By Jan Lambert

Growing up with few goals—my primary one being “to survive” and the secondary, but just as vital, “to keep anybody from taking anything away from me”—was the natural outcome of what we’ll charitably call a chaotic childhood. I was, in every classic sense, a product of The Dysfunctional Family.

But I didn’t realize just how limited my thinking had become until I read Leslie Householder’s book The Jackrabbit Factor. As I turned each page, it was like my mind was slowly exploding—first dismantling everything I thought I knew, then gently rebuilding something stronger, truer.

The scene that stayed with me most was when Richard visualizes his second rabbit. He sees it in detail: the white coat, the brownish-gray down its back, the long ears, the stillness of it—all so clearly in his mind. And when he actually sees that rabbit in real life, he knows it’s his. He knows because he’s already seen it. He’s already grateful for it. And just like he imagined, it sits there, calm and waiting, and lets him pick it up.

And in that moment—with Richard—I got it.

It wasn’t something I needed to test or practice until it maybe worked. It was like knowing that if I stood on train tracks with a train barreling toward me, I’d get hit. That certain.

That’s when I understood: my life had unfolded exactly how it had—every lack, every loss—because I was raised to expect lack and loss. And nothing in my life up to that point had challenged those expectations.

But now I knew what I had to do.
I had to be grateful.
I had to imagine.
I had to dream.

Grateful—because everything I’d lived through had shaped me into who I am today, with strengths and talents that I can now use to build something better.

Imagine—because I have to see things that don’t yet exist.

Dream—because I need to create a beautiful world filled with abundance and possibility.
Not just for me.
But for my son.
And for anyone else who needs to see that it can be done.

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•   To discover how to start choosing more effectively now, read The Jackrabbit Factor (FREE!)  
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