The United States of America will select it's next President in two days. Despite the fact that I am not voting for him, it would be a wonder of all wonders if Obama does not win the election.
And there is only one reason why.
Because he is getting most all of the press. Good or bad. Even Fox News channel talks more about Obama than about McCain, much of it negative.
But it does not matter, because even with the negative, the energy still goes to Obama. I have even heard them say on Fox that it is his election to win or lose. They follow by saying that people are going to the polls to either vote for Obama or not vote for Obama.
Well they left me out of that completely, because I went to the polls to vote for McCain.
There are many who might think this press coverage is not fair; but there are some really interesting dynamics in this election.
The "Republican" Candidate is about as far left as you can go and still be allowed in the convention.
The "Democratic" Candidate is trying to convince everyone that he will lower your taxes if you make less than $200,000.00 a year as an individual or $250,000.00 a year as a couple (if I understand his plan correctly). When was the last time you heard a democratic candidate promising to lower taxes for anyone? Better question . . . Can anyone name a democratic president that actually did lower taxes while in office? . . . . . . . I did not think so.
So the democratic candidate talks like a moderate republican, and the republican candidate is considered too democratic by most conservatives.
Makes it an intersting decision to vote for, and for those who are not voting on strictly idealogical grounds, I would have to believe that the increased energy going in his direction will point most of them to Obama.
But we will know for sure by late Tuesday night; hopefully (fingers crossed).
OK, so now let's move forward to after the election. I believe the country is still pretty evenly divided 50 % each conservative and liberal. No matter who wins, a large block of people are going to be disappointed. Will your quality of life go down, if the *other* guy wins?
Of course we know that this would be about as smart as basing your well being on you favorite sports team doing well. When you base your own well being in the hands of anyone or anything other than yourself (and your God), you are on the undeviating road to oblivion.
You see, despite what the press may tell you, it matters very little who is in any of the three branches of government. I believe in voting your conscience for honest folks who will do their best to serve their country; but once you have done that (and watched the results), move on.
As the Reverend Beckwith has said: "It does not matter who is in the White House! Who is in your house ???"
Meaning WHO ARE YOU. . . .
And if you do not have a clear answer to that question in your mind right now, then I suggest you have some work to do.
And do not let the press distract you. You do not want them defining what your would is like.
"Bhudda beheld a world of stainless beauty and perfect peace, and he entered into it" (As A Man Thinketh -- James Allen).
Good thing he was not listening to the press.
Take control of your own world view, so that you can enter into it.
Joseph
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Can You *Really* Control What Happens to You?
This question is at the heart of all the material presented in The Secret. The thought that we could come to the point where we could control everything that happens to us is totally new and unique for most of us. Certainly to have any chance of this, we would have to be a master of the concepts presented in the movie, and a master of the Law of Attraction.
If we *were* a master of these concepts, could we do it?
Not completely.
And I will explain why.
To understand my explanation, I must share with you a couple of concepts that are important for you to understand. Prior to our living here on Earth, we lived! Not only did we live, but we were awesome! It had to do with our parentage in that realm.
As we left that realm and came here, there were two distinct things that happened to us:
1. A "veil of forgetfulness" was drawn that made it so that we had no memory of our previous existence or how cool we were. And we do not remember it at all.
2. The link between our conscious mind (the place of decision) and our sub-conscious mind (the place of power) was abstracted. As a result, our decisions are not immediately followed by the power to do it.
Especially with number 2 above, you might see how this would make things confusing. One other point to understand: The power of your attraction is the power of your sub-conscious mind.
And you cannot directly control it.
So here is why everyone is confused (if they are) about the concepts in the movie, because they feel that perhaps the attraction is done in the conscious mind. So the child that contracts cancer was not consciously thinking about doing so (I will guess), but who knows what was happening in the sub-conscious mind? The answer is no one, perhaps not even the child themself.
So back to my original point, the only possibility to fully control everything that happened to you would depend on you having mastery and a clear connection between the conscious and the sub-conscious minds.
And I do not know anyone who has that.
People can tell you why they attracted something to them that has already happened.
No one can tell you exactly what they will attract to themself tomorrow.
So if you are beating yourself up because you think that you should be able to do that . . . .
Please stop.
I invite comment on the next section here, because it is somewhat an opinion on my part as to the relationship between the conscious and the sub-conscious mind.
I believe that there is a "valve" between the two that opens every once in a while.
Under normal circumstances, your sub-conscious mind is running all sorts of programs that are keeping you alive and which are attracting certain things to you. Every once in a while, the valve opens and the sub-conscious mind will rewrite some of those programs that are running based on information it reads out of the conscious mind.
But do you know when that will happen, so that you can make sure you have only positive thoughts at that moment?
You do not, generally.
Or can you just keep positive thoughts 100% of the time so it does not matter when it happens?
Do not even try it. Will not work. NO ONE has positive thoughts 100% of the time.
So what is a better option? You can try any of the following that might work for you.
1. Take a walk in nature. As you relax (keyword) on that walk, make sure you are thinking of all the things that you want and that are positive. If the valve opens then your programs will improve, as will what you attract.
2. Do some meditation. Get into a relaxed state (there is that word again), and be thinking or visualizing along the lines of what you are wanting to create. If the valve opens while you are doing this, then you will improve your programs.
3. Play a musical instrument, or listen to some uplifting music. As you are doing so, be thinking in terms of what you want to attract. Perhaps you can open the valve that way.
4. Try Praying and being in the spirit of gratitude during prayer. If the valve opens while you are doing that you will certainly attracts many more things to be grateful for.
5. Otherwise, just relax a little bit. Stress is the preventer of everything that you are trying to do, and it is also the base cause of almost all diseases.
I cannot tell you which one (or if any of these) will work for you. I am not even set on which ones of those are the best for me, but I am working on learning that part.
But if you have an open mind towards such things, I invite you to try.
And let me know how it goes? Post a comment?
Joseph
If we *were* a master of these concepts, could we do it?
Not completely.
And I will explain why.
To understand my explanation, I must share with you a couple of concepts that are important for you to understand. Prior to our living here on Earth, we lived! Not only did we live, but we were awesome! It had to do with our parentage in that realm.
As we left that realm and came here, there were two distinct things that happened to us:
1. A "veil of forgetfulness" was drawn that made it so that we had no memory of our previous existence or how cool we were. And we do not remember it at all.
2. The link between our conscious mind (the place of decision) and our sub-conscious mind (the place of power) was abstracted. As a result, our decisions are not immediately followed by the power to do it.
Especially with number 2 above, you might see how this would make things confusing. One other point to understand: The power of your attraction is the power of your sub-conscious mind.
And you cannot directly control it.
So here is why everyone is confused (if they are) about the concepts in the movie, because they feel that perhaps the attraction is done in the conscious mind. So the child that contracts cancer was not consciously thinking about doing so (I will guess), but who knows what was happening in the sub-conscious mind? The answer is no one, perhaps not even the child themself.
So back to my original point, the only possibility to fully control everything that happened to you would depend on you having mastery and a clear connection between the conscious and the sub-conscious minds.
And I do not know anyone who has that.
People can tell you why they attracted something to them that has already happened.
No one can tell you exactly what they will attract to themself tomorrow.
So if you are beating yourself up because you think that you should be able to do that . . . .
Please stop.
I invite comment on the next section here, because it is somewhat an opinion on my part as to the relationship between the conscious and the sub-conscious mind.
I believe that there is a "valve" between the two that opens every once in a while.
Under normal circumstances, your sub-conscious mind is running all sorts of programs that are keeping you alive and which are attracting certain things to you. Every once in a while, the valve opens and the sub-conscious mind will rewrite some of those programs that are running based on information it reads out of the conscious mind.
But do you know when that will happen, so that you can make sure you have only positive thoughts at that moment?
You do not, generally.
Or can you just keep positive thoughts 100% of the time so it does not matter when it happens?
Do not even try it. Will not work. NO ONE has positive thoughts 100% of the time.
So what is a better option? You can try any of the following that might work for you.
1. Take a walk in nature. As you relax (keyword) on that walk, make sure you are thinking of all the things that you want and that are positive. If the valve opens then your programs will improve, as will what you attract.
2. Do some meditation. Get into a relaxed state (there is that word again), and be thinking or visualizing along the lines of what you are wanting to create. If the valve opens while you are doing this, then you will improve your programs.
3. Play a musical instrument, or listen to some uplifting music. As you are doing so, be thinking in terms of what you want to attract. Perhaps you can open the valve that way.
4. Try Praying and being in the spirit of gratitude during prayer. If the valve opens while you are doing that you will certainly attracts many more things to be grateful for.
5. Otherwise, just relax a little bit. Stress is the preventer of everything that you are trying to do, and it is also the base cause of almost all diseases.
I cannot tell you which one (or if any of these) will work for you. I am not even set on which ones of those are the best for me, but I am working on learning that part.
But if you have an open mind towards such things, I invite you to try.
And let me know how it goes? Post a comment?
Joseph
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Just Plain Water --- Or the Elixir of Life ??
Here is a variation of something that they are teaching in the movie The Secret. Picture a glass of water sitting on a table.
The experts tell us that some 90% of Americans are in some stage of dehydration because they do not drink enough water. In fact, if Americans would drink just 5 8 oz glasses of water a day, the occurrances of several diseases would decrease by double digits.
So why is it so hard for us to drink water? We know that we should.
Could it be that it is related to how we look at it? Glass of water on the table: Boring! We need Propel or Life Water or Vitamin Water or the scourge of the American population, the diet soft drink. (Read and Google the ingredients some time).
Or maybe it is because it is too easily accessible. You can turn on your fawcett, and you can drink the water without worry in many parts of the world. It is essentially free, so maybe we think that means that it is not worth anything. (I know there is a water bill, but it does not rise very big from us drinking water, mostly from showers, baths, toilets and lawn watering).
If you had been stuck in the desert for a couple of days without water, you would have a completely different view on what that glass of water is, namely life itself. We would really appreciate it then.
But can we learn to appreciate it for what it is without The Universe having to throw us into the desert first? If we could, then there would be no purpose for The Universe to throw us into the desert. Like the mobility I describe in my last post, can we appreciate something without it being taken us away from us first? If we could, we would be doing so much better appreciating our world.
So back to the glass of water on the table . . .
Is it the "plain old glass of water that does not interest me" ??
Or is it "The Elixir of Life, Health and Hydration".
You get to decide which one it is.
And if you decide it is the second one, I do not think you would have any delay in drinking it.
And being healthier as a result.
So decide already.
Joseph
The experts tell us that some 90% of Americans are in some stage of dehydration because they do not drink enough water. In fact, if Americans would drink just 5 8 oz glasses of water a day, the occurrances of several diseases would decrease by double digits.
So why is it so hard for us to drink water? We know that we should.
Could it be that it is related to how we look at it? Glass of water on the table: Boring! We need Propel or Life Water or Vitamin Water or the scourge of the American population, the diet soft drink. (Read and Google the ingredients some time).
Or maybe it is because it is too easily accessible. You can turn on your fawcett, and you can drink the water without worry in many parts of the world. It is essentially free, so maybe we think that means that it is not worth anything. (I know there is a water bill, but it does not rise very big from us drinking water, mostly from showers, baths, toilets and lawn watering).
If you had been stuck in the desert for a couple of days without water, you would have a completely different view on what that glass of water is, namely life itself. We would really appreciate it then.
But can we learn to appreciate it for what it is without The Universe having to throw us into the desert first? If we could, then there would be no purpose for The Universe to throw us into the desert. Like the mobility I describe in my last post, can we appreciate something without it being taken us away from us first? If we could, we would be doing so much better appreciating our world.
So back to the glass of water on the table . . .
Is it the "plain old glass of water that does not interest me" ??
Or is it "The Elixir of Life, Health and Hydration".
You get to decide which one it is.
And if you decide it is the second one, I do not think you would have any delay in drinking it.
And being healthier as a result.
So decide already.
Joseph
Monday, June 30, 2008
Mobility for Granted
I had a unique experience about two weeks ago while playing a game of volleyball. I like to play volleyball when I can. Even though I am over 40 and over 250, I thought nothing of jumping up for blocks or spikes, and I have been doing it for several years. I was not even wearing high top shoes, and I do have some.
But this time was different.
Looking back, I am not even sure now why I was jumping on this play, because I was the setter, and I was going for the set, and you do not jump for that. I suppose that because I was jumping for no reason at all, my conscious and subconscious minds did not do their job in getting my feet and ankles strait for the landing. As a result, I rolled my left foot inward, and I heard the crack as a bone broke. They call it a dancer's fracture.
And just in that split second, before I could even consciously realize what had happened, my mobility that I had enjoyed for 40 years was suddenly taken away. Strangely, it did not hurt that much, but I could put no weight at all on that foot.
And so the next day I found myself on crutches, which require a lot more coordination to use then people who have not used them think. The most annoying part is that I was unable to carry anything at all, because just moving required my one good foot and both hands. Life is funny when you have to sit and stratagize about how to get a water bottle to your bedroom from your kitchen.
And thus I found myself taking my mobility for granted. I had been doing it for 40 years. Taking it for granted means not taking the time to appreciate it; to feel the appreciation that I was able to move and do according to my will.
And so I wonder . . .
Did I attract this experience to myself? Of course.
Was that because the Universe was reminding me that I was unappreciative? Maybe. What do you think?
Here is the real question. If I had been appreciative, and had not for so long taken my mobility for granted, would the universe need to send me this kind of a reminder? I think not.
There are several who would say that it was just "dumb luck", or was a totally random occurrance which I was statistically bound to, or was just what happens when a 40+ tries to play volleyball like they are 21 or something. Yeah maybe.
But I do not think so. Everything happens for a reason.
And I can appreciate the experience that it has been. I had never before in 40+ years broken any bone. I had also not had any surgery since I was two, and I do not remember that one at all. I gained a new appreciation for my mobility, and I had the experience of going through the surgery that was required to put the bone fragment back where it was supposed to be and screw it in there. Before I went out, I remember being wheeled into the OR and having the EKG stickers being stuck to me; and then I remember suddenly waking up in the recovery room and being sent home. I noticed that I had bit my own tongue during the time I was out. I can be especially thankful for having medical insurance, as the total bill for this bad jump, including the surgery, is $4000.00+ before insurance.
And then, after the surgery, I had a splint on the foot and could put no weight on it. This was scheduled for a whole week; but I was fortunate that the appointment to have it removed was moved up three days and I was able to get out of the splint, back into the big black boot, and then lose the crutches.
Now that I have done that, the hard part is over, only the removal of stiches and the 7-8 week healing (boot) period remains, and it will be better every single day then it was the previous day.
And no permanent damage was done, and another result is that I will be much more careful playing volleyball, which will be a good thing.
Yes, I believe that everything happens for a reason, and there was a reason for this. Even if I never know exactly what it was (it could be different than anything I mentioned), I am confident that there was a reason for it.
And I am good with that.
Joseph
But this time was different.
Looking back, I am not even sure now why I was jumping on this play, because I was the setter, and I was going for the set, and you do not jump for that. I suppose that because I was jumping for no reason at all, my conscious and subconscious minds did not do their job in getting my feet and ankles strait for the landing. As a result, I rolled my left foot inward, and I heard the crack as a bone broke. They call it a dancer's fracture.
And just in that split second, before I could even consciously realize what had happened, my mobility that I had enjoyed for 40 years was suddenly taken away. Strangely, it did not hurt that much, but I could put no weight at all on that foot.
And so the next day I found myself on crutches, which require a lot more coordination to use then people who have not used them think. The most annoying part is that I was unable to carry anything at all, because just moving required my one good foot and both hands. Life is funny when you have to sit and stratagize about how to get a water bottle to your bedroom from your kitchen.
And thus I found myself taking my mobility for granted. I had been doing it for 40 years. Taking it for granted means not taking the time to appreciate it; to feel the appreciation that I was able to move and do according to my will.
And so I wonder . . .
Did I attract this experience to myself? Of course.
Was that because the Universe was reminding me that I was unappreciative? Maybe. What do you think?
Here is the real question. If I had been appreciative, and had not for so long taken my mobility for granted, would the universe need to send me this kind of a reminder? I think not.
There are several who would say that it was just "dumb luck", or was a totally random occurrance which I was statistically bound to, or was just what happens when a 40+ tries to play volleyball like they are 21 or something. Yeah maybe.
But I do not think so. Everything happens for a reason.
And I can appreciate the experience that it has been. I had never before in 40+ years broken any bone. I had also not had any surgery since I was two, and I do not remember that one at all. I gained a new appreciation for my mobility, and I had the experience of going through the surgery that was required to put the bone fragment back where it was supposed to be and screw it in there. Before I went out, I remember being wheeled into the OR and having the EKG stickers being stuck to me; and then I remember suddenly waking up in the recovery room and being sent home. I noticed that I had bit my own tongue during the time I was out. I can be especially thankful for having medical insurance, as the total bill for this bad jump, including the surgery, is $4000.00+ before insurance.
