Master Key Week 13 – The Adventure Takes a Holiday

Time to Regroup

This blog-post is very tardy.  I could give all kinds of reasons/excuses, but why it’s late is really irrelevant.  I started this post back in December and managed to get sidetracked.  Suffice it to say that life happened and now I am playing catch-up – which is one of my old patterns.  I AM getting better about Doing It Now, but obviously I have room for improvement!  So here is another brick in building my castle as Og Mandino would say…

Time to Reflect

It’s week 13 and we’ve reached the halfway mark in our Master Key Adventure.  And what an adventure it’s been so far!

We’ve learned about how everything begins with a thought, that thoughts impact our emotions and the two together determine our beliefs.  The three taken together form our blueprint.

From there, the actions we take are determined by the beliefs we hold and in turn, those actions create the results we see.  For better or worse, “That’s Life!”

Is it Fate or Choice?

So it’s easy to see how we fall into thinking that life is out of our control – that things just “are the way they are.”  And it’s true – when we don’t know that we are the ones that created our blueprint in the first place, we are left with little choice but to “go with the flow.”.

Of course we had a little help along the way creating our old blueprint – help from (mostly) well-meaning parents, teachers, aunts, uncles, cousins, churches, TV, newspapers, magazines, etc, etc, etc…

But by this point in the MK course, it is obvious to us that WE are the ones who created our own blueprints.  Yes we had help, but NOW that we know that we, and we alone are the guardians to the originating thoughts that are the seeds of our blueprint, we have a choice.

We know that by changing our patterns, by changing our thoughts and infusing them with emotions, we can reset our beliefs – creating a whole new blueprint that is a more accurate reflection of who we are at our core.

Blog Continues

The previous part of this post was written in December – it’s now January 24th – Oops…  The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of ups and downs for me.  The holidays were wonderful – and not so wonderful at the same time.

I love Christmas – the music, the lights, the colors, the food, family and friends.  It has taken on a much more emotional aspect the past couple of years since I had a brush with death.  On the one hand it is easy to be grateful just to be here.  On the other hand it brings back the most poignant memories, not all of them pleasant.

But the truth is, life goes on either way.  And we can decide on which aspects to focus our attention.

Good News

My readers know that I like to share good news – here you go!

We recently learned some great news – that the negative things in our lives, our problems, the things we worry about – have no vitality of their own.  They draw their life from the attention we give them.  It’s been said that 95% of our worries NEVER HAPPEN!  Worrying is like paying interest on money that we never borrowed…

The even better news is that the things that resonate with and reflect, our passions, our gifts and talents, DO have their own vitality.  So giving attention to those things will multiply them until they dominate our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and actions.  And, obviously, the results that we create will be totally different!

No matter where we find ourselves, there are good things and bad, positive and negative.  Like our little friend in the picture shows us, you can be happy, even when you are up to your neck in stuff!

So let’s pay attention to where we focus our attention.  Let’s focus on the good things – it makes a world of difference…

As Mark J says – “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change…”

 

 

 

 

 

Master Key Week 12 – The Adventure Gets Into the Swing of Things

Golfing as a Learning Place for Master Keys?

Golf is something I’ve enjoyed ever since I was a teenager and first set foot on a golf course.  Actually, even before that I guess.

When I was around 11 or 12 years old, my brother and I collected coffee cans – remember those? – and buried them around the lawn and played “golf” with baseball bats and some old tennis balls.  We had a nine hole course and we played it over and over!  The course wasn’t particularly well manicured, but we had fun.

The first time I got to play on a real golf course with real clubs, I was about 16.  The feel of the professionally kept greens under my feet was amazing.  That was the beginning of a love/hate relationship with playing the game.

Early Challenges

After I graduated high school in Chateaugay, NY, my summer job was as a greenskeeper at the Ausable Club in the Adirondack Mountains.   What a cool gig!  I soon became best friends with John, the caddy master, whose Dad was the teaching pro at the club.

