Watching TV is usually something I do not find myself doing (I am still to tune the antenna after a couple of years here), but as I was waiting at the dental clinic the other day, I was browsing through my iPhone’s TV channels, and came upon this guy on one of those talk shows. His name is Bill and there he was telling his story about how he ended up being wrongly diagnosed as being HIV positive, and lived that way for over six years!

He went into great detail about the anguish, fear and pain he had been subjected to. For over six years he has lived in fear of dying from AIDS. Now the skeptic in me wants to know why he is on TV telling his story.

Is he doing it to help others, or is there another reason – such as the more publicity he gets, the larger the settlement offer he is likely to receive from the doctor’s malpractice insurance company? I’ll let you decide.

Now to be fair, let’s face facts. The fact is, the doctor’s did make a mistake and misdiagnosed him. The doctor’s mistakenly told him he had a medical condition, which at the time seemed like a death sentence. The doctors really messed up.

On the other hand, from my point of view, Bill has another serious life-threatening condition that needs immediate attention. And this condition is much worse than HIV.

 He has a serious case of “victimitis.”

He is living his life as a victim instead of someone who was given the greatest gift a human can ever receive – the opportunity to live a consciousness life.

By conscious I mean knowing that we must live each day as though it were our last day on earth. Now the fact that he may die 30, 50, or 80 years later than he thought, is just a bonus.

But the fact is, he was given the priceless opportunity to spend every day, living in the moment with conscious thought about the people he loves, what he can do to contribute to others while he is still on this planet, and the true meaning of his life. Everything he did on a daily basis could have been filtered through a much more discerning filter than most of us have – which is to stop focusing on the future and live and create our reality in the moment.

And there is no greater gift you can receive. But to receive it, you have to let go of the belief that you are a victim of your past. Obviously something Bill is not doing. Instead, he would rather tell his “story” and remain a victim.

Recently I was having a discussion with a friend of mine. During the conversation she told me about how she was the victim of terrible, horrific abuse when she was a child. In fact, this was not the first time she had mentioned this.

The advice I gave her was to never mention it to me ever again, or to anyone else for that matter unless she was ready to heal the situation and let it go.

But in the meantime, talking to anyone about her experiences just impresses it deeper into her subconscious mind. Since the subconscious can only focus in the present moment it thinks the abuse is happening again and again, each time she tells her “story”.

All this does is help her to hang on to her victim status. The problem is that living as a victim is an easy thing to do… I mean why would so many people, all over the world cling so desperately to situations which victimize them?

 Well, here’s a list that I came up with that I’d like to share with you today.

People willingly keep viewing themselves as victims:

1) They can tell themselves that any failure they face in the present is not their fault because of what happened in their past.

2) They can believe that people, circumstances and conditions outside of their lives are responsible for all bad things in their life.

3) They can get unending sympathy and attention from others when they tell their “story.”

4) They can use their ‘victim status’ to prevent them from getting emotionally close to others and facing rejection.

5) They can use their past experiences as justification for why they should no longer attempt to create what will make them happy in their life right now.

6) They can confirm their past programming that taught them that they are a “terrible person”, or would “never amount to anything,” or whatever other negative self belief they allowed to be instilled in themselves.

7) They can feel like a hero because they are the one of downtrodden people, fighting the forces of evil, against all the odds (as if…) 

They can feel spiritual, believing they are sacrificing their life on this planet so they will receive their true reward in the afterlife (how sad is that…)

9) They can just be basically unconscious, like most victims, and have no idea what kind of a destructive and bitter cycle they are on.

No matter which of these reasons – or more likely, combinations of reasons they have – the end result is still the same: They will continue to lead an empty, miserable life, existing day-to-day, with no real shot at happiness and fulfillment. And that is their true sickness.

To be healthy, happy and prosperous, you have to be willing to release your heroic journey against all odds, and just expect and accept you can create whatever you desire from this moment on.

Bill (the guy with the misdiagnosis) was given the greatest gift – the opportunity to live a consciousness life. He had an opportunity to break out from the unconscious herd and live a life really worth living, but instead he has decided to live his life as a victim.

Now if I seem hard on him, I plead “guilty as charged.” Somebody has to be. Because someone has to figuratively slap him – and you, and me – upside the head and make us understand that every moment is a new opportunity to recreate our lives.

If you have been holding on to your ‘victim status’ and believe you are stuck or cannot turn your life around, I have a solution for you.

If you are ready to stop living as victim and start living your life as a Creator, you are in for a treat of realization.

 All you have to do is to learn how to create your life by design instead of by default. If this is your time to step forward and claim your victory, then keep taking action and stop living as a victim, and be a Living Success instead!

Please take two minutes of your time, and confirm your Hero Status in the Comment box below.

To your continued Heroism!