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The Secret - Law of Attraction & Positive thinking

I first came to know about this film called “The Secret” a few months ago, and I’ve been hearing about it a lot in the last month or so from various sources. Last week, I finally got to watch the film. If you don’t already know about The Secret, it’s a ’self-help’ documentary film that talks about the power of positive thinking and the “Law of Attraction” — a law which can be roughly stated as, “You attract to you what you think of the most”. There is nothing new and there’s nothing secret about the concepts discussed in this film. Everything said in the film has been publicly pronounced by great thinkers and successful people all over the world from time to time in some form or the other.

Personally, I got into all this ‘positive thinking’ stuff (and spirituality) eight years ago when I read the book “Thought Power” by Swami Sivananda. That was a time when nothing was going right in my life, I can say it was the lowest point in my life, the book was a real life saver for me in that kind of a situation. Ever since, I’ve been reading and learning more and more about positive thinking and applying these principles in my life, it’s been a fascinating journey and the results have been excellent so far. But still, I won’t say life has become perfect for me, far from it. It takes lifetimes to become a master and attain perfection. I’m still playing around with ‘positive thinking’ and ‘law of attraction’, I’m still evolving, and along the way, I’ve had this wonderful opportunity of watching The Secret. Let me share a few things emphasized in the film.

Think about what you want, not what you don’t want. Is there something that is not right in your life? Forget about that something that’s not right, think about how your life would look like when everything is set right. Think about how good you’ll feel when things are perfect, close your eyes and bring those nice feelings, live those feelings in your mind right now. That’s the way to attract what you want and let go of what you don’t want, not by mulling over what’s not right and figuring out ways of how to set things right, that way, you will keep figuring out, and that something that’s not right will remain that way. You should think (and know) that you are already on your way to having right things in your life and prepare yourself to feeling good .

For example,

• do you hate war? Now, stop thinking about war and it’s destructive effects, stop participating in anti-war rallies. By focusing on war and being anti-war, you only give more and more energy to a strife filled world. The right way is to focus on a peaceful world, be pro-peace. Do whatever you can do to ignite peace and love in the minds of people.
• Worried about global warming? Stop thinking about CO2 emissions, stop worrying about cutting down of trees. You can think about Carbon-di-Oxide if you are a scientist, but you are not going to bring about a green, pure and healthy environment by speaking to people about the dangers of CO2 emissions, rather talk about the alternatives like fuel cells and cleaner energy sources, talk about planting more trees and the love you feel when you grow and nurture greens. Emphasize on the beauty and joy of living in a green, clean and harmonious environment.That’s positive thinking for you, and that’s the only way you can bring about change.

Watch your feelings — this is another thing emphasized in the film. Continuous monitoring of your thoughts can be an amusing past time, and it’s a process that can actually help in your meditation and knowing about thought patterns. But if you want to know quickly whether or not or you are thinking and acting the right way, monitor your feelings. When you feel good and have feelings of love, compassion, peace, etc., know that your thoughts (and actions) are in alignment with your purpose, and you are on heading in the right direction. When you have negative feelings and emotions like fear, anger, jealousy, sorrow, etc., know that you are not thinking right and it’s time to introspect and change your thought patterns.

I very much enjoyed watching The Secret and learnt a few things from the film, I would recommend it to anybody. But It’s not as if you watch the film, apply what’s said in it, and suddenly you get everything you want in life, no, it doesn’t happen suddenly. There could be fantastic results in the beginning, but there will also be mistakes and some frustration along the way. Thinking is an art that takes time to master… it takes time to learn, internalize and apply the law of attraction to perfection. But the film itself is a good start, it drives home the point of positive thinking and law of attraction very well…. One thing I find a little annoying in the film is too much talk about attracting money and wealth. I don’t deny the importance of money in today’s materialistic world, but money can take you only so far… money is only a means, not an end in itself. Agreed, money and material wealth can make you feel good sometimes, but not always, not eternally. There are much higher things worth pursuing as a human being.

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Your What you think , not what you think your are

You are what you think, but not necessarily what you think you are.” — Chapter 7 from the book Your Forces and How to Use Them drives home this point very well. Worth a read. Excerpts from this chapter:

Scientific research in the metaphysical field has demonstrated the fact that man is as he thinks, that he becomes what he thinks, and that what he thinks in the present, determines what he is to become in the future; and also that since he can change his thought for the better along any line, he can therefore completely change himself along any line. But the majority who try to apply this law do not succeed to a great degree, the reason being that instead of working entirely upon the principle that man is as he thinks, they proceed in the belief that man is what he thinks he is.