It was amazing to watch John play the game – he made it seem so easy and effortless.  He hit the ball long and straight, pretty much every time.  I (huge understatement) did not…  That was tough, because I had excelled at almost anything I’d ever tried.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about playing with John was his patience with my lack of skill in contrast to his comparative mastery.  The other amazing thing was his frustration with himself, even though he was lightyears ahead of me.

I never really gave it too much thought until recently, some 40+ years later.

What Can We Learn?

One of the things I’ve been learning recently is the only comparison worth much of anything is to compare how I was actually doing to how well I was capable of doing.  Was I doing my best?  That was really the only question – not how did I stack up to John, or Susie or George.

Comparisons are just opinions dressed up in fancier clothes.

Another thing is to enjoy the journey, the process, instead of being so focused on the immediate result.  Sure, we all have times we’d like things to move a little faster.  We’d like to be a little better at something.  To be more “successful.”

But what is success?

Success is such a subjective and relative term.  What yardstick do you use to measure it?

Two years ago, I was so sick that I wondered if I would even survive, much less play golf again.  Or do any number of things that I had taken for granted for so many years.  So, just being alive is a major success for me!

But when I did get strong enought to play golf again, the whole game had changed.  It no longer seemed to matter very much how far, or how straight I hit the ball.  Just being out on the course was a victory.

Do I feel still frustration when I hit a “bad” shot?  Sure – for about ten seconds.  Then gratitude for being outside in such beautiful surroundings, with good friends beside me, sweep over me like a wave, and nothing else much matters.

Do I feel exhilaration when I hit a “good” shot?  Absolutely.  The joy in hitting a golf ball exactly where you want it to go is so delicious that the non-golfer can’t usually relate.  Just ask my wife Terri when I come home and regale her with my latest exploits.  She listens patiently, and she takes joy in my joy – I guess that’s a success of sorts too – but it’s not the same as my experience.

The Good News

The good news for the week is this.  Success is an inside job.

Whether it’s how you hit a golf ball, how many sales you made, how you did with your spouse/kids, or how you did ____ (fill in the blank) compared to all those other people who did even more/better/bigger than you, the only true success is how you see the guy or the gal in the mirror.  Did he or she give it their best?

As Og Mandino says – “Only a habit can subdue another habit…”  Perhaps the most important habit of all, and life’s greatest success, is to be grateful for each day, and to live it to its fullest potential.

And, of course, to hit it longer and straighter off the tee!

 

 

Master Key Week 11 – The Adventure Picks Up Steam

All Aboard!!

The Master Key Express is leaving the station.  And it’s picking up steam.

One of the things I’ve been noticing for the past couple of months is how often people, events and things from “outside” our class are completely in alignment with what we are learning “inside.”

For example, one of the things that Mark talked about a week or two ago was the Negativity Bias.  Guess what came up in the minister’s talk that same Sunday?  You guessed it.

I have shared some particularly poignant sections of Haanel with my wife and then she shares with me the latest recordings she’s been listening to that say exactly the same thing.  Pretty cool.

Like box cars all linked to the same train.

I Think I Can, I Think I Can – Casey Junior

I can if I will I can.  One section of my DMP statement (Definite Major Purpose) refers to the connectedness of things.  So guess what – now I’m getting bombarded with examples like the ones above showing exactly that.  Probably a coincidence – NOT!

But those examples were nothing like a commencement address Jim Carrey gave in 2014 that a friend shared with me today.   It blew me away.  I’ll share a few quotes excerpted from it with all of you.  The link above will take you to the full address if you like.  (after you finish this blog of course!)

Coal for the Engine – Jim Carrey Quotations

“You can fail at what you don’t want so you might as well take a chance on doing something you love.”

“My Dad told me I wasn’t a ham – I was the WHOLE pig.”

With regard to our ego (old pattern) when we tell ourselves that we are not enough:  “How tricky, to tempt us with the promise of something we already possess.”

