannot effect change or be alive as we generally think of it relating to being on the earth. So, while I’ve heard the saying “we are spiritual beings having a human experiences”, we need to learn how to skillfully live into both aspects of our natures.

We need to become aware of how to manage our human body’s sensory/perception system – the brain and mind. Otherwise you can be so “heavenly bound that you are no earthly good”. Enter Neuroscience.

What I love about the expanding field of science is that while it is not infallible by any means, and while there is often not black and white consensus to the outcome of research (why would there be considering scientists are human also the last time I checked), the information and insights gained in the past decade can go a very long way with helping humanity to consciously begin to switch gears from a fear-based/competitive paradigm of the world to a more love/good for all paradigm.

A new paradigm could come from a place of developing the talents of individuals to be contributed to the whole. People could thus become more self-actualized and self-sustaining while at the same time society can move away from lack focus and keeping the “next guy” down. What is good for individuals will be good for the whole and the planet if approached from a higher level of awareness.

You see, we are all making up the story of the human drama anyway, so we may as well give the chapter a happier ending than we have historically been doing in the past few thousand years. Given all the chaos both within us and in the outer environment, I think the new science as arrived in a nick of time. Why?

We have been so out of balance in the way we use our brains that we generally are stuck in the “logical” brain, and this side also tends toward fear and separation. It is time to learn how to change with conscious intent not only how we see ourselves but also how we see others since again, this is due to perception and the stories that we wire into our nervous system. Most people believe that “reality” is a solid “out there”. Einstein said decades ago:

“Reality is an illusion; albeit a very persistent one”

The more science I’ve learned and blended with my intuitive mind and ancient success principles, the more I have been able to dump my own self-limiting beliefs and cast off a sense of low self-image. This is critical if we want to experience world peace. Why?

It is because we cannot have compassion for others until we have it for ourselves. Until there is self-acceptance, just because we breathe and no other reason, we will continue to struggle with comparing ourselves with others, greed, envy and a host of other negative emotional experiences.

No one can tell me otherwise, as from my point of experience, it has only been since I’ve become aware of how I was negatively wiring my brain and nervous system with self-limiting, deprecating beliefs and stopped doing this that my quality of life has sky-rocketed. Since I’ve learned how to release these negative cellular memories my peace of mind has been on a trajectory upward.

I’m all for ending human suffering and I think that we will take a giant step in this direction when we learn how to embrace change and this can really only be done when we learn how to set ourselves free from the tyranny of the fear-based stories we unwittingly have wired into our own brain. Train your brain to win from the inside out. It is more than possible; it can simply become your new “reality” if you open your mind to change. What do you think?

I think this is a good thing as I see room for growth and improvement in our society and in the way we treat others, the planet and ourselves in general. It is also time to integrate our power and stop breaking ourselves into different “parts” some which are less important than others and creating a sense of insufficiency and lack regarding our own worth or belittling the value that we place on our own gifts and talents.

Now, instead of focusing on what is “wrong” it is time to take your power back and learn how to get to where you want to go. As long as you stay focused on fear and what is wrong, your brain will help you to stay there. You see, what you focus on expands and what you resist persists.

This is just the way your mind and body work. Your brain does not judge your choices per se, it only brings to you, like a missile seeking machine, that which you truly expect and believe.

Also, we have been conditioned to only use our intellect that is operating only 10% of what runs our daily lives. You see, most of what runs our day-to-day operations is unconscious. We just don’t know what we don’t know and what we think is true, in general is based in lack thinking, competition and “survival of the fittest”.

Well, this is only one paradigm but your “reality” will show up based on what paradigm you buy into. Intuition, which is a right brain and bodily function, is very important in our changing times. It will bring you creative ideas, wisdom for operating your relationships, lead to opportunities and guide you in ways that the intellect cannot.

Also, while we need our intellect, it can only draw from the pool of beliefs that have already been filed away into our “memory banks”. It is not the most resourceful or creative, but it is very good at getting things done in the world of form. If we did not have any intellect we would not be able to give manifested form to our ideas.

The important point to realize though is that the ego, the sense of self that you “think you are” resides in the area of the intellect. Ego is not bad, it is just that if you have assigned self-limiting “stories” about yourself and it becomes wired into your nervous system and stored in our cellular memory, your “memory bank”, you will block your intuition and limit your opportunities.

Neuroscience is revealing the power in operating these two areas in an integrative way. I’ve always been right and left “brained”, but there were some years that I repressed my intuition and creativity, and I was not very happy during those years. In order to develop emotional intelligence, effectively network and collaborate with others and make healthier choices, we are now going to have to get in touch with our own inner guidance.

Haven’t you noticed just how disempowered you feel when listening to the various sources that vie for your attention? They constantly tell you that you are “not good enough” or would have you focus on the sky falling in.

To be a whole, empowered woman, you must first be willing to open your mind to new information that will allow you to pull the pieces together in a way that enables you to let go of stories that hold you back and use the new information and paradigms I speak and teach on to literally co-create your own version of the next level of unfolding the phenomenal woman, you already are.

Intuition is powerful and understanding how to allow it to develop and just how important it can be to the success of your business, relationships and health is empowering. Yes, intellect is needed, yet to be your personal best, you need to integrate the two and realize the power you are losing by ignoring or repressing this very important function of your mind. I

t’s time to eliminate the fears that block you, the “cataracts of the heart and mind”, of misperception, and glow on and let your life shine!