Happy Thanksgiving. It is 1:03pm. I am about to eat some cereal and then head down to southbeach to get some exercise. I will take pictures. This is a milestone for me because it is the first day I get to start becoming myself again. I used to work out and run at least 4 days a week and I was in awesome shape. Now I have to go through the embarrassment of having someone on the beach take a picture of me looking like this. It’s okay. In a month after working out every day my body will be back and I will have a series of pictures showing the evolution of me back to me.

Before I go I need to schedule my show and figure out how to get the code for it into this blog so you can just click on it and listen from here. I also need to submit the form to have them post automatically to Itunes. Later today I need to start networking everything so that I can start having listeners and readers. So much to do but I am really happy I will be uninterupted today to get it all done.

Well I left without scheduling my show. Oops. It’s a good thing though. It’s already 6:34 pm. I walked and ran from 71st st down to the exercize bars on 9th st. It felt soo good. Here are some pics from that part of the excursion.

Miami Beach is absolutely a beautiful place to live. I decided I am moving back to South Beach while I am working on the catamaran. I am genuinely happy right now. I put my iPhone music player to shuffle and it did me so many favors today. I was about to walk by Liz’s work because she was supposed to be there today and good old Justin Timberlake came on and saved me with Cry Me A River. It gave me the momentum and memories I needed to be strong and walk on without looking. I actually went from a walk to a run and felt strong and awesome. I basically did a P90x work out there today. Pull ups, push ups, sit ups, and repeat. I am going to do more tomorrow but I will do day 2 instead. I feel awesome. I continued all the way down the beach past first street and to the new park they finished recently. It is gorgeous. Then I went to the marina, looked at a pretty catamaran, the Fountaine Pajot 43 which is a really pretty boat. Then I walked back to Washington and then up to Lincoln Rd. So I walked or ran a total of 100 blocks give or take a block or two.

I have so much information to share right now. But I want to do an exercize with you. I am listening to Anthony Robbins and I am supposed to right down my entire wish list so here goes.

Over the next 365 days I am going to make $3 million. In the next 30 days I am going to earn $20,000. I am going to get in the best shape of my life. I want my blogs and radio show to impact the lives of millions of people. I am going to help people take action in their life and not let there circumstances dictate who they are. I am going to finish A Course in Miracles. I am going to be closer to my son. I am going to become a mentor for millions of people. I am going to contribute who I am to the world and be the absolute best that I can be. It is who I am to bring the best out in others. I am going to get my catamaran. I am going to get this blog published. I am going to learn to fly and kite surf. I am taking Logan on a big adventure and mentor him. I am going to master Alchemy.

Now while he’s talking he’s saying I have to put a time line priority on all these things. Easy, all of them this year. Is that unreasonable. Absolutely. But he is the one who said unreasonable people change the world. I am going to be unreasonable because I don’t have a nag to tell me I can’t. I can, I am, and I will.

Now he is saying to pick the top three I am going to accomplish this year. Again, I can’t do that. They are all going to happen and he wants me to write down why. Because it is time. Because I have to. Because it is who I am. I must change my life. I don’t recognize myself right now. I am Paul Kohler. I am a light to this world. I am a mystery. I am eternal and I am showing other people how to bring that same thing out of themselves. So naturally, with persistence it will happen.

It is so intersting that this work shop came on. It is on shuffle and before it came on I was thinking I need to up the anny on my goals because they are too ho hum to really do it for me. I am attracting everything into my life that I want and need. This is my moment and I want to share it with you. In order to do that you need to become absolutely dtermined that this is your moment. I will take you with me if you are ready to go there. Create a blog and I will link to yours. Leave a comment and let me know what you are willing to do or how you can contribute. This is our life. I was watching a stupid movie this morning but the guy had a very intelligent line. He said “you can loose money and make it again, you can loose a partner of spouse and find another, but once you loose time you can never get it back”. This is your life. The time is now. Make it happen.

Here are some more photos fro
the day.

This is something I know but I will prove it in this life. There is more to us than what we have seen. We are greater than we could ever imagine. All we have to do is remember who we really are. It can take some time. It will definately require some effort but together we can do it. Forget if someone thinks you’re crazy if you believe this. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. I am going to do what the great ones before me have done. I am going to do it all. I am going to change the way we look at ourselves. If not me then who? I know that there is a part of you that knows you more but you just don’t know how to access it. That doesn’t mean that you can’t learn. I am here to say that it is time. It is time to answer the truth that speaks inside you. You know it. How many of you knew that you were meant for something greater than what you saw before you as your life? Did you know that you were meant for something great but just not sure what it was? That doesn’t mean that you have to be immortal or have super powers, but it also doesn’t mean that you can’t. It may just mean that you haven’t exercised that ability in your mind because you have been taught to think that is crazy or unattainable. It could also mean that be incredible may have a different meaning than the commercial idea of what that is supposed to be. But how will we ever know if we don’t attempt to explore what our real possibilities are. Why are we afraid to adventure into the unknown? Those who have gone into te abyss most often come out heros. If they don’t come back successful at least they tried. That is not failure. To stop being a number you have to step out of line, have everyone look at you and wonder what the hell you are doing. Then bust your move. Make a mistake or ten but don’t go silently into the night. In order for me to believe in me I have to believe in you because the scientific truth is we are one. So while I witness the change in myself I know I will witness change in the world. That doesn’t mean there won’t be backlash or problems that will occur. But who cares. There are problems now and I have always been told that we chose our problems and I prefer those to the ones I have now even if the new ones are worst cause at least then I will have tried. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Life Isn’t About Dying a Peaceful and Calm Death.  It’s About Skidding Sideways Into the Casket Yelling “YEE HAW!!!”

This Guy'll Definitely Be Skidding Sideways Into His Coffin. How About You?

Hey you,

It’s #2.

This post goes out to our loyal fan Tim Birch.

During these past 2 weeks I’ve been locking myself down taking notes and writing copy and hadn’t checked the comments on the blog since my last post, until today.

While doing so, I noticed Tim’s comment about one of his cousin’s passing away.  When I read it, my first reaction was to reply but then I remembered a story and I wanted to share it with you Tim, and everyone else here.

This is a story I used to listen to over and over again on my walkman while working for a commercial construction company.  At least a decade has passed since I’ve heard this but it touched me so deeply I knew you’d appreciate it too.  It’s told by one of the greatest transformational story tellers I know of, Tony Robbins.

It was one of the rare gems trapped inside on of his discussions on metaphors buried inside his Power Talk series.  The passage below is a gorgeous metaphor pertaining to the concept of death.

Here goes….

“My son Joshua came to me from school, and I think he was about six or seven at the time.

A child at school, a child he used to play with, one of his little friends was climbing on some of the playground equipment and fell off, broke his neck and died.

I came home and Josh was crying hysterically. And everything people tried to tell him and explain to him verbally about why it happened, what was going on, nothing would work.