He talked about praying for a bike his family could not afford and coming home to a new bike won in a raffle a family friend had entered him into.  He says that that type of thing has been happening ever since.

Your job?  “Letting the Universe know WHAT you want and working towards it while letting go of HOW it comes to pass…”

And my favorite:  “My soul is not contained within the limits of my body.  My body is contained within the limitlessness of my soul…”

Good News

The good news for the week is simply this:  The more I’ve been striving to create a new blue print, the more things keep showing up to demonstrate how the world without is a reflection of the world within.

I can’t wait to see what’s around the next bend in the tracks…

Master Key Week 10 – The Adventure Leads to the Emerald City

What a Ride

There have been so many times I’ve wanted to give up.  Wouldn’t it just be easier to pack it in and go home – whatever that means?  To lie down in the poppies and just go to sleep.  The trouble is, “home” doesn’t fit anymore.  Too much has changed to ever go back.  I’ve seen the wizard (my old pattern) and I now know that he’s a man just like me.  A man with insecurites and gifts.  With doubts and certainties.  With strengths and weaknesses.  Who knew that I was the wizard all along?

The truth is, I now know that I alone am responsible for my happiness and prosperity.  I am the only one who can take actions to move my life one way or another.  That I alone can guide my thinking away from the reefs of despair and towards the deep water and the trade winds that will take me to where I’ve always wanted to go.  That I can be what I will to be.

It Starts With Thought

I know that my THOUGHTS can and will shape my feelings and my beliefs.  I now know that I get to choose where I focus those thoughts.  I now know that the resulting beliefs lead to the actions I take which create the results in my life.  Just like the wizard pulling all of those levers and pushing all those buttons, I can change what my subby (subconscious) sees and hears.

And subby is defenseless against the power of my voice.  It believes whatever I tell it.  “Good” or “bad.”  It is like a computer – it does not care how I program it – it will run whatever program I load up.  GIGO usually stands for garbage in, garbage out.  But I now choose for it to mean Goodness In, Greatness Out!

Freedom Found

Knowing this “simple” truth makes all of the difference.  But simple does not equal easy – the old patterns scream for their peptides.  But, once again, as Og Mandino tells us, new habits can subdue old ones.

With the support of Mark and Davene, other Master Key classmates and our guides, we are forming new habits.  We are shaping new thoughts that are reflective of our PPNs & DMPs (Personal Pivotal Needs & Definite Major Purpose)  We are linking our thoughts to numbers, sounds, shapes, colors so that they are continuously being reinforced.  Little by little, the concrete jacket on the Buddha is cracking and the gold beneath the surface is beginning to shine through.

Good News

As always, I like to finish with good news.  Once we have seen behind the curtain, no amount of tugging, pulling, protesting, shouting, kicking or screaming by the wizard will ever provide a secure hiding place for the old patterns.

Og Mandino’s 3rd scroll in the Greatest Salesman teaches – I will persist until I succeed;  I will build my castle one brick at a time; & one step at a time is not too difficult.

I am replacing my old concrete blueprint with with a shiny golden new one.

I will persist.  I will win!

 

Master Key Week Nine – The Adventure Turns Reflective

There Were Some Dark Times

We have been learning how the world within creates the world without.  In other words, what we see, sense and experience has its roots in the thoughts we think and the beliefs we hold.  I have had some experiences that show this to be true.  Including times when the clouds seemed about to blot out the sun completely…

A little over two years ago I found myself dealing with some extreme health issues.  My awareness that I had something going on started in the spring of 2013 with some lower back pain.  It kind of came and went, but each time it came it got a little bit worse.  I chalked it up to a kidney infection or some such.

Pretty soon it was uncomfortable to even sit down because the pain had moved into my butt – the pressure of my own weight on my bottom was becoming unbearable for more than a few minutes and the back pain became nearly constant.