And then, after the surgery, I had a splint on the foot and could put no weight on it. This was scheduled for a whole week; but I was fortunate that the appointment to have it removed was moved up three days and I was able to get out of the splint, back into the big black boot, and then lose the crutches.
Now that I have done that, the hard part is over, only the removal of stiches and the 7-8 week healing (boot) period remains, and it will be better every single day then it was the previous day.
And no permanent damage was done, and another result is that I will be much more careful playing volleyball, which will be a good thing.
Yes, I believe that everything happens for a reason, and there was a reason for this. Even if I never know exactly what it was (it could be different than anything I mentioned), I am confident that there was a reason for it.
And I am good with that.
Joseph
Sunday, May 18, 2008
From Whence Cometh Adversity? Again?
This blog is generally about topics covered in The Secret. While the word "adversity" is not used in the book or movie, I believe that the movie is trying to tell us that we have more control over adversity in our lives than we may think. I want to investigate that thought in this posting.
So adversity (or you could call it things that we do not want), can seem to come at us from all directions; but as I have pondered this, I now believe that these directions can be cataloged.
Source Number One: Our own sins and mistakes.
This is the classic source for most all of us. When we sin, there are consequences in so doing. Those consequences can come to us in the form of adversity. Our mistakes can cause us further adversity. The good news here is that at least on the sin part, we are really in full control. We can decide not to sin. While no one of us is perfect, the tears and anguish as a result of consequences of sin can be greatly mitigated by some proactive action on our part. For instance, we can think of a situation we could find ourself in one day, and make the decision now what we would do. Having decided it, it makes it much easier to actually do that later.
Adversity as a result of mistakes can come from many sources. We can mitigate many of these as well. As an example, we can be careful and defensive drivers. We can keep a safety mindset. We can plan ahead for some things and think them through before actually doing them. The good news here is that we can greatly minimize the effects of mistakes with some small effort on our part.
What we should never do, however, is to allow a fear of mistakes to stop us from taking positive actions, such as starting a new business. WE have to make those mistakes in order to believe and learn. If we start the business as a side thing to our primary income source, we can afford to make some mistakes without causing undue financial hardship.
Source Number Two: When we forget the Lord
Am I saying that adversity can come to us because we do not remember the Lord? Consider the following words from an ancient American prophet:
Yea, and we may see at the very time when He (The Lord) doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of His people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One -- yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.
And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten His people with many afflictions, yea, except He doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember Him.
And you know that these words are true, despite the fact that we would really like to think that we are better than that. Here is the real question: Can we continue to remember the Lord in our prosperity? Above all other things that happen, this seems to be the greatest test of modern times for some people. Of course there are others who will not even call upon the Lord in their poverty.
Source Number Three: Our own power of attraction
The message of The Secret is all about this one; but it is not such a popular thought because we always want to blame someone else for adversity that comes our way. There are very few of us who can say to themselves in that situation: NICE Creation!
Men attract that which they love, and also that which they fear (James Allen: As A Man Thinketh). This tends to make life really interesting as what we love and what we fear keep getting drawn to us.
Can we do something about it? You bet. Dump the False Evidence Appearing Real (FEAR).
"Thoughts of fear have been known to kill a man as speedily as a bullet; and they are continually killing thousands just as surely though less rapidly. Those who live in fear of disease are the ones who get it; anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body and leaves it open to the entrance of disease."
How do we get rid of fear in our minds? The same way we get rid of any other thought that we do not want ---- Replace it with something better! You have 17 seconds to do so.
While no one is generally worried about the things that they love being attracted to them, we should pay some attention. What do we love? If we love something that is a sin, then we are hard-wiring a disconnect. We will continually attract the adversity of that sin into our lives.
Mythical Source Number Four: Someone, God, or The Universe is out to get you.
Utter falsehood.
But I know that few will truly believe those words. Worlds without end, they are true. Any affliction in your life is not as a result of this, but of items 1-3 or 4-5 instead. If you take a moment to think about it, you will see.
Source Number Four: Blocked Blessings
Stay with me on this one. The Universe is a place of order, and blessings come to us as a result of our doing things in the service of others. These blessings are coming from "on high" whether that means "God" or "The Universe" to you does not matter because the end effect is the same.
We know through statistics that those who are able to serve others are happier. Married folks are generally happier than single ones. Those who are involved in churches or service organizations are happier than those who are not. Please understand that we cannot stop the resultant blessings from coming our way because of these activities. Why would we even try to stop them?
Because we think our life is GOOD ENOUGH.
And so with those thoughts, we attempt to block new blessings, because we do not perceive the need for them.
And yet we cannot block them. They build up over time, and failing to find a way in through normal channels; they will use a different transport mechanism, and we have a name for it.
WE call it an Affliction.
Yes, you heard that right. And it is easy to tell if you got this one. If you were more blessed after the affliction than you were before it, then you got an affliction that was transporting your new blessing(s).
Can we stop this type of adversity from coming our way?
Sure thing.
But it means being open minded and never thinking that God or the Universe is done with us. Always there are new blessings coming our way. Let us be receiving. The greatest human tragedy of all could be when we come to understand that adversity we caused ourselves by being closed to new blessings.
Once other small thing to remember: New Blessings = Change. Embrace it, do not fear it.
Source Number Five: We must be taught
Of all sources listed, this is got to be the most annoying source of adversity. God or the Universe knows that for us to learn certain things, we have to be dragged in kicking and screaming. If the current adversity does not fit the other options, and it is not clear that any new blessings will come from it, then it is likely here to teach us something.
Something we could not learn in any other way.
So when the problem comes, ask it what it is trying to teach you.
And listen for the answer.
For when you have been taught that which it came to teach --- it will move on.
Can we avoid this one?
Maybe.
But we have to have an open mind so that we can be taught, and we have to make some effort to seek some learning. I think of this type of adversity as the last resort option from on high. If the normal learning channels are not being used, or the mind is not open to be taught, then the affliction/problem is sent. Last resort, not first.
There is another version of this one that is because we do not understand something. The bset example of this I have seen in media was presented in the Disney movie "The Kid". Through an interesting plot device, an 8 year old version and a 40 year old version of the same man come to an experience that is happening in the eight year old's life. He (the 8 yr old) does not understand why his father is mean to him/yells at him; but the 40 year old version knows exactly why! His dad is scared.
How much affliction comes into our lives because we simply do no really understand what is going on? Can we stop this kind?
To do so we must seek understanding. With all our getting, we must get understanding!
Mythical Source Number Five: Agency of others
This is the pretend category for those who do not get catagory three or the law of attraction.
Men were granted agency; and there will be some who abuse it to the harm of others. As soon as someone decides to do this foul deed, there must be at least one other person to be the victim. There could be several others. In some cases the victim is themself only.
Many think that this is an entirely random process, but the police know that the great majority of the time there is history that is the lead to the horrible event.
And for those minority cases that appear totally random; they are not. Someone attracted that to themself based on their fear, or even possibly what they love. I know it's hard to understand, and I am not a "blame the victim" person. The perpetrator of the crime is fully responsible for it and will bear the full consequence in the eternities. The victim is hurt physically, but undamaged spiritually. In time the wounds can heal, unless they were killed, in which case their time here was meant to be at an end, and they move on, as ALL of us will at some point in the future.
Fear of being a random victim of a crime is not advisible. Get to work creating something so that your mind can move on to bigger and better things.
OK, so those are the categories. I am hoping that through all of this, you have been able to see that you have more power than you think in all of this process.
So ponder that one for a while.
And then see your life with new eyes.
Eyes of understanding.
Joseph
So adversity (or you could call it things that we do not want), can seem to come at us from all directions; but as I have pondered this, I now believe that these directions can be cataloged.
Source Number One: Our own sins and mistakes.
This is the classic source for most all of us. When we sin, there are consequences in so doing. Those consequences can come to us in the form of adversity. Our mistakes can cause us further adversity. The good news here is that at least on the sin part, we are really in full control. We can decide not to sin. While no one of us is perfect, the tears and anguish as a result of consequences of sin can be greatly mitigated by some proactive action on our part. For instance, we can think of a situation we could find ourself in one day, and make the decision now what we would do. Having decided it, it makes it much easier to actually do that later.
Adversity as a result of mistakes can come from many sources. We can mitigate many of these as well. As an example, we can be careful and defensive drivers. We can keep a safety mindset. We can plan ahead for some things and think them through before actually doing them. The good news here is that we can greatly minimize the effects of mistakes with some small effort on our part.
What we should never do, however, is to allow a fear of mistakes to stop us from taking positive actions, such as starting a new business. WE have to make those mistakes in order to believe and learn. If we start the business as a side thing to our primary income source, we can afford to make some mistakes without causing undue financial hardship.
Source Number Two: When we forget the Lord
Am I saying that adversity can come to us because we do not remember the Lord? Consider the following words from an ancient American prophet:
Yea, and we may see at the very time when He (The Lord) doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of His people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One -- yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.
And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten His people with many afflictions, yea, except He doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember Him.
And you know that these words are true, despite the fact that we would really like to think that we are better than that. Here is the real question: Can we continue to remember the Lord in our prosperity? Above all other things that happen, this seems to be the greatest test of modern times for some people. Of course there are others who will not even call upon the Lord in their poverty.
Source Number Three: Our own power of attraction
The message of The Secret is all about this one; but it is not such a popular thought because we always want to blame someone else for adversity that comes our way. There are very few of us who can say to themselves in that situation: NICE Creation!
Men attract that which they love, and also that which they fear (James Allen: As A Man Thinketh). This tends to make life really interesting as what we love and what we fear keep getting drawn to us.
Can we do something about it? You bet. Dump the False Evidence Appearing Real (FEAR).
"Thoughts of fear have been known to kill a man as speedily as a bullet; and they are continually killing thousands just as surely though less rapidly. Those who live in fear of disease are the ones who get it; anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body and leaves it open to the entrance of disease."
How do we get rid of fear in our minds? The same way we get rid of any other thought that we do not want ---- Replace it with something better! You have 17 seconds to do so.
While no one is generally worried about the things that they love being attracted to them, we should pay some attention. What do we love? If we love something that is a sin, then we are hard-wiring a disconnect. We will continually attract the adversity of that sin into our lives.
Mythical Source Number Four: Someone, God, or The Universe is out to get you.
Utter falsehood.
But I know that few will truly believe those words. Worlds without end, they are true. Any affliction in your life is not as a result of this, but of items 1-3 or 4-5 instead. If you take a moment to think about it, you will see.
Source Number Four: Blocked Blessings
Stay with me on this one. The Universe is a place of order, and blessings come to us as a result of our doing things in the service of others. These blessings are coming from "on high" whether that means "God" or "The Universe" to you does not matter because the end effect is the same.
We know through statistics that those who are able to serve others are happier. Married folks are generally happier than single ones. Those who are involved in churches or service organizations are happier than those who are not. Please understand that we cannot stop the resultant blessings from coming our way because of these activities. Why would we even try to stop them?
Because we think our life is GOOD ENOUGH.
And so with those thoughts, we attempt to block new blessings, because we do not perceive the need for them.
And yet we cannot block them. They build up over time, and failing to find a way in through normal channels; they will use a different transport mechanism, and we have a name for it.
WE call it an Affliction.
Yes, you heard that right. And it is easy to tell if you got this one. If you were more blessed after the affliction than you were before it, then you got an affliction that was transporting your new blessing(s).
Can we stop this type of adversity from coming our way?
Sure thing.
But it means being open minded and never thinking that God or the Universe is done with us. Always there are new blessings coming our way. Let us be receiving. The greatest human tragedy of all could be when we come to understand that adversity we caused ourselves by being closed to new blessings.
Once other small thing to remember: New Blessings = Change. Embrace it, do not fear it.
Source Number Five: We must be taught
Of all sources listed, this is got to be the most annoying source of adversity. God or the Universe knows that for us to learn certain things, we have to be dragged in kicking and screaming. If the current adversity does not fit the other options, and it is not clear that any new blessings will come from it, then it is likely here to teach us something.
Something we could not learn in any other way.
So when the problem comes, ask it what it is trying to teach you.
And listen for the answer.
For when you have been taught that which it came to teach --- it will move on.
Can we avoid this one?
Maybe.
But we have to have an open mind so that we can be taught, and we have to make some effort to seek some learning. I think of this type of adversity as the last resort option from on high. If the normal learning channels are not being used, or the mind is not open to be taught, then the affliction/problem is sent. Last resort, not first.
There is another version of this one that is because we do not understand something. The bset example of this I have seen in media was presented in the Disney movie "The Kid". Through an interesting plot device, an 8 year old version and a 40 year old version of the same man come to an experience that is happening in the eight year old's life. He (the 8 yr old) does not understand why his father is mean to him/yells at him; but the 40 year old version knows exactly why! His dad is scared.
How much affliction comes into our lives because we simply do no really understand what is going on? Can we stop this kind?
To do so we must seek understanding. With all our getting, we must get understanding!
Mythical Source Number Five: Agency of others
This is the pretend category for those who do not get catagory three or the law of attraction.
Men were granted agency; and there will be some who abuse it to the harm of others. As soon as someone decides to do this foul deed, there must be at least one other person to be the victim. There could be several others. In some cases the victim is themself only.
Many think that this is an entirely random process, but the police know that the great majority of the time there is history that is the lead to the horrible event.
And for those minority cases that appear totally random; they are not. Someone attracted that to themself based on their fear, or even possibly what they love. I know it's hard to understand, and I am not a "blame the victim" person. The perpetrator of the crime is fully responsible for it and will bear the full consequence in the eternities. The victim is hurt physically, but undamaged spiritually. In time the wounds can heal, unless they were killed, in which case their time here was meant to be at an end, and they move on, as ALL of us will at some point in the future.
Fear of being a random victim of a crime is not advisible. Get to work creating something so that your mind can move on to bigger and better things.
OK, so those are the categories. I am hoping that through all of this, you have been able to see that you have more power than you think in all of this process.
So ponder that one for a while.
And then see your life with new eyes.
Eyes of understanding.
Joseph
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The Undisputed Power of Your Memory
I am not remembering right now that they say very much about your memories in the movie or the book The Secret. Yet they spend a good part of the movie talking about Gratitude and Visualization as powerful processes. I am hoping in this post to make a connection for you that perhaps has not been made yet, and my intent is that this will clear a mental block for you and free you to create something even bigger.
When you try to create something that you have not created before, or something bigger which you have tried before in a smaller version, your mind seeks natually a precendent for what you are trying to do, and it will look for that precedent in your memories.
And since there are really no neutral memories, when it finds that memory (and it will) it is going to find a good memory or a bad memory.
If it finds a bad memory, then your power to accomplish what you are trying to do will be all but zapped. After all, if the activity led to a bad memory last time, why would we want to do that again? We will find ourselves (our words are powerful) saying something like: "Oh I knew this would happen. This always happens to me. "
If it finds a good memory, something perhaps that we enjoyed in the past, then our power to accomplish has just increased by about 1000 percent. The mind, finding such a pleasant thing, will do everything possible to bring it back again. In this scenario, our mind will say something like "I knew I could do that!"
So if we have bad memories around previous events in our life that are in the direction that we want to go, does this now mean that we are doomed to not succeed in that direction?
Pretty much.
Until you do something about it.
And here's what you do . . . .
Make better memories to replace the bad ones.
Yes, I can hear your question. I thought you just said that trying to DO better based on those past memories was doomed to failure?
I did, and I am glad to see you are listening.
But I said nothing at all about DO.
Because you can THINK yourself a new memory.
Surely you jest!
I jest not; and don't call me Shirley.
"But it (a replacement memory) would be a LIE!"
Well, I understand that mentality, because up until very recently it was mine. If it is a lie, then who are we lying to? Ourselves of course, unless we are sharing our modified memory with others because speaking it gives it more power. But to me, this seems to be a letter versus the spirit of the law argument. What is the ultimate purpose of doing this? So that we can be of greater service to those around us. Our increased success will naturaly come on the heels of providing increased value to others. So I would say that the ends justify the means, but I understand that this idea of it being a lie could be the biggest stumbling block that some of us face.
If we continue in the idea that our new modified memories are a lie, then we will zap their power to help us. We have to find a way to get around that. Perhaps we should contact a new "disease" called bad memory-itis. We just cannot seem to retain any bad memories, they just fall right out of our head!
I will use public speaking as an example, because when someone moves towards the magic of life the chance to do public speaking seems to increase.
