Thursday, November 12, 2009

Inspiration versus motivation versus perspiration.




"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." Nelson Mandela




Great leaders, and Nelson Mandela falls into this category, understand that when an individual understands with their head, they must be continually motivated to behave in the manner the leader wants. This person requires constant motivation to think, feel and act in the right way. Whereas if you reach the heart, an individual’s actions come from a place of inspiration, from within and inspiration does not require motivation. A true leader understands this and when a group of inspired people operate from the right level within a company, growth, creativity, maximum efficiency, peak performance, superb customer service, and so on-and-so forth become instinctive - become the personality of the company and running an organization like this becomes easier, less stressful, less challenging, and just plain fun.

Motivation is an overused tactic that we have grown too accustomed to using in our world, I guess because it is an easy tactic to implement, it is measurable, its’ cost is quantifiable, it’s ROI is calculable and the results are predictable.

But motivation comes from an exterior trigger -through reward, or recognition, or even fear, or penalty. People will be motivated and behave appropriately; however, motivation only succeeds in accomplishing what you asked for. People will do no more. And motivation requires continual promotion and even continual change and improvement – more – more - more. What motivates today will not work tomorrow. If it was $5 today, will it be $7.50 tomorrow and $10 the next day.

Inspiration requires no improvement. Inspiration requires no motivation. You are inspired – period – or not. When people are inspired they work with intention and a sense of “purpose” where actions are positive, people are passionate, creative and driven and this energy is contagious. Their intention is inclusive, caring, sharing and empowering. There is no place for competition, politics, greed, ego or any fear-based feelings and behaviours that push people away and compromise success.

People that are inspired are open, authentic, respectful, sharing and cooperate as a group for the attainment of their mutual goals.

A company with inspired people attracts other good people, attracts good customers or clients and attracts vendors that work to help instead of just delivering a product.

And that old saying that success comes from inspiration, motivation and perspiration? Inspired people require less perspiration because quite frankly the work from inspired people doesn’t feel like work to them.

If you look at companies with the fastest growth, and the strength to maintain their position indefinitely, you often will find a company with a team of inspired executives and a culture that supports this.

Google is one example that many hold up as a model culture for today’s progressive companies. lululemon, MacDonald’s back in the Ray Kroc days, Richard Branson who believes in creating companies that fill a need, hiring good people to run them and then letting them run them. General Electric under Jack Welch; Steve Jobs at Apple; John Chambers at Cisco; Steve Ballmer at Microsoft.

Inspiration begets inspired creative thinking, begets passionate purposeful action begets brilliant innovation begets large leaps in progress – and it’s a circle that just keeps going.

You know when you are in the presence of inspiration. If you have ever had the pleasure of walking into a church that was designed and built in the 1400’s, 1500’s or 1600’s you can sense, see and feel inspiration. The same can be said with poetry, writing, music, a great painting and, of course great people who are inspired and aligned with their higher self. It’s genuine and you just know it.

I had a few of you comment on a group of Norwegian lads that sang in a blog I posted a few months ago. Here is a song from them with an arrangement that is truly inspired. It is a well-known U2 song but after you listen, you will hopefully agree with me. They are inspired. They have made it their own song.

Turn up the speakers, sit back, let go of the stresses of the day, relax and enjoy.

Have a great, glorious and inspired day.

Ken

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The quality of your tools can mean the difference between success and failure.


I was golfing with my in-laws one beautiful day this past summer, and my Mother-in-law kept harping on me – “try George’s driver---try George’s wedge---try George’s five iron---and so on.” So finally I relented on a short par 4, asked for his driver and proceeded to blast the longest drive I had ever made. It was beautiful to watch. It kept climbing and climbing and climbing and went completely over the green. Wow! I knew that new clubs were better---the sweet spot was larger---and your accuracy was better but I had never experienced it myself. I can only imagine the difference the quality of equipment could mean between winning and losing at the professional level.

Then I started to think of the importance the quality of tools can have in business, especially when the margin between success and failure is razor thin. Tools that improve efficiency and productivity are easy to understand, but the less tangible tools that create impressions can still mean the difference between getting new business or not, or getting the fees or prices we set or not or getting approval or not.

I just recently started using a new LCD projector. It’s an Epson PowerLite projector. I need a fairly versatile projector because I can find myself in large and small rooms, in front of large and small crowds, I fly a lot, and since one of the courses I teach is presentation skills, my equipment better be right up there with the best. I noticed immediately that the colours on my laptop were the same as the colours being projected on the screen. I had never seen colour accuracy like this before. And the picture quality was amazing. An added bonus with this model is that I did not have to travel with my laptop – this projector works with my memory stick or even via the internet – and it makes life just a little bit easier. I wondered how this projection of quality could impact on the perception, albeit subtle, of quality on my business. I have to believe there is a co-relation.