By October, even I had to admit that I was in bigger trouble than I could deal with on my own and I finally – reluctantly – went to a doctor.  I was told I had a Stage 4 Prostate with a PSA that was completely out of control.  The doctor said he could make me comfortable, but that I didn’t have too long…

I told him that I was going to beat it and get through it all.  He asked how I proposed to do that and I shared a couple “alternative” things I was doing and he nodded his head and allowed that those “couldn’t hurt,” but it was clear that he was less than impressed.

By Thanksgiving, I was too weak to go to dinner with friends and family.  A part of me wondered if the doctor was right.

And Some Even Darker Times

By mid December I was in the hospital because I had been losing a lot of weight and couldn’t keep much food down.  I went home briefly on Christmas Day only to return a few days later.  This time, they put me on some serious pain relief, and were painting a picture of immanent doom and gloom.

One of the doctors came into my room one day to “inform me” of my prognosis.  He said, “Mr. Russ, you have a very aggressive form of Prostate Cancer and this is how it will progress.”

My two word response was “Or not.”

He said in an even stronger tone, “Mr. Russ, this is how this disease progresses.”

My even stronger response was, “Or NOT!”

He very sternly told me that I had to face “reality” and I told him that he had to “Get the #^&#@% out of my room!  That is NOT my reality!”

Soon after, I was pretty doped up and was then transferred to another facility.  They had told Terri that I had two days to two weeks, but I knew nothing about that…

It Starts Getting Lighter

I had been in the new place for about four or five days before I found out that it was Hospice.  My first thought was that there must not have been space in a rehab facility, but they needed the bed in the hospital.  OK, that’s fine.

Pretty soon I asked for the tube to be removed from my nose so I could go to the bathroom on my own.  They told me that they would not put it back in once it was out, and I told them that was OK.

I started eating.  Pretty soon they brought in a “trapeze” and I started doing “pull-ups.”  Then  they brought in a physical therapist.  I started walking the halls – I was getting myself ready to go home.

After ten days, they brought me out to our van and Terri took me home.  The nurse who wheeled me out told me what a miracle I was and I told her that we are all miracles.  She looked surprised and told me that I had been expected to die in that room.  That was the first I knew of their expectations – they obviously did NOT match my own.

Once back home, I slept in a hospital style bed for a couple of months.  I continued my pull-ups and, though I was weak, I was able to walk to the bathroom on my own.  I finally asked the visiting hospice nurse if I could get off the morphine I was taking since my pain seemed to be manageable.

Weaning off morphine was not the most fun experience that I have ever had.  Terri asked the nurse why she hadn’t warned us of the withdrawal symptoms and she said that all of her home hospice patients wanted MORE pain relief, not less.  Makes sense I guess.

And Lighter Still – Thanksgiving and Gratitude

So, here we are, two years later.  My PSA, while still somewhat elevated, is down over 98% from where it was.  The rest of my blood work is not just normal, it’s perfect.  My right kidney, which had been totally shut down, is fully functional and the partial blockage of the left one is gone.

I’m not all the way back to where I intend to be, but the trends are in the right direction.

I could not have done it without help.  Terri’s advocacy almost certainly saved my life.  The care of the nurses and the entire Hospice Staff was filled with loving kindness.  The support from friends and the prayers of strangers were amazing.  With the exception of the original doctor and the one doctor in the hospital, nobody told me I was going to die, though, looking back, it’s obvious that several people expected that outcome.

I even waivered a few times myself, but through it all, my expectation was that I would get better and have 20-30 more productive years.  So far, so good.

I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy!

And as you may imagine, it’s also pretty easy to be grateful…

Master Key Week Eight – The Adventure Gets Bumpy

Old Habits Can Be Insidious

This week has been one of ups and downs for me.  My mental diet (no negative thoughts) was going great for a few days and then, seemingly out of nowhere, doubt raised its ugly head.  Thoughts like “What’s the point Eric?  You’ve tried to change things so many times before and just ended up where you started” or “this may work for others, but nothing ever works for me.”

Which of course, IS exactly the point.  The same old habits and thought patterns reinforce old beliefs which result in the same actions (or inactions) which in turn create the same old results.  As I’ve quoted Og Mandino over and over, “Only a habit can subdue another habit.”