If you tried it once and had a bad experience then you will be afraid of it. We know that men attract that which they love, and that which they fear (now you know why your life is so interesting!). That bad memory will return your fear and it will be very unlikely that you improve on it much while the fear is present. You will leave unsatisfied and convinced that you did not reach anyone.
Of course, if it is something that you already enjoy doing (like me), then you have great memories about it, and it matters not if you find yourself before a bigger audience than ever before, because your history says you are good at it. I personally believe that I reach about 90% of the people that I speak to. If I put some mental effort into memory modification then I could get this number to 100%; but I have not done that because I generally felt that 90% was GOOD ENOUGH. Shame on me?
But take the case of someone who puts mental effort into memory modification.
Through visualization, this person can play a movie in their mind of them speaking before a large group and being well received. In the movie they are confident and speak without fear. They are funny and they obviously reach 100% of those they are speaking with. The more they play this movie in their mind, the stronger a memory it becomes. WHY?
Because the mind does NOT make the distinction as to whether it really happened, or you just visualized it. So as far as the mind is concerned, if you visualized it, you did it!
And so it is NOT a lie.
Yes I know that the bad memory is still there somewhere and it's kind of pesky. You look at that memory with feelings of gratitude. You were granted an opportunity to speak before and as such you will be offered the opportunity again. You are grateful for that. You may have learned that there is something that you should not do when public speaking, and you are grateful for that as well. Swallow up any remaining bad memory in gratitude, and it will go where it belongs.
And then let me know where you will be speaking, because once you do all of this you will be a master speaker, and if there is a possible way I would love to come and hear you speak!
Let me know!
Joseph
When you try to create something that you have not created before, or something bigger which you have tried before in a smaller version, your mind seeks natually a precendent for what you are trying to do, and it will look for that precedent in your memories.
And since there are really no neutral memories, when it finds that memory (and it will) it is going to find a good memory or a bad memory.
If it finds a bad memory, then your power to accomplish what you are trying to do will be all but zapped. After all, if the activity led to a bad memory last time, why would we want to do that again? We will find ourselves (our words are powerful) saying something like: "Oh I knew this would happen. This always happens to me. "
If it finds a good memory, something perhaps that we enjoyed in the past, then our power to accomplish has just increased by about 1000 percent. The mind, finding such a pleasant thing, will do everything possible to bring it back again. In this scenario, our mind will say something like "I knew I could do that!"
So if we have bad memories around previous events in our life that are in the direction that we want to go, does this now mean that we are doomed to not succeed in that direction?
Pretty much.
Until you do something about it.
And here's what you do . . . .
Make better memories to replace the bad ones.
Yes, I can hear your question. I thought you just said that trying to DO better based on those past memories was doomed to failure?
I did, and I am glad to see you are listening.
But I said nothing at all about DO.
Because you can THINK yourself a new memory.
Surely you jest!
I jest not; and don't call me Shirley.
"But it (a replacement memory) would be a LIE!"
Well, I understand that mentality, because up until very recently it was mine. If it is a lie, then who are we lying to? Ourselves of course, unless we are sharing our modified memory with others because speaking it gives it more power. But to me, this seems to be a letter versus the spirit of the law argument. What is the ultimate purpose of doing this? So that we can be of greater service to those around us. Our increased success will naturaly come on the heels of providing increased value to others. So I would say that the ends justify the means, but I understand that this idea of it being a lie could be the biggest stumbling block that some of us face.
If we continue in the idea that our new modified memories are a lie, then we will zap their power to help us. We have to find a way to get around that. Perhaps we should contact a new "disease" called bad memory-itis. We just cannot seem to retain any bad memories, they just fall right out of our head!
I will use public speaking as an example, because when someone moves towards the magic of life the chance to do public speaking seems to increase.
If you tried it once and had a bad experience then you will be afraid of it. We know that men attract that which they love, and that which they fear (now you know why your life is so interesting!). That bad memory will return your fear and it will be very unlikely that you improve on it much while the fear is present. You will leave unsatisfied and convinced that you did not reach anyone.
Of course, if it is something that you already enjoy doing (like me), then you have great memories about it, and it matters not if you find yourself before a bigger audience than ever before, because your history says you are good at it. I personally believe that I reach about 90% of the people that I speak to. If I put some mental effort into memory modification then I could get this number to 100%; but I have not done that because I generally felt that 90% was GOOD ENOUGH. Shame on me?
But take the case of someone who puts mental effort into memory modification.
Through visualization, this person can play a movie in their mind of them speaking before a large group and being well received. In the movie they are confident and speak without fear. They are funny and they obviously reach 100% of those they are speaking with. The more they play this movie in their mind, the stronger a memory it becomes. WHY?
Because the mind does NOT make the distinction as to whether it really happened, or you just visualized it. So as far as the mind is concerned, if you visualized it, you did it!
And so it is NOT a lie.
Yes I know that the bad memory is still there somewhere and it's kind of pesky. You look at that memory with feelings of gratitude. You were granted an opportunity to speak before and as such you will be offered the opportunity again. You are grateful for that. You may have learned that there is something that you should not do when public speaking, and you are grateful for that as well. Swallow up any remaining bad memory in gratitude, and it will go where it belongs.
And then let me know where you will be speaking, because once you do all of this you will be a master speaker, and if there is a possible way I would love to come and hear you speak!
Let me know!
Joseph
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
How did they live more than 900 years?
This subject may seem a little off topic for a blog that is generally about The Secret, but there is actually a subliminal bit in the movie that sheds some light on this subject.
There is a two frame flash of the title and author of a book early in the movie. The book is "Life Power and How to Live It" by Elizabeth Towne. Chapter One of this book is entitled "Methuselah and The Sun", and it begins with these words:
“There are people who declare that time was when a great canopy of vapor hung over the Earth and revolved with it, as Jupiter’s vapory canopies now do; and that this vapory canopy kept off almost completely the actinic (death-dealing) rays, while it admitted light and heat rays. Thus they account for Adam’s and Methuselah’s great ages. And they say that, unless this vapory canopy is again formed around our Earth, to ward off these death dealing rays, we shall never attain immortality in the flesh.”
Well this is certainly an interesting idea, and it is possible that it was postulated even before her book. If anyone knows an earlier source, please leave a comment.
But is there any support for this idea in the Scripture? Well there is this . . .
"But there went up a mist from the Earth, and watered the whole face of the ground."
That is Genesis 2:6 in the King James Version of the Bible.
OK, assuming that this is true for a second, does it fit in? Here is the computation.
Aligning with the Jewish calendar, it appears that the expulsion from Eden happened about 4000 BC. The timelines in the Bible seem to indicate about this time as well. We have record of the following people living with the following life spans:
Adam (4000-3070BC) 930 years.
Seth (3870-2958BC) 912 years.
Enos (3765-2860BC) 905 years.
Cainan (3675-2765BC) 910 years.
Mahalaleel (3605-2710BC) 895 years. (Hmmm, dies early :-) )
Jared (3540-2578BC) 962 years.
Enoch (3378-3013BC) 365 years. (Enoch was taken to Heaven and did not live his whole span).
Methuselah (3313-2344BC) 969 years. (Longest recorded lifespan that we know of).
Lamech (3126-2349BC) 777 years. (His father Methuselah outlived him).
(In the year 3070 Adam dies.)
Noah (2944-1994BC) 950 years. Flood came at 600 years, or about 2344BC.
(All the other patriarchs die except Methuselah and Lamech in this time frame)
Noah's Three sons are born in 2494-Japeth 2452-Shem and 2444-Ham.
Again the approximate date of the flood event is from 2-17-2344BC to 2-27-2343BC before they actually left the Ark. Noah still had the really long life span, half of it post-flood. But the days of men shortened gradually according to what we read in Genesis 10. The lifespans got to be around 500 years, then 400, then 300, 200 and finally just over 100.
So what happened? Well the Flood is what happened. But it appears that the mist was not all taken away at once, but the flood appears to have started the process where the mist slowly went away. The gradually shortening life spans seem to indicate that people at each new generation were exposed to more of the aging rays of the sun than the previous generation had been.
So can we ever live to be 900 years old in this mortal life?
Sure, if the mist comes back.
Otherwise, it's wait 'till the resurrection, and then of course we will live forever.
Rock on!
Joseph
There is a two frame flash of the title and author of a book early in the movie. The book is "Life Power and How to Live It" by Elizabeth Towne. Chapter One of this book is entitled "Methuselah and The Sun", and it begins with these words:
“There are people who declare that time was when a great canopy of vapor hung over the Earth and revolved with it, as Jupiter’s vapory canopies now do; and that this vapory canopy kept off almost completely the actinic (death-dealing) rays, while it admitted light and heat rays. Thus they account for Adam’s and Methuselah’s great ages. And they say that, unless this vapory canopy is again formed around our Earth, to ward off these death dealing rays, we shall never attain immortality in the flesh.”
Well this is certainly an interesting idea, and it is possible that it was postulated even before her book. If anyone knows an earlier source, please leave a comment.
But is there any support for this idea in the Scripture? Well there is this . . .
"But there went up a mist from the Earth, and watered the whole face of the ground."
That is Genesis 2:6 in the King James Version of the Bible.
OK, assuming that this is true for a second, does it fit in? Here is the computation.
Aligning with the Jewish calendar, it appears that the expulsion from Eden happened about 4000 BC. The timelines in the Bible seem to indicate about this time as well. We have record of the following people living with the following life spans:
Adam (4000-3070BC) 930 years.
Seth (3870-2958BC) 912 years.
Enos (3765-2860BC) 905 years.
Cainan (3675-2765BC) 910 years.
Mahalaleel (3605-2710BC) 895 years. (Hmmm, dies early :-) )
Jared (3540-2578BC) 962 years.
Enoch (3378-3013BC) 365 years. (Enoch was taken to Heaven and did not live his whole span).
Methuselah (3313-2344BC) 969 years. (Longest recorded lifespan that we know of).
Lamech (3126-2349BC) 777 years. (His father Methuselah outlived him).
(In the year 3070 Adam dies.)
Noah (2944-1994BC) 950 years. Flood came at 600 years, or about 2344BC.
(All the other patriarchs die except Methuselah and Lamech in this time frame)
Noah's Three sons are born in 2494-Japeth 2452-Shem and 2444-Ham.
Again the approximate date of the flood event is from 2-17-2344BC to 2-27-2343BC before they actually left the Ark. Noah still had the really long life span, half of it post-flood. But the days of men shortened gradually according to what we read in Genesis 10. The lifespans got to be around 500 years, then 400, then 300, 200 and finally just over 100.
So what happened? Well the Flood is what happened. But it appears that the mist was not all taken away at once, but the flood appears to have started the process where the mist slowly went away. The gradually shortening life spans seem to indicate that people at each new generation were exposed to more of the aging rays of the sun than the previous generation had been.
So can we ever live to be 900 years old in this mortal life?
Sure, if the mist comes back.
Otherwise, it's wait 'till the resurrection, and then of course we will live forever.
Rock on!
Joseph
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Even at Birth, The Soul Comes to its Own
In my opinion, no study of the things taught in the book and the movie The Secret is complete without a companion review of the book "As A Man Thinketh" by James Allen. This book is from the same era as "The Science of Getting Rich" and it about 20 years ahead of "Secret of The Ages", which are the two main works that Rhonda Drew on for the movie.
I wish to remark about the following passage from "As A Man Thinketh":
and man, therefore, as the Lord and master of thought, is the maker of himself, the shaper and author of his environment. Even at birth the soul comes to its own, and through every step of its earthly pilgrimage it attracts those combinations of conditions which reveal itself, which are the reflections of its own purity and impurity, its strengths and weakness. (italics added).
As I have watched various forums where ideas around The Secret are discussed, I have often seen the topic come up about the abused children, and especially the babies. Critics of the movie are quick to use this topic as their argument as to the falsehood of the entire thing, because how could anyone suggest in good conscience that innocent little children "attracted" the abuse that is heaped upon them in some cases? Especially the babies who are too young to even know what is going on, much less attract something consciously . . .
I would say that this is perhaps their most powerful argument against the entire concept. I am also not here to say that they are wrong on this. But I do have some insight to offer that may shed some additional light on the subject, because I have been studying all of this for over a year now and something has just now come to me.
There is one point that must be understood first that will prevent progression if we cannot obtain agreement. That point is that we lived as individuals prior to our coming to this Earth. This can be a tough one for some because there is a "veil of forgetfulness" that is firmly in place; and because of it, we have no direct memory of our life prior to this one.
But we did live prior to this life, and we had a Father there in the same sense that we had a father here on this Earth. The Father there is the Father or our Spirit. He is our Heavenly Father. Now when we came from that existance to this current Earthly existence; what would we have brought with us? This is an exceedingly important question for us to understand the answer to.
And to help us understand the answer, allow me to jump forward to what we will take with us to the next existence after this one . . . two things:
1. Our intelligence. What we have learned. Our Wisdom, our mental know-how. Our creativity.
2. Our current vibration.
So follow me here. If these are the two things that we will bring to the next phase . . . are they also the two things that were brought to this phase ????
I think that generally they would be; but the veil of forgetfulness prevents us from taking advantage of the first. Because of the veil, we are not privy to our previous intelligence, and in effect we must start completely over. This is why education is more a matter of remembering things more than learning them, because we knew them all before. The root of the word "education", which is the latin educo, means to "bring to rememberance", not to learn.
But then there is our vibration; and it seems clear that we either did not have one at all, or we brought one with us. If we truly existed, then we would have had to have a vibration, because no energy can exist that does not. Those who do not believe that we existed before would have an argument for a blank slate on the vibration at birth; but if you believe that we existed before this life, then it unavoidably follows that we would have had a vibration there and brought it with us when we came here.
This was a powerful realization for me, especially when I pondered on the idea of "even at birth the soul comes to its own". What is "its own" ?? That would be a compatible vibration.
Now get real! Am I saying that someone might have brought a vibration with them that placed them in the abusive home ??
To tell the truth I do not know this 100% . . . but I also cannot think of any other explanation as to how they ended up there, except for a belief that someone was "unlucky".
Is "luck" a factor in a Universe that is controlled completely by divine and natual laws? We think of or know people who have been "lucky"; but I think we are just using that word because we did not really understand the operation of natural laws that was in play.
Where we end up when we come to this Earth makes an incredible difference in our lives. 90% or so of our subconscious programming is instilled in us prior to our second birthday. With this being such an important thing, would it really be left to chance?
You tell me.
But I don't think so.
I also want to be crystal clear here that I make no commentary whatsoever on any idea that someone had a "good" vibration or a "bad" vibration coming here and were placed accordingly. This would be more fodder for the critics who make another point that The Secret seems to be all about "blame the victim".
I do not know, but as opposed to being good or bad, I think our vibration just was; and because it was, it could only be placed with others that were compatible. Now is a good time to bring in some additional words from "As A Man Thinketh":
Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. Their whims, fancies, and ambitions are thwarted at every step, but their inmost thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it foul or clean. ( . . . ) Not what he wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions.
So why do I write all of this?
Because it might be helpful for someone to understand that there was a plan in place different from "unlucky" in the birth and placement of the soul.
And it leads me to what I want to say most of all . . .
Your NOW is so much more important than your past.
Your future is based on your NOW.
Your NOW is defined by you in every detail that you care to expend thought on.
So make it a good one, because all of us had dysfunctions in our past. The "victim" will hold on to those for dear life!
And the victor will let them go and forgive!
And then he will be truly free.
Be free.
Joseph
P.S. If you would like a free eBook copy of the book "As A Man Thinketh", click here.
I wish to remark about the following passage from "As A Man Thinketh":
and man, therefore, as the Lord and master of thought, is the maker of himself, the shaper and author of his environment. Even at birth the soul comes to its own, and through every step of its earthly pilgrimage it attracts those combinations of conditions which reveal itself, which are the reflections of its own purity and impurity, its strengths and weakness. (italics added).
As I have watched various forums where ideas around The Secret are discussed, I have often seen the topic come up about the abused children, and especially the babies. Critics of the movie are quick to use this topic as their argument as to the falsehood of the entire thing, because how could anyone suggest in good conscience that innocent little children "attracted" the abuse that is heaped upon them in some cases? Especially the babies who are too young to even know what is going on, much less attract something consciously . . .
I would say that this is perhaps their most powerful argument against the entire concept. I am also not here to say that they are wrong on this. But I do have some insight to offer that may shed some additional light on the subject, because I have been studying all of this for over a year now and something has just now come to me.
There is one point that must be understood first that will prevent progression if we cannot obtain agreement. That point is that we lived as individuals prior to our coming to this Earth. This can be a tough one for some because there is a "veil of forgetfulness" that is firmly in place; and because of it, we have no direct memory of our life prior to this one.
