Awaken: Unlocking Your Identity, Potential & Trust in

God is a personal guide to help you ful�ll your life

mission. You will learn who you really are, what gifts

and talents you have, and that you have something

unique and valuable to o�er the world.

You will work through life changing exercises that

will make you look inside yourself and bring out the

unique abilities you have. You will learn 6 key princi-

ples that will enhance your life, and move you on to

the path of achieving your goals and mission in life.

Learn how your thoughts dictate your outcomes

and how to change them. Discover how faith

bridges the gap between our spiritual world and

our phsyical world. As a child of God you are

destined to do great things, and you can trust Him

as He helps you share your light with others.

Aaron Osman is a Fitness and Personal Development Consultant, Illustrator, Teacher of Religion, and the creator of The Book of Mormon for Toddlers Book and Animated Series.

Aaron loves to help people succeed in life by teaching individuals about themselves, and motivating them to ful�ll their potential.

Visit the o�cial website of Aaron Osman for more information.www.aaronosman.com

© 2011 Aaron N. Osman.

All Rights Reserved.

Visit the author’s website: www.aaronosman.com

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing

or via email from the author. The views and insights herein are the responsibility of the author and

are not the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or any other person

quoted in this book. The author takes no personal responsibility for the choices the reader makes

in applying the principles contained in this book. The reader is responsible for the choices made

and outcomes received.

Photo of author: © Joshua Watene. www.soulnharmony.com

Cover image: © Jostein Hauge | www.dreamstime.com

ISBN-13: 978-1456400149

ISBN-10: 1456400142

Printed in the United States of America.

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my gratitude to my Father in Heaven for this opportu-

nity to share my gifts and talents, and for helping me throughout my

life. I wish to thank my wife Natasha for her input and encouragement

during the creation of this book. A big thank you goes to Joshua and

Noema Watene, Richard and Megan Gubb, Dale Anderson, and Mike

Saure for their valuable feedback.

Sincerely,

Aaron Osman.

Contents

Work Out Your Own Salvation ................................... 9

You’re Responsible ......................................................... 12

The Nature of Our Heavenly Father ......................... 19

Who Am I? ......................................................................... 30

Thoughts ........................................................................... 56

The Mind ............................................................................ 64

Habits .................................................................................. 76

Faith in God ...................................................................... 92

The Atonement ............................................................... 119

Gratitude ........................................................................... 128

With God All Things Are Possible .............................. 137

About Author ................................................................... 147

Bibliography ..................................................................... 149

9

Work Out Your Own Salvation

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other

time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that

we seek.” — President Barack Obama1

I want to express my appreciation to you for reading Awaken. As you

read you will discover just how special you are. You will learn what

gifts and talents you have and that you have a mission to perform here

on earth. You will know how powerful your mind is in fulfilling your

potential, and how you can change negative thoughts into positive

successful habits. You will learn many more principles that will change

your life!

This book isn’t a “how-to” book. It is not a complete system, or a book

that will reveal everything to you. This book will enable you to study

these principles and learn for yourself. This book will give you the op-

portunity to think, ponder and apply in your everyday life. Working

out how to apply these principles will differ for everyone. You will ap-

preciate it more when you have learned things through your own ef-

forts. The real learning is up to you. If you are willing, you will learn

a great deal from this book, but you must take responsibility for your

10

own learning and application and not leave it in the hands of others

to do it for you.

My desire to write this book came after years of study and application,

and I wanted to leave what I’ve learnt to my children. While going

through a very hard time, I asked within myself “is not life better than

what I am experiencing?” I pleaded with God to help me find a better

way of living life, not to live by struggling, or to be blown around by

the winds of life.

Bit-by-bit, I started to see things differently, I learnt new lessons to ap-

ply, and identified opportunities that helped me increase my success

in life. The freedom and joy I felt during this time of growth gave me a

desire to share with everyone what I had been learning. I learned that

when one is ready, one will receive, and if you are in possession of this

book, you are ready to receive.

One of the greatest lessons you will learn is about your identity, and

your connection with God. When you realize just how special you are,

and that you have the potential to do many great things with a lov-

ing Father in Heaven by your side. As you trust Him, your fears began

to be replaced with faith. You will start to think big, believe big, and

achieve big.

11

To help you maximize your learning and understanding of the prin-

ciples contained in this book, you will find room for notes on each side

of the page. There will be times when you will receive an impression

to do certain things or to learn more on a particular subject.

It is very important that you record the thoughts and feelings you re-

ceive and to act on them. This is personal guidance for you, and it will

help you in achieving your goals and potential.

I am extremely grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who has given me

this opportunity to share these words. I am grateful that He has al-

lowed you to read them. And I will be forever grateful if these words

change your life for the better. My desire is to teach what I know is

true, and to help individuals understand how special they are, and to

have them put God first in their journey of maximizing their potential.

I have written this book with love, and hope that it is a treasure for

years to come.

Notes

12

You’re Responsible

“The price of greatness is responsibility.”

— Sir Winston Churchill1

The first major key in maximizing your poten-

tial is to take 100% responsibility for your life.

You are responsible for the results, and the

outcomes that you get in your life. It isn’t the

Government’s fault, your school’s fault, your

neighborhood’s fault, your personal circum-

stances, or even God’s fault. You put yourself

in the position that you are in today. If you

are in a position you don’t want to be in, it is

from the result of choices you have made in

the past.