So I sat down him and said ‘Honey, I know how you feel.  But you know, I think the challenge is that, while you know you miss him and you have the right to miss him, you should feel those feelings, you should also realize that the reason you feel the way you do is because you’re a caterpillar.’

He said, “What?” This broke his pattern a little bit.

I said, “Honey, you’re just a caterpillar.  And you’re thinking like a caterpillar.”

He said, “What do you mean?”

“Well, what happens to caterpillars at some point?  There’s a point where most caterpillars think they’ve died.  They think it’s over, they think life has ended.  When’s that?”  I said.

He said, “Oh yeah, when there’s that thing that starts wrapping around them.”

I said, “Yeah, that thing starts wrapping around them and pretty soon the caterpillar gets buried in all this mass of stuff. And you know what, if you were to open up that thing it’s buried under, the caterpillar’s no longer there.  It’s just all this mush and goo and stuff.

And most people including caterpillars, even the caterpillar that’s transforming there, is thinking it’s the end yet it’s not dying, it’s transforming, you understand, it’s going from one thing to something else.

Pretty soon, the caterpillar thinks that life is over and what happens is the caterpillar comes together and what does it become?”

He said, “A butterfly.”

I said, “And can other people see that?  Can the little caterpillars on the ground see that this caterpillar became a butterfly?”

He said, “No, they don’t see that.”

I said, “That’s right.  Funny, he breaks out of the cocoon and what does he do?”

He said, “He flies.”

And I said, “He doesn’t fly right away, he get’s out and the sunlight comes down and dries off his wings and then he goes out flies and he’s even more beautiful than when he was a caterpillar.

Is he more free or less free?  You tell me.”

He said, “Oh, he’s much more free.”

I said, “You think he has more fun?”

He said, “Yeah, he’s got less legs to get tired.”

“That’s right, he does.  He doesn’t need his legs any more, he’s got wings.  Honey, I think your friend’s got wings now.  It’s not for us to decide when someone becomes a butterfly.  We think it’s wrong but I think God has a better idea of when the right time is.

We think summer should be here now but you know right now it’s winter and you want it to be summer, right?  But God’s got a different plan.  Sometimes we just gotta trust that God knows how to make butterflies better than we do.

And when we’re caterpillars sometimes we don’t even realize that butterflies even exist because they’re up above us.  Maybe we should just remember that.”

He stopped crying, and was smiling and he gave me a big hug and said, “Yeah, I bet he’s a beautiful butterfly.”

Metaphors can transform.  Select them carefully.  Select them intelligently.  Select them in a way that deepens and enriches your life or the people you care about.  Become a student of metaphors and become sensitized to them and your whole life can change.

Wishing you and your family the best Tim,

Talk to you soon,

Note Taking Nerd #2

“You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don’t think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully.”

Anthony Robbins

I Like Anthony Robbins, he is such a wise man!  Please enjoy my quote phase with me ; )

[ photo credit ]

Anthony Robbins Quotes

“There’s always a way – if you’re committed.” “

The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviors.” “We aren’t in an information age, we are in an entertainment age.” “Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives.” “Take control of your consistent emotions and begin to consciously and deliberately reshape your daily experience of life.” “One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.” “Live with passion!” “Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!” “We are the only beings on the planet who lead such rich internal lives that it’s not the events that matter most to us, but rather, it’s how we interpret those events that will determine how we think about ourselves and how we will act in the future.” “The path to success is to take massive, determined action.” “In life you need either inspiration or desperation.” “Remember, a real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” “I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” “Using the power of decision gives you the capacity to get past any excuse to change any and every part of your life in an instant.” “We will act consistently with our view of who we truly are, whether that view is accurate or not.” “You always succeed in producing a result.” “What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.” “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.” “The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.” “A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” “There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.” “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” “It not knowing what to do, it’s doing what you know.” “You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.” “The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.” “There’s no abiding success without commitment.” “We can change our lives. We can do, have, and be exactly what we wish.” “For changes to be of any true value, they’ve got to be lasting and consistent.” “People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them.” “Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.” “You see, it’s never the environment; it’s never the events of our lives, but the meaning we attach to the events – how we interpret them – that shapes who we are today and who we’ll become tomorrow.” “Want to learn to eat a lot? Here it is: Eat a little. That way, you will be around long enough to eat a lot.” “The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.” “In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.” “If you want to be successful, find someone who has achieved the results you want and copy what they do and you’ll achieve the same results.” “It is not what we get. But who we become, what we contribute… that gives meaning to our lives.” “Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest joy: true fulfillment.” “Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” “I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.” “How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I’m committed to?” “Surmounting difficulty is the crucible that forms character.” “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.” “My definition of success is to live your life in a way that causes you to feel a ton of pleasure and very little pain – and because of your lifestyle, have the people around you feel a lot more pleasure than they do pain.” “It’s not the events of our lives that shape us, but our beliefs as to what those events mean.” “The only limit to your impact is your imagination and commitment.” “Whatever happens, take responsibility.” “Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.” “Success comes from taking the initiative and following up… persisting… eloquently expressing the depth of your love. What simple action could you take today to produce a new momentum toward success in your life?” “Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.” “Passion is the genesis of genius.” “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” “When people are like each other they tend to like each other.”

The great philosopher Immanuel Kant once said, “Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.” So often, I think we succumb to the mistaken notion that structure and creativity cannot work together to achieve a desired outcome. Yet, this is far from being true. Actually, in an environment that is too cluttered, creativity becomes stifled by that which is excessive and extraneous.

Clutter is something that we usually think of in relation to domestic activities. For instance, countless books have been written on the subject of getting rid of clutter around our houses. What is not addressed nearly as frequently is the issue of clutter in connection with the people and activities in our lives.

When we think of success and fulfillment, we usually turn our attention to what we want to add to our lives, disregarding the fact that it is every bit as important what we let go of as what we acquire. Although a chaotic environment can be used to foster creative endeavors, when you are spending time and energy on relationships or activities that are not bringing you any closer to your dreams and goals, you have to step back and examine whether or not those things and/or people should remain in your life.

I have spoken a lot about happiness in my SuccessDiva writing, and I am sure that many people would say that happiness is something they are searching for. But is happiness what you are really seeking, or are you craving the state of mind that you think happiness will  bring you?
In a way, happiness is a catchall for a sense of overall well-being that is not necessarily connected to any specific person or thing. It is different from joy, which conveys a sensation of exuberance.

In reading a chapter on happiness from Robert Nozick’s The Examined Life, Philosophical Meditations, I became more cognizant of how misguided the idea of pursuing happiness can be. If we were able to purchase happiness like any other consumer good, would our lives suddenly become perfect? Or must we experience trials and challenges and even crises in order to live a rich, full, complete existence?