People form opinions of you quickly, and connecting with the right impression is what it is all about. Project your self image in a way that breeds confidence in others; a perception of being the authority in your area, and more times than not, you win. And even though first impressions are not always correct, they are the ones that stick in people’s minds until corrected. What is the image that you have of yourself? What kind of image do you think you project?

There are 7 observable behaviours that help people form their impression of you and when you are aware of and control these 7 behavious, you create the impression you want, purposefully and this can mean the difference between success and failure.

Here are the 7 observable behaviours, in no particular order, that create those impressions:

1.) DRESS & GROOMING - Your dress should be credible and appropriate. Think about the impression you are trying to create and dress accordingly. If you are trying to create the impression of a leader or an authority, dress “one up” from the person(s) you are meeting.

2.) STANCE / POSTURE Posture should be upright, not round shouldered, like you “own” the place where you are standing. Stand tall and confident, like you’ve just won the lottery. Look like you want to be there. Stance does so much for your presence.

3.) GESTURES They should be fluid, smooth and not repetitive. WATCH FOR ANYTHING THAT SUGGESTS YOU ARE INSECURE. Should be more expressive. Gestures done poorly can give the impression of being unsure.

4.) MOVEMENT Should be fluid, confident, purposeful. Movement can give the impression of being in control, relaxed and confident. The happy wanderer can make you appear unsure and nervous.

5.) VOICE – VOCAL VARIETY Should project an air of confidence, filling the room. Voice should be full sounding, and be commanding and compelling. Watch for filler words such as ums, ahs, you knows, like, and other repetitive phrases that add no meaning to what you are saying. Remember that pausing also adds to the impression you are creating.

6.) FACIAL EXPRESSION & EYE CONTACT Your face should say “I am interested”, even excited. Direct eye contact is one of the most important tools to connect with the other person. Watch for the feeling of nervousness. Don’t try too hard. Your ability to look someone in the eye as you speak to them is a tell tale sign of our own self-respect. It’s not only a display of confidence, it is a DISPLAY OF TRUTH AND A DISPLAY OF RESPECT for the other person.

7.) WORDS & LANGUAGE. How personal or impersonal your language is has a direct bearing on connecting with the other person and creating the right impression. Your language should be appropriate, educated, decisive, certain. There should be directness in your speech; your tone and your words.

You can control these “tools” and create the right impression with the people you do business with. And the quality of everything else serves to enhance that image right down to the picture quality of the presentations you make.

Take a look at yourself in a mirror. What type of impression do you think you make when you meet people? Can you improve it in any way and increase your chances for success, and professionally with your career?

People, rightly or wrongly, form opinions and judgments quickly. Help them make the right decision. If you feel like a success, look like a success and act like a success, then …..by golly….you will be a success.

And the next time my Mother-in-law says “Try George’s 5 iron," I’ll quickly say – "Dad, please pass me your 5 iron.”

Have a great day.

Ken

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Let's create a dynasty!

It was spring in 1956. Bill Russell, an NBA Hall-of-Famer, was signing with the Boston Celtics of the NBA. Red Auberach, the coach looked at Bill and said, “If you focus on helping your team mates, elevating their game, finding the open man with the best shot, then I will never care how many points you make in a game, when it comes time to re-negotiate your contract. If you just focus on yourself, at the expense of your team mates, then that will change how we approach your contract. The choice is yours.”

This was the entire focus of that team. It was one of camaraderie, cooperation, sharing and respect. The older players shared information with the younger players, information that would help them with the teams they would play. They cooperated and helped each other on the floor, respected one another for what they brought to the game and respected each other as human beings. They even liked each other.

From 1957 to 1969 the Celtics won 11 NBA titles, a span of 13 years: a dynasty that has not been surpassed or even approached in the NBA. And during that span, they only let one player go.

This is a perfect example of a team culture that fosters success. The positive energy of a vision – in this case to win – combined with a personal sense of purpose by each member, wrapped in cooperation, sharing, respect and harmony.

We see examples of this in the sports world all the time, but for some reason, we find it difficult to apply these principles to our everyday lives and in our businesses. We get too focused on looking out for ourselves, trying to get our fair share, protecting our own turf, or the dynamics of politics and competition creep into the fabric of our team culture.