Let’s look at a formula that personal develop-

ment coaches teach:

Situation + Choice = Result.

To help illustrate this formula, I recall a posi-

tive experience I had towards the end of my

Notes

13

missionary service for the Church as a young

man. I had just arrived in Rockhampton

in Queensland, Australia, and I was going

through our area book, looking at people

who were previously taught by the mission-

aries. One person stood out to me, and I felt

a strong impression to visit Jenny* [Situation]

and I made the [Choice] to follow that impres-

sion, and asked my companion to take me to

visit Jenny.

I’d never met her and my only knowledge of

her was what the Elders had recorded in the

area book. When we knocked on the door of

that old house, she opened the door and was

speechless for a minute. It was a long minute,

and I wondered if we had done something

wrong. I introduced my companion and my-

self, and told her why we were there.

With a look of disbelief she invited us inside.

As my companion and I looked at each other,

we went inside and spoke with her and her

* I have replaced the actual names with fake names in this chapter.

Notes

14

husband. She then related to us why she was

in such shock. Two days prior to our arrival,

she was being taught by teachers of another

religion and they had given her an ultima-

tum to join their faith or be cut off from their

visits. She threw them out, rejecting such a

forceful threat. While upset, she prayed and

asked God to send her His true church and to

help her know it. Then we appeared. Over a

couple of months, we taught her the Gospel

and scheduled a date for her baptism [Result]

just before I was to return home from my mis-

sionary service.

We encounter many opportunities and situ-

ations everyday, and we create our potential

outcome by the choices we make.

Now you may say, “I didn’t bring upon me that

flood or the loss of my job, or I didn’t choose

the upbringing I had”. You’re right, there are

situations that are beyond our control, but

you can choose how you will respond to that

situation, which will result in the outcome

you want, or alternatively the outcome you

don’t want.

Notes

15

“I have learned that I really do have control to

a great degree over my circumstances. If I don’t

like them, I’ve found there are certain things I

can do to change them. If I want to move to

higher ground, if I want to have more positive

experiences, I must think about life in positive

terms, not dwell on the negative.”

— Elder M. Russell Ballard2

I’m involved with youth a lot, and I love work-

ing with young men and women. Recently,

I asked some young women during an inter-

view how they felt about school. Jane she

enjoyed it, while Joan said, “It’s boring”. Well,

who determines whether school is boring or

not? It’s the person whose mouth uttered

those words.

When Joan said school is boring she expect-

ed the school to provide the “excitement” for

learning, but it is her responsibility to bring

that excitement to school. If school were bor-

ing, then everyone who ever attended school

would say that school is boring. It is ourselves

that determine what things are exciting, wor-

Notes

16

thy and valuable, and what is not. We choose

our response, and the outcome follows. I

learnt as a young man when a situation pres-

ents itself, you have the choice to either ACT

or REACT.

To act allows us to be in control of our respons-

es and potential outcomes. In this response

mode, we do not let outside influences deter-

mine our actions or happiness. To react to a

situation, we choose to give our power to an

outside influence and we therefore become

“acted upon”.

“In our society today I see so many people who

blame others for their failures. I have observed

that those who accept personal responsibility

for their actions are more successful than those

who blame their shortcomings and lack of

accomplishments on someone else.”

— President James E. Faust3

You choose what comes into your life, you

choose how obedient you want to be, how

successful in life you will become, and what

Notes

17

priorities are important. You determine who

you are to yourself and to others. If you wish

to move forward in life, and to move further

into this book, you must be extremely honest

with yourself and declare that you are going

to take full responsibility for the outcome of

your life.

Do you want to change the outcomes you

are experiencing in life now? Do you feel the

desire to take control of your life, rather than

being tossed around in waves of uncertainty?

Are you willing to exercise your gift of choice

and choose how you want your life to be?

If you are willing to do that, I invite you to

make a promise to yourself, and sign it. It’s

vital that you make the connection between

your mind and the paper as you sign your

name, to take 100% responsibility for the

decisions you make for the rest of your life. I

promise you that your life can change right

now—if you choose.

Congratulations! You should feel excited!

The hardest part is over.

Now let’s get into it…

100% ResponsibilityCERTIFICATE

I,

will take 100% responsibility for my choices

and outcomes in my life.

Signed:

Date:

About Author

Aaron Osman is a Teacher of Religion and

Personal Development, Fitness Consultant,

and the creator of The Book of Mormon for

Toddlers Book and Animated Series.

Aaron loves to help people succeed in life

by teaching individuals about themselves,

and motivating them to fulfill their poten-

tial. Aaron’s own personal life changed

from the study and application of success

principles. With years of training and ex-

perience, Aaron has devoted his life to

studying and teaching truth, that devotion

is found when he presents his lessons.

Aaron enjoy fitness and martial arts, es-

pecially the Brazilian martial art Capoeira.

He believes a healthy lifestyle is a treasure

many people need to hold on to.

“Many of the successes in life come from

having a healthy body, a healthy mind, and

a healthy spirit. If one fail, all fail.”

Aaron, his wife Natasha and 3 children re-

side in Ngaruawahia, New Zealand. Aar-

on’s family are members of The Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Visit Aaron’s Official Website.www.aaronosman.com

Join Aaron on:

www.facebook.com/Aaron.N.Osman

@Aaron_Osman

www.youtube.com/AaronNOsman