The Good News

In spite of the struggle, there is good news.  The truth is, a lot of things ARE working better since we started the Master Key course eight weeks ago.  Money is moving more easily, some of it from unexpected places.  My health is improving.  Terri (my wife) and I are laughing more.  Lots of things.

But some of the old patterns are hanging on for dear life.  It’s clear to me that there is a part of “me” does not want to let go or die.  It’s also clear that the strategy of bombarding the subby (subconscious) in multiple ways and linking my PPNs and DMP (Personal Pivotal Needs/Definite Major Purpose) to familiar shapes, to colors and recording them in my voice and putting them to music is working – little by little – but it’s working.  The new habits are gradually subduing the old.

There are times when my mind says I should just give up – old pattern.  But then I realize that it’s just the old belief trying to assert its “authority” and I know I can never go back there.  That it’s time to step into the real me – to live my life fully.

As Og says “It’s time to greet this day with love and succeed!”

 

 

Master Key Week Five – The Adventure Intensifies!

Wow – What a Ride!

So here we are in week five.  Is it just me, or is time moving faster and faster?  And things are changing even FASTER!  It’s been a very full week for me and several people on our team.  We just got back from our Global Convention with LifeVantage.  What a rush!  Several things happened that tied directly into what we are learning on our journey with the MasterKey Class.  There just seems to be too much for it to all be coincidence…

Everything is Connected

It is so cool that many of the things we are learning through MKMMA (MasterKey Master Mind Alliance) seem to be getting  reinforced from other places.  One of the speakers at our convention was Mel Robbins who did an amazing TED Talk a while back. She spoke to us about her five second rule.  When you have a thought to do something, if you do not start moving to do it within five seconds, your mind will start talking you out of it and you will never get started.

Sound familiar?  Do It Now! Do It Now! Do It Now!

Why Are We Doing What We Do?

One of our Corporate Officers also talked about Simon Sinek and how he teaches to Start With Why.  I’m thrilled that this is becoming part of our corporate culture!

Most companies and most people spend most of their time and energy talking about What They Do.  A few spend some time talking about How They Do It.  Only a few Start With Why, and yet this is the key.  What does what you are doing mean to you?

For example, the biggest selling MP3 Player is of course the iPod.  But did you know that it was not the first to market?  Creative Labs, maker of so many sound cards in our computers, came out with a 6gb MP3 Player a full year before Apple came out with their 5gb iPod.  But Creative marketed theirs as a “6gb MP3 Player” (WHAT it did) while Apple touted theirs as “One Thousand Songs In Your Pocket” (WHY you would want it) – and the rest is history.

What Does That Have to Do With Anything?

Part of the MasterKey course has been focused on writing our own personal DMPs (Definite Major Purpose) and tying them to our PPNs (Personal Pivotal Needs)  That looks a lot to me like “Why are we here?”  Not just what do we want, but WHY do we want it?  What NEEDS are being fulfilled?  How do they feel when they are fulfilled?

So, here is the question… WHAT do you want?  And, more importantly WHY do you want it?

My PPNs are Legacy and Liberty and it feels AWESOME to be attracting people and circumstances that support them!  Thanks to all of you who are a part of that!

Master Key Week Four – The Adventure Accelerates

The Subby Strikes Back!

The Empire in the Star Wars movies has nothing on the subby (subconscious) when it comes to being insidious.  It can creep in in funny places, disguised in many ways.  Just when we think we’ve gotten past them, old patterns find new ways to assert themselves.  Sometimes we just don’t seem to know which way we’re going!

To make it even more interesting, we are learning that our brain, in response to all the emotions associated with these patterns (habits) creates something called neuro-peptides.  The cells in our bodies become addicted to these little beauties, so if we go too long without experiencing the emotions associated with the patterns, our subby finds a way to set up the conditions for us to create one.  The cells in our bodies are literally addicted to the rush from these pesky peptides.