But we did live prior to this life, and we had a Father there in the same sense that we had a father here on this Earth. The Father there is the Father or our Spirit. He is our Heavenly Father. Now when we came from that existance to this current Earthly existence; what would we have brought with us? This is an exceedingly important question for us to understand the answer to.
And to help us understand the answer, allow me to jump forward to what we will take with us to the next existence after this one . . . two things:
1. Our intelligence. What we have learned. Our Wisdom, our mental know-how. Our creativity.
2. Our current vibration.
So follow me here. If these are the two things that we will bring to the next phase . . . are they also the two things that were brought to this phase ????
I think that generally they would be; but the veil of forgetfulness prevents us from taking advantage of the first. Because of the veil, we are not privy to our previous intelligence, and in effect we must start completely over. This is why education is more a matter of remembering things more than learning them, because we knew them all before. The root of the word "education", which is the latin educo, means to "bring to rememberance", not to learn.
But then there is our vibration; and it seems clear that we either did not have one at all, or we brought one with us. If we truly existed, then we would have had to have a vibration, because no energy can exist that does not. Those who do not believe that we existed before would have an argument for a blank slate on the vibration at birth; but if you believe that we existed before this life, then it unavoidably follows that we would have had a vibration there and brought it with us when we came here.
This was a powerful realization for me, especially when I pondered on the idea of "even at birth the soul comes to its own". What is "its own" ?? That would be a compatible vibration.
Now get real! Am I saying that someone might have brought a vibration with them that placed them in the abusive home ??
To tell the truth I do not know this 100% . . . but I also cannot think of any other explanation as to how they ended up there, except for a belief that someone was "unlucky".
Is "luck" a factor in a Universe that is controlled completely by divine and natual laws? We think of or know people who have been "lucky"; but I think we are just using that word because we did not really understand the operation of natural laws that was in play.
Where we end up when we come to this Earth makes an incredible difference in our lives. 90% or so of our subconscious programming is instilled in us prior to our second birthday. With this being such an important thing, would it really be left to chance?
You tell me.
But I don't think so.
I also want to be crystal clear here that I make no commentary whatsoever on any idea that someone had a "good" vibration or a "bad" vibration coming here and were placed accordingly. This would be more fodder for the critics who make another point that The Secret seems to be all about "blame the victim".
I do not know, but as opposed to being good or bad, I think our vibration just was; and because it was, it could only be placed with others that were compatible. Now is a good time to bring in some additional words from "As A Man Thinketh":
Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are. Their whims, fancies, and ambitions are thwarted at every step, but their inmost thoughts and desires are fed with their own food, be it foul or clean. ( . . . ) Not what he wishes and prays for does a man get, but what he justly earns. His wishes and prayers are only gratified and answered when they harmonize with his thoughts and actions.
So why do I write all of this?
Because it might be helpful for someone to understand that there was a plan in place different from "unlucky" in the birth and placement of the soul.
And it leads me to what I want to say most of all . . .
Your NOW is so much more important than your past.
Your future is based on your NOW.
Your NOW is defined by you in every detail that you care to expend thought on.
So make it a good one, because all of us had dysfunctions in our past. The "victim" will hold on to those for dear life!
And the victor will let them go and forgive!
And then he will be truly free.
Be free.
Joseph
P.S. If you would like a free eBook copy of the book "As A Man Thinketh", click here.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Great is as Great does
Today I would like to talk about a topic that fits in with the materials presented in The Secret, but which is not addressed directly. If you saw the movie Forest Gump, they you may remember a scene where Forest is talking to someone on a bench and that person says "are you stupid or something?". Forest responds by saying "Stupid is as Stupid does".
I want to talk about the opposite of this. If I were to ask you: What is a great basketball player? Would you respond with a list of requirements of what makes a great basketball player, or would you just say Michael Jordan? Same with Golf, would you give me a list of requirements of how to be a great golfer, or would you just say Tiger Woods? Notice I am asking what, not who; but it does not matter.
If Michael Jordan wrote a book that somehow contained all that he knew about being a great basketball player, would I become a great basketball player just by reading it? I think we can all agree that the answer is "certainly not".
Somebody who is a true great is the person who defines what it is to be great; but it is never the person who is trying to copy someone else. Prior to Michael Jordan, there was no one who played the game like he later would. He was not following any patterns, he was inventing his great career at every moment.
Since he had (obviously) decided within himself that he was a great player, it simply followed that everything he did would be great. Does this sound too simplistic? Well there is also the matter of belief. When Mr. Jordan had the thought in his head that he was a true great, he really believed it. And that made all the difference. Nothing can stop the Law of Attraction faster than unbelief.
Have you ever wondered why the great basketball player takes almost three steps on the way to his dunk and the rookie player gets called for traveling for taking 1.5 steps? It is not because the officials are favoring the great player, despite what many might think. It is because the great player believes or "be"s the great player in his/her mind first, and then with that strong belief (and some practice to be sure), is enabled to make great plays that are things of beauty and which do not attract adverse calls by a referee.
OK great you say, but I am not Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods . . . in fact I am not even close.
And I have to strongly disagree with you on that point I am afraid.
I know you are not Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. There can be only one each anyway. Being Michael or Tiger is not the point, but being yourself is very extremely much the point.
Because you have some sort of talent; and with practice and proper development of that talent you can become the next world great. You have to know what the talent is first, and you may need some help getting to a world wide stage; but the Internet is a world wide stage; and this blog potentially reaches millions of people for the promotion that I give it, as an example.
So here is how it goes . . .
You identify one or more talents that you have: Things that you seem to be able to do better than almost anyone else.
You practice towards the development of that talent(s). For multiple ones you would pick the one that you enjoy doing the most; NOT the one that you think you can make the most money from. I will explain this in a bit.
You may, at first, work a day job that allows you to use and develop that talent. This is great as long as it does not stop you from taking the next step.
You will start your own business, with you as the owner, of being of service to people by using your talent, whatever it is. As you do this, you will begin to learn fundamental principles of marketing and especially Internet marketing so that you can grow your business. I am here to tell you that you can not learn these principles in any class (Sorry to the good MBA schools).
No, the only way to learn how to market something is to create it first and then get out there and sell it on the Internet. You will learn your first lesson when the hundreds of sales that you envisioned just are not happening for your first attempt. Real world results are a better teacher than all the theory classes you will ever have. As the Klemmer folks say: Never judge anything except by the results, it is sometimes harsh, but it is always fair.
If you enjoy what you are doing and if you are talented at it, and if you have some sort of a followup strategy, such as a customer newsletter (which I have used successfully), then you will slowly grow that business. The key is repeat business from existing customers to add to new business from all marketing sources.
I have written previously about my computer help business that I have started. I created this out of thin air. Because I am talented in the areas of technical troubleshooting and personal communications, I can not only solve my customer's issues, but I can do it in such as way as they enjoy my having been there. Everyone wants my newsletter after my first visit, and once they have received that 3-4 times then I become entrenched as their computer guy. Even if I raise prices later, they are likely to stick with me (unless I am way out of line . . . but I have no overhead and my competition, if you can call them that, has a lot).
So it is a slow but steady growth process, and a business that keeps growing will one day become a big business, as long as it is not mis-managed. I like to say that it is the growing direction that is the most important, not the growing speed. If you have more customers on your newsletter list at the end of the month than at the beginning, then it is a growing business, and when they keep growing you eventually get to the point where you need to hire some help, and then the business can grow some more.
But do not be afraid to start small or slow . . . I charge insanely low prices currently for what I do compared to my competitors. Having no overhead allows me to do this. I charge about $80.00 for two hours of home computer consulting where my competitors charge more than twice that. The appropriate time for me to raise my prices will be when I am so heavily scheduled at my current rates that I can hardly keep up; and as the business continues to grow, that day is surely coming.
You could argue that I am defining what great is for a home computer help business, for the simple reason that I believe that I am great at it. My customers are very appreciative of the work that I do, which I judge when they cheerfully hand over the money for my services. This actually suprised me some at first, people handing me this money so willingly, but I had provided such value to them that they were only too happy to do it. Now I am not surprised by it any more.
But learn the key here. Your greatness has to come as the result of running your own business, or it is never really your greatness. Working for someone else, in any capacity, is not likely the path to the unrestricted presentation of your talents, and you salary is typically always bounded in the upper direction, no matter how much value you provide to how many people.
But do not quit your day job just yet. It is important that you be free to grow your talent inspired business at an appropriate rate, and being free from worrying about how much you are making at first will be GREATLY helpful. Desperation around finances may motivate some to succeed, but in some cases it can actually drive away that which you seek. When should you quit your day job? Do not even start thinking about it until you are making in profit twice as much as what your salary is counting all of your benefits; and seeing a clear path and reasoning for how your business continues to grow. Sometimes you can reduce hours at your existing job to free up some more time for your porfitable business.
As your business grows to a certain point and beyond it, you will begin to have a better understanding of what they are talking about in The Secret when they talk about living in the "magic of life". And why not? You are growing a business and gaining increasing income doing what you love to do. You are providing value to others and have the satisfaction of doing so. Your upward income and value providing possibilities are unlimited. You are being a creator. You have created a business out of thin air (really is is from The Field); and you are learning about how to be a creator.
I am here to tell you that this is one of the most important things we can do during this lifetime, and that is learn how to be a creator. Trust me on this one.
We were ALL meant to create.
Please do not stop yourself from doing so.
Joseph
I want to talk about the opposite of this. If I were to ask you: What is a great basketball player? Would you respond with a list of requirements of what makes a great basketball player, or would you just say Michael Jordan? Same with Golf, would you give me a list of requirements of how to be a great golfer, or would you just say Tiger Woods? Notice I am asking what, not who; but it does not matter.
If Michael Jordan wrote a book that somehow contained all that he knew about being a great basketball player, would I become a great basketball player just by reading it? I think we can all agree that the answer is "certainly not".
Somebody who is a true great is the person who defines what it is to be great; but it is never the person who is trying to copy someone else. Prior to Michael Jordan, there was no one who played the game like he later would. He was not following any patterns, he was inventing his great career at every moment.
Since he had (obviously) decided within himself that he was a great player, it simply followed that everything he did would be great. Does this sound too simplistic? Well there is also the matter of belief. When Mr. Jordan had the thought in his head that he was a true great, he really believed it. And that made all the difference. Nothing can stop the Law of Attraction faster than unbelief.
Have you ever wondered why the great basketball player takes almost three steps on the way to his dunk and the rookie player gets called for traveling for taking 1.5 steps? It is not because the officials are favoring the great player, despite what many might think. It is because the great player believes or "be"s the great player in his/her mind first, and then with that strong belief (and some practice to be sure), is enabled to make great plays that are things of beauty and which do not attract adverse calls by a referee.
OK great you say, but I am not Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods . . . in fact I am not even close.
And I have to strongly disagree with you on that point I am afraid.
I know you are not Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. There can be only one each anyway. Being Michael or Tiger is not the point, but being yourself is very extremely much the point.
Because you have some sort of talent; and with practice and proper development of that talent you can become the next world great. You have to know what the talent is first, and you may need some help getting to a world wide stage; but the Internet is a world wide stage; and this blog potentially reaches millions of people for the promotion that I give it, as an example.
So here is how it goes . . .
You identify one or more talents that you have: Things that you seem to be able to do better than almost anyone else.
You practice towards the development of that talent(s). For multiple ones you would pick the one that you enjoy doing the most; NOT the one that you think you can make the most money from. I will explain this in a bit.
You may, at first, work a day job that allows you to use and develop that talent. This is great as long as it does not stop you from taking the next step.
You will start your own business, with you as the owner, of being of service to people by using your talent, whatever it is. As you do this, you will begin to learn fundamental principles of marketing and especially Internet marketing so that you can grow your business. I am here to tell you that you can not learn these principles in any class (Sorry to the good MBA schools).
No, the only way to learn how to market something is to create it first and then get out there and sell it on the Internet. You will learn your first lesson when the hundreds of sales that you envisioned just are not happening for your first attempt. Real world results are a better teacher than all the theory classes you will ever have. As the Klemmer folks say: Never judge anything except by the results, it is sometimes harsh, but it is always fair.
If you enjoy what you are doing and if you are talented at it, and if you have some sort of a followup strategy, such as a customer newsletter (which I have used successfully), then you will slowly grow that business. The key is repeat business from existing customers to add to new business from all marketing sources.
I have written previously about my computer help business that I have started. I created this out of thin air. Because I am talented in the areas of technical troubleshooting and personal communications, I can not only solve my customer's issues, but I can do it in such as way as they enjoy my having been there. Everyone wants my newsletter after my first visit, and once they have received that 3-4 times then I become entrenched as their computer guy. Even if I raise prices later, they are likely to stick with me (unless I am way out of line . . . but I have no overhead and my competition, if you can call them that, has a lot).
So it is a slow but steady growth process, and a business that keeps growing will one day become a big business, as long as it is not mis-managed. I like to say that it is the growing direction that is the most important, not the growing speed. If you have more customers on your newsletter list at the end of the month than at the beginning, then it is a growing business, and when they keep growing you eventually get to the point where you need to hire some help, and then the business can grow some more.
But do not be afraid to start small or slow . . . I charge insanely low prices currently for what I do compared to my competitors. Having no overhead allows me to do this. I charge about $80.00 for two hours of home computer consulting where my competitors charge more than twice that. The appropriate time for me to raise my prices will be when I am so heavily scheduled at my current rates that I can hardly keep up; and as the business continues to grow, that day is surely coming.
You could argue that I am defining what great is for a home computer help business, for the simple reason that I believe that I am great at it. My customers are very appreciative of the work that I do, which I judge when they cheerfully hand over the money for my services. This actually suprised me some at first, people handing me this money so willingly, but I had provided such value to them that they were only too happy to do it. Now I am not surprised by it any more.
But learn the key here. Your greatness has to come as the result of running your own business, or it is never really your greatness. Working for someone else, in any capacity, is not likely the path to the unrestricted presentation of your talents, and you salary is typically always bounded in the upper direction, no matter how much value you provide to how many people.
But do not quit your day job just yet. It is important that you be free to grow your talent inspired business at an appropriate rate, and being free from worrying about how much you are making at first will be GREATLY helpful. Desperation around finances may motivate some to succeed, but in some cases it can actually drive away that which you seek. When should you quit your day job? Do not even start thinking about it until you are making in profit twice as much as what your salary is counting all of your benefits; and seeing a clear path and reasoning for how your business continues to grow. Sometimes you can reduce hours at your existing job to free up some more time for your porfitable business.
As your business grows to a certain point and beyond it, you will begin to have a better understanding of what they are talking about in The Secret when they talk about living in the "magic of life". And why not? You are growing a business and gaining increasing income doing what you love to do. You are providing value to others and have the satisfaction of doing so. Your upward income and value providing possibilities are unlimited. You are being a creator. You have created a business out of thin air (really is is from The Field); and you are learning about how to be a creator.
I am here to tell you that this is one of the most important things we can do during this lifetime, and that is learn how to be a creator. Trust me on this one.
We were ALL meant to create.
Please do not stop yourself from doing so.
Joseph
Monday, March 31, 2008
The Major Flaw in all Coaching and Personal Development
People who like the book or movie The Secret are often those who are willing to pay for different kinds of coaching or other personal development classes or seminars. I have paid for some myself, and my wife has paid for quite a few different ones in an effort to improve her business. To be willing to pay for such things is a very good thing.
But I have been noticing something a little disturbing in all of these. . .
By and large, I mean generally, they HAVE NOT worked for us. That is if you define "working for you" as being able to get the kinds of results that the marketing of all these kinds of programs says you can get. It just has not happened for us (yet), but it is not for lack of trying.
Here is a dirty little secret that they do not want you to know: The Personal Development and Coaching industry is the only industry on Earth where the sellers can charge a lot of money for attendance, and yet take absolutely *no* responsibility for the results of what they teach.
My wife especially had had at least seven different coaches in the last four years.
And none of them helped her to increase her business.
And all of them wanted their $350.00 a month, up front. One wanted 12 months up front.
Your conclusion to this data may be that she must not have done what they said.
Well she did do what they said. Exactly what they said.
Well perhaps she did not understand it.
Possible, but who is in charge of making sure she understands it?
Or, best one of all, perhaps she just has the wrong vibration and as such she drove her own business away.
Well, that is certainly possible.
Are you noticing any pattern here?
The Coaches all charged at least $350.00 a month and in some cases much more.
None of them helped her.
None of them took the least bit of responsibility that she did not increase her business results. Notice how all the failure possibilities were her fault.
