Success University 02 (Nov 08 - Jan 09)

[winston]

Everything that I think that I need to do is all only in order to propel me to some place that when I get there, I think I will be happier. So,
everything that I am doing, no matter what it is, all of my lists of rights and wrongs… are all about me getting to a manifestation that I
believe I will then be happier... So, why don’t I take a short cut and just go get happy?

Excerpted from a workshop in Washington, DC on Saturday, May 1st, 2004

All Is Well

[winston]

To hold someone as your object of attention while you're connected to Source Energy, is the greatest gift that anyone could give. When you're not happy, you don't have anything to give. And so, what it literally means is be happy, because you cannot give anyone something that you do not feel

Excerpted from a workshop in San Francisco, CA on Saturday, August 18th, 2001

All Is Well

[winston]

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." - Winston Churchill

The Parable of the Talents By Brian Tracy

Why do some people retire rich and most people retire poor? This question has fascinated philosophers, mystics, and teachers throughout the ages. There have been so many men and women - hundreds or thousands, maybe even millions - who started with nothing and became financially independent that people are naturally curious to know why it happened and if there are common rules or principles that others can apply to become wealthy as well.

The Parable of the Talents is one of the stories told by Jesus to illustrate a moral lesson. The message in this case (from the Gospel of Matthew): "To him that hath, shall more be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away."

What does it mean?

In the modern world, we say it this way: "The rich get richer and the poor get poorer." The fact is that people who accumulate money tend to accumulate more and more. People who don't accumulate money seem to lose even that little bit that they have.

Why should this happen?

The great success principle, the single idea that explains human destiny is simple: "You become what you think about most of the time."

Control Your Thoughts

Whatever you dwell upon grows in your reality. You create your entire world by the things you choose to think about and how you choose to think about them.

It just so happens that wealthy, successful people fill their minds - most of the time - with thoughts, words, pictures, and images of wealth, affluence, success, productivity, and solutions to problems in the marketplace. These thoughts trigger the reticular activating cortex, the part of the brain that makes you more alert and sensitive to things that you have decided are important to you.

For example, if you decide to invest in a mutual fund, you will start to see news and information about mutual funds everywhere. Mentions in newspapers and magazines will jump out at you. These things have always been there, but now you have sensitized your brain to pick them up and draw them to your attention with far greater frequency and vividness. This is the function and power of your reticular cortex.

Think Like Wealthy People Think

Wealthy people, from an early age, think about how much they have, how much they want, and all the different things they can do to acquire and earn the money and things they desire.

On the other hand, what do poor people think about most of the time? Unfortunately, they fill their minds with thoughts of scarcity, lack, poverty, being unable to afford things. They are always thinking and talking about how little money they have, how much things cost, and how they wish they could be better off financially. What they think about most of the time is how little money they have.

Find Out How Rich People Think

Here's a rule for you. If you want to become successful, find out what failures do and don't do it. If you want to be wealthy, find out what poor people think about, and avoid thinking that way. Instead, find out how wealthy people think. Find out what they read. Find out how they spend their time. Study their lives, read their stories and autobiographies, and listen to their words when they are interviewed and on tape. The more you find out about what financially successful people think and talk about most of the time - and do the same things - the more rapidly you will enjoy the same rewards that they do.

Here are two things you can do to put The Parable of the Talents into action:

First, make a decision that, starting today, you will think and talk only about the financial success you desire. At the same time, you will refuse to talk about or dwell upon your financial problems.

Second, instead of saying "I can't afford it," you will ask the question "How can I afford it?" When you think of something that you want or need that you don't have the money for at the time, the only question to ask is "How?" How can you get it? What can you do to achieve it? What are your options? How can you get from where you are to where you want to be?

It will change your life.

[winston]

The content of your vibration equals how you feel right now. And whether you're thinking about the past, the present, or the future, how you feel right now -- as you think about the past, the present, or the future -- is your life. And it's a precious, fabulous, creative life that you are not wanting to squander in a place of resistance. Your life is right now

Excerpted from a workshop in San Francisco, CA on Saturday, March 11th, 2000

All Is Well

[winston]

Release Your Inner Truck Driver! by Laura Whitelaw

This article discusses an effective and humorous way to release negative emotions using a technique known as ZPoint.