Yes, there are moments in our lives when we seem so connected with our own inner bliss that, if someone asked us if we were happy, we would answer “yes” in a heartbeat. But how often is this feeling of happiness long lasting? Like a movie that you are momentarily touched by–yet forget the details of in days to come–happiness is fleeting. Happiness is the butterfly that alights on your hand, only to fly away a few seconds later.

Thus, we must get beyond “happiness” and strive towards a state of fulfillment that can be sustained. To a certain extent, I think Socrates was right when he said that the “unexamined life” is not worth living. When we let obligations control our decisions and the expectations of others become more important than our own personal needs, we have crucified our dreams on the cross of other people’s desires. We have given up our birthright.

Happiness can and does exist, and it is a viable pursuit. At the same time, it is contingent on other variables within our lives. If we are not following what we feel to be our personal calling, any sense of “happiness” we experience is merely an illusion. In the society we live in now, where “quick fixes” and instant gratification are heavily encouraged, many people never stop to look within themselves and honestly acknowledge that sense of incompleteness that exists inside them.

When they do recognize and admit their inner emptiness, they frantically search for ways to fill it. Sometimes they look towards such things as alcohol, drugs, and food to numb their pain, Other times they attempt to satisfy their inner longing with material possessions, a relationship, or even a child. The problem with all of these solutions is that they will never quench that insatiable thirst within the human soul. For until we become comfortable with who we are, we will not find peace through something or someone else.,

To a large extent, one of the reasons that so many relationships fail is because people enter relationships looking for a partner to meet a need within themselves that only they can truly fulfill. And it’s oftentimes easier to run into the arms of another person than to look within ourselves at the person we are. Some of us are so damaged and wounded from the battles we have fought through life thus far that to acknowledge our wounds is almost unbearable; for, in doing so, we must remember memories from our past that we have no desire to resurrect. Rather than reliving them, we would prefer to have new encounters and experiences erase those memories for us. But can they ever be erased entirely? 

Might it not be more effective if we faced our past, no matter how painful it is, and tried to make some sense of it? True, we might have to deal with a lot of destructive emotions such as anger, resentment, and even contempt. At the same time, unless we work through this emotional process, how can we move on into a state of forgiveness and inner peace? We must not only forgive those who have hurt us but also ourselves for the mistakes we have made.

It has been said that we have become a culture of victims. Rather than taking responsibility for ourselves and our behavior, we sometimes try to find someone else to blame our wrong decisions on. Or we may even say that circumstances conspired to force us into acting the way we did. Well, what’s the truth? If we allow ourselves to fall into the trap of victimization, we will always be at the mercy of unseen forces and events.

So, even though it may appear to be easier to blame someone or something else for a mistake that we make, in the end, we are letting go of our own personal power in doing so. The moment that you choose to take complete responsibility for your life is the moment when you will be at the peak of personal empowerment. Only then will you be able to apply the knowledge that you have absorbed and turn it from lumps of coal into clear, brilliant diamonds of wisdom.

Have you sometimes wondered why it is that in an age of nearly boundless opportunity, so many people still haven’t found inner contentment? I think one problem is that information has become so readily available and in such vast quantities that it’s difficult to know what to ignore and what to pay attention to. Similarly, it is all too easy to accumulate a multitude of acquaintances rather than a few, genuine friends. In a universe that promotes “the power of now”, we all want everything immediately–or, to use a somewhat trite phrase, we want to have our cake and eat it, too. Or . . . do we?

Robert Nozick, in his examination of happiness, presents an interesting hypothesis about an experience machine that would automatically give us any experience that we desire. By making use of this machine, we would feel the pleasure of things–or as he puts it, how they would feel “from the inside”. Although, on the surface, this machine might sound ideal, Nozick makes a strong point when he draws attention to the fact that, although we would feel these experiences, the fact they were not really happening but were instead a product of our imagination (via the machine, of course) would mean that we were essentially living in a dream world. And, even though we might enjoy escaping to a dream world every now and then, most of us would not want to live the rest of our lives in an illusion. In spite of all the pain we may associate with the real world, there are few people who would trade actuality for an existence that was nothing more than a fantasy.

For me, this hypothetical experiment that Nozick suggests puts a new spin on the idea of happiness being a preeminent achievement. Sure, to say that we are pursuing happiness sounds good, and it can even be good. The question is this: is it realistic? And even more than that, if we were given a life that consisted of nothing but happiness, would we be completely content? I find that part of what makes life so interesting is a variety of experiences. If the four seasons of the year were all spring, even though there might be a lot of beauty to appreciate, that fertile splendor might get rather commonplace after a while.

Well, like the seasons of the year, our lives are about seasons, too. To expect that there will not be a certain amount of sorrow and grief along our personal journey is not accepting reality.  And as we start to acquire more and more wisdom, we become more inclined to acknowledge those things in life over which we have no control. What we do always have the power to change is the lens through which we view the world. Also, we have the ability to choose the way we will spend our time and the people with whom we will share it. 

Susan Ford Collins, in her book The Joy of Success, makes it clear that deleting is as much a component of ultimate success as either creation or completion. “Success,” Collins says, “is being able to let go of an unworkable method or system. An outgrown relationship you’ve tried everything conceivable to fix. A well-paying job you’ve done the same way far too many times . . . Success is cutting out, down, or back.”

If we are the scriptwriter of our own lives, should anybody besides us be creating the plot or writing the lines? No. Yet, tragically, many people come to the end of their time on earth realizing that they only achieved a fraction of what they were capable of accomplishing. And, what is perhaps even worse, they oftentimes come to the startling realization that the dreams that became a reality belonged to someone other than themselves.

Thus, rather than using their own unique potential, they were allowing someone else’s vision of success and fulfillment to be lived vicariously through them. Generally, these unfulfilled individuals justify their decisions with heartfelt phrases about not having wanted to disappoint their mother or father, their spouse, their children, or their friends. But, what they are not realizing is that in not wanting to disappoint others, they have ended up disappointing the most important person of all–themselves. And, in disappointing themselves they have inevitably disappointed everyone else, too, for they have not been able to put their heart into what they have accomplished. This means that no matter how impressive the results of their labor appear to be, they are the product of time and effort rather than passion and enthusiasm.

When motivational guru Anthony Robbins ends one of his Personal Power II audio programs, he always says, “Live with passion”.  And even though I used to pay little attention to this key phrase, I now understand how much significance there is beneath the words.  To live with passion is the opposite of living the life of “quiet desperation” that author Henry David Thoreau spoke of. It is to be engaged fully in work that you find deeply satisfying or to be in a relationship or marriage that is ignited by the flames of love, ardor, and affection. When you are living with passion, you are able to appreciate the sensation of raindrops falling on your skin or the crackle of autumn leaves under your feet.

Moreover, when this passion and zest for life is combined with wisdom, you start to understand that it is in being that you will feel contentment rather than in having. Sometimes, you may have to give up certainty in order to embrace opportunity. You may have to walk more by faith than by sight, for those who play it safe are rarely the passionate souls. To let go of that to which you are accustomed in order to step out into the unknown is indeed a risk. Yet, isn’t life itself a risk?