Are we Doomed?

Repeated behaviors – habits – are what create these neural imprints in our brains.  The synapses connect in specific patterns in response to specific emotions.  Many have been in place for years, even decades!  We can change the patterns briefly by simply changing our actions, but it takes a while, and many repetitions, to form new patterns to replace the old.

That’s why the repetitions of our Og Mandino scrolls, DMPs and other readings are so important.  As I quoted Og last week, “Only a habit can subdue another habit.”   Now we have the science that backs up the practice.   By replacing an old habit with a new one, different neural patterns are created and the old matrix falls apart.  Our cells are still addicted to the resulting peptides, but now the habits creating them are the habits we choose instead of our old defaults.

Good News Again!

I hope to be able to include some good news every week.  This week was a real roller-coaster for me.  It started out with money moving easier than it has for quite some time – how exciting is that?  Then, as if on cue, both of our vehicles had problems within a couple of days of each other.  And both of them were in the cooling systems!  At times, trying to facilitate a solution seemed to meet with resistance from all sides!

First, I deliver my Honda to a friend who is going to replace the water pump.  Then I go into town to get a tool he needs for the project.  The auto parts place gave me a pressure tester with no adaptor for my Honda’s radiator.  So I went back with the radiator cap.  They measured it and gave me an adaptor that was the proper diameter – but turned out to be the wrong length!

So we called over to another branch and they say “Oh yes, we have one for the Hondas.”  I drive there only to find that the adaptor they have is to test the cap, not the radiator!

Adding to the fun, on the way back I find myself behind a painfully slow scooter on a road with no place to pass.  Plus, I’m trying to get all of this done and get home in time to take my wife out on a date, so there is added pressure on my cooling system too!  As I’m finally going up the hill to our house to keep my date with my wife Terri, her car starts to overheat!

Now, here is the good news.

In the past, a situation like this would have put me into a tail-spin of self-pity.  But this week, I was able to be entertained by it all – at least for the most part.  I was actually able to laugh in the midst of the drama, at least most of the time.  When I got home, I was even able to share some of the laughing moments with Terri, telling her all about the afternoon’s saga and how different my experience of it was than it would have been in the past!

After borrowing a car from a friend, we are finally on our way to the show.  She has a letter to mail, so we pull into the post office parking lot and get behind a slow moving car at the ouside mailbox.  The gentleman puts a letter in the box.  We wait…  A few moments later another letter!  Then, a seeming eternity later, another letter.  We both start laughing at the absurdity of it all!

Yes, we did finally make the show and it was AMAZING!

Return of the Jedi?

By subduing old habits with new ones, we create new perspectives.  New expectations.  We are are in essence telling the subby that “These are not the droids you are looking for…”

With the practices of the past few weeks, I was able to become the observer of the drama of the cars instead of starring in the movie!

And you know what?  The problems with the cars were not nearly as serious as I had expected.  Most of what we worry about never happens, and as one of my brilliant teachers once said (wish I remembered which teacher)  “Worry is like paying interest on money you haven’t borrowed yet…”

The Empire can indeed be vanquished!

Week Three – The Master Key Adventure Intensifies

Habits are Interesting Things!

“In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits” – Og Mandino

We all have habits.  We may label them as “good habits” or “bad habits,” but in truth they are all just habits.  The goodness or badness is in the eye of the beholder.

Many, if not most of our habits lie beneath our level of awareness.  Without awareness, we cannot make choices about them.  Some habits support us in getting more of what we want in our lives and many may get in the way.  Cause and effect being such slippery things, at times we may not even know which habits are which.

What we are learning is that the world within creates the world without, and sitting after reading our DMP (Definite Major Purpose) helps us to reset that world within.

But my old patterns are not giving up without a fight – Aaaargh…

New Patterns are Dawning!

Og Mandino says that we are slaves of habit.  He goes on to say that “only  a habit can subdue another habit.”  As we read the scrolls from Og, our DMPs and other assigned pieces, old patterns begin to fade and new ones begin to emerge.  We begin to see and experience things in a new light.