…

Man may think that he is great, but so long as he continues to think small thoughts, he will continue to be small. No matter how high an opinion he may have of himself, while he is living in the superficial, his thoughts will be empty, and empty thoughts are not conducive to high attainments and great achievements. Man becomes great when he thinks great thoughts…

…

You may think that you are well, but you will not secure health until you think thoughts that produce health. You may persistently affirm that you are well, but so long as you live in discord, confusion, worry, fear and other wrong states of mind, you will be sick; that is, you will be as you think and not what you think you are. You may state health in your thought, but if you give worry, fear and discord to that thought, your thinking will produce discord. It is not what we state in our thoughts, but what we give to our thoughts that determine results.

…

Your opinion of your mental capacity may be great, but if your idea of intelligence is crude, your intelligence-producing thought will also be crude, and can produce only crude intelligence. It is therefore evident that to simply think that you are brilliant will not produce brilliancy, unless your understanding of brilliancy is made larger, higher and finer. … When your thinking is brilliant, you will be brilliant, but if your thinking is not brilliant you will not be brilliant, no matter how brilliant you may think you are.

…

When you think that you are beautiful, you are liable to think that you are more beautiful than others, and such a thought is not a beautiful thought. To recognize or criticise ugliness and inferiority in others is to create the inferior and the ugly in yourself, and what you create in yourself will sooner or later be expressed through your mind and personality.

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That which you need , you already have

Let me tell you a small story first…

Once upon a time, when technology was not so advanced as it is now, lived a woodcutter in a corner of a dense forest. One day, he had to cross the forest and reach a place on the other side of the forest by the next morning for an important meeting. So, he started early in the morning and planned to reach his place before sunset. He thought that he’ll have a good rest by the night and make himself available for the appointment next morning. But due to bad weather, he could travel only half the distance and could reach only the middle of the forest at sunset. Darkness was enveloping the dense forest swiftly and he became anxious. He had no option to keep travelling throughout the night if he had any chance of reaching the other end by morning, but how can he? He didn’t even bring a lamp with him and it was getting darker and darker. He was looking around desperately and suddenly, in the middle of darkness, he faintly saw something like a hut hidden behind the trees. Hoping for help he made his way towards the hut. It happened to be a hermitage and there was a sage, a holy man sitting inside the hut and meditating. Our man was excited! He had heard others say that sages are kind souls. He had also heard that sages are very powerful, that they can perform all kinds of miracles, so he thought he can beg the sage to perform some miracle and help him cross the forest by morning. He went to the sage, saluted him and asked him if he can grant him a favour. The kind sage asked him what’s the matter. Our man explained the whole situation and requested the sage to light up his path so that he can cross the forest by morning without any difficulty. The sage gave him a small hand lamp and told him that it will help him get across. Now, this is not what our man expected! He thought that the sage will use his magic powers and spectacularly light up the whole forest and he’ll joyously walk across the forest before dawn. He revealed his disappointment to the sage and asked why only a small hand lamp. The sage laughed and said him, “Dear, even if I use my powers and light up your whole path, It’s not much of use to you. Yes, the lamp I gave you will help you see only 10 meters ahead of you, but that is all you need. As you cover up those 10 meters, the next 10 meters will unfold before you. That way, you will cross the forest by morning without any difficulty”.

Our lives are pretty much like that. I always believe that at any point in a person’s life, God (or nature as you may call it) gives exactly what he/she needs so that he/she can inch closer and closer to the ultimate destination. At this point in your life you are in the exact place you should be, you have got exactly what you need, the exact amount of resources that will help you evolve, nothing more, nothing less. But most of us, instead of looking at things we have, always think about things we don’t have. Instead of using the resources at hand in the best possible way and moving ahead, we always think about what could be and what could have been. We don’t do smaller things right, and expect much bigger things to happen in our lives.