Although tomorrow will give you another chance to start creating your ideal life, a lot of hours will pass  between now and then. And, since the one thing that none of us seems to have enough of is time, why not start now?

Live Without Limits!

Until soon,

Your SuccessDiva

This page and all written material at the SuccessDiva pages is written by Alexis Wingate. All rights are reserved. (C) Copyright by Alexis Wingate, the SuccessDiva

Life changes; that’s why its fun

I had a life changing experience recently and it couldn’t have come at a better time. I attended the Tony Robbins event last month in Chicago land. I found out about Tony’s event thanks to a networking event here in Milwaukee. Katie Felten organized the Networking MKE event that included a guest appearance from one of the Tony Robbins trainers, Doug McGuirk.  The really great thing was that I managed to drag my husband Joe out to see Doug and he agreed that even though money is tight, we should attend together.

Now, money has been tight for quite a while and our relationship had suffered because of it. We also had a lot going on in our lives. I am the race director for a 15K road race which just happened to fall six days from the last day of the event. Not the best timing for taking four days off and being unavailable to my ‘normal world’ of computers and obligations. Either one of us could have used any number of excuses for why this event wasn’t a good idea. Lucky for me, I had a few close friends that had attended previous Tony Robbins events and they assured me this was just what I needed and it was well worth it.

The event was entitled Unleash the Power Within (UPW) and was attended by about 3,000 people from all around the world. People had many reasons for attending, but all included some variety of self improvement and growth. We spent 14 hour days in session. I have a pretty short attention span, so this was a challenge for me to stay awake and pay attention for that long. The speakers helped by encouraging techniques to break our patterns. One gentleman I encountered adeptly described the enthusiasm as “irrational exuberance”. I laughed pretty hard when he said that. It did seem silly when they asked the entire group to break out into a state of celebration including jumping around, hugging people, high fives, etc. I’m not a touchy-feely person, so this took me a little outside my comfort zone. What this did for us was instill the fact that we are as happy as we choose to be. If you sit around slumped in your chair, depressed, tired, etc…there’s pretty much no chance in hell that you will ever get anything done. If you break out of your pattern and start breathing (no kidding, try it) and also put yourself into the right mindset, you can accomplish anything you set your mind on.

We did a lot of work on identifying what was holding us back from being as successful as possible. Some of this was rather painful to stir up all the emotions involved in the process. We had to face our fears and identify our values and beliefs that were hindering our success.  Nobody likes to face their fears, but it is amazing that when you do face them, you can release them and not allow them to affect you negatively. This was very eye opening.

I came to a realization that some actions I had taken in the past had negatively affected other people, so I did everything I could to correct them right away. My goal is not inflict any pain or suffering on anyone. I think everyone deserves to be happy and successful. I will do whatever I can do to help.

In order to make all the right changes in your life you need the energy to be able to function at a high level. Day four was spent entirely on fostering health to fuel the change. Wow!!…is all I can say when we started going over all the chemicals and processed junk that most people put in their bodies daily. I was a heavy antacid user and had acid reflux and other maladies regularly. We talked about all the things that are toxic poison and cause you body to become acidic. I was definitely on the acid side of the scale. I have dome marathons in the past. During training I had been conditioned to ingest as many carbs as I could put down the hatch, for energy.  Bad idea! I was also a coffee junkie. I would regularly schedule networking one on one meetings and meet for coffee at all times of day…you can never have too much coffee, right J?

Tony challenged us to try a rather shocking meal modification for ten days and see how we felt. Many people had previously complained of fatigue, constipation, cramps, headaches, coughing, pain, etc. I was no different.  I regularly had stomach issues to deal with. Tony’s challenge included; NO meat, no dairy, no caffeine, no alcohol, no sugar, no processed white food (no carbs or packaged products) and no acidic foods. The plan did call for plenty of water, nuts, vegetables, fruit, olive oil, and high water content foods. The whole idea is that you want to avoid things that are not natural or will rot in your system before they digest. That was a real shocker to my system. I was ok with living on fish and veggies, but the lack of caffeine was a real bear. I had numerous days of headaches…which made me question if this was really a good idea. It was. After the headaches were over I swore to not go back to that addiction. I have not had a single cup of coffee since then. I found a great alternative is hot tea (herbal, non caffeinated).

My husband was very excited to try the 10 day challenge. I didn’t think he would make it, since his previous rule of thumb for meals was all meat and potatoes…and none of that icky green stuff. I can’t imagine either of us would have stuck to the challenge if we had attempted it alone. I made some kickin salads with olive oil and lemon dressing, fish tacos, hummus, ate loads of nuts, and more avocados and cukes than I could imagine. We tried to make it exciting, but we were honestly not thrilled about the restricted diet. Each day we would ask each other how we felt and shared our joy and accomplishments.  In the beginning I was thinking that I couldn’t wait to get past the 10 day point so I could go back to my old patterns of eating. As I started to feel healthier, I changed my tune. I think initially I was just bitchy from lack of caffeine.

At about the ten day mark was a Green Bay Packers game, at which we were hosting a tailgate party. Normally, this means all meat and booze. We made a few modifications to the normal menu and added a veggie tray and hummus to the menu. We both ate a decent amount of meat and other snacks and felt pretty crappy the next day. We went back to the modified eating plan right away. At a few other points in time we decided to try out an old staple like pizza. I don’t remember having such a bad stomach ache in the past. Maybe my body was previously accustomed to the trash I would feed it? After trying a few experiments like that we decided this was a good plan to stick to on a regular basis. I like feeling healthy and will try to encourage others to try the alkaline plan. I doubt they will be as motivated as we were after attending UPW.

In addition to having my husband with me, there were at least 10 people I knew in attendance at UPW. Most of them are friends that I met through networking in Milwaukee and online. One of the biggest treats was getting the chance to meet my friend (and fellow NEF Editor) Kaaren Douglas face to face. We have been good phone friends for awhile, but she is in LA and I’m in Milwaukee, WI. We now have a bond that is stronger than ever. I love having accountability buddies with whom I network. I appreciate my circle of friends, especially those who have shared such a life changing experience.

A new networking group has formed in Milwaukee for all the graduates of the Tony Robbins UPW event. They are calling it “Step Up” which is what they taught us to do…step up and take some action.

Happy Networking!

Karin Conway

NEF Editor

wiNEFeditor@gmail.com

My first thought as rains let up and the ferry drew me close to McNeil Island for the first time: Holy crap! The island is being attacked by giant mutated Slinky worms!

