There is so much to gain in the world. Love, money, wisdom, friends, success, faith, peace and happiness are at the top of most lists. The difficult question becomes how we can attempt to get all of these things and at the same time not lose our souls in the process. The answer may come down to a simple matter of choice.

Choices exist all around us. We can choose to live a life of service or we can choose to invest in a career that has the promise to be financially rewarding. We also have the choice of doing both.

How to Gain the Whole World and Not Lose Your Soul

We are in the driver’s seat and we have to get past a few issues to move on. Fear holds us back, not the “other guy.” Fear is a habit and if we can get past the fear we can move far beyond where ever we are now.

Case in point, our new (US) Pesident, Mr. Obama. All politics aside, if the stories are true about his very humble beginnings (what, Pols don’t exaggerate, just a bit?) you have a guy starting from pretty much zero and making it to the top of the pecking order.

That’s some major heavy-duty accomplishment.

He got there because he put himself in the right place. He put aside any fears, worked his *** off, made the right connections, made his own luck, and now he’s got the top job.

I really enjoyed this post, which really goes into what holds us back:

You have great potential inside of you. I have great potential inside of me, too. The thought of realizing this potential can be paralyzing and it can be frightening. There have been many times when my fear has held me back and kept me from experiencing the happiness or success I wanted.

Fear can keep us stuck in a place where we believe we are not good enough. Fear can keep us from realizing our dreams and it can keep us from creating the life we want.

Fear can also hold us back.

When I was a boy I loved to play baseball. My family lived in a rural setting which did not provide Little League or youth baseball opportunities. Instead, I would play catch with my father or pretend I was playing in a big league game complete with line-up cards I would fill out for both teams (I always batted third and played first base for the winning team) and a uniform I got from a Sears catalog.

At age 14, we moved to a more suburban setting. There was finally a chance for me to play real baseball with real players. I was horrified…

What’s Holding You Back?