And then, there is this tendency to feel anxious about what will happen to us in the future. We are so busy thinking about and planning for the unknown future 10, 20, 60 years ahead that we forget about the present and things that are right before us that needs our immediate attention. Yes, it’s necessary to have a vision, a goal, a sense of direction. But we can get to the top of the mountain only by climbing step by step, focusing our attention on the step immediately ahead of us, that’s the sure and steady way to get to the top. Instead, in the middle of the path, if we walk with our eyes fixed on the mountain top and our mind thinking whether or not we’ll reach there, we are sure to stumble and fall down only to start again from the basement of the mountain. We tend to look for assurance from God that we’ll be secure for the rest of our life. But this assurance is of little use to us. All we can see is the day ahead. When we can use the tools and resources given to us and spend the day in the most efficient manner, the next day will unfold. As we go on this way, day after day, we’d have gone a long way when we finally leave this human body.

As Swami Vivekananda says,

By doing well the duty which is nearest to us, the duty which is in our hands now, we make ourselves stronger and improving our strength in this manner step by step, we may even reach a state in which it shall be our privilege to do the most coveted and honoured duties in life and in society.

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Abdul Kalam meets Swami Sivananda

Dr. Abdul Kalam, the former President of India is considered a youth icon in India. He always says, “You have to dream before your dreams can come true.” That’s very true, you first have to dream before it can come true, but not all dreams come true, at least not the way you want it to. Take the case of Abdul Kalam himself. Young Abdul Kalam dreamt of flying in the sky, like a free bird. He wanted to join the Indian Air Force and become a pilot. After finishing his education, he applied to become a pilot in the IAF, quickly, he got an interview call and Kalam gladly attended the selection process at Dehra Dun. Unfortunately, he was not selected and young Kalam was heartbroken to say the least. Deeply disappointed, Kalam trekked down to nearby Rishikesh where he met Swami Sivananda. Kalam considers this meeting to be one of the most important events in his life. Here’s how Dr. Kalam recounts this meeting with Swami Sivananda in his autobiography.

I bathed in the Ganga and revelled in the purity of its water. Then I walked to the Sivananda Ashram situated a little way up the hill. I could feel intense vibrations when I entered. I saw a large number of sadhus seated all around in a state of trance. I had read that sadhus were psychic people–people who know things intuitively and, in my dejected mood, I sought answers to the doubts that troubled me.

I met Swami Sivananda–a man who looked like a Buddha, wearing a snow white dhoti and wooden slippers. He had an olive complexion and black, piercing eyes. I was struck by his irresistible, almost child-like smile and gracious manner. I introduced myself to Swamiji. My Muslim name aroused no reaction in him. Before I could speak any further, he inquired about the source of my sorrow. He offered no explanation of how he knew that I was sad and I did not ask.

I told him about my unsuccessful attempt to join the Indian Air Force and my long cherished desire to fly. He smiled, washing away all my anxiety almost instantly. Then he said in a feeble, but very deep voice,

Desire, when it stems from the heart and spirit, when it is pure and intense, possesses awesome electromagnetic energy. This energy is released into the ether each night, as the mind falls into the sleep state. Each morning it returns to the conscious state reinforced with the cosmic currents. That which has been imaged will surely and certainly be manifested. You can rely, young man, upon this ageless promise as surely as you can rely upon the eternally unbroken promise of sunrise… and of Spring.

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear–How true! Here was the teacher to show the way to a student who had nearly gone astray! “Accept your destiny and go ahead with your life. You are not destined to become an Air Force pilot. What you are destined to become is not revealed now but it is predetermined. Forget this failure, as it was essential to lead you to your destined path. Search, instead, for the true purpose of your existence. Become one with yourself, my son! Surrender yourself to the wish of God,” Swamiji said.

After this, Dr. Kalam joined the ‘Directorate of Technical Develpment and Production’ as a ‘Senior Scientific Assistant’. He later worked with prestigious organizations like the DRDO and ISRO. He may not have had the opportunity to steer an aircraft and fly freely in the sky, but he was to steer the strategic Indian space program and missile program. He went on to become the eleventh President of India, it’s all history now.

Coming to Swami Sivananda… personally, I have read Sivananda’s books and they have influenced my attitude to a great extent, especially, his book “Thought Power“. I am a fan of Sivananda’s simple, uncomplicated and not so scholarly style of writing. Swami Sivananda has written 296 books in all covering subjects like spirituality, yoga, philosophy, etc. You’ll find so many repetitions in his book, but all for good purpose. Some of his books are available online and can be downloaded for free.

