Live Unconditionally: Insights to Help Unlock Your Life

By J.P. Butler

Sometimes it's not easy being human, but that doesn't mean it has to be difficult! Our lives are full of little "AH-HA!" moments, and these little pieces of insight can transform so many things about our lives. "Live Unconditionally" is a collection of insights to help you live a life without bounds, restrictions, or conditions, and what that requires is a journey of self-discovery that will challenge how you have been living. The goal is to have you view life in a whole new light so you can start living without fear, doubt, or hesitation. Self-discovery is not something that can be forced upon you, but it can be guided by a trusted individual. Think of "Live Unconditionally" as your trusted individual, and you will learn to unlock parts of your life that you have lifelessly accepted, and transform them into amazing opportunities for personal growth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781304785473

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Live Unconditionally: Insights to Help Unlock Your Life

Live Unconditionally:

Insights to Help Unlock Your Life

First Edition

Copyright © 2013 by JP Butler. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-304-78547-3

This work is licensed under a Standard Copyright License. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author. Exceptions would include short excerpts for review purposes.

Dedication

Dedicated to my students

—who are all like my little brothers and sisters—

who I have mentored and coached over the years.

Prologue

Whenever I pick up a book, I become so curious about the unspoken reasons why the author wrote the book the way they did. This is also true when it comes to my love and natural curiosity of people: so many times I want to know who a person is and what that person has gone through so I understand how their belief system came about. Because of that, I wanted to provide you with the same insight before you read this book. So here is a little more information about me!

I was born Jonathan Phillip Butler on September 10, 1986. My parents—Gary Sr. and Madeline—were hoping for a girl, so their alternate name was Joanna Patricia. There is a picture in my parent's house in Colorado with my hair tied into pigtails—a very awkward and hilarious representation of me being Joanna. My parents nicknamed me J.P., which is apparently very confusing to people I meet for the first time because they want to call me J.B. for Jonathan Butler. I have one older brother, Gary Jr., who is ten years older than me. My brother is one of the wisest people I have ever met and has helped me clarify many of the ways my mind processes the world. My parents are also the greatest parents I could ever ask for. Not only did they provide a very stable environment for me to learn and experience the world, they were also very good at helping me process what was going on around me. They provided mental and emotional training to help me understand how I viewed the world and how I might view the world in a more positive way. The way I live my life is largely in part to the way that my parents and my brother have helped me understand me and my world.

Trying to understand me and my thoughts can become a convoluted mess, even for me! When I was in high school, I had to start writing down my thoughts before my mind became overloaded, so I began journaling. In the beginning I would usually write every day and include the date of my entry. Many times my entries were about what I did during the day, who I hung out with, what the gossip of the day was, or what teacher gave out too much homework. Nothing too substantial.

Over time I found out that I was not necessarily interested in what happened on a specific day. I was more interested in understanding and analyzing the person that I was when I wrote the entry: how I felt about the world, how I viewed the world, and how that view has changed over time. So in college, I started writing down thoughts, ideas, and questions about the world and my life, not about the specific happenings of one particular day. Those topics ranged from relationships to independence and from control to letting go. All of my beliefs have stemmed from the way I have been raised, the experiences I have gone through, and the people I have interacted with. This book is my opportunity to share some of the more important topics that I have pondered over the years. But the real reason why I was inspired to write this book is because of my students.

I have worked in the nonprofit world since 2003. Between 2003 and 2010, the nonprofit that I worked for served communities and youth to help them understand how to live healthier lifestyles by educating them about abstaining from high-risk behaviors, self-image, boundary setting, critical thinking skills, healthy relationships, goal-setting, and a variety of other topics. Ever since 2003, I have worked with youth in a mentorship capacity. I have trained high school students from across the nation to become mentors for middle school students. I still promote the mentorship model as one of the most effective ways we can help each other live happier lives.

As I trained these high school students to become mentors, I also served as a mentor to them. I was charged with helping these students understand life and to help them lead lives they were happy with. Because of this sharing of knowledge, I started diving deeper into myself and into how I viewed the world. I had to understand how I lived my life and how I viewed the world so that I could articulate that and share it with my students. During this time, as it was in high school and during my college years, I started journaling my thoughts on a regular basis before they all became a faded memory.