ZPoint is an intentional therapy that involves assigning a “cue” word to your subconscious mind and asking your subconscious to clear any limiting beliefs or negative emotions whenever your cue word is repeated. It is a very relaxing process and can quickly bring you into the “now” where no “perceived” problems exist.

Here is an interesting way to use ZPoint that I first heard about through Grant Connolly, the creator of ZPoint. I tried it recently after becoming angry over something that happened to me and found it to be very effective.

Now, I have a confession to make. When I get angry, my language can sometimes get rather foul mouthed. I swear! There I admitted it, I swear when I get really ticked off. So, try this the next time someone or something gets you wound up and see if it helps you. It will at the very least give you a good laugh.

Begin by changing your cue word to your favorite swear word. You do this simply by stating to your subconscious mind, “I now change my cue word to ______”. And, then you can use the following ZPoint statements:

Whenever I think about (insert negative incident here), I feel…..
I clear all the ways I feel this feeling…..
I clear all the ways I feel this feeling because…..
I clear all the ways I feel this feeling whenever …..
I clear all the ways I may feel this feeling if…..

I clear all the ways any parts of me may not want to let these and similar feelings go…
I clear all the ways these parts of me may not want to release this feeling because….
I clear all the ways these parts may benefit from holding on to this feeling….
I clear all the ways these parts wouldn’t feel safe by releasing this feeling right now….
I clear all the ways these parts wouldn’t feel safe because….
I clear all the ways I wouldn’t know who to be without this feeling….

Of course you can go back to your regular cue word again afterwards. What I found when I tried this is that it really removed the negative charge I felt and since then, whenever I speak of the incident that ticked me off, I no longer include the swear words in the telling of the story which tells me that I successfully took the edge off the issue with the use of my favorite swear word as my cue word. Now, when I think of the incident I really can’t generate the same feelings that I could when before I used ZPoint on it.

The nice thing is that I did this while I was driving in the car on a long trip so I had lots of time to play with it. I was able to use ZPoint right in the moment to clear my negative emotions when they came up.

[winston]

On The Web: What Motivates You? by Bob Tschannen-Moran

Although it won't be released until January 27, 2009, Tamara Lowe's new book, Get Motivated!: Overcome Any Obstacle, Achieve Any Goal and Accelerate Your Success with Motivational DNA, was featured in the January-February 2009 issue of body + soul magazine. Based on an eight-year study of more than 10,000 participants, Lowe reports that her research team found that a combination of six factors motivates people, each to varying degrees: productivity, connection, stability, variety, and internal and external awards. Here is a brief description of each:

Productivity: Classic "Type A" personalities. Driven to get things done. Extraordinary will-power and self-disciple. Bold, self-assured, decisive, and wired for leadership. Fast-paced and task-oriented. Mantra: "Get it done yesterday."

Connection: Loyal, empathetic, and supportive. Driven to build relationships. Rather fit in than stand out. Responsive to the needs of others. Find happiness in making others happy. Fueled by quality time with family, friends, social work environments, and open-ended timeframes. Mantra: "Don't go it alone."

Stability: Practical, careful, and consistent. Fulfilled by predictable and safe routines. Great with schedules, systems, and organization. Value accuracy and rely on logic. Mantra: "Slow and steady."

Variety: Dynamic, upbeat, and creative. Fulfilled by novelty and imaginative adventures. Not flustered by rapid transitions or last-minute modifications. Able to shift gears and turn on a dime. Mantra: "It has to be fun."

Internal: Focused on mission and meaning. Inspired by a sense of contribution. Psychological pay is of primary importance. Sets worthwhile goals and seeks private recognition / feedback. Mantra: "If it's for the greater good, then it's worth doing."

External: Focused on hard work and tangible assets. Inspired by feats of strength and record-breaking wins. Compensation, perks, and privileges come with the territory. Mantra: "Work hard, play hard."

[winston]

So the big question is, "Well, do I just dump all those unwanted things and try to start fresh?" And we say, no. You just set the Tone, where you are, by looking for things to appreciate.

And by setting your Tone in a very clear deliberate way, anything that doesn't match it gravitates out of your experience, and anything that does match it gravitates into your experience. It is so much simpler than most of you are allowing yourself to believe.