Morning Mist

The most important piece is to focus our attention on what is preferred – on what we are moving towards.  As the habit of paying attention to where we are putting our attention gets stronger, the old habits begin to dissolve, like the sun burning away the morning haze.  Just as the haze disappears and everything comes into view, so it is with our newfound thought patterns – we are born again into a fresh day with a new lease on life.

More Good News!

Here’s some more Good News!  By becoming increasingly aware of my thought patterns and habits, I realize that I can now choose which habits to embrace and which ones to replace.  My conscious mind is becoming the gatekeeper to what gets passed on to my subconscious mind.

Just like a computer, as good information goes in, good results come out.  My new dominant thoughts, coupled with emotion, are beginning to change my beliefs.  New beliefs result in new actions, which in turn manifest new results.

And guess what?  I’m already getting more done.  Hurray!

Self-Esteem and “The Sit.”  What We can Learn from our Cats.

Business Doing His Sit

Our cat Business has never had any issues with self-esteem.  He sits still several times a day, contemplating who knows what?  Watching his stillness helps inpire me to be still as well, and the results are beginning to show.  We are in week three and my wife Terri is already noticing a difference in me.  And (no big surprise) she likes it – as do I…

Staying on track with these new disciplines has definitely not been easy, but it’s oh so worth it!

Like I said, the adventure intensifies.  I can hardly wait to see what shows up next…

Week Two – The Master Key Adventure Continues

Where do I Start?

I am so excited to be a part of the Master Key Course – it’s such a dynamic experience, even though there is still a part of me that wonders just what I’ve gotten myself into.  I have already begun revising my Definite Major Purpose write-up with the feedback from my MKMMA guide.  The class is already impacting how I interract with other people too!

I am doing my daily reading and my sits.  Most of you reading this post will probably be fellow explorers, but for those who do not know, the sits are quiet times of self-reflection.  The daily reading consists of scrolls from Og Mandino’s Greatest Salesman in the World (a far more spiritual volume than the name implies) along with a Blueprint Builder designed to help reprogram our sub-conscious so that reading our personalized DMP will have a profound effect on how we see ourselves.

All of it is designed to get us thinking, but none of it is about what we should be thinking – that’s totally up to us.  I already knew that the only thing we really had control over was our thoughts – about where we put our attention.  This course is already helping me to GET IT at a much deeper level than I ever have in the past.

OK – So Our Thoughts Impact Our Beliefs

Our thoughts not only impact our beliefs, they also impact our feelings, which will have an additional effect on our beliefs.  Beliefs in turn effect our actions which will then manifest as the results in our lives.  The bad new is that the blueprint from our old thoughts, feelings and beliefs has, to a large degree, predetermined our actions.

If we are unaware of this dynamic then we drift along in life, repeating the same types of challenges over and over again.  We may even begin to think of ourselves as failures and/or victims and see ourselves as helpless.  Such thoughts will inevitably have an effect on our feelings and beliefs and the direction from that is pretty clear – without awareness, it is pretty much downhill.  Just as water will seek the shortest path to the sea, relentlessly eroding everything in its path, our thought patterns will do the same to our lives.

The Good News!

The good news is, that unlike the river tumbling ever lower and lower, we have the gift of awareness – when we remember and choose to use it.  We DO have control of our dominant thought patterns, and through learning to exercise that control, and infusing it with feelings, our new beliefs will begin to chip away at the cement that has bound us into our “Lives of quiet desperation…”  And, unlike the erosion of the river which creates deeper and deeper chasms, the erosion of our old thought patterns and the rebuilding of new ones lifts us higher and higher.  Our new habits will build a new blueprint – a solid foundation for our dreams and aspirations.  From here we can build on solid bedrock!

In other words, we may still be “up the creek,” but it’s a beautiful creek and we now possess a very powerful paddle.  As I said – the adventure continues.  In truth, it’s just begun.