If this happened in any other industry, it would not be tolerated. I run a computer business. Let's say that I offer you a deal where I charge you $350.00 a month to keep your computers running smooth, fast and virus free. Price seems pretty high you think but it might be worth it if the worry about the computers were taken away.
But here is the best part. By your paying me $350.00, you get to come to my seminar, and to participate in my conference calls, I will teach you how to keep your computers running smooth! Well that's great, except perhaps you were thinking I was going to do that fixing part.
But here is the better than the best part (for me at least). If you fail to keep your computers running smooth after all the great information that I give you, then it will be your fault! My contract with you says that I still get paid even though you failed to fix your computers. Maybe you just do not have the right "computer vibration", how can I be responsible for that?
I doubt you would do this deal in a million years, and yet thousands of people make this same kind of deal every day when they hire a coach or sign up for a personal development seminar of some sort. The secret here is that I know how to troubleshoot computers, and troubleshooting is a talent that you have or you don't. If you don't, it's hard to imagine how anyone could teach it to you. And yet my marketing would say that since I have 17 years experience, I am the master teacher. And in fact I have taught it to others in such a way that they greatly improved; but they had some talent to start with.
Unfortunately, some of the absolute worst purveyors of this problem are the very teachers that are in the movie The Secret. Bob Proctor is currently advertising a program that includes dinner at his house for $12,500.00. The James Ray harmonic wealth weekend is about $997.00. If you want to learn from the "eminent" (as described by Rhonda) Dr Tony Quinn, you can attend the Educo seminar for 18,000 British pounds, which is well over $35,700.00 USD at exchange rates in place on 3-31-2008.
You know what? I know at least two people (not me) who have attended this Educo seminar. The seminar did not help them build their business in any way; and once the seminar is over, Dr. Quinn will not so much as talk to them on the telephone. You would think that after paying someone that kind of money that they would be willing to talk to you on the phone, but in the case of Dr. Quinn you would be wrong on that.
Now in all fairness to Dr. Quinn, I know of another Educo attendee who took the materials learned there and discovered oil in Belieze. I am not saying that there is not value in what he is teaching, I am saying that there is no way to know going in if what he is teaching will help you or not, and that is a pretty darn expensive gamble there. You could do better in Vegas.
There is an easy solution to the problem, but it will be VERY hard to find someone who will do this.
Only hire a coach who is paid a percentage on your increased business.
Quack coaches will of course want no part of this, because their living is earned from people paying them who do not yet know that they are quack coaches. Oh and do not forget the 30 day notice clause, you will pay for at least one more month even after you quit coaching with them.
Experienced coaches would say that this is not fair to them, because they cannot control what another person does. There is some merit to this argument, but they way things currently stand they have no skin in the game at all, and no real incentive to help someone succeed. They are typically good enough at other kinds of marketing that they do not need word of mouth.
Here is an example of another industry that does better.
Lawyers will take cases on contingency. This means they only get paid if you win. It's a win win deal. You do not pay if you lose, and they still win because they charge more on the contingency than they would for strait time. You also have the option of strait time, it's your choice.
Another example. The property tax consultants in my county will help you dispute your taxes, and they charge 50% of your savings. It saves you a lot of time. If you do not save any money, then they do not get paid.
Why won't the personal coaches and the seminar people do the same thing? I would be willing to give a coach 50% of my increased business (above an agreed upon level set going in) for all the time I coached with them plus 6-12 more months after that. If they really helped me to increase my business, then they would stand to make a lot of money, as would I, and that is the whole point. If they failed to help me increase my business, they get nothing.
As it should be, IMHO. Your coach needs to have some skin in the game. I guess that a hybrid deal could be worked as well, partial up front fee and rest based on results.
So here is what I suggest: Until you find a coach who is willing to have skin in your game, just buy the book. You have all the time you need to understand what is said, and if it does not help you, then you are only out the cost of the book; and not even that if you got it at the library.
Good reading!
Joseph
P.S. To the legitimate coaches out there who really do care and who bust your butt to get results for your clients, first of all where are you? Have not found any of you in at least 10 attempts. To you I apologize if my broad stroke paints your business sour. Please leave comments on this post explaining in detail why you would not be able to work on a contingency basis, because you may have valid arguments that I have not considered. Thanks in advance! --- Joseph
But I have been noticing something a little disturbing in all of these. . .
By and large, I mean generally, they HAVE NOT worked for us. That is if you define "working for you" as being able to get the kinds of results that the marketing of all these kinds of programs says you can get. It just has not happened for us (yet), but it is not for lack of trying.
Here is a dirty little secret that they do not want you to know: The Personal Development and Coaching industry is the only industry on Earth where the sellers can charge a lot of money for attendance, and yet take absolutely *no* responsibility for the results of what they teach.
My wife especially had had at least seven different coaches in the last four years.
And none of them helped her to increase her business.
And all of them wanted their $350.00 a month, up front. One wanted 12 months up front.
Your conclusion to this data may be that she must not have done what they said.
Well she did do what they said. Exactly what they said.
Well perhaps she did not understand it.
Possible, but who is in charge of making sure she understands it?
Or, best one of all, perhaps she just has the wrong vibration and as such she drove her own business away.
Well, that is certainly possible.
Are you noticing any pattern here?
The Coaches all charged at least $350.00 a month and in some cases much more.
None of them helped her.
None of them took the least bit of responsibility that she did not increase her business results. Notice how all the failure possibilities were her fault.
If this happened in any other industry, it would not be tolerated. I run a computer business. Let's say that I offer you a deal where I charge you $350.00 a month to keep your computers running smooth, fast and virus free. Price seems pretty high you think but it might be worth it if the worry about the computers were taken away.
But here is the best part. By your paying me $350.00, you get to come to my seminar, and to participate in my conference calls, I will teach you how to keep your computers running smooth! Well that's great, except perhaps you were thinking I was going to do that fixing part.
But here is the better than the best part (for me at least). If you fail to keep your computers running smooth after all the great information that I give you, then it will be your fault! My contract with you says that I still get paid even though you failed to fix your computers. Maybe you just do not have the right "computer vibration", how can I be responsible for that?
I doubt you would do this deal in a million years, and yet thousands of people make this same kind of deal every day when they hire a coach or sign up for a personal development seminar of some sort. The secret here is that I know how to troubleshoot computers, and troubleshooting is a talent that you have or you don't. If you don't, it's hard to imagine how anyone could teach it to you. And yet my marketing would say that since I have 17 years experience, I am the master teacher. And in fact I have taught it to others in such a way that they greatly improved; but they had some talent to start with.
Unfortunately, some of the absolute worst purveyors of this problem are the very teachers that are in the movie The Secret. Bob Proctor is currently advertising a program that includes dinner at his house for $12,500.00. The James Ray harmonic wealth weekend is about $997.00. If you want to learn from the "eminent" (as described by Rhonda) Dr Tony Quinn, you can attend the Educo seminar for 18,000 British pounds, which is well over $35,700.00 USD at exchange rates in place on 3-31-2008.
You know what? I know at least two people (not me) who have attended this Educo seminar. The seminar did not help them build their business in any way; and once the seminar is over, Dr. Quinn will not so much as talk to them on the telephone. You would think that after paying someone that kind of money that they would be willing to talk to you on the phone, but in the case of Dr. Quinn you would be wrong on that.
Now in all fairness to Dr. Quinn, I know of another Educo attendee who took the materials learned there and discovered oil in Belieze. I am not saying that there is not value in what he is teaching, I am saying that there is no way to know going in if what he is teaching will help you or not, and that is a pretty darn expensive gamble there. You could do better in Vegas.
There is an easy solution to the problem, but it will be VERY hard to find someone who will do this.
Only hire a coach who is paid a percentage on your increased business.
Quack coaches will of course want no part of this, because their living is earned from people paying them who do not yet know that they are quack coaches. Oh and do not forget the 30 day notice clause, you will pay for at least one more month even after you quit coaching with them.
Experienced coaches would say that this is not fair to them, because they cannot control what another person does. There is some merit to this argument, but they way things currently stand they have no skin in the game at all, and no real incentive to help someone succeed. They are typically good enough at other kinds of marketing that they do not need word of mouth.
Here is an example of another industry that does better.
Lawyers will take cases on contingency. This means they only get paid if you win. It's a win win deal. You do not pay if you lose, and they still win because they charge more on the contingency than they would for strait time. You also have the option of strait time, it's your choice.
Another example. The property tax consultants in my county will help you dispute your taxes, and they charge 50% of your savings. It saves you a lot of time. If you do not save any money, then they do not get paid.
Why won't the personal coaches and the seminar people do the same thing? I would be willing to give a coach 50% of my increased business (above an agreed upon level set going in) for all the time I coached with them plus 6-12 more months after that. If they really helped me to increase my business, then they would stand to make a lot of money, as would I, and that is the whole point. If they failed to help me increase my business, they get nothing.
As it should be, IMHO. Your coach needs to have some skin in the game. I guess that a hybrid deal could be worked as well, partial up front fee and rest based on results.
So here is what I suggest: Until you find a coach who is willing to have skin in your game, just buy the book. You have all the time you need to understand what is said, and if it does not help you, then you are only out the cost of the book; and not even that if you got it at the library.
Good reading!
Joseph
P.S. To the legitimate coaches out there who really do care and who bust your butt to get results for your clients, first of all where are you? Have not found any of you in at least 10 attempts. To you I apologize if my broad stroke paints your business sour. Please leave comments on this post explaining in detail why you would not be able to work on a contingency basis, because you may have valid arguments that I have not considered. Thanks in advance! --- Joseph
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Three Most Important Words in The Secret ??
If you were to pick the three word phrase that contains the most important message in all of the book or the movie The Secret, what would it be?
Your first guess might be "Follow Your Bliss", and that is an extremely good guess. Who would have thought that one simple three word phrase could communicate so well what we should do that will bring us to the magic of life.
But did you think of this one, said almost in passing by James Ray, where he said you've got to get really clear.
First of all, do we even know what this really and truly means?
So to help you to fully grasp the concept being presented here, I have to share a little history with you.
You were a very powerful attracting being prior to your life here that you know. When you came here you were disconnected from your previous power in two distinct ways. . .
1. You passed through a "veil of forgetfulness". Because of this you have no memory of your life previous and no memory that you even had a life previous.
2. The link between your conscious mind (where you are completely in control of the action) and your subconscious mind (which does all the attracting and has all of the real power) was abstracted. This means that generally there is a disconnect between the two, and that disconnect can really make it difficult for us to attract as well as we used to (I mean in the sense of attract what we want: we are attracting things we want and that we don't want all the time).
WHY were you disconnected from your real power in these two distinct ways? Well, that is a completely different discussion that I do not have time to get into in this posting, but it sufficeth me to say that there was a reason for it, and it is a very good reason.
So if you find yourself "attracting by default" or attracting wildly with seemingly little control over it, then WELCOME! You have reached planet Earth. It was meant to be this way to start, and it will ever be this way until we learn and understand some very specific truths about our own existence. Oh, and that part about 98% of the subconscious programs that run (or ruin) your life being put there before you were 2 . . . That was also part of the same plan. You had no control whatsoever over what programs were put in there.
So here is what happens. We look at the things we are attracting, especially the ones we are complaining about, and we have watched or read The Secret. Now we understand that we need to change what is going on in our own head before we can change the conditions around us.
But guess what? Changing your conscious thoughts IS NOT ENOUGH to create the real change!
I will say it again . . . it is NOT ENOUGH. The reason why is because the change we have made to our conscious thoughts has not made it to our subconscious mind, and so our subconscious mind continues to operate as before and we continue to get the same results that we got before.
But that's not fair! Who ever said life was . . . :-)
No, there is an additional step required before any real change happens. Your new thoughts must be introduced to your subconscious mind; and this is not necessarily a strait forward process.
And yet try this experiment with me, which will only work if you are about 35 or older. I will start a phrase that was on a TV commercial. This is a TV commercial that has not been on the air for at least 30 years now. See if you can complete the sentence:
Plop Plop Fizz Fizz, ____ ____ _____ ______ ______ ______ !
There is a 99% chance that you knew the answer (which is posted at the bottom of this posting for those who are curious). My question for you would be: Why do you know that ??
Were you *trying* to learn it? NO. Did you even care to learn it? NO. Are you mad at me now because you cannot get that stupid jingle out of your mind now? YES.
Sorry about that, had to be done. We know how you learned it. You learned it through a process that is called Spaced Repetition. The combination of the words with the music created a medium where the message could, over time, with repetition, be pushed down to your subconscious; where you have immediate recall of it even 30 YEARS later. That's a hint of how powerful the subconscious is. Notice you did not need the music to recall it, that was only a transport mechanism to get it to your subconscous in the first place, and is not required afterwards.
So it becomes clear that nothing really changes in a big way until you can get something new into your subconscious. So how do you do that?
I wish I could tell you, but I do not entirely know myself. If I did I would have already made some major changes to my world.
But I do have some hints to share that may be helpful, and they are based on quite a bit of research in the movie The Secret and outside of it.
The first thing is the James Ray quote, you have to get really clear. This means that you have to expend mental energy to put the thing you are wanting in your mind as much as possible. Now understand that you will not be able to keep it there 100% of the time. In fact if you could keep it there even 10% of the time I would have to say that is really great work! You create vision boards and play movies in your mind, add sound and even smell if possible, all of which to further ingrain the image in your mind. One day I mean to try singing an affirmation to see if it is more powerful when music is added.
So here is the part that I do not fully understand, but I *think* what happens is that every now and again the pipe between the conscious and the subconscious clears up a bit and the materials in the conscious transfer to the subconscious. When this happens the subconscious will rewrite programs based on the new data that has been provided. So the reason for keeping what you want in your mind as much as possible is so that it will be there when the pipe opens up.
In the movie, Jack Canfield says that when he walks in nature that seems to open the pipe some for him. Some others say that meditation can open the pipe some. The point ot understand here is that what works for Jack Canfield may or may not work for John Doe. Because of this fact I would advise against paying anyone any amount of money so that they could tell you how to get in touch with *your* subconscious. I mean how could they really know that ?? Answer is that they cannot, they can only tell you what worked for them, and it may or may not work for you. But they will not give you a refund if it does not work for you, will they?
So we get really clear. Really clear about what we are wanting. Really clear combined with feelings on the good side of the emotional guidance scale.
We do this at spaced intervals; and as we continue to do this then it becomes only a matter of time before the new thoughts can get into the subconscious to help rewrite some of those programs.
And then our world can change in a big way!
At least that is how I think it works.
Would anyone like to confirm based on your own experience?
(Plop Plop Fizz Fizz; Oh What a Relief it is! --- This jingle for Alka Selzer played extensively in the 1970s on TV commercials, but has not ever played since to my knowledge)
Joseph
Your first guess might be "Follow Your Bliss", and that is an extremely good guess. Who would have thought that one simple three word phrase could communicate so well what we should do that will bring us to the magic of life.
But did you think of this one, said almost in passing by James Ray, where he said you've got to get really clear.
First of all, do we even know what this really and truly means?
So to help you to fully grasp the concept being presented here, I have to share a little history with you.
You were a very powerful attracting being prior to your life here that you know. When you came here you were disconnected from your previous power in two distinct ways. . .
1. You passed through a "veil of forgetfulness". Because of this you have no memory of your life previous and no memory that you even had a life previous.
2. The link between your conscious mind (where you are completely in control of the action) and your subconscious mind (which does all the attracting and has all of the real power) was abstracted. This means that generally there is a disconnect between the two, and that disconnect can really make it difficult for us to attract as well as we used to (I mean in the sense of attract what we want: we are attracting things we want and that we don't want all the time).
WHY were you disconnected from your real power in these two distinct ways? Well, that is a completely different discussion that I do not have time to get into in this posting, but it sufficeth me to say that there was a reason for it, and it is a very good reason.
So if you find yourself "attracting by default" or attracting wildly with seemingly little control over it, then WELCOME! You have reached planet Earth. It was meant to be this way to start, and it will ever be this way until we learn and understand some very specific truths about our own existence. Oh, and that part about 98% of the subconscious programs that run (or ruin) your life being put there before you were 2 . . . That was also part of the same plan. You had no control whatsoever over what programs were put in there.
So here is what happens. We look at the things we are attracting, especially the ones we are complaining about, and we have watched or read The Secret. Now we understand that we need to change what is going on in our own head before we can change the conditions around us.
But guess what? Changing your conscious thoughts IS NOT ENOUGH to create the real change!
I will say it again . . . it is NOT ENOUGH. The reason why is because the change we have made to our conscious thoughts has not made it to our subconscious mind, and so our subconscious mind continues to operate as before and we continue to get the same results that we got before.
But that's not fair! Who ever said life was . . . :-)
No, there is an additional step required before any real change happens. Your new thoughts must be introduced to your subconscious mind; and this is not necessarily a strait forward process.