Yes, there really are that many loops of razor wire all over McNeil Island Corrections Center. Which, I suppose, is as it should be. McNeil may be a medium-security facility, housing short-term inmates rather than the worst of the worst, but it is a prison nonetheless — the last island prison in the United States. And the mainland isn’t far away — less than a mile in places to the north and west from where it rests in the South Puget Sound region of Washington state. And escapes were not uncommon from McNeil, at least not in its days as a federal prison prior to 1981.

In my 20-plus years as a Washington journalist, I’ve been to the prisons in Shelton, Walla Walla and Monroe to cover stories for newspapers and interview inmates. I’ve been to the Washington Corrections Center for Women near Gig Harbor more than 20 times (and will be back next week; more on that later). But that rainy Monday marked not only my first trip to McNeil, but my first visit as a citizen rather than a journalist.

My mission: To meet with a man convicted of attempted murder, to see if he’s willing to cooperate with me for the book I hope to write about his crime.

I’ll recap here briefly: Aaron Borrero is the man, who, in March 1997, participated in the robbery and attempted killing of fellow drug dealer Les Lemieux in Kent. Borrero is the one who actually dumped the hogtied Lemieux into the Yakima River to die. By a miracle, Lemieux survived. But not knowing that, Borrero took off for California — along with girlfriend Elizabeth Hernandez, also wanted for attempted murder in the shooting of her ex-boyfriend. The two were featured on America’s Most Wanted and, after two months on the run, were turned in by an AMW tipster. Borrero stood trial in 1998 and received nearly 23 years for first-degree kidnapping and first-degree attempted murder. His earliest possible release date is early 2017.

But Borrero turned his life around in prison, taking ownership of his crimes and personal failures along the way,and his good behavior got him a transfer to McNeil. It also gave him the idea of making a bid for clemency and an early release through Gov. Christine Gregoire’s office. At his September hearing, Lemieux surprisingly testified in support of Borrero’s early release, and an impressed Clemency and Pardons Board voted unanimously to recommend to Gov. Gregoire that Borrero be released within 18 months. Today, that recommendation awaits a decision from Gregoire. That could happen tomorrow, or next month, or a year from now. Or it could happen on the last day of Gregoire’s term. By statute, it’s entirely up to her.

I knew at that hearing that I wanted to write about this remarkable case, and I set about securing the cooperation of the two principals. Les Lemieux, who did prison time himself for drug dealing, agreed to work with me, and we started formal interviewing on Nov. 2. Aaron Borrero responded to my letter with a short one saying that he wanted to meet with me before he made his decision. And as soon as I received state Department of Corrections clearance to visit McNeil, I set a time and date through Aaron’s helpful mother.

Because I was “just” a visitor this time and not going over as a member of the media (arranging formal prison interviews is a far more complicated process), I had to leave all the tools of my trade — notepad, pen, camera and digital recorder — behind in a locker on the Steilacoom side of the water. A shuttle bus then took me and a dozen or so other inmate visitors to the ferry terminal, about 15 miles south of Tacoma, and we boarded the passenger vessel Neil Henly — named for a former McNeil superintendent — for a crossing of about 25 minutes.

From Steilacoom, McNeil loomed a couple of miles southwest, its whitish-gray buildings a start contrast to the dense thickets of evergreens, cedars and maples surrounding it. It was odd to see the shoreline of a Puget Sound island waterfront uncluttered by the luxury homes that pockmarked Fox Island to the north and Anderson Island to the south.

But it made sense, given that McNeil Island has been a prison island as long as Washington has been a state, and that no private citizens have lived there since 1935. In fact, the non-building part of the island — i.e., most of it — has an otherwordly land-that-time-forgot quality. On the bus ride to the ferry headed back to Steilacoom that afternoon, we traveled through beautiful, rolling, tree-dotted greenery punctuated here and there with weathered white clapboard houses on sagging foundations that looked for all the world like something out of Depression-era small-town Saskatchewan.

That central part of McNeil looked as though the island had been evacuated by the Joad family from The Grapes Of Wrath, and left untouched since by the presence of humanity. Small wonder that the place we departed from was called Still Harbor.

On the arrival trip in the late morning, we trudged up the dock and along a winding, wire-crowded path to the building housing the McNeil visiting room, which looked for all the world like an elementary school cafeteria. Which, I suppose, was the idea — as I walked in, I saw children playing with toys, board games and coloring books at table. Their daddies, many of which had gang tattoos crawling up their necks, smiled and laughed in delight as their kids happily busied themselves. More common was the sight of adult visitors playing cards with their inmate friends and family members.

I waited at a table for just a few minutes until a handsome, bespectacled, shaven-headed, lightly complected Hispanic man in his mid-thirties walked out from the main prison housing complex and caught my eye. It occurred to me, at just that second, that I had no idea what Aaron looked like, but I felt certain this had to be him. We shook hands with a smile and sat to talk.

Within three minutes of conversation, I knew I had chosen well. Aaron is not only personable, but bright, articulate, thoughtful, possessed of a strong memory and infinitely willing to embrace his failings and his crimes. I have a pretty strong bullshit detector, but my antennae didn’t twitch in the slightest as we talked for nearly two hours. As he spoke, I developed an increasingly focused picture of a man who realizes that the key to a successful future lies in claiming complete ownership of his past.

His path to redemption began some eight years before, after a series of “dirty UAs” — positive drug tests — while he was incarcerated in the far more hardcore state penitentiary in Walla Walla. According to Aaron, the corrections sergeant who administered the most recent test said, essentially, “You’re a better person than this, I can tell … what are you doing here? I don’t want to see you here again.” And then he sent Aaron, as he was obliged to do, to “the hole.”

It was in solitary confinement that Aaron did the reassessment that started his life on a different course. Since then, Aaron’s prison record has been almost completely clean. He repaired his relationships and reconnected with a lot of his childhood friends, many of who knew him since before his days as a cheerfully womanizing football star at Kentridge High School. He embraced an interesting mix of Christianity and self-empowerment through motivational speakers like Anthony Robbins. (I got the impression that Robbins’ book Awaken The Giant Within was just about as important to him as the Bible.) He’s also a big fan of Warren Buffett, and has a deep interest in financial planning and investing.

He spoke with remarkable candor about his crimes, starting with an armed assault just after his 1993 graduation from high school that landed him in a King County work-release program. It was through a work-release contact that Aaron made his first drug-dealing connection, and from there developed a reputation through Kent as a badass drug dealer who was not above robbing other dealers. Everything he told me checks out with the official record.

Aaron Borrero doesn’t deny what his did to Les Lemieux, and their stories largely agree. But he does feel that he took the fall for the crime’s mastermind, a guy named Kyle Anderson, who managed to escape clean after two mistrials. And after reading the police documents and court transcripts from his case, I’m inclined to agree that of the three people who participated in the robbery and attempted murder of Lemieux, Borrero’s punishment was disproportionate to his culpability. In other words, he deserved the sentence he got — but the other two should have been at least equally punished. But that’s not an argument I’ll make in my book. That’s not my purpose. It’s simply my belief that once the reader takes in all the facts, that’s the conclusion they’ll come to.

