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Imagine a bright, beautiful sunny day at the beach. The sun is high in the sky and the brightness is almost blinding. On a pole nearby is a light bulb, shining down onto the beach with 10,000 watts of light. Its brightness is overshadowed by the power of the sun. The light bulb isn’t noticeable as long as the sun is shining.

As the day goes on, and the sun begins to set, this light source starts to become noticeable. At first it is just a dim light surrounded by brightness. As the sun sets, its brightness becomes more essential. When the sun has gone down, this bulb becomes the only source of light. It still is as bright as it was during the day, but now you are aware that the light bulb has been there all along.

People Who Shine Brightly in Your Life

Are there people in your life who are as bright as this 10,000 watt bulb? You may not necessarily notice them when things are going well and you feel that your world is bright. But, you may have noticed just how bright their light can be when you were surrounded by darkness.

Many times, these are the types of people who help you in ways you may not have imagined they would. They help you without intruding into your life; and they help you without letting you intrude into their lives. They do not rescue you from situations. They don’t let you attach cables to their lives. Their presence at exactly the right time makes this relationship extraordinary and life changing. This type of person who truly helps you is a Light Bulb.

The relationship you have with a Light Bulb often begins with a simple conversation. Many believe that Light Bulbs are easier to talk to than family and friends. Sometimes their help is for a short period of time – they come and touch your life at a certain moment for a certain reason. Other times, they create bonding friendships.

Shining Light on Your Path

Light Bulbs let you discover yourself in your own way, with their guidance and support. They don’t judge, they don’t lead you where you don’t want to go. Many would say that the support from a Light Bulb personality brought them down a more spiritual path.

They use their inner brightness to shine on those whose journeys have gone down lost paths. The brightness of their Bulbs is a direct measure of their character; the more character, the higher their wattage.

Does Your Inner Light Bulb Shine Bright?

How bright is your Light Bulb? Do you feel that you even have a Bulb? The good news is that we all have the potential to turn our Light Bulbs on. Full wattage, fluctuating power, or barely lit – all we need to do to begin to brighten our Bulbs is to become aware.

When we allow others to determine how and what we believe in, we experience a loss of our own power. This causes a reduction in our wattage. Our Light Bulbs become dim.

If we are constantly holding ourselves to the standards of others, how can we get in touch with living the lives we want? The stress of pursuing all those things affects every aspect of our lives. It causes problems in all our relationships.

More importantly it causes problems within us, within ourselves. Because we spend less time and energy on ourselves, our Light Bulbs become dimmer. Nothing is ever good enough because so many of us may not have questioned if what we wanted was actually necessary.

Increasing the Brightness of Your Light Bulb

The key to increasing the brightness of your Light Bulb is to do your own work, choose exactly what you want in your life, and begin to use your energy for yourself. Clean out your Garage and own only those things – ideas, values, beliefs, relationships – that you truly want to own. This way you won’t feel that you are “wasting time” on the things you really don’t want to do but mistakenly feel that you have to do. You will find that you have more time in your life because you have eliminated the outside stress and management of the things you don’t really need and no longer want.

So, how can we judge just how much wattage we have? Identifying what we truly want in our lives is the first step. This helps us to feel better about ourselves. When we are happier with ourselves, it makes it easier for us to do the things we need to do. And by living more in the moment of our lives, we begin to learn that there is no benefit to be received from worrying.

Do What Makes You Happy & Shine Bright

Being aware brings your life into your consciousness. You can prioritize; make better choices; and be happy because you are no longer going against what you either fear or don’t want in your life. All the negative energy — all the things that were preventing your Bulb from lighting fully – will start to drain away.

If you are doing what makes you happy, your Light Bulb will always shine with its full potential. Your Light Bulb becomes the barometer for your life – you can begin to feel when it is bright and when it’s starting to dim. And when you are aware that it’s getting dim, you can catch yourself before you wind up back in the dark.

Questions to Ponder:

Who in your life is a Light Bulb? How have they helped you on your journey?

Are you a Light Bulb for someone else? How have you helped them on their journey?

What old values, issues, beliefs and relationships are holding you back from increasing the wattage in your Light Bulb?

This article was excerpted with permission from the book:

The Zing
by Ronald P. Villano, M.S., ASAC

Reprinted with permission of the author, Ron Villano LLC. ©2006. www.ronvillano.com

Click here for more info and/or to order this book.

About the Author

Ron Villano, M.S., LMHC, ASAC is a psychotherapist, life coach, speaker and author of The Zing: The self-discovery guide to help you go from living life to loving the life you live. Ron is a dynamic inspirational speaker and a highly successful leader in professional life coaching and personal counseling. He has evolved from living life to loving the life he lives as a result of working through incredible experiences and unthinkable tragedy. Ron speaks throughout the country, delivering his motivational message to Embrace the Power of Change no matter what life brings your way.

Other articles by Ron Villano.

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