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that jump off the fence and taking the first step down the path of change are often easier than staying on the path. The pain of being stuck in fear and anxiety can be the catalyst that propels you forward, because anything seems to be better than that pain. But what happens if you don’t reach the promised land as quickly as you’d hoped?
    The saying “It often gets worse, before it gets better” describes a fascinating phenomenon, one I’ve observed to be true with both physical and emotional challenges. It appears that sometimes the resistance is the strongest just before the actual breakthrough. During these times, you believe you’re spinning your wheels or sliding backward despite your best efforts and good intentions. This is when it’s valuable to remember the self-empowering sequence of awareness, flexibility, choice, and actualization.
    Actualization means to move forward with the focus on and conscious commitment to your path of growth, self-discovery, and empowerment without letting yourself become sidetracked by old patterns and habits. Actualization means staying centered and focused and continuing to commit to
you.
This does not mean that you have to dedicate most of your time and energy to your self-improvement. In fact, just as it is with reshaping your body, working consistently on yourself for a relatively short amount of time each day is more effective than pushing yourself hard only once a week.
    Another common challenge can present itself after you’ve made progress toward your goals of emotional freedom and self-empowerment. Let’s say you’ve been feeling good about yourself for quite some time, when suddenly you seem to fall back into old patterns and habits. Old grooves can be deep, familiar, and slippery—especially when you forget to practice and use what got you out of them in the first place. Eventually you believe that you never changed and that all your past efforts were in vain, which is one of the biggest misconceptions of life.
    You can’t live without changing. My friend Chris says life is a circle that continually expands, whether you’re aware of it or not. After his first, and probably last, bungee jump, still a bit pale and shaken, he said to me, “I didn’t really enjoy the experience, but my circle is wider now, and nothing can ever make it smaller again.”
    It’s in our nature to expand and grow; all that varies is the speed of that expansion. This means there is no real endpoint to this journey of emotional freedom and self-empowerment, which makes it important to continuously invest focus, time, and energy. Use your awareness to determine whether you’re still on track; your flexibility to define new and more resourceful ways of being, thinking, and acting; and your power of choice to decide what is truly important to you. Then put everything into action. Just do it—again and again.
INTEGRATION
    This principle is all about solidifying and implementing, in a balanced and sustainable manner, the changes you have achieved. This book is designed to take you effectively
and
gently through the various stages of breaking through fear and anxiety. For some, however, taking steps on this journey may feel like walking on a tightrope. At the beginning, you may have to deal with your high expectations, which are usually coupled with impatience. You know what happens. At first you are all excited and motivated to make that big breakthrough happen. If others can do it, so can you. But rather than focusing on the journey and appreciating the progress you have made, you are so invested in your desired outcome that you force yourself to do more and push harder—until eventually you run out of steam. Or you drop the ball and give up too quickly because you haven’t yet achieved the amazing results you expected. Both options only lead to more anxiety, frustration, and disappointment with yourself.
    For others, the opposite may happen. Your changes and growth might be so profound