Anyway, the upshot is this: Aaron Borrero has agreed to fully cooperate with me as I prepare this book (which I have tentatively titled Everybody Here Gets Out Alive). And to that end, we’ll meet every two or three weeks on Monday afternoons. He’s also agreed to help secure the cooperation of others I’ll eventually want to talk to, including Elizabeth Hernandez, the mother of his youngest child. Hernandez got out of prison in 2004, lives in the Seattle area, and the two amicably co-parent their son even though they’re no longer a couple.

So this, in essence, means that Everybody Here Gets Out Alive is a go. Even if none of the secondary characters in the story agree to work with me, I’ll still have enough material for a good book based on police reports, court documents, trial transcripts, the Clemency and Pardons Board records … and the detailed memories of Aaron Borrero and Les Lemieux.

The best ending I can think of? In my first meeting with Les, I asked him if he would be willing to meet with Aaron once all the legal issues are behind them (there’s a lifetime restraining order between the two, which is pretty much automatic for any attempted murderer and his victim, but it can be lifted if the victim wants it lifted).

He said yes.

On Monday, I asked Aaron the same question. He too said yes.

I would very much like to be present for that moment. It would be an incredible way to conclude an incredible story.

Joi seara am avut o conversatie interesanta cu Morticia si LadyIo despre programarea neuro-lingvistica, The Secret si alte ramuri ale curentului de gandire pozitiva. Cu ceva zile in urma mai vorbisem cu cineva care era dezamagit de cartea Putere nemarginita de Anthony Robbins (probabil cel mai cunoscut coach si vorbitor motivational din lume), spunand ca are unele idei demne de luat in seama, iar altele sunt cam… aberatii. Problema cu gandirea pozitiva, ca atatea alte lucruri care au incaput pe mainile americanilor, este ca dintr-un concept esentialmente bun si folositor a deviat intr-un mumbo jumbo de gandire magica, rupta de realitate, in care nenumarati guru incearca sa ne convinga ca este suficient sa stai intr-o camera si sa-ti imaginezi ceva cu suficienta forta si emotie ca sa “materializezi” acel lucru. Ei baga in mixer Legea Atractiei, fizica cuantica, bucatele din psihologie si neurologie, citate din Biblie (“Cere si ti se va da”) etc. si scot un shake cu gust si miros foarte atragatoare, uitand insa sa precizeze ca gandirea pozitiva este vax albina fara actiune, fara sa faci ceva concret in mod constant in directia dorita, atitudinea optimista fiind doar acea parghie interioara care iti da putere sa mergi mai departe si sa-ti pastrezi motivatia.

Din acest punct de vedere, Anthony Robbins este totusi un guru cu picioarele pe pamant, care isi incheie intotdeauna sfaturile de gandire pozitiva cu indemnul “Go for it like crazy!”. Spre deosebire de autorii The Secret, el nu uita sa precizeze ca trebuie sa-ti stabilesi clar obiectivele si sa-ti faci un plan de actiune de care sa te tii. Mai zice si ca oamenii de succes isi spun singuri 7 minciuni. “Minciuni” in sensul ca, desi nu sunt intotdeauna adevarate raportate la realitate, sunt de fapt niste convingeri personale foarte puternice care ii ajuta sa treaca peste obstacole si ii insufletesc sa-si dea mai mult osteneala si sa faca mai multe. Iata cele 7 “minciuni ale succesului”:

1. Totul se intampla dintr-un motiv si cu un scop si imi este de folos. Se pare ca oamenii de succes au abilitatea neobisnuita sa se concentreze pe ce ar putea obtine dintr-o situatie, pe oportunitatile care s-ar putea ivi chiar in circumstante potrivnice. De exemplu, multi afaceristi au succes pe timp de criza pentru ca stiu sa identifice o nisa de produse care poate fi exploatata. Altii, carora li s-au intamplat lucruri rele, cum ar fi o boala sau un accident, folosesc asta pentru a infiinta asociatii si organizatii de ajutorare pentru victimele unor accidente asemanatoare si isi regasesc astfel dorinta de a trai.

2. Nu exista esec. Exista numai rezultate. Acolo unde oamenii obisnuiti considera ca au ratat, ca au dat gres si cad in depresie plangadu-si de mila, oamenii de succes incearca sa invete ceva din acel rateu si il considera doar un mod prin care au aflat cum sa faca lucrurile mai bine data viitoare. Ei pun semnul egal intre esec si experienta si, de asemenea, nu sunt genul care se tem sa faca ceva, orice, ca nu cumva sa greseasca.

3. Orice s-ar intampla, imi asum raspunderea. Se pare ca marii lideri au in comun convingerea ca ei isi creeaza propria lume si ca orice li s-ar intampla, ei au generat acest lucru prin faptele si vorbele lor. Sigur ca aceasta convingere pare cea mai trasa de par, deoarece e clar ca exista si evenimente pe care nu le poti controla, insa ideea de baza a acestei “minciuni” este respingerea atitudinii de victima neputincioasa a destinului.

4. Nu este nevoie sa inteleg totul pentru a putea folosi totul. Nu e nevoie sa intelegi cum functioneaza curentul electric ca sa aprinzi lumina sau sa bagi masina de spalat in functiune si nici nu trebuie sa stii cum a fost scris softul de computer pe care il utilizezi, atata vreme cat merge si iti faci treaba cu el. Oamenii de succes stiu sa faca diferenta intre ce este necesar sa inteleaga si ce nu si nu isi bat capul cu detalii minore si inutile.

5. Oamenii constituie marea mea resursa. Iarasi, nu este un secret cat de mult conteaza in viata pe cine cunosti. Oamenii puternici au o retea de cunoscuti la fel de puternici. De asemenea, ei stiu cum sa se poarte cu ceilalti oameni, stiu sa isi arate respectul si aprecierea, stiu sa-i motiveze si sa-i implice pe ceilalti. E drept ca unii dintre ei mai strecoara si niscai tehnici de manipulare sau isi disimuleaza interesele sub masca empatiei si tovarasiei, insa nu se poate nega ca adevaratii lideri au abilitati innascute de interrelationare. 

6. A munci inseamna sa ma recreez. O, da, ce-ar mai fi de comentat? Cu totii stim ca daca faci ce-ti place, muncesti mai cu placere si mai eficient si nici nu ti se mai pare de fapt ca muncesti din greu. Probabil nu strica din cand in cand sa-ti spui cate o minciuna gen “Wow, tabelul asta excel cu 15243 de randuri e super fun!”. Iar daca nu poti face asta, atunci poate e cazul sa te intrebi daca esti in cariera sau domeniul de activitate potrivit. Cel putin teoretic, nu e niciodata prea tarziu sa faci o schimbare…

7. Nu pot avea reusite de durata fara angajament. E ceea ce ziceam mai devreme despre indemnul lui Robbins, “Go for it like crazy!”. Daca te marginesti sa visezi si sa-ti faci planuri, n-o sa reusesti nimic si in curand o sa zici ca gandirea pozitiva e doar bullsh*t. Pana si intelepciunea noastra populara zice “Dumnezeu iti da, dar nu-ti baga in traista”. 

