The document describes a life coaching program called "Dare To Live Fully" based on 30 core life principles or "metaprinciples" from psychology and wisdom traditions. The program is intended to help participants become happier by discussing and applying these principles to notice any resistance and make positive changes in their lives and beliefs. Some principles discussed include taking responsibility for one's own happiness, making decisions and taking risks to enact change, and accepting impermanence and insecurity to fully live life.

1. Dare To Live Fully
Life Coaching Program
Ed Geraty LCSW-C

2. Do you really want to be more
fulfilled?
• After working for over thirty years as a
psychotherapist, and listening to
thousands of individuals life experiences, I
have brought together 30 life principles
that, once practiced consistently begin to
truly change your life for the better.
• The questions is.. Do you really want to be
happier?

3. What is it?
The Dare To Live Fully coaching process is
based on 30 core life principles ( I call them
Metaprinciples) taken from psychology and the
world’s Wisdom traditions.
As we read through and discuss these principles
see if you are able to work within these
concepts. But be completely honest with
yourself.

4. Notice your resistance
• Carefully notice any resistance
to each principle.
• Resistance usually points out to us the
belief that we are most unwilling to accept.
• Resistance to a particular principle may
show you exactly what your block is to
living fully.

5. Using the Principles
• Some people read through all 30
principles daily.
• Others pick one principle a day for 30
days and go more deeply into the
investigation of the specific principle.
• Others use a principle to meditate upon.

6. 1.
• There is no such thing as
“trying” to do something.
• Either we decide to do it or not to do it.
• We can take as long as we like to make
the decision.

7. 2.
• There are no mistakes, only
lessons. Change is frequently a
process of trial and error,
experimentation.
• The “failed” experiments are as much a
part of the process as the experiment that
ultimately “works.”

8. 3.
• Our childhood upbringing, and/or other
people, are not responsible for our
unhappiness as adults.
• We are responsible for our happiness or
unhappiness.

9. 4.
• Our beliefs, whether personal,
philosophical, religious, or otherwise
create our view of reality.
• Beliefs are simply a collection of thoughts that
we have put together and then tell ourselves
“This is the Truth!”
• If our beliefs are not working for us, we can
change them. There are many to pick from.

10. 5.
• Our actions (or inactions) really do speak
louder than words.
• It is not what we say, it is what we do (or
don’t do) that tells us what our real
motives are.

11. 6.
• Wishing, hoping, and waiting for
something to happen will not necessarily
make that something happen.
• Something happens when we “DO”
something.

12. 7.
• Others are merely mirrors of us.
• We cannot love or hate something about
another person unless it reflects to us
something we love or hate about
ourselves.

13. 8.
• What we make of your life is up to us.
• We have all the tools and resources we need; if
we don’t think we have the resource and tools
we need, we can decide to learn them or get
them.
• What we do with them is up to us.
• The choice is ours.

14. 9.
• The answers lie inside us.
• The answers to life’s questions lie inside
us.
• All we need to do is look, listen, and trust
ourselves.

15. 10.
• “I can’t” usually means “I choose not to”.
• We have the right to choose not to, but
say so.

16. 11.
• If we are not willing to change something,
we need to stop complaining about it.
• No one likes to listen to complainers.
• Others are probably already aware we’re
not going to change whatever it is I
anyway if we have continually complained
about it.

17. 12.
• If we wait until we “feel” like doing
something to change our life, we may be
waiting forever.
• Feelings come and go.
• It is not helpful to make, or not make
decisions, based solely on how we feel at
the moment.

18. 13.
• Change involves risk. If we’re not willing to
take a risk, we won’t make a change.
• It’s not a risk if we know it will turn out the
way we want it to.

19. 14.
• Not making a decision is making a
decision.
• Most of us spend most of our lives
deciding not to make a decision.

20. 15.
• Some changes will occur one way or
another, whether we want them to or not.
• We can go through those changes kicking
and screaming and make it more
unpleasant, or embrace it and go with the
flow, minimizing the unpleasantness.
• It’s our choice.

21. 16.
• You can always decide to change your
mind at any point.
• Now is the only time there is, and you can
only change your mind now!

22. 17.
• When we make a change or set out on a new goal, the
people in our lives may not like the way we have
changed.
• Our new “way of being” is unfamiliar to them.
They may prefer the security of the “old you”
and may attempt to get us to change back
to our previous way of being.
• They will usually do this by trying to make us feel guilty,
accuse us of being “selfish”, or other negative reactions
and comments.

23. 18.
• We may have conflicting desires/goals:(ie) the
desire to be liked vs. the desire to stand up for
ourselves, the desire to be taken care of vs. the
desire to be independent, the desire for security
vs. the desire for change.
• It’s completely normal to have conflicting
desires. We are seldom single minded.
• Which desire/goal is in my best interest?

24. 19.
• Every person (including ourselves) is
doing the best they can with what the have
at any given moment.
• If we could do better, we would.

25. 20.
• We are the only ones who can determine
if we are a success.
• Everyone else will have an opinion about
what you need to do to be successful in
their eyes.

26. 21.
• What may be a success to us may not be
considered a success to someone else.
• Success is in the eye of the beholder.

27. 22.
• There are internal and external successes.
• Sometimes the internal successes are
more important than the external ones.

28. 23.
• No one MAKES us do anything.
• It is easier to blame others for our feelings and
behaviors.
• We ARE NOT the victims of other people
• We may continue to relate to those who
“victimize” us but it is our choice to continue to
relate to them.

29. 24.
• We determine what thoughts we pay attention
to and therefore what we will feel.
• We can observe our thoughts and not take them
so seriously, rather than latching on to a
particular thought and wearing it like a coat all
day.

30. 25.
• We live an average of 30,000 days.
• Separating the figures by gender, men on average live to
72, while women live to 79 in the US.
• Most of us have already lived 50 to 75% of our lives.
• The clock is ticking.
• If we are going to make changes to make ourselves
happier, it is advisable that we do it soon

31. 26.
• We live under the false belief that there is
always plenty of time to make changes in
the future.
• This is an excuse for not making a change
now.

32. 27.
• Now is the only time we have, so make
good use of it. It determines our future.
• There are no guarantees, no certainly of a
better future later.
• This is it!

33. 28.
• The grass isn’t necessarily always greener
on the other side.
• We don’t really know others peoples
experiences.
• Stop comparing (for better or worse).

34. 29.
• Security is an illusion
• All things are impermanent; those we love,
what we have, and ourselves, are all
impermanent.
• Quit trying to hang on to security.

35. 30.
• Life is risky.
• A life with no risk is generally unfulfilling…
and boring.

36. so
•Dare to live
more fully!