And yet try this experiment with me, which will only work if you are about 35 or older. I will start a phrase that was on a TV commercial. This is a TV commercial that has not been on the air for at least 30 years now. See if you can complete the sentence:
Plop Plop Fizz Fizz, ____ ____ _____ ______ ______ ______ !
There is a 99% chance that you knew the answer (which is posted at the bottom of this posting for those who are curious). My question for you would be: Why do you know that ??
Were you *trying* to learn it? NO. Did you even care to learn it? NO. Are you mad at me now because you cannot get that stupid jingle out of your mind now? YES.
Sorry about that, had to be done. We know how you learned it. You learned it through a process that is called Spaced Repetition. The combination of the words with the music created a medium where the message could, over time, with repetition, be pushed down to your subconscious; where you have immediate recall of it even 30 YEARS later. That's a hint of how powerful the subconscious is. Notice you did not need the music to recall it, that was only a transport mechanism to get it to your subconscous in the first place, and is not required afterwards.
So it becomes clear that nothing really changes in a big way until you can get something new into your subconscious. So how do you do that?
I wish I could tell you, but I do not entirely know myself. If I did I would have already made some major changes to my world.
But I do have some hints to share that may be helpful, and they are based on quite a bit of research in the movie The Secret and outside of it.
The first thing is the James Ray quote, you have to get really clear. This means that you have to expend mental energy to put the thing you are wanting in your mind as much as possible. Now understand that you will not be able to keep it there 100% of the time. In fact if you could keep it there even 10% of the time I would have to say that is really great work! You create vision boards and play movies in your mind, add sound and even smell if possible, all of which to further ingrain the image in your mind. One day I mean to try singing an affirmation to see if it is more powerful when music is added.
So here is the part that I do not fully understand, but I *think* what happens is that every now and again the pipe between the conscious and the subconscious clears up a bit and the materials in the conscious transfer to the subconscious. When this happens the subconscious will rewrite programs based on the new data that has been provided. So the reason for keeping what you want in your mind as much as possible is so that it will be there when the pipe opens up.
In the movie, Jack Canfield says that when he walks in nature that seems to open the pipe some for him. Some others say that meditation can open the pipe some. The point ot understand here is that what works for Jack Canfield may or may not work for John Doe. Because of this fact I would advise against paying anyone any amount of money so that they could tell you how to get in touch with *your* subconscious. I mean how could they really know that ?? Answer is that they cannot, they can only tell you what worked for them, and it may or may not work for you. But they will not give you a refund if it does not work for you, will they?
So we get really clear. Really clear about what we are wanting. Really clear combined with feelings on the good side of the emotional guidance scale.
We do this at spaced intervals; and as we continue to do this then it becomes only a matter of time before the new thoughts can get into the subconscious to help rewrite some of those programs.
And then our world can change in a big way!
At least that is how I think it works.
Would anyone like to confirm based on your own experience?
(Plop Plop Fizz Fizz; Oh What a Relief it is! --- This jingle for Alka Selzer played extensively in the 1970s on TV commercials, but has not ever played since to my knowledge)
Joseph
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Do -- Have -- Be? The world wants to know . . .
One of the authors that Rhonda drew material from for The Secret was Charles F. Haanel. I wish to spend this article discussing this quote from one of his works:
We must BE before we can DO, and we can DO only to the extent which we ARE, and what we ARE depends on what we THINK.
Put in another form: THINK --> BE/ARE --> DO. Or, "What we BE is what we ARE".
Got it?
I doubt it.
Hardly anyone has really figured this one out. WE are all mostly still believing that the process is DO, HAVE, BE; As in what you do determines your results, which determines what you have, and then what you have or what you have accomplished already says who you are.
It says we are defined by our actions, which seems true at first glance, but the way it should be is that our actions are defined by us . . .
Based on who we are.
Yes, that is the great issue we all face . . . we spend all our time on DO without any pause for THINK. Perhaps we have all been reading the book: Do and Grow Rich?
Certainly not. The book is THINK and Grow Rich, by Napolean Hill, 1937.
Wallace Wattles offers what might be considered a cynical viewpoint on this, but he basically says that men will endure all kinds of hardships, walk miles and miles through the snow up hill both ways, and basically do everything possible to stop himself from having to exercise some mental energy, to stop himself from having to think.
You could argue that this is a good thing. Someone needs to work on the factory floor. There are thousands of mindless jobs out there that someone needs to do.
But it does not have to be you!
So yes, we need to think. But we need to think in terms of what we are really wanting, and what we are really wanting will come to us via what we are creating.
And 999 times out of a 1000, you will not get to be that creative while working for someone else.
No, this needs to be YOUR creation, not someone else's.
Keep your day job (at first); but go to work immediately thinking about what you would love to create. It could be an eBook, a business, a business system. Perhaps a beautiful painting or video. Perhaps a beautiful or a rockin' song. Not sure what to do?
What are your talents?
So everyone has at least one talent. We will call yours (your first one) talent X.
So takes some time to BE (in your mind) someone who serves others and provides value by being an X'er. An X'er is someone who serves the public with talent X.
Put your thought behind How can I be a better X'er? How can I provide X value to more people than I currently reach? What can I create that is in the true spirit of X? How is the best way for me to get paid for sharing X with the world? How big will X business need to be before I can do it full time, because it is what I love to do?
A quick word for any who believe that you should hobby your X talent or that it is more spiritual to share your X talent without getting paid for it. I know you were taught this by your parents or you learned it at church. I do not wish to disagree with your parents or your church; but please consider the following . . .
1. And by the sweat of your face you will eat your bread all the days of your life; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Yes the Lord did say this to Adam. ----- We are meant to be paid for our work that provides value to others. We are not meant to volunteer all of our time for free.
2. Being paid for what you are creating will not stop you from volunteering your time for free to other worthy causes. In fact when your creation gets big enough and it can be safely be run by others on the payroll, you will have a lot more time to volunteer for worthy causes, as well as the money to do it!
3. The happiest folks are those who make their living doing what they love. If you are not ever paid for doing what you love, you will never be able to spend that much time doing it!
4. In conclusion, you must be paid for your creation, or you will have difficulty finding the time to build it bigger. The "magic of life" is not for the hobbyest.
So here is what will unavoidably happen as you put thought energy into how to be an X'er:
-- You will start to get inspiration about actions to take. You actions will be marketing actions and technical actions. At first, and always, the marketing actions are most important.
-- Your continued thought and mental energy will put the Law of Attraction to work for you. You will attract the money, the people, the books, the mentor, or whatever else it is that you need in order to build your X creation.
-- Your actions will set up business systems that allow you to get paid for providing value to others. Once the initial system is set up, then your (inspired) actions will be on how to market the X to a wider audience, and how to train others to help you with X and provide even more value to even more people.
So unlearn the DO -- HAVE -- BE mentality, it may have got you to where you are today, but it will not likely get you to the next great amazement.
Learn THINK -- BE/ARE -- DO.
You get to decide what you will be with your own thoughts. The actions will follow and they will be inspired.
WAIT for the inspiration, but do not stop the mental exercise while waiting. Put the thought energy to work, detach from the HOW, and wait for the inspiration.
You do that and you will create something that changes your life, and improves the life of so many others.
I would like to hear what you have created using this process. Leave me a comment!
Joseph
We must BE before we can DO, and we can DO only to the extent which we ARE, and what we ARE depends on what we THINK.
Put in another form: THINK --> BE/ARE --> DO. Or, "What we BE is what we ARE".
Got it?
I doubt it.
Hardly anyone has really figured this one out. WE are all mostly still believing that the process is DO, HAVE, BE; As in what you do determines your results, which determines what you have, and then what you have or what you have accomplished already says who you are.
It says we are defined by our actions, which seems true at first glance, but the way it should be is that our actions are defined by us . . .
Based on who we are.
Yes, that is the great issue we all face . . . we spend all our time on DO without any pause for THINK. Perhaps we have all been reading the book: Do and Grow Rich?
Certainly not. The book is THINK and Grow Rich, by Napolean Hill, 1937.
Wallace Wattles offers what might be considered a cynical viewpoint on this, but he basically says that men will endure all kinds of hardships, walk miles and miles through the snow up hill both ways, and basically do everything possible to stop himself from having to exercise some mental energy, to stop himself from having to think.
You could argue that this is a good thing. Someone needs to work on the factory floor. There are thousands of mindless jobs out there that someone needs to do.
But it does not have to be you!
So yes, we need to think. But we need to think in terms of what we are really wanting, and what we are really wanting will come to us via what we are creating.
And 999 times out of a 1000, you will not get to be that creative while working for someone else.
No, this needs to be YOUR creation, not someone else's.
Keep your day job (at first); but go to work immediately thinking about what you would love to create. It could be an eBook, a business, a business system. Perhaps a beautiful painting or video. Perhaps a beautiful or a rockin' song. Not sure what to do?
What are your talents?
So everyone has at least one talent. We will call yours (your first one) talent X.
So takes some time to BE (in your mind) someone who serves others and provides value by being an X'er. An X'er is someone who serves the public with talent X.
Put your thought behind How can I be a better X'er? How can I provide X value to more people than I currently reach? What can I create that is in the true spirit of X? How is the best way for me to get paid for sharing X with the world? How big will X business need to be before I can do it full time, because it is what I love to do?
A quick word for any who believe that you should hobby your X talent or that it is more spiritual to share your X talent without getting paid for it. I know you were taught this by your parents or you learned it at church. I do not wish to disagree with your parents or your church; but please consider the following . . .
1. And by the sweat of your face you will eat your bread all the days of your life; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Yes the Lord did say this to Adam. ----- We are meant to be paid for our work that provides value to others. We are not meant to volunteer all of our time for free.
2. Being paid for what you are creating will not stop you from volunteering your time for free to other worthy causes. In fact when your creation gets big enough and it can be safely be run by others on the payroll, you will have a lot more time to volunteer for worthy causes, as well as the money to do it!
3. The happiest folks are those who make their living doing what they love. If you are not ever paid for doing what you love, you will never be able to spend that much time doing it!
4. In conclusion, you must be paid for your creation, or you will have difficulty finding the time to build it bigger. The "magic of life" is not for the hobbyest.
So here is what will unavoidably happen as you put thought energy into how to be an X'er:
-- You will start to get inspiration about actions to take. You actions will be marketing actions and technical actions. At first, and always, the marketing actions are most important.
-- Your continued thought and mental energy will put the Law of Attraction to work for you. You will attract the money, the people, the books, the mentor, or whatever else it is that you need in order to build your X creation.
-- Your actions will set up business systems that allow you to get paid for providing value to others. Once the initial system is set up, then your (inspired) actions will be on how to market the X to a wider audience, and how to train others to help you with X and provide even more value to even more people.
So unlearn the DO -- HAVE -- BE mentality, it may have got you to where you are today, but it will not likely get you to the next great amazement.
Learn THINK -- BE/ARE -- DO.
You get to decide what you will be with your own thoughts. The actions will follow and they will be inspired.
WAIT for the inspiration, but do not stop the mental exercise while waiting. Put the thought energy to work, detach from the HOW, and wait for the inspiration.
You do that and you will create something that changes your life, and improves the life of so many others.
I would like to hear what you have created using this process. Leave me a comment!
Joseph
Saturday, March 8, 2008
What does it look like when your moment arrives?
The Book As A Man Thinketh by the author James Allen is not quoted in the movie The Secret, but the book shares a message that is right in line wiht what the movie and book are trying to present. To set up my showing of a great example of someone who completely changed their life by one act of courage, I begin by quoting the following . . . (italics added)
And you, too, youthful reader, will realize the Vision (not the idle wish) of your
heart, be it base or beautiful, or a mixture of both; for you will always gravitate
toward that which you, secretly, most love. Into your hands will be placed the
exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn; no
more, no less. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain,
or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will become as small as
your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration:
In the beautiful words of Stanton Kirkham Davis, “You may be keeping accounts,
and presently you shall walk out of the door that for so long has seemed to you the
barrier of your ideals, and shall find yourself before an audience – the pen still behind
your ear, the inkstains on your fingers – and then and there shall pour out the torrent of
your inspiration. You may be driving sheep, and you shall wander to the city –
bucolic and open-mouthed; shall wander under the intrepid guidance of the spirit
into the studio of the master, and after a time he shall say, ‘I have nothing more to
teach you.’ And now you have become the master, who did so recently dream of 22
great things while driving sheep. You shall lay down the saw and the plane to take
upon yourself the regeneration of the world.”
So consider the case of Paul. A mobile phone salesman living in Wales, he had a dream of something better, but for years had not acted upon it. Had he not had the courage to do what is shown in the following video, he would still be unheard of to this day. The following is an example of what it looks like when your moment arrives, audience included.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA&NR=1
Now if you think that was something; here is a link to the professionals singing the exact same song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDtcidMR_6I&feature=related
I leave it to you to compare how Paul did compared to the undisputed world champions in that sort of thing.
So . . . .
All of us, and that means everyone, has some kind of talent given to them by their creator. All of us get to make the same decision with it as well. We can sell mobile phones, or we can take a huge risk in front of an audience (including TV) of millions, knowing that a failure there would pretty much be a big stumbling block to the further reaching of our dream.
The Universe likes those who are brave enough to take the risk.
Independent of the results.
Now there are people who come on shows like that who really do not have any talent in music at all, and I have observed people laughing at their attempt to sing when they obviously have no talent for it.
But I say this . . . The Universe loves those who are willing to take a risk, and those who are brave enough to go on a show like that and fail miserably are way more likely to eventually be successful in their lives as all of the people who are at home watching their TV laughing at them, who would never do such a thing themselves.
I honor them for having the bravery to try; and when they do figure out where their talent really is, they will jump into it with both feet despite any risks and because of that and their determination to never quit, they will be successful.
Meanwhile the people laughing at them from their couch will still be lauching at someone else.
Take your pick?
Joseph
And you, too, youthful reader, will realize the Vision (not the idle wish) of your
heart, be it base or beautiful, or a mixture of both; for you will always gravitate
toward that which you, secretly, most love. Into your hands will be placed the
exact results of your own thoughts; you will receive that which you earn; no
more, no less. Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain,
or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal. You will become as small as
your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration:
In the beautiful words of Stanton Kirkham Davis, “You may be keeping accounts,
and presently you shall walk out of the door that for so long has seemed to you the
barrier of your ideals, and shall find yourself before an audience – the pen still behind
your ear, the inkstains on your fingers – and then and there shall pour out the torrent of
your inspiration. You may be driving sheep, and you shall wander to the city –
bucolic and open-mouthed; shall wander under the intrepid guidance of the spirit
into the studio of the master, and after a time he shall say, ‘I have nothing more to
teach you.’ And now you have become the master, who did so recently dream of 22
great things while driving sheep. You shall lay down the saw and the plane to take
upon yourself the regeneration of the world.”
So consider the case of Paul. A mobile phone salesman living in Wales, he had a dream of something better, but for years had not acted upon it. Had he not had the courage to do what is shown in the following video, he would still be unheard of to this day. The following is an example of what it looks like when your moment arrives, audience included.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA&NR=1
Now if you think that was something; here is a link to the professionals singing the exact same song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDtcidMR_6I&feature=related
I leave it to you to compare how Paul did compared to the undisputed world champions in that sort of thing.
So . . . .
All of us, and that means everyone, has some kind of talent given to them by their creator. All of us get to make the same decision with it as well. We can sell mobile phones, or we can take a huge risk in front of an audience (including TV) of millions, knowing that a failure there would pretty much be a big stumbling block to the further reaching of our dream.
The Universe likes those who are brave enough to take the risk.
Independent of the results.
Now there are people who come on shows like that who really do not have any talent in music at all, and I have observed people laughing at their attempt to sing when they obviously have no talent for it.
But I say this . . . The Universe loves those who are willing to take a risk, and those who are brave enough to go on a show like that and fail miserably are way more likely to eventually be successful in their lives as all of the people who are at home watching their TV laughing at them, who would never do such a thing themselves.
I honor them for having the bravery to try; and when they do figure out where their talent really is, they will jump into it with both feet despite any risks and because of that and their determination to never quit, they will be successful.
Meanwhile the people laughing at them from their couch will still be lauching at someone else.
Take your pick?
Joseph
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Everyone Wants the Results, But Who Will Walk the Path ??
AS I see it, the overriding message of The Secret is that our lives can be so much more than what they are today. Especially for those who are stuck in the middle class Rat Race, and who perceive their lives to be mediocre.
So we see the results that some others have obtained, and quite naturally we want those same results for ourselves. This is not a bad thing. All positive change begins with the desire for something better. This desire should be cultivated, not ignored.
