Hiding your feelings and playing your cards close to the vest are necessary to succeed at poker.

Living your life, hopefully, should be very different.

Expressing your true feelings and being honest and open with your friends and those in your life you love are the traits that make your life rich and worth living. I have made the conscious decision, at my ripe young age of 68, to step out of my poker mode and share from my heart my life, my hopes, my dreams and my ideas in this article. I do ask for an exception to this when you meet me at the poker table.

Cigarettes cause cancer over a long period of time and many continue to smoke. Compulsions like overeating, drinking and drugs cause all sorts of fatal diseases. We also know somewhere within ourselves that we are controlled in various degrees by internal force that hurt us by causing stressful and painful feelings. We also are well aware, even though we don't usually think about it, that we, humankind, have always been killing ourselves as well as each other. We do this in the most painful and grotesque ways. This has been going on ever since Adam bit into the apple and created and stepped into his own world and gave up his naturally inherited world.

I have spent much of my life wanting 'TO FEEL BETTER'. I knew I was not totally free, but to a great extent a prisoner of my stressful feelings. These feelings sabotaged aspects of my poker game and my life. I tried to free myself and went about it mindlessly with all of the force and youthful energy I could muster. I did this every day in every way and on any path I could find. I asked for help and even visited a psychiatrist. He listened to me, was sympathetic, believed in me and shared his ideas and perceptions with me in an effort to help me. He was my port in a storm at that time and I thank him.

No one ever told me about my thought terrorists. Not my family, peers, teachers, doctors or media. When I read William Shakespeare's words 'Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,' I got the clue where to look, in myself. This put me on the path I now walk. It is my path to personal freedom from the hurtful memory's, ideas, thoughts and beliefs I was harboring that I now label thought terrorists.

Many of my efforts in the past were focused on avoiding the feelings that were caused by these thought terrorists. It was scary and painful to go there. I avoided many experiences that I passionately desired to engage in. Many of my efforts were counter productive. They created more thought terrorists and more stressful feelings. To avoid experiencing painful feelings I gave up many of my passionate desires and spent great efforts working towards becoming successful in terms of external accomplishments.

One of the feelings that these thought terrorists caused was resignation. Resignation was my father's main response to a difficult life and his resignation was passed on to me just as a contagious disease. He was a very kind and decent man who loved me. He was just unaware of how his resignation affected me. Resignation held me back from being all I could be, limited my ambitions and reduced my happiness. Many of my efforts to feel better made me feel worse.

The cycle continued and by the time I reached age 65 I had lived a limited and less fulfilling life than if I hadn't suffered from resignation. The knowledge of not living my life to the fullest is something that I regret now because it wasn't necessary.

I hope others can benefit from my roadmap and Ten Commitments so they don't also have to look back at their lives and have regrets for lost opportunities.

If you read my book and my previous articles linked to Poker Player Newspaper on my website, www. nolimitlife.net you will learn all about thought terrorists and how to notice and let go of them. Heaven on earth for me now is experiencing personal freedom. When I let go of a thought terrorist I free myself from experiencing hurtful and stressful feelings.

I continually ask for and pray for my intentions to help me notice and let go of any hurtful memories, ideas, thoughts or beliefs I am holding onto. Thought terrorists will only appear and lose their cover when I embrace the stressful feelings that they cause. When I do this the thought terrorist that causes stressful feelings appears. When I identify it, I feel like I hit the lottery because now I know how to let go of it. Noticing and letting go of thought terrorists is the most constructive activity I can engage in because when I let go of one, the stressful feeling it causes goes away forever. This baggage that we all carry to some degree, is the force that keeps us from feeling better. This is the baggage that also prevents us from maintaining focus. It can only be let go of one thought at a time. Each one I let go of frees me to reach further, jump higher and maintain my focus in all life activities. Maintaining focus is the essential KEY to playing better poker.

This is where my Ten Commitments comes into play. Just like a musical instrument allows you to play music, my Ten Commitments are my tool that helps me notice and let go of thought terrorists. Another analogy might be a vacuum cleaner because the Ten Commitments are a cleaning or purifying tool.

I have memorized them and repeat them as a mantra whenever I experience stress or just want to feel better. I keep them at the forefront of my mind for as long as I can. It takes commitment to memorize them and make them a permanent mindset. I rely on them all the time now. This is the most important thing I can do for myself, and everyone I come in contact with.

The rewards are immediate and life fulfilling. I look forward to each new day, have more energy and have a better outlook than the day before. I now have a tool that helps me diminish the baggage I carry such as doubts and fears.

I don't need to search anymore because all that I am and all that I am not is ok with me now. I know who I am, where I am going, what is in my way, how to identify it, and what to do about it. I am more calm, clear, confident, and at peace than at any other time in my life. My Ten Commitments are my Rod and my Staff and they comfort me and will be with me all the rest of my days. I am where I am supposed to be. Are you?

Future articles will hopefully include reader's Responses, Questions, Requests, Comments and Experiences: charlieshoten@ msn.com

Read 'No-Limit Life': www.nolimitlife.net (Best Book Award: USA Book News 2005) Category: Psychology/Mental Health