Bishop T D Jakes, founder of TDJ Enterprises, says that watching a comedy every night before going to sleep detoxes his mind and makes him go to sleep laughing.
In an article in success.com, he shares how to harness the power within you.
In this 2014 book, Jakes calls instinct 'the inner wisdom of who we really are and what we were made to do.' He says a fundamental instinct draws us to our divine purpose.
He says that when we feel misaligned without passion of rhythm we tend to follow the dreams of others instead of our own.
'Most people are manipulated by the needs of others, the paycheck that supports them and the demands that dominate them,' he writes in Instinct
The feelings of disconnect, despair and foreboding that result from living outside our divine purpose make us what Jakes calls 'a lightbulb without a lamp.'
He says that whatever we do must be the outflowing of who we are and you do not have to work hard to manufacture it.
Jakes says that we have to beat the routine, to make things happen and spend time around with people.
'People become creatures of habit so easily. We get up, we go to work, we come home, we shop at the same grocery store, we drive on the same street. Get out of the box and see what else is out there that would impassion you and inspire you. Stop hanging with the same people. Get in another circle. Risk feeling awkward. Get out of your comfort zone. Get in a room full of people where you don’t know what is appropriate to say. If you always walk with people who look like you and dress like you and think like you and vote like you, you’re going to die of boredom. All of creation exists through cross-pollination, and that’s when different things come together to be fruitful,' he says.
We need to tap the energy of others in order to tap our own and be creative.
Jakes tells the story of how Nike started with two guys who loved to run and who each had $500. 'They looked at a waffle iron and a pair of tennis shoes and said if I take the waffle iron and put it on the tennis shoe, I think it would make the tennis shoe faster,' he says. 'That and $1,000 started Nike.'
Jakes suggests to find somebody who is doing what we want to do - but on a higher level. Other we will be surrounded by people who subtract from us rather than those who add to our vision, he suggests.
The dichotomy in Jakes’ message is that although we need other people, we mustn’t set out to imitate their actions or copy their journeys. The idea is to be inspired to take our own paths.
'You can’t use other people’s opinion as accomplice for your purpose, I can tell you that for sure,' Jakes says.
He says that when we make choices based on our instinct—especially when that choice goes against the advice of others—there will always be a time of trial.
'You can’t use the heartbeat of others to tell you that you’re alive. People who feel like they need that level of support before they launch will never launch. You have to find the faith within yourself to believe in your dream and invest in your dream,' he says.