And yet we do not have to go too far down the path to our dreams before we realize that it ultimately must start with us building or buying some kind of business, or creating something else, because true financial freedom does not come until we can be paid some on other people's efforts, or off of royalties, or until we have amassed enough of a stockpile ourselves to just live off the interest. The problem with the latter is that it takes 40 years or so, and you may have been wanting something a little quicker.
And soon after that, we find out that building that business or marketing that book is not as easy to do as it seemed like at first, and we also find that out there in the business world with the big bears and the gorillas and the sharks that the market is very unforgiving of mistakes that we make along the way. Some people find that this puts them in piles and piles of debt, ruins their credit, threatens their home and generally messes with their life.
Does the movie The Secret say that you can just focus on the end result, visualize it, be grateful for it in advance, and then by doing all of that you can just skip the pesky part where you actually have to make mistakes and learn something? I think not.
What it does say, is that if you keep your focus on the end result, if you do not get so caught up in the mistakes along the way, as in just learn from them and move on, that you will with this focus finally get to the end result.
But who is willing to do it?
If I guaranteed you that you could be a millionaire, and that the only price was that you had to be homeless for some undetermined amount of time first, would you be willing to do it? You might ask Neale Donald Walsch that question, because this is pretty much what happened to him.
But here is the real kicker. . . He went into being homeless as a displaced worker who had been living a quiet middle class life.
He came out of it with the inspiration that turned him into a millionaire; namely the Conversations With God books.
Would he have ever received that inspiration if he had not been homeless? Who knows? But my guess is probably not, because he would have not perceived the great and dire need for something better.
If we only sorta want something better, is that enough to get us along the crooked and difficult path to fame and fortune? I think not. We must have a gut renching feeling that something has to change, or we will not do anything different, and as such we will not get any different results.
And to any who would argue that it does not have to be a crooked and difficult path to fame and fortune, I would allow that most of the work is within your head as opposed to without, but if the path were easy then everybody would already be there . . .
And it would not mean as much.
So I do not wish to sound harsh here, but rising to fame and fortune is not for the timid. We will make mistakes along the way, and those mistakes will be costly. Knowing this beforehand helps a little . . .
But not much.
But it's even worse to go into any kind of new venture thinking that we have all the answers and that we are smarter than all of that. We just set ourselves up to fail (which is going to happen a number of times regardless), and we are not able to deal with the failure because we think we were too smart to have had one. So we quit. The only way to ultimately fail in this life is to quit. Those who do not quit eventually get there.
100% of the time.
And that should not be a Secret to anyone.
So I say show your mettle. Everyone and that means everyone should be trying to build some kind of business or create some kind of a new thing in their after work time. We seek to get rich through Creation, not competition. What are you good at? Write that book! Start that home based business!
And understand that when you meet failures, that you see them for what they really are . . .
Signposts that prove that you are on the right road to fame and fortune.
Because there is one and only one group of people who never fail, and you know exactly who they are . . .
Yep. The ones who never try.
Don't be one of them.
Joseph
So we see the results that some others have obtained, and quite naturally we want those same results for ourselves. This is not a bad thing. All positive change begins with the desire for something better. This desire should be cultivated, not ignored.
And yet we do not have to go too far down the path to our dreams before we realize that it ultimately must start with us building or buying some kind of business, or creating something else, because true financial freedom does not come until we can be paid some on other people's efforts, or off of royalties, or until we have amassed enough of a stockpile ourselves to just live off the interest. The problem with the latter is that it takes 40 years or so, and you may have been wanting something a little quicker.
And soon after that, we find out that building that business or marketing that book is not as easy to do as it seemed like at first, and we also find that out there in the business world with the big bears and the gorillas and the sharks that the market is very unforgiving of mistakes that we make along the way. Some people find that this puts them in piles and piles of debt, ruins their credit, threatens their home and generally messes with their life.
Does the movie The Secret say that you can just focus on the end result, visualize it, be grateful for it in advance, and then by doing all of that you can just skip the pesky part where you actually have to make mistakes and learn something? I think not.
What it does say, is that if you keep your focus on the end result, if you do not get so caught up in the mistakes along the way, as in just learn from them and move on, that you will with this focus finally get to the end result.
But who is willing to do it?
If I guaranteed you that you could be a millionaire, and that the only price was that you had to be homeless for some undetermined amount of time first, would you be willing to do it? You might ask Neale Donald Walsch that question, because this is pretty much what happened to him.
But here is the real kicker. . . He went into being homeless as a displaced worker who had been living a quiet middle class life.
He came out of it with the inspiration that turned him into a millionaire; namely the Conversations With God books.
Would he have ever received that inspiration if he had not been homeless? Who knows? But my guess is probably not, because he would have not perceived the great and dire need for something better.
If we only sorta want something better, is that enough to get us along the crooked and difficult path to fame and fortune? I think not. We must have a gut renching feeling that something has to change, or we will not do anything different, and as such we will not get any different results.
And to any who would argue that it does not have to be a crooked and difficult path to fame and fortune, I would allow that most of the work is within your head as opposed to without, but if the path were easy then everybody would already be there . . .
And it would not mean as much.
So I do not wish to sound harsh here, but rising to fame and fortune is not for the timid. We will make mistakes along the way, and those mistakes will be costly. Knowing this beforehand helps a little . . .
But not much.
But it's even worse to go into any kind of new venture thinking that we have all the answers and that we are smarter than all of that. We just set ourselves up to fail (which is going to happen a number of times regardless), and we are not able to deal with the failure because we think we were too smart to have had one. So we quit. The only way to ultimately fail in this life is to quit. Those who do not quit eventually get there.
100% of the time.
And that should not be a Secret to anyone.
So I say show your mettle. Everyone and that means everyone should be trying to build some kind of business or create some kind of a new thing in their after work time. We seek to get rich through Creation, not competition. What are you good at? Write that book! Start that home based business!
And understand that when you meet failures, that you see them for what they really are . . .
Signposts that prove that you are on the right road to fame and fortune.
Because there is one and only one group of people who never fail, and you know exactly who they are . . .
Yep. The ones who never try.
Don't be one of them.
Joseph
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Real and Imagined Literacy
These two things exist . . .
There is knowing something.
And then there is doing something.
The one does not imply the other.
In fact it was Aristotle who said "the things we must learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them".
Sound Circular? So many things in life are. There is the vicious cycle; there is also the virtuous cycle, which is just the opposite. Either one can make your head spin.
In the movie The Secret it may seem that they are talking mostly about knowing something, or at least thinking or believing something.
But some people miss the emphasis on doing something. When the inspiration is there; ACT!
And that is all you have to do . . . (Joe Vitale).
In many parts of the world, the populations are not literate. They have little chance of being able to rise out of poverty because they are unable to read.
In the rest of the world, many are Unliterate. They know how to read . . .
But they choose not to. . . At least not to read anything that might expand their horizons.
And as a result they have little chance of rising out of whatever life they have already made for themselves.
So I feel to ask this simple question . . .
Which group is worse off? The group who can't?
Or the group who won't?
What kind of a message is that to send to your subconscious?
It is not going to make the connection that one might be trying to make, that's for sure.
The connection between a person ----
And their real power.
Which is their power to learn. That is the key to all of the rest of it.
Joseph
There is knowing something.
And then there is doing something.
The one does not imply the other.
In fact it was Aristotle who said "the things we must learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them".
Sound Circular? So many things in life are. There is the vicious cycle; there is also the virtuous cycle, which is just the opposite. Either one can make your head spin.
In the movie The Secret it may seem that they are talking mostly about knowing something, or at least thinking or believing something.
But some people miss the emphasis on doing something. When the inspiration is there; ACT!
And that is all you have to do . . . (Joe Vitale).
In many parts of the world, the populations are not literate. They have little chance of being able to rise out of poverty because they are unable to read.
In the rest of the world, many are Unliterate. They know how to read . . .
But they choose not to. . . At least not to read anything that might expand their horizons.
And as a result they have little chance of rising out of whatever life they have already made for themselves.
So I feel to ask this simple question . . .
Which group is worse off? The group who can't?
Or the group who won't?
What kind of a message is that to send to your subconscious?
It is not going to make the connection that one might be trying to make, that's for sure.
The connection between a person ----
And their real power.
Which is their power to learn. That is the key to all of the rest of it.
Joseph
Monday, February 11, 2008
The Accidental Business
I have obtained a couple of (free) audio programs that can be obtained from the website of Bob Proctor, one of the teachers on the book and movie The Secret. I enjoy listening to it because it makes and explains two very important points:
1. You are generally paid in this world according to the value that you provide, so if you wish to be paid more you have to find a way to provide increased value, or the same value to more people. Combine this with the following quote from Robert Kiyosaki: Money always flows to the Leader. If you want more money, become more of a Leader.
2. You can and should have multiple streams of income. Your creative thought should be placed on how you could develop your next one without adversely effecting any of the current one(s).
Well, with these ideas flowing around in my mind, I have been sort of keeping my eyes open for something that I might enjoy doing that could become an additional source of income for me.
And I attribute the fact that I was looking for what happened next. Now I had been looking for a while, and I had run across a couple of things, but the learning curve was too high and I did not really know how to do them.
Then one day, about a month ago, I saw someone posting in our community group about how they were looking for someone to help them with their computer, because they were at their wits end! I had seen messsages like this before and kind of ignored them, but this time I thought I should reply.
So I did. I replied stating that I had a business where I helped people with their computers, and that I had a special rate for the group members per hour. I was not necessairly expecting anything to come of it, but I did reply.
Well I got my first call the very next day. The next call that same day as well. Neither call was from the person who had posted at first asking for help, but both had learned about me from this community mailing list. It helps that this community mailing list has more than 1000 members.
Since I have 17 years of experience in all kinds of tech support, and currently work supporting network operating systems and other very complex pieces of software, helping folks with their home computers is like a breath of fresh air. I am really able to do something for them that they are not able to do for themselves, I can make some money at it, but the most important part of all is how I go home from every job feeling great because I have used my talents and provided some real value to other folks which they were only too happy to pay me for.
You see, I had my doubts about whether I had much to offer folks that they would be willing to pay for. I grew up in the work for someone else world and almost everyone else I know is militantly in the work for someone else world and it took some effort on my part to change my thinking some to believe that people would actually be willing to pay me.
Well I have ten customers now, less than 30 days later. All of them have been very happy to pay me for what I have been able to do for them. I guess when you save their data that they thought was lost it makes them really happy. But again the best part is that I have a blast doing it! I am meeting neighbors in my area that I would have never had a chance to meet otherwise.
Now I could not start this so successfully if I did not have some clue what I was doing, and this is where the things I have learned as a result of my wife's Network Marketing business are paying off. I never figured out how to sponsor anyone, but I did learn several things that one needs to do to run their own business. Like how and when to follow up with someone.
I share all of this to make two points. This has worked so well for me for two specific reasons:
1. I was looking for something
2. I was learning the basics of running a personal business before I had found one I could do.
I believe that everyone, and that means everyone, should be looking for a business that they could do from their home on a part time basis to start. Something that they are talented in and enjoy doing. There are things that we need to learn that just cannot be learned in any other way.
So what are you good at doing?
Joseph
1. You are generally paid in this world according to the value that you provide, so if you wish to be paid more you have to find a way to provide increased value, or the same value to more people. Combine this with the following quote from Robert Kiyosaki: Money always flows to the Leader. If you want more money, become more of a Leader.
2. You can and should have multiple streams of income. Your creative thought should be placed on how you could develop your next one without adversely effecting any of the current one(s).
Well, with these ideas flowing around in my mind, I have been sort of keeping my eyes open for something that I might enjoy doing that could become an additional source of income for me.
And I attribute the fact that I was looking for what happened next. Now I had been looking for a while, and I had run across a couple of things, but the learning curve was too high and I did not really know how to do them.
Then one day, about a month ago, I saw someone posting in our community group about how they were looking for someone to help them with their computer, because they were at their wits end! I had seen messsages like this before and kind of ignored them, but this time I thought I should reply.
So I did. I replied stating that I had a business where I helped people with their computers, and that I had a special rate for the group members per hour. I was not necessairly expecting anything to come of it, but I did reply.
Well I got my first call the very next day. The next call that same day as well. Neither call was from the person who had posted at first asking for help, but both had learned about me from this community mailing list. It helps that this community mailing list has more than 1000 members.
Since I have 17 years of experience in all kinds of tech support, and currently work supporting network operating systems and other very complex pieces of software, helping folks with their home computers is like a breath of fresh air. I am really able to do something for them that they are not able to do for themselves, I can make some money at it, but the most important part of all is how I go home from every job feeling great because I have used my talents and provided some real value to other folks which they were only too happy to pay me for.
You see, I had my doubts about whether I had much to offer folks that they would be willing to pay for. I grew up in the work for someone else world and almost everyone else I know is militantly in the work for someone else world and it took some effort on my part to change my thinking some to believe that people would actually be willing to pay me.
Well I have ten customers now, less than 30 days later. All of them have been very happy to pay me for what I have been able to do for them. I guess when you save their data that they thought was lost it makes them really happy. But again the best part is that I have a blast doing it! I am meeting neighbors in my area that I would have never had a chance to meet otherwise.
Now I could not start this so successfully if I did not have some clue what I was doing, and this is where the things I have learned as a result of my wife's Network Marketing business are paying off. I never figured out how to sponsor anyone, but I did learn several things that one needs to do to run their own business. Like how and when to follow up with someone.
I share all of this to make two points. This has worked so well for me for two specific reasons:
1. I was looking for something
2. I was learning the basics of running a personal business before I had found one I could do.
I believe that everyone, and that means everyone, should be looking for a business that they could do from their home on a part time basis to start. Something that they are talented in and enjoy doing. There are things that we need to learn that just cannot be learned in any other way.
So what are you good at doing?
Joseph
Monday, February 4, 2008
The Secret to Winning the Super Bowl ??
Given how good a game it was, millions of you probably watched the entirety of the Super Bowl this year, Patriots vs. Giants. Ever since seeing The Secret for the first time, I have often wondered if the Law of Attraction could be used to will your sports team on to victory, or whether it could be used by the players on the team to attract the victory to themselves?
It becomes complicated because of the number of attractive creators involved. In a tennis match for instance it would not be possible for both players to attract a victory, because someone has to lose, even if they are both plugged in and are powerful attractors.
Also while we do define our entire world with our thoughts, I am not understanding how we could define our world with a win by a certain team when others who share the Earth with us define their world with the victory of the opponent team.
Just to check, as any of you were watching the Super Bowl yesterday, did any of you see the Patriots win ??
Just checking.
I watch these types of things with a feeling that I really have no control over the outcome from my couch. Therefore I have no control over the outcome. I am not sure what would happen if I felt I had full control over it, but it is difficult for me to see how that would change anything?
Talent wise, I do not believe that the Giants were the better team, but they had the X factor that is required to win games of this type. They were in "the zone". You would have to believe that in seeing the way that they won the game.
As for the Patriots, you could argue that it was their pride that was their undoing. Hear me out on this one.
Prior to playing the Patriots in week 17 of the regular season, the Giants were a good team but not a great one. They were a distant second behind the Cowboys in their division, with the Cowboys having beaten them twice. Now their best receiver was not in either of those two games, but the games were not that close.
Meanwhile the Patriots would have normally rested all their starters in a meaningless week 17 game like this. If they had previously had one loss on the season then they would have certainly done so.
But they wanted regular season perfection. It had never been done on a 16 game season (The Dolphins did it in a 14 game season).
And it cost them the Super Bowl. Why?
Because the Giants came into Week 17 thinking they were a great team but not having proved it. They played all their starters as well (game was also meaningless for them), and they played the Patriots very well and were close to winning the game.
They took a mantle from that game. I have never before seen a team so inspired by a loss. They saw themselves as being equally as good as the Patriots, and that being the case, the Bucs, the Cowboys, the Packers, all became road kill on their way to a rematch with a team that they believed that they could beat. The fact that no one else could did not matter to them.
So they had the inspiration, and the Patriots did not.
If instead the Patriots had rested their starters in week 17, then the Giants would not have had the opportunity to become so inspired. Beating the second string Patriots would not have proved anything, and the Giants would not have know exactly what to prepare for in the big game.
Ask any Patriot fan . . . would they rather be 15-1 in the regular season and win the Super Bowl, or 16-0 and then lose it? you have to win the Super Bowl, it is more important than your regular season record, and the worst thing you can do is tip your hand to a potential super bowl opponent in week 17 of the regular season.
OK enough armchair quarterbacking. The game proves that the X factor is everything, and it was obvious that the Giants had it. The movie and book The Secret try to teach us how to get into the zone ourselves.