This book is inspired by the journal entries I wrote for my students. I shared many, if not all, of my entries with my students and most of our meetings together were structured around a specific topic I wrote about. We had so many wonderful conversations about the world, about being human, what it means to truly be happy, in control, optimistic, and so much more. I hope, based on what I have written, that you will be able to articulate your feelings about these topics to others around you so that the discussion about what I have written can continue.

Since high school, I have made a conscious attempt to be an open book to everyone for one reason, and one reason only, and that is because I hope there is one person on this earth who would hear my story, read about my experiences, or share some of the same events I have been through, and be positively influenced by my life. If there is even one sentence that touches your heart, I will have felt like this book has served its purpose.

The ideas, thoughts, and opinions I present in this book may not align with the way that you view the world. You may find some things that you agree with, and you may find some things you disagree with. I hope you find both! I am not expecting any reader to take what I have said in this book and to believe, without question, that what I have written is the absolute truth. All I can offer is a new way of thinking and maybe another viewpoint you never thought of before. So think critically about my beliefs, but also be gentle with your criticism.

I don’t claim to have all the answers, because I only have my answers. I don’t claim to have a perfect life, because it has been far from it. I don’t claim to be a perfect person, because no one is perfect. My life and who I am may be unique, but my life could become someone’s inspiration to wake up in the morning and have a renewed sense of self-confidence. I hope this book will push you to search for your own answers, because the journey to find your own answers can be one of the most rewarding trips of self-discovery.

Introduction

What can you expect from this book? Well, that's up to you! This book is about several topics my students and I pondered over the years. Ideas such as control, choice, happiness, perseverance, timing, and much, much more. Each element stands alone, but together these elements create a more complete picture. That complete picture is discovering more about who you are and how you can view the world in a more positive way.

Self-discovery is no easy task, and that is because it is never ending. Every single day we can learn more and more about ourselves, and we are challenged to do so. So if this book is a step towards self-discovery, what can you expect out of it? Think of it this way: these chapters contain some of my own views and beliefs about the world. They have helped some, and they have also fallen on deaf ears. What I know is that if you read this book with the intention of learning something new, you will learn something new. If you read this book with the intention of learning about me, you will learn about me. If you read this book with the intention of forming a more positive outlook on life, I hope you do!

Let me talk about the rate at which I recommend reading this book. These chapters can become heavy, meaning there may be some things that spark deep emotions within yourself. Experience these emotions. Don't continue reading if what I have written has turned on a light bulb, if it has brought up some emotions (positive or negative), if it has filled your mind with a million thoughts, anything! A perfect example would be a book my brother and I were reading at the same time. It was on Einstein's theory of relativity—we're nerds, and we know it!—and there were times when we could follow his line of thinking, but other times we would hit a section we did not understand. Once we found a section we didn't understand, we stopped and discussed what he wrote. It was so powerful, because the minute you move beyond something you don't understand, you can't fully understand the words after that point. I ask you to consider the same process as you move through this book—even though I swear to you it will have nothing to do with the theory of relativity!

To generalize, as consumers of knowledge we forget that we need time to digest new information. If you read this book front to back in one sitting, sure you may learn new things and you may say, I didn't need to stop! What are you talking about, JP?, but my theory is that if you allow yourself to digest new information, it will be so much more meaningful and so much more applicable to your life. Read at a pace that is comfortable to you. Know how you learn and how you digest new information. If you need time to think, then stop reading and allow your mind to process what you have been reading and what you have been thinking.

This book may contain information that can help you discover more about yourself, who you are, what you believe, how you choose to live your life, and how you choose to view the world around you. Before continuing, ask yourself these questions:

Why did I purchase this book?

What do I hope to learn from this book? Do I hope to learn anything?

Am I prepared to read these pages with an open mind?

Even if I disagree with what JP said, can I still learn something?

Why do I ask you to answer these questions? Because I, myself, am a challenged reader and I have never asked myself these questions! If I had, I think I would have learned so much more from the books I chose to read! So I ask you to answer these questions in the hope that you will read with a much more open mind than I ever did!

Please enjoy this book. Open your mind and challenge yourself to learn new things. If you find one nugget of information that truly helps you in your journey of