Excerpted from a workshop in Boston, MA on Saturday, October 4th, 1997

All Is Well

[winston]

Moving Toward the Promised Land 　　by Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein

Personal freedom is essential for happiness, for mental well-being and to feel comfortable as an Enchanted Self - someone able to access positive states of meaning again and again, while living a life of meaning and purpose. In the past I have talked about the Exodus from Egypt as a metaphorical example of some of the struggles that we all face in obtaining personal freedom.

Today, let's look at the notion that the Hebrews kept their own language. We could expand that to mean that they expressed themselves in words that had essence to them, that fit their world view. We know that words have subtle meanings attached to them. Every time we speak in a different language, we slightly change the world view of what we are saying and what it means. An easy example is the word 'snow.' Eskimos have 40 ways to talk about snow. We, as far as I know, have only one way. An Eskimo can actually see subtleties in the white expanse that would completely pass me – and most of us – by. Thus, we each carry our world view, composed of the unique memories, feelings and impressions we have collected through our lives.

Every day we have reactions and interpretations of what we do, what we see, what we feel. These may be quite consistent with the world we live in, but will still have a uniqueness based on what we give to the experience of being alive. Every day, as we step out of our homes, as we get on the bus, as we go to work, as we talk to our friends, as we process information, we do it through our eyes, not someone else's. In fact, if we try to live exactly like someone else, it just doesn't feel right. It feels lousy. We feel like we've been pushed and sometimes we feel diminished - that how we really feel or think doesn't count.

Let me talk a little about how this works by sharing what a friend told me awhile ago during a bad time in her marriage.　She had gone to a lecture where the speaker talked about how we all have to go out of our own personal Egypt at times in our lives. She said that was certainly how she was feeling, struggling through some bad days with her marriage where she often felt criticized or misunderstood. She felt that the language between them no longer worked. All words seemed to lead to further arguments and put-downs.

She was trying to find ways to honor herself through speaking “her own language.” For example, one day she went out with her friends, shopping and having so much fun. She felt as if she was leaving her Egypt for a day and meeting her own needs. She could speak in ways that were understood, and relax without fear of conflict. She could laugh. Her friends “got it” - whatever “it” was, they all understood each other. She quickly found herself feeling uplifted during that day's outing.

My friend left her own Egypt by maintaining a sense of her own needs and what made her joyful. In her case shopping, good conversation, and laughter with friends was a successful recipe for well-being. She knew she hadn't reached the Promised Land yet. She knew she had a difficult marriage to work on and/or ultimately leave, but she found a way to at least temporarily release and be true to herself.

That's what The Enchanted Self is all about. If we can keep achieving positive states of mind, body and spirit, then we move closer to really working on the expression of our true selves, in ways that can only bring us personal satisfaction and be of positive benefit to others and the world at large!

[winston]

When you say "Yes" to something, you include something you do want in your experience. When you say "No" to something, you include something you don't want in your experience.

Excerpted from a workshop in Orlando, FL on Saturday, February 15th, 1997

All Is Well

[winston]

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*** Article: Persistence - By Bob Proctor ***
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If you were to choose just one part of your personality to develop that would virtually guarantee your success, I'd like to suggest that you place persistence at the top of your list.

Napoleon Hill, in his classic "Think and Grow Rich," felt so strongly about this subject, he devoted an entire chapter to it. Hill suggested, "There may be no heroic connotation to the word persistence but the quality is to your character what carbon is to steel."

Think about it. If you took a quick mental walk down memory lane and reviewed some of your accomplishments in the past -- large and small -- you would have to agree that persistence played an important role in your success.

Napoleon Hill studied many of the world's most successful people. He pointed out that the only quality he could find in Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, or a host of other notable greats, that he could not find in everyone else was persistence. What I found even more intriguing was the fact that Hill made comment of the fact that these individuals were often misunderstood to be ruthless or cold-blooded and that this misconception grew out of their habit of following through in all of their plans with persistence.

It's both interesting and sadly amusing to me that, as a society, we would be quick to criticize people for realizing they had an unshakeable power within them and were capable of overcoming any obstacle outside of them. This power would ultimately move them toward a greater chance of achieving any goal they set for themselves!

Milt Campbell is a good friend of mine. He and I have shared many hours together...discussing the very topic of persistence. Milt was a Decathlete in the Olympic Games held in Helsinki, Finland in 1952. His goal was to capture gold for the U.S. Unfortunately, another fierce competitor who had taken home the gold four years previously in London wasn't satisfied with one gold. Bob Mathias wanted two. Milt had to settle for silver. That did not deter Milt one bit. He had formed the habit of persistence, and four years later in Melbourne, Australia, Milt won the gold medal, earning him the title of the greatest athlete in the world.

