The other great advantage of this technology is that we can rewind. What did he just say? Rewind, please. Wow!

Wouldn't it be great if we could rewind real life. If we say something that we don't mean or that hurts someone or comes out very different than we intended, we could do a simple rewind.

We've lived to see technology begin to resemble what we thought would always be science fiction on Star Trek. I can even imagine a day when we can actually say, "Beam me up, Scotty!"

What I can't foresee is the ability to actually rewind as in one of my favorite movies - Groundhog Day. In this delightful movie, Bill Murray suddenly awoke day after day to relive groundhog day, improving his life as he did. What a wonderful concept.

Do we think others haven't noticed our flaws?
We are perhaps the only one who hasn't.

Is there any one of us who would not go back and erase something in our lives? If real life was a movie set, we could do one retake after another, rewinding until we got it right. But real life is not a movie set with a rewind capability. Does that mean we must live with what we do, what we say, what we think - forever?

The good news if that we can always change what we think, form a new paradigm, reexamine our thoughts that lead to actions that might be mistaken, misinformed. What if we are wrong about some very important beliefs?

How would our lives be different if we are wrong and finally see it? What would our future be like if we changed even one key paradigm?

It is so easy to see how an incorrect belief someone else holds has ruined his or her life. What do others see about us that we could/should change if only we were willing to see and understand? I think the ability - or perhaps just the courage - to self reflect is the least exercised but the most important gift we could give ourselves.

Why is that? Do we think others haven't noticed our flaws? We are perhaps the only one who hasn't. Our best friends might all have one thing in common. They overlook our flaws. Overlook.

I want to see myself clearly and improve. I want to do it gradually, eating that elephant one bite at a time. One step at a time, I want to see what others see. None of us can actually rewind, but all of us can reexamine, retool, realize our true potential.

Heady stuff. The real great adventure in life.

Jean Loxley-Barnard has been a writer all her life and studied both sociology and psychology at George Washington University where she earned a B.A. Her company, The Shopper, Inc., encompasses all the Loxley-Barnard family publications - The Shopper Magazines and Doctor to Doctor Magazine. She has been in the advertising, consulting and publishing business for 39 years.