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Quotes from " Wings of Fire :An autobiography of Abdul Kalam "

I have been reading the book Wings of Fire: An Autobiography of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Abdul Kalam, as we know, is not just a missile scientist and a rocket engineer who went on to become the 11th President of India, he is also a nation builder, a visionary, motivator, a management guru, a philosopher, a poet, and above all he is a deeply spiritual person and an ideal karma yogi. Needless to say, his autobiography, Wings of Fire is one of my all time favourite books. I have nothing more to add to all that has already been wonderfully said about the book. So, let me just quickly share a few quotes from Kalam that I have collected from his book.

I wonder why some people tend to see science as something which takes man away from God. As I look at it, the path of science can always wind through the heart. For me, science has always been the path to spiritual enrichment and self-realisation.

the best way to win was to not need to win. The best performances are accomplished when you are relaxed and free of doubt.

I often read Khalil Gibran, and always find his words full of wisdom. “Bread baked without love is a bitter bread that feeds but half a man’s hunger”–those who cannot work with their hearts achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success that breeds bitterness all around. If you are a writer who would secretly prefer to be a lawyer or a doctor, your written words will feed but half the hunger of your readers; if you are a teacher who would rather be a businessman, your instructions will meet but half the need for knowledge of your students; if you are a scientist who hates science, your performance will satisfy but half the needs of your mission.

I have always considered the price of perfection prohibitive and allowed mistakes as a part of the learning process. I prefer a dash of daring and persistence to perfection. I have always supported learning on the part of my team members by paying vigilant attention to each of their attempts, be they successful or unsuccessful.

To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal.

Total commitment is the common denominator among all successful men and women. Are you able to manage the stresses you encounter in your life? The difference between an energetic and a confused person is the difference in the way their minds handle their experiences. Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success. All of us carry some sort of a super-intelligence within us. Let it be stimulated to enable us examine our deepest thoughts, desires, and beliefs.

I have used the word ‘flow’ at many places without really elaborating its meaning. What is this flow? And what are these joys? I could call them moments of magic. I see an anology between these moments and the high that you experience when you play badminton or go jogging. Flow is a sensation we experience when we act with total involvement. During flow, action follows action according to an internal logic that seems to need no conscious intervention on the part of the worker. There is no hurry, there are no distracting demands on one’s attention. The past and the future disappear. So does the distinction between self and the activity.

To live only for some unknown future is superficial. It is like climbing a mountain to reach the peak without experiencing its sides. The sides of the mountain sustain life, not the peak. This is where things grow, experience gained, and technologies are mastered. The importance of peak lies only in the fact that it defines the sides. So I went on towards the top, but always experiencing the sides. I had a long way to go but I was in no hurry. I went in little steps–just one step after another–but each step towards the top.

“God can do tremendous things through the person who doesn’t care about who gets the credit. Ego involvement must go,” writes [Robert] Schuller. “Before God trusts you with success, you have to prove yourself humble enough to handle the big prize.”

It has been my personal experience that the true flavour, the real fun, the continuous excitement of work lie in the process of doing it rather than in having it over and done with.

Life is a difficult game. You can win it only by retaining your birthright to be a person. And to retain this right, you will have to be willing to take the social or external risks involved in ignoring pressures to do things the way others say they should be done.

God’s providence is your inheritance.

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Inspiring Educational Quotations for Students

Abraham Lincoln:
Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.

Epictetus:
It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.

Anne Frank:
Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

Albert Einstein:
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.

Albert Einstein:
It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.

Booker T. Washington:
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.

Richard C Miller:
Even if at first you do succeed, you still have to work hard to stay there.

Anthony Robbins:
The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of you life. If you don't, life controls you.

Paul J. Meyer:
The only honest measure of your success is what you are doing compared to your true potential

Barbara Hershey:
We measure success and depth by length of time, but it is possible to have a deep relationship that doesn't always stay the same.

Anonymous:
Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.

Anonymous:
Only very foolish people are convinced that they are never wrong. Confess often!

Anonymous:
Loud does not always mean right. Quiet does not always mean fearful.

Anonymous:
What have you learned from your mistakes lately?

William A. Ward
Recipe for success: Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing.

Margaret Thatcher
Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. it's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do and you've done it.

Bernard Shaw
When I was young I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures, so I did ten times more work

George E. Allen
People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don't know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.