In incheiere, pentru ca am si eu momente cand gandirea pozitiva ma lasa rece si frustrata, as vrea sa-mi aduc modesta contributie la lista lui Tony Robbins cu minciuna nr.8, pe care mi-o spun de cand ma stiu… si pe care am regasit-o in melodia urmatoare. Nu are videoclip, dar poate e mai bine asa, ca ne concentram asupra cantecului. A propos, sunt curioasa, voi aveti vreo ”minciuna a succesului” pe care vi-o spuneti?

“In life you need either inspiration or desperation.”

- Tony Robbins

N.B. Anthony Robbins (1960 – ) is an American self-help writer and professional speaker who has been active for over 30 years. He became well known through his infomercials and bestselling self-help books, Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement and Awaken The Giant Within.

    Do you believe in angels!  I do! I have one named Jack! I know…Angel Gabriel and Michael have a nice biblical ring to it…..BUT,…Jack???  Sounds sort of pedestrian….doesn’t IT?  And, if you don’t know Jack….maybe its time you should.

DO you know….regardless of how unwittingly it occurs…you set the stage for what levels of love, happiness, and/or success with which you meet?   You actually asked…unknowingly, to experience this or that (good or bad)….and it was given to you by The One (God) who loves you always…by an angel who perhaps was named….’Jack.’

Whether you like it or not….or believe it or not….YOU  are in charge and very involved with just about every life experience you encounter.   What you WILL you WILL do.  And, God responds accordingly….with, of course, Jack as his messenger.

Anth0ny Robbins, for well over a decade, has been a real driving force in offering this world various personal power techniques for experiencing unimaginable levels of success and happiness. 

I for one have often looked up at Mr Robbins with admiration.  While it would certainly be a stretch, meeting Anthony and sharing in discussion what I have learned about how life really works would be one very great and enormously fulfilling moment.  To this day I still plan on one day meeting with him…some how…some way.

Several years ago….oh I guess…I should say….about seventeen years ago I would watch a very young Anthony Robbins begin to offer his 30-Day Program for learning more about one’s personal power on the now infamous format called the “info-mercial.”   

Robbins, as some of you might know,  would have several successful clients helping him, in that very careful vague way,  to sell the viewer on a 30-Day Program and Journal/Guide for SomeBody to realize their full potential to become SomeOne.  Robbins would explain his rise and fall and rise to never be appalled by falling again.

At the time, I had to admit I was sold on the idea of their being a 30-Day way to change one’s life for the better.  And, I still am.   For years, I had always felt somewhat connected into many of the principles I would gleen from the info-mercial vague presentation.  But, I simply did not have the cash to invest my money in Anthony’s program.  It seemed a frivolous expense. 

In 1993, I still had hoped that one day I would have the opportunity to experience Robbin’s Personal Power program in person or simply by acquiring the recorded seminar somehow.

I am a great believer in the notion of WHAT WE WILL WE DO!  I know we have the capacity for creating set of circumstances, most unwittingly, to experience those things we truly ARE willing to know about.  Likewise, I sense that what we wish we simply do not. Wishing is fantascizing.  Fantasy is an illusion….a lie…nothing at all.  To think a fantasy is real….all should know….is deluded behavior.

I recently completed the publishing of a new book.  Writing the book, helping with the creation of the cover, and getting the book self-published through Booklocker.com, for me, was a great accomplishment.  It virtually IS what I was willing to do to make real a vision for encasing between covers some of what I have come to understand, appreciate, and love about a very spiritually rich and personal relationship with The One (God) in you and I. 

With that part of the task complete, I now had to figure a way to get the message of the book into the public eye.  I had some sense of how difficult it would be to do so.  After all, I was born at the tail end of the Baby Boom Generation.  This would mean the entire front portion of that group would be writiing their books.  The big publishing houses have a literal pick of the litter.

 This  particular challenge was the one hurdle that kept me from writing the book in the first place.  I had heard so many stories about how marketing the book would make the writing of it seem easy.  And, it is. 

So, what did I do?…I sat on my hands and did nothing while still wishing the book to become well read….As a result of what I was willing to do…NOTHING is what I had gained from the writing and getting it published.  For months, that very reality had been knawing at me.  Since then, I have been in a funk…with seemingly no way out.

Several days ago, a friend of mine is also apart of the custodial staff with the company I work.  He and I have spoken often about the content of my book, the frustrating feelings I have about marketing the book, and how it has caused me to sit on my hands.  He even said to me at one point, “So, Mike…I guess you just wrote the book to sell you a few copies to some of your friends….RIGHT?”

That comment hit home.  I know he was being a friend by telling me something that would shatter my belief in doing nothing at all.  I once again began to look for a way out of this mess of being more willing to do nothing than something…..Several times during the last few months had given a few thoughts to finding a mentor to get my mind back on doing something for the book….

Several days ago, a complete set of Anthony Robbins Personal Power II appeared in my office.  The Success Journal that accompanied the packet had been torn in one small place and had been written in….Obviously, I was curious about how it got there.  I would not say anything of it to anyone thinking it was somebody within the office.

 Eventually, while eating lunch I brought the event to the attention of my custodial friend, Jack.  With no knowledge of my interest in Tony Robbins, Jack smiled as he explained how he had found the complete set of the program thrown into the trash outside of the building….And, he thought somebody inside the building might find some interest in it….namely….ME!

All of us, I have come to discover, ARE blessed with an unconditional capacity to love and love well.  The talent and gifts we possess to make for a life filled with happiness is enormous.  Because our lives were made real by the only reality, The One (God), we even share in a capacity to will our Self into a place where conflict can be negligible….if even absent or eliminated. We can actually create a set of circumstances to occur….that….if we are listening are the cues and the answers for which we seek.

BUT, because we take for granted the very beauty of such strength of purpose, we seem to want to possess more a willingness to believe our gifts and talents can be wasted upon the deluded notion of bringing to life a lie.  That perhaps doing nothing about something valuable will be better for us.  As such, making something from nothing at all becomes what we are willing to do. 

So, what we will we do.  We believe, therefore, in a diverse set of illusions we call fact.   There are a multitude of historical expressions for where our willingness to participate in a flawed belief system had created conflict by the bushel.

Every person, every body (throughtout history)…sees much of their lives as a hum drum set of activities they MUST do each and everyday to feel what they believe to be THE HAPPIEST THEY WILL EVER BE.   This “happiness.” most persons believe to be apart of their life experience, will always have limitations.  It is, they say….”the way life has always been.  The happiest they will ever be.  It is what we do!”