On numerous occasions, Milt has said, "There were many guys in school who were far better athletes than me, but they quit." I can recount story after story about individuals who overcame obstacles so great, but only did so because they dared persist. These individuals are no different than you and I.

Ultimately persistence becomes a way of life, but that is not where it begins. To develop the mental strength -- persistence -- you must first want something. You have to WANT something so much that it becomes a heated desire... a passion in your belly. You must fall in love with that idea. Yes, literally fall in love with the idea and magnetize yourself to every part of the idea. At that point, persistence will be virtually automatic.

Persistence is a subject I have studied all of my adult life, and I can tell you one thing I know for certain: very few people ever, mentally or verbally, say to themselves... this is what I really want, and I am prepared to give my life for it, and thus, they never develop the persistence to achieve it.

Persistence is a unique mental strength, a strength that is essential to comb at the fierce power of the repeated rejections and numerous other obstacles that sit in waiting and are all part of winning in a fast-moving, ever-changing world. As Napoleon Hill found out, there are hundreds of highly successful men and women who have cut a path for others to follow, while leaving their mark on the scrolls of history... and every one of these great individuals was persistent. In many cases, it was the only quality that separated them from everyone else.

It is generally believed that a lack of persistence is a consequence of a weak willpower. That is not true. A person could have a highly evolved willpower and still lack the persistence required to keep moving forward in life. In more cases than not, if a person lacks persistence, they do not have a goal that is worthy of them, a desirable goal that excites them to their very core.

Though willpower is important in moving a person toward their goal, if there is ever a war between the will and the imagination, the imagination will win every time. What that means is: you're powered by desire and fuelled by the dream you hold. Once you start to use your imagination to help you build a bigger picture of your dream, to define and refine it until you get it just right in your mind, the emotion that is triggered by that desire far outweighs any force that may be caused by sheer will alone. I am not suggesting the will does not have to be developed; it does. It must become highly developed in order to direct you toward the image with which you are emotionally involved.

Your intellectual factors hold the potential for enormous good when they are properly employed. However, you must remember that everything has an opposite, and any of your intellectual factors can turn, without warning, into destructive lethal enemies when they are directed toward results that are not wanted. It is easy to find individuals who are persistently doing what they don't want to do and achieving results that they do not want. A lack of persistence is not their problem; that person is persisting to their own detriment. Ignorance and paradigms are the enemy that we must defeat. Everyone is persistent. Our objective must be to put persistence to work for us rather than against us.

Vision and desire have to be the focus of your attention if you're going to develop persistence into the great ally it can become.

Another excellent example of persistence was demonstrated when, in 1953, a beekeeper from Auckland, N.Z., Edmund Hillary, and his native guide, Tenzing Norgay, became the first two people to climb Mt. Everest and return, after having tried and failed the two previous years.

Hillary had two obvious character strengths that took him to the very top -- vision and desire. Even despite the seemingly insurmountable challenges, he had no trouble persisting with the strenuous acts that were required because every act was hooked into the image of him standing on top of the mountain. They were expressed because of his persistence, but he was persistent because he was emotionally involved with the image. Without persistence, all his skills would have meant nothing.

Persistence is an expression of the mental strength that is essential in almost every profession, where repeated rejection and obstacles are part of a daily routine.

In closing, let me give you four relatively simple steps that will help you to turn persistence into a habit. These steps can be followed by virtually anyone.

1. Have a clearly defined goal. The goal must be something you are emotionally involved with, something you want very much. (In the beginning, you may not even believe that you can accomplish it -- the belief will come.)

2. Have a clearly established plan that you can begin working on immediately. (Your plan will very likely only cover the first and possibly the second stage of the journey to your goal. As you begin executing your plan, other steps required to complete your journey will be revealed at the right time.)

3. Make an irrevocable decision to reject any and all negative suggestions that come from friends, relatives, or neighbors. Do not give any conscious attention to conditions or circumstances that appear to indicate the goal cannot be accomplished.

4. Establish a mastermind group of one or more people who will encourage, support, and assist you wherever possible.

What do you dream of doing with your life? Do it. Begin right now and never quit. There is greatness in you. Let it out. Be persistent.