Thomas Edison
I have not failed 700 times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.

Jennifer James
Success is not a destination that you ever reach. Success is the quality of your journey.

Unknown
The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.

Ann Landers
Some people believe that holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go -- and then do it.

Paul Getty
My formula for success is rise early, work late, and strike oil

Earl Nightingate
People with goals succeed, because they know where they're going.

General Colin Powell
There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work learning from failure.

Unknown
The road to success is always under construction.

Unknown
The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is for you.

William Shakespeare
Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good that we oft may win, By fearing to attempt

Ben Sweetland:
We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.

Barbara Tuchman:
Learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced.

Arthur Koestler:
Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.

Benjamin Jowett:
We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique.

Finley Peter Dunne:
You can lead a man up to the university, but you can't make him think.

Bill Beattie:
The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.

Dean William R. Inge:
The aim of education is the knowledge not of fact, but of values.

Epictetus:
We must not believe the many, who say that only free people ought to be educated, but we should rather believe the philosophers who say that only the educated are free.

Eric Hoffer:
In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.

Ethel Barrymore:
You must learn day by day, year by year, to broaden your horizon. The more things you love, the more you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about, the more you have left when anything happens.

George Peabody:
Education: a debt due from present to future generations.

George Santayana:
Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Gloria Steinem:
The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn.

Maria Mitchell:
Study as if you were going to live forever; live as if you were going to die tomorrow.

Goethe:
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.

Helen Keller:
Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line, and you waited with beating heart for something to happen? I was like that ship before my education began, only I was without compass or sounding line, and no way of knowing how near the harbor was. "Light! Give me light!" was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour.

Henry Steele Commager:
Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change. Education is essential to change, for education creates both new wants and the ability to satisfy them.

Henry Ward Beecher:
There is no greater crime than to stand between a man and his development; to take any law or institution and put it around him like a collar, and fasten it there, so that as he grows and enlarges, he presses against it till he suffocates and dies.

James Baldwin:
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.

Mahatma Gandhi
"An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching."

Ed Macauley
"When you are not practicing, remember, someone somewhere is practicing, and when you meet him he will win"

Chinese Proverb
"If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow."

Chinese Proverb
"If you want happiness for an hour -- take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing. If you want happiness for a month -- get married. If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else."

Brian Tracy
If you envy successful people, you create a negative force field of attraction that repels you from ever doing the things that you need to do to be successful. If you admire successful people, you create a positive force field of attraction that draws you toward becoming more and more like the kinds of people that you want to be like.

Albert Schweitzer
Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

Jim Rohn
If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you.

David Joseph Schwartz
The test of a successful person is not an ability to eliminate all problems before they arise, but to meet and work out difficulties when they do arise. We must be willing to make an intelligent compromise with perfection lest we wait forever before taking action. It's still good advice to cross bridges as we come to them.

Tom Hopkins
Every evening, write down the six most important things that you must do the next day. Then while you sleep your subconscious will work on the best ways for you to accomplish them. Your next day will go much more smoothly.

David Bly
Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven't planted.

Grenville Kleiser
Those who have attained things worth having in this world have worked while others idled, have persevered while others gave up in despair, have practiced ...the valuable habits of self-denial, industry, and singleness of purpose.

Henry Ward Beecher
Ones best success comes after their greatest disappointments.

Bob Brown
Behind every successful man there's a lot of unsuccessful years.

Robert Collier
Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

Leroy Van Dyke
Success... it's what you do with what you've got.

Anonymous
The best way to finish an unpleasant task is to get started.

Napoleon Hill
"Don't wait. The time will never be just right."

Leonardo da Vinci
"I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do."

Jules Renard
"Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it."

Anonymous
"Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold -- but so does a hard-boiled egg."

Anonymous
"Many fine things can be done in a day if you don't always make that day tomorrow"

Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage"

Conrad Hilton
"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit."

Anonymous
If you never exercise your leg muscles, you will eventually be unable to walk. Wonder what happens when you never exercise your brain?

Mahatma Gandhi
"You may never know what results come of your action, but if you do nothing there will be no result"

Mahatma Gandhi
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

Unknown Author
The best way to live is to appreciate each minute as an unrepeatable miracle. Work at your work and play at your play. Don't try to borrow from your future. Accept that now is the best time of your life."

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