Little do they know those limitations are set, seemingly in stone and in motion,  for them by the most significant adult influences from their youth.  This is the way most of mankind has chosen to allow their lives to be lived for weeks, months, years, decades, and even centuries.  It is the real shame of what we do in our lives….and to speak figuratively…..a sin!

We are so hell bent on doing stupid things and and letting the outcome of those events define our Self as sinfully ridiculous….how in the world does the world keep moving forward and evolving to new levels of spiritual intimacy?  That’s easy!  What we believe most in is but an illusion….The only reality, The One (God), pierces through the fog of such delusion to lead us with a light that no darkness could ever diminish or extinquish.

So, “WHAT WE WILL WE DO!”  because that is what we THINK is true and real.  If you are READY to be willing to experience what is REAL and TRUE….Just be more willing to ask…and it will be given unto  you….by The One (God) who loves always.  And, if you are listening and watching carefully, you may recognize The One (God) as having sent to you one of his lesser known but very effective angels…..Jack!

You are loved!…and LOVED RIGHT NOW!

This was sent to me by David Gikandi in his (R)evolutionScape Bulletin: 

Anthony Robbins’ 12 Reasons Why People Don’t Get Wealthy

According to Wallace Wattles, in his popular wealth
treatise called the Science of Getting Rich, said that,
“There is a science of getting rich, and it is an exact
science, like algebra or arithmetic. There are certain laws
which govern the process of acquiring riches, and once
these laws are learned and obeyed by anyone, that person
will get rich with mathematical certainty.”

It is true. Those who make wealth know that it comes about
by application of simple rules and principles. Those who
don’t make wealth don’t know about these simple things, and
so they assume that wealth is a result of luck or pure
chance or something just as superstitious or silly.

Anthony Robbins is one of the top success coaches in the
world, having coached star sports players, heads of states
and Fortune 500 executives. In his Get The Edge program, he
listed down 12 specific reasons he has come to observe to
be the leading causes for most people’s lack of wealth.
Here they are:

1.        They never decide and really define, very
specifically, what wealth means for them. The keyword here
is specifically. Can you imagine how hard it would be to
build a car or a plane without making a blueprint or sketch
drawings of it first? You have to know what your target is
before you go chasing after it.

2.        They make wealth a moving target instead of a
fixed one (this is related to point one above). Once you
have your target, fix it. Don’t change it until you reach
it. You must accomplish each step, celebrate, and then set
course for a new step, a new target.

3.        They define it in a way that seems unreachable.
You only achieve what you believe. No more, no less. So you
must make it believable for you. Set goals that will make
you move forward and stretch, but not too high that even
you yourself don’t believe you can. Take the biggest step
you believe you can, achieve it, then take the next biggest
you believe you can. This will build positive reinforcement
in your self-confidence as well.

4.        They never start. Ok, this is obvious. If you
keep thinking about it forever, it will forever remain in
the thought level. You have to act! Start somewhere,
anywhere! Only after you start do you begin to get some
feedback which will help you plot your course better. The
aircraft has to first take off before it starts to adjust
course for its destination. You must start, somewhere,
anywhere, doesn’t matter, just start! Act!

5.        They never make it a must. Let me explain what it
means to make it a must. It means marshalling all your
intent, your will, your direction, into one singular flow
that is directed towards your goal. All obstacles are
viewed as challenges to be overcome. You will meet
obstacles, and so expect it, but also expect to move
forward anyways. Use your obstacles to develop strength and
skills, don’t run away. Find out how to go past them. Find
out! There is always a way, always. And if your emotions
are acting against your desire, embrace them, learn what
they are, know yourself, but keep moving forward. Make it a
must, and it will happen. Guaranteed. You don’t know in how
many steps it will take, but you know it will happen.

6.        They don’t have a realistic plan. If you want to
do something, find out how it is done from someone who has
done it before. Make a realistic plan. Copy from those who
have succeeded before you. But don’t throw away your
intuition. Your intuition is extremely powerful once you
learn how to listen to it with practice.

7.        If they have a realistic plan, they never follow
through on the plan. Well, if you don’t follow the plan,
who will?

8.        They give responsibility to others (“experts”)
instead of to themselves. This way, they never really learn
how to do it, and if there are failures they never learn
why the failures happened and so they are bound to repeat
them. It is a good idea to get advice, but do it yourself.
At least understand it yourself even if you will delegate
the actual doing.

9.        They give up when they face challenges. Going
through the challenges is what has made people rich, not
giving up. Look, there are always challenges. So get used
to that. You will only get where you wish to get to if you
are willing to face the challenges along the path. All
challenges are opportunities dressed in work clothes,
remember that. After the challenge is over, you will
discover the amazing fruit it held for you.

10.        They fail to conduct their lives as a business;
they never ensure that they make a profit year by year. Get
a personal finance package like Quicken or Microsoft Money.
you need to have budgets and cash flow statements for your
personal finances and your businesses. It is easy with
those software packages. If you don’t keep records and
track, you wont know when you are making or losing money
until it is embarrassingly too late.

11.        They allow other people’s ideas to affect their decisions unreasonably. There will always be people who don’t believe in your way, or who are pessimistic, who try to pull you down, or whatever. And they will sometimes be your closest friends and family. You cannot change that -they have a right to be who they are. It is OK. Allow them their thoughts, don’t judge them for that, but don’t feel obligated to accept their thoughts of follow their way.
Don’t allow other people, now or from the past, unreasonably affect your decisions. Allow them their way, and you live your way.

12.        They don’t get quality coaching. This is extremely important! Coaching is simply getting mentored by
someone who has succeeded wildly in the area of your
interest. Get coaching! Our education system hardly equips
us for real life, so don’t assume that because you went to
college you are properly equipped. Hardly. You need to keep
learning. The most successful people attend seminars, read
books, join mastermind groups and clubs, find mentors,
network, and even hire expensive personal coaches to make
sure they succeed.

How many of these reasons can you identify with? Well, now
that you see the reasons, you now can look at yourself and
make sure that you don’t follow ways that are known to not
lead to wealth. Follow what works and it will work. And
don’t forget to enjoy yourself along the way.

Tony Robbins is the one whose books and speeches really inspire me to use my full potential and also motivates me on helping others as well.

A true genius at the top of his game, Tony Robbins explaining it better than I ever have…

The ‘how’ of life may be complex, but the ‘why’ of life is simple; it is to Revere, Relish and Contribute.

I suggest you watch this video at least once per month and share it with others. Make the contribution.

ps. If you want to watch my video presentation mentioned in the previous post entitled Creating Your Heart’s Desire,
go to DELFINworld.com. We’ll send you the link.

]]> http://benjaminchew110478.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/firewalking-myth/ Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:43:59 +0000 benjaminchew110478 http://benjaminchew110478.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/firewalking-myth/