So we we can celebrate our life like the Giants are celebrating today.
Joseph
It becomes complicated because of the number of attractive creators involved. In a tennis match for instance it would not be possible for both players to attract a victory, because someone has to lose, even if they are both plugged in and are powerful attractors.
Also while we do define our entire world with our thoughts, I am not understanding how we could define our world with a win by a certain team when others who share the Earth with us define their world with the victory of the opponent team.
Just to check, as any of you were watching the Super Bowl yesterday, did any of you see the Patriots win ??
Just checking.
I watch these types of things with a feeling that I really have no control over the outcome from my couch. Therefore I have no control over the outcome. I am not sure what would happen if I felt I had full control over it, but it is difficult for me to see how that would change anything?
Talent wise, I do not believe that the Giants were the better team, but they had the X factor that is required to win games of this type. They were in "the zone". You would have to believe that in seeing the way that they won the game.
As for the Patriots, you could argue that it was their pride that was their undoing. Hear me out on this one.
Prior to playing the Patriots in week 17 of the regular season, the Giants were a good team but not a great one. They were a distant second behind the Cowboys in their division, with the Cowboys having beaten them twice. Now their best receiver was not in either of those two games, but the games were not that close.
Meanwhile the Patriots would have normally rested all their starters in a meaningless week 17 game like this. If they had previously had one loss on the season then they would have certainly done so.
But they wanted regular season perfection. It had never been done on a 16 game season (The Dolphins did it in a 14 game season).
And it cost them the Super Bowl. Why?
Because the Giants came into Week 17 thinking they were a great team but not having proved it. They played all their starters as well (game was also meaningless for them), and they played the Patriots very well and were close to winning the game.
They took a mantle from that game. I have never before seen a team so inspired by a loss. They saw themselves as being equally as good as the Patriots, and that being the case, the Bucs, the Cowboys, the Packers, all became road kill on their way to a rematch with a team that they believed that they could beat. The fact that no one else could did not matter to them.
So they had the inspiration, and the Patriots did not.
If instead the Patriots had rested their starters in week 17, then the Giants would not have had the opportunity to become so inspired. Beating the second string Patriots would not have proved anything, and the Giants would not have know exactly what to prepare for in the big game.
Ask any Patriot fan . . . would they rather be 15-1 in the regular season and win the Super Bowl, or 16-0 and then lose it? you have to win the Super Bowl, it is more important than your regular season record, and the worst thing you can do is tip your hand to a potential super bowl opponent in week 17 of the regular season.
OK enough armchair quarterbacking. The game proves that the X factor is everything, and it was obvious that the Giants had it. The movie and book The Secret try to teach us how to get into the zone ourselves.
So we we can celebrate our life like the Giants are celebrating today.
Joseph
Sunday, January 27, 2008
What if a Much of a Which of a Wind
what if a much of a which of a wind
gives the truth to summer's lie;
bloodies with dizzying leaves the sun
and yanks immortal stars awry?
Blow king to beggar and queen to seem
(blow friend to friend: blow space to time)
- when skies are hanged and oceans drowned,
the single secret will still be man
e e cummings
Yes, if we could figure man out, then it seems that we would really know The Secret.
I have some questions that have not been answered about this:
1. Why do so many not seek knowledge? It is one of only two things we will leave this world with.
2. Why do so many fear change? Change happens because things happen for us to understand our life better. Change happens for us to learn and have new experiences. Without change we could not learn anything at all. Until we are all knowing, we *need* change.
3. Why do so many ignore their vibration? Because they do not understand the question? Perhaps. But why are there some who see a movie like The Secret and then not be interested in researching further? Our vibration is the other thing that we will leave this world with.
4. Why are men born? Why do they die? Why do they spend so much of the time in between wearing digital watches? (Could not resist: Douglas Adams)
OK scratch the last one, I am in one of those moods.
Just some things I have been thinking about recently:
The movie The Secret talks about how to attract the money you need into your life . . .
but your decision to be happy and joyful can only be made right now, before you attract the money.
The movie talks about how to improve or attract better relationships . . .
but your decision to be happy with your current relationships can only be made right now, before you have a chance to apply the secret.
The movie talks about how to attract better health . . .
but your decision to be grateful for the health you have can only be made right now, before you attract greater health.
The movie talks about how to attract the things or the people that you need to succeed . . .
but your decision to be happy with what you have achieved can only be made right now, before you attract greater success.
Does anyone see a pattern forming here? Maybe even a disconnect?
Behold the power of now. Now is created for you and refreshed at every moment by what your conscious and subconscious minds are doing. Your conscious mind is the rudder, which steers the ship that your subconscious mind powers.
At every moment you can steer it towards joy and gratitude.
If you are paying attention that is.
You can also consciously decide not to steer the ship at all, in which case you will be driven about on the waves and tossed; or you can decide to steer the ship towards anger, revenge and competition, which will run you right into Hurricane Consequences.
Hurricane consequences can be category one or category five. You should know; you created it.
So what will your life, starting from this very moment on, be like?
I'll decide that after I have attracted a few things that I want or need?
Nada.
Put off the decision, and be tossed by the waves.
Decide right now, and reach the Harbor of Contentment.
So what exactly what are you waiting for?
(I thought so)
Joseph
gives the truth to summer's lie;
bloodies with dizzying leaves the sun
and yanks immortal stars awry?
Blow king to beggar and queen to seem
(blow friend to friend: blow space to time)
- when skies are hanged and oceans drowned,
the single secret will still be man
e e cummings
Yes, if we could figure man out, then it seems that we would really know The Secret.
I have some questions that have not been answered about this:
1. Why do so many not seek knowledge? It is one of only two things we will leave this world with.
2. Why do so many fear change? Change happens because things happen for us to understand our life better. Change happens for us to learn and have new experiences. Without change we could not learn anything at all. Until we are all knowing, we *need* change.
3. Why do so many ignore their vibration? Because they do not understand the question? Perhaps. But why are there some who see a movie like The Secret and then not be interested in researching further? Our vibration is the other thing that we will leave this world with.
4. Why are men born? Why do they die? Why do they spend so much of the time in between wearing digital watches? (Could not resist: Douglas Adams)
OK scratch the last one, I am in one of those moods.
Just some things I have been thinking about recently:
The movie The Secret talks about how to attract the money you need into your life . . .
but your decision to be happy and joyful can only be made right now, before you attract the money.
The movie talks about how to improve or attract better relationships . . .
but your decision to be happy with your current relationships can only be made right now, before you have a chance to apply the secret.
The movie talks about how to attract better health . . .
but your decision to be grateful for the health you have can only be made right now, before you attract greater health.
The movie talks about how to attract the things or the people that you need to succeed . . .
but your decision to be happy with what you have achieved can only be made right now, before you attract greater success.
Does anyone see a pattern forming here? Maybe even a disconnect?
Behold the power of now. Now is created for you and refreshed at every moment by what your conscious and subconscious minds are doing. Your conscious mind is the rudder, which steers the ship that your subconscious mind powers.
At every moment you can steer it towards joy and gratitude.
If you are paying attention that is.
You can also consciously decide not to steer the ship at all, in which case you will be driven about on the waves and tossed; or you can decide to steer the ship towards anger, revenge and competition, which will run you right into Hurricane Consequences.
Hurricane consequences can be category one or category five. You should know; you created it.
So what will your life, starting from this very moment on, be like?
I'll decide that after I have attracted a few things that I want or need?
Nada.
Put off the decision, and be tossed by the waves.
Decide right now, and reach the Harbor of Contentment.
So what exactly what are you waiting for?
(I thought so)
Joseph
Friday, January 18, 2008
WELCOME to the Grail Quest
I have not gone crazy. I know that Dan Brown was not in The Secret. What Dan did do was to get a lot of people talking about subjects that are important to us all, and the Book and movie The Secret did the same thing.
So what is the grail quest?
I leave it to the historians and authors to debate about whether the grail was a cup or a bloodline. Either idea does not change the right now occurrance of my life. It just illustrates that there are still so many things that we do not know . . .
And we would be ignorant if we did not expect that there are not some surprises in what we do not know which will eventually be revealed. When the Lord comes again I imagine that He will set that record strait. I would not count on a difinitive answer much before that time.
But I speak today about the modern day grail quest, or the quest to understand the natural laws of the Universe in which we live.
You see, understanding a law gives us power over it.
But the understanding must come first.
We came to understand the law of gravity, and then we proceeded to defy it with the invention of the airplane and the rocket ship. You could argue that since we understand it that we now have control over it. Want to go up instead of down? Get a hot air balloon. It works.
And so we begin to have some understanding of another natural law, namely the law of Attraction, which is really the law of vibration.
But do we understand the power that we are dealing with?
If someone were to truly master the Law of Attraction, they they would be,
essentially . . .
God.
At least of their universe. And their universe is the only one that matters, because it is the only one in which they can live. We cannot create in another's reality.
What is your universe? Is it what you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell?
You think it is.
But it's more like the holodeck as portrayed on Star Trek. None of it is real.
Before I lose you, please allow me to explain what is really happening.
You see something, and a picture appears in your mind. What has really happened is that your optic nerve is sending impulses to your brain that are forming the general specifics of a picture. But the brain clarifies the picture based on a set of rules that is taught to us from our childhood on up. Many of those rules are stored in the subconscious.
So it is our own set of rules that forms the picture. We see a table top and we believe it is "solid".
And yet if you whip out a proper electron microscope and look at the exact same thing, you will see that 99% of the table top is made up of space.
Oh and by the way, of that 1% that is perceived to be solid, we have now looked further and found that 99% of that 1% is also just empty space.
We have not had the technology to check this next one yet, but it seems possible that the 1% of that first 1% is also 99% space. It would not surprise me in the least.
So we have proven essentially that the table top is hardly solid, but appears to barely exist at all!
So why does you hand (which is also 99% space at the very least) not just pass through the table when you come in contact with it?
Because you come in contact with the one thing in the picture that is real, and that is the energy field and its state of vibration. A "solid" table has a very slow vibration. Your solid hand would also typically have a very slow vibration. The energy fields repel each other, and your hand is not able to pass through. You also receive the sensation of feeling the table as another impulse sent to your brain that is deciphered with the same set of rules that what you saw was done with.
Here is the Earth shattering revelation that is really coming out of the book and the movie . . .
You can change those rules.
And when you change those rules, then your whole universe changes.
Just like changing the program on the holodeck . . .
And giving the actors within different scripts.
Did you know you were paying these actors for their work?
Did you know that since you are paying them . . . you get to tell them what to do?
When one of them does something that you do not expect, you might ask yourself:
Why did I give you that script ??
And if you can find the reason that you did, you will have learned something about yourself that you could have not earned in any other way.
OK you say, that is all fine and dandy, but I do not get the Law of Attraction to work for me consistently . . .
Good!
Because you are not supposed to be a master of it at this time.
We were born into this Earthly existence with a BIG disconnect. Two pronged.
Prong One: We do not remember our previous existence, how powerful we were, how cool we were, how great things were. How cool our family was.
Prong Two: The powers of attraction are generally controlled by our subconscious mind, and not our conscious mind.
We are essentially conducting an experiment. What would happen if you took a powerful and immortal being and placed them in a situation where they did not have a clear connection to their power, and no memory of how powerful that they had been.
What would happen?
You can easily tell me, because you are living that experiment right this very moment.
You see, if we had a clear connection to our subconscious, as well as a restored memory of who and what we really are, we would be extremely powerful.
And are we ready for that power?
I think not.
Or else it would have already been given.
Some of the teachers in the Book and Movie, especially Joe Vitale in a recent book, are claiming to help you get in touch with your subconscious to help you reclaim your power. They share what may work for them.
And it may work for you, or it may not.
So what is the modern day grail quest?
To come in contact with our own subconscious.
Some would say that we are trying to come into contact with our "higher self".
I cannot tell you how to do that, in any way that is guarenteed to work for you.
And neither can anyone else.
I recommend that you do your own study, because there is clearly much more power available to us than what we are currently exercising . . .
And as we take the steps to unlock that power, we will at the same time prepare ourselves for the responsibility of having that kind of power; for unto whom much is given, much is required.
And we will want to be ready for that.
Or we could just decide to wallow in the disconnection from our power.
We get to decide.
So decide already.
Joseph
So what is the grail quest?
I leave it to the historians and authors to debate about whether the grail was a cup or a bloodline. Either idea does not change the right now occurrance of my life. It just illustrates that there are still so many things that we do not know . . .
And we would be ignorant if we did not expect that there are not some surprises in what we do not know which will eventually be revealed. When the Lord comes again I imagine that He will set that record strait. I would not count on a difinitive answer much before that time.
But I speak today about the modern day grail quest, or the quest to understand the natural laws of the Universe in which we live.
You see, understanding a law gives us power over it.
But the understanding must come first.
We came to understand the law of gravity, and then we proceeded to defy it with the invention of the airplane and the rocket ship. You could argue that since we understand it that we now have control over it. Want to go up instead of down? Get a hot air balloon. It works.
And so we begin to have some understanding of another natural law, namely the law of Attraction, which is really the law of vibration.
But do we understand the power that we are dealing with?
If someone were to truly master the Law of Attraction, they they would be,
essentially . . .
God.
At least of their universe. And their universe is the only one that matters, because it is the only one in which they can live. We cannot create in another's reality.
What is your universe? Is it what you see, hear, touch, taste, or smell?
You think it is.
But it's more like the holodeck as portrayed on Star Trek. None of it is real.
Before I lose you, please allow me to explain what is really happening.
You see something, and a picture appears in your mind. What has really happened is that your optic nerve is sending impulses to your brain that are forming the general specifics of a picture. But the brain clarifies the picture based on a set of rules that is taught to us from our childhood on up. Many of those rules are stored in the subconscious.
So it is our own set of rules that forms the picture. We see a table top and we believe it is "solid".
And yet if you whip out a proper electron microscope and look at the exact same thing, you will see that 99% of the table top is made up of space.
Oh and by the way, of that 1% that is perceived to be solid, we have now looked further and found that 99% of that 1% is also just empty space.
We have not had the technology to check this next one yet, but it seems possible that the 1% of that first 1% is also 99% space. It would not surprise me in the least.
So we have proven essentially that the table top is hardly solid, but appears to barely exist at all!
So why does you hand (which is also 99% space at the very least) not just pass through the table when you come in contact with it?
Because you come in contact with the one thing in the picture that is real, and that is the energy field and its state of vibration. A "solid" table has a very slow vibration. Your solid hand would also typically have a very slow vibration. The energy fields repel each other, and your hand is not able to pass through. You also receive the sensation of feeling the table as another impulse sent to your brain that is deciphered with the same set of rules that what you saw was done with.
Here is the Earth shattering revelation that is really coming out of the book and the movie . . .
You can change those rules.
And when you change those rules, then your whole universe changes.
Just like changing the program on the holodeck . . .
And giving the actors within different scripts.
Did you know you were paying these actors for their work?
Did you know that since you are paying them . . . you get to tell them what to do?
When one of them does something that you do not expect, you might ask yourself:
Why did I give you that script ??
And if you can find the reason that you did, you will have learned something about yourself that you could have not earned in any other way.
OK you say, that is all fine and dandy, but I do not get the Law of Attraction to work for me consistently . . .
Good!
Because you are not supposed to be a master of it at this time.
We were born into this Earthly existence with a BIG disconnect. Two pronged.
Prong One: We do not remember our previous existence, how powerful we were, how cool we were, how great things were. How cool our family was.
Prong Two: The powers of attraction are generally controlled by our subconscious mind, and not our conscious mind.
We are essentially conducting an experiment. What would happen if you took a powerful and immortal being and placed them in a situation where they did not have a clear connection to their power, and no memory of how powerful that they had been.
What would happen?
You can easily tell me, because you are living that experiment right this very moment.
You see, if we had a clear connection to our subconscious, as well as a restored memory of who and what we really are, we would be extremely powerful.
And are we ready for that power?
I think not.
Or else it would have already been given.
Some of the teachers in the Book and Movie, especially Joe Vitale in a recent book, are claiming to help you get in touch with your subconscious to help you reclaim your power. They share what may work for them.
And it may work for you, or it may not.
So what is the modern day grail quest?
To come in contact with our own subconscious.
Some would say that we are trying to come into contact with our "higher self".
I cannot tell you how to do that, in any way that is guarenteed to work for you.
And neither can anyone else.
I recommend that you do your own study, because there is clearly much more power available to us than what we are currently exercising . . .
And as we take the steps to unlock that power, we will at the same time prepare ourselves for the responsibility of having that kind of power; for unto whom much is given, much is required.
And we will want to be ready for that.
Or we could just decide to wallow in the disconnection from our power.
We get to decide.
So decide already.
Joseph
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