We spend more time judging individuals, being critical of one another, controlling and getting our own way and creating an energy that pushes people away, puts up barriers to success, and fosters negativity instead of the attractive, inspiring and imaginative feelings that come from positive interaction.

Success is amplified by the creation of a group that likes one another, that cooperates, shares responsibility, shares ideas, and understands that the success of the team means everyone wins.

Teams that approach a project with this energy can work magic. Out of this harmonious blending, the minds connect in a positive energy, and draw upon creativity, imagination, inquisitiveness, cooperation and respect. Almost anything is possible and this is how great leaders impact on the teams in their company and create success in gigantic leaps and bounds. On top of this they are fun to be part of, stimulating your thinking in addition to being very inspiring and motivating.

It is the organized knowledge of the group, expressed through intelligent effort that creates the success. The individuals in the group engage in an effort that coordinates their knowledge and energy in a spirit of harmony. Lack of this harmonious coordination of effort is one of the main reasons for practically every business failure.

It is the collective intelligence, effort, passion, and knowingness to succeed that creates success. Success is not a solo project. It needs to be shared. There’s plenty to go around. You have to work with a team that shares the same dream or objective. A team is part of your lever. It makes success quicker and easier. It’s all about synergy. There is an incredible power when people work together.

Associating with like-minded, success-oriented, joyful individuals – a Dream Team – is one of the most exhilarating feelings and an amazing tool to achieve success.

Anyone can create a dream team. Look around. Think about something you want to accomplish and then approach the people you think would make a positive contribution towards achieving that goal. Help members work together in an effort that combines their personal sense of purpose, with cooperation, sharing, respect and harmony. Then watch as your success begins to materialize. And who knows, you may begin to build a business dynasty and your business and your career will take off.

Teams are like musical groups where everyone has their own part to play, and when they master their own role, and work in harmony, the resulting collective effort is a piece of music that is magic to the ears.

Much like these four young chaps from Norway who are playing a Leonard Cohen piece that was in Shrek 2. Turn up the speakers, sit back and enjoy and most of all,............ have a great day!

Ken




Monday, August 17, 2009

"If they had listened can you imagine our world today."


“But what is it good for? Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM commenting on the microchip in 1968.

“We don’t like your sound and guitar music is on the way out.” Decca Records rejecting the Beatles in 1962.

“This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” Western Union internal memo in 1876.

“Hey we’ve got this amazing thing, even built it with some of your parts, and what do you think of funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary and we’ll come work for you.” And they said, “Hey we don’t need you. You haven’t even finished college yet.” Hewlett Packard rejecting Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, founder of Apple Computer about their idea of a personal computer.

“You will go broke trying to run a store on five and ten cent sales.” People trying to convince F.W. Woolworth not to go ahead with his plans for Woolworths Five and Dime.

Vision takes guts. Positive living takes discipline. Negativity is everywhere. There is no legal protection against those who, either by design or ignorance, poison the minds of others by negative suggestion.

Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich once said, “ This form of destruction should be punishable by heavy legal penalties because it may and often does destroy one’s chances of acquiring material things through their success.”

People with negative minds tried to convince Thomas Edison that he could not build a machine that could record and reproduce the human voice. “Because” they said, “no one else has ever produced such a machine.” Thomas Edison knew that the mind could produce anything the mind could conceive and believe, and that knowledge was the thing that lifted him above everyone else.

Doubting Thomas’s scoffed when Henry Ford tried out his first crude built automobile on the streets of Detroit. Some said the thing would never become practical. Others said no one would pay money for such a contraption. Ford said, “I’ll belt the earth with dependable cars,” and he did. His decision to trust his own judgment piled up a fortune for generations to come.

Protect your mind. Be guarded with your thinking. Positive thinking begets positive feelings begets positive actions, begets positive circumstances, begets positive opportunities, and so on and so on. This is a discipline that many of us find hard to do because there is negativity and doubting Thomas’s all around us. Negativity is toxic. It squelches great thinking. And mediocrity will attack brilliant thinking every time.

People who do not succeed have one distinguishing trait in common. They know all the reasons for failure, and have what they believe to be airtight alibis to explain away their own lack of achievement. You know…the list of “If onlys…..

It’s time you stopped listening to the conditioning you grew up with. It’s time you stopped listening to the world around you and realized just how perfect, how ingenious, how creative, and how fantastic you are. It’s time to realize that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, and with vision, passion, and of course, a plan, you can succeed at anything you put your mind to.

You are an amazing human being. You are here to accomplish great things. You are here to grow, to be inspired, to create and to be happy, joyful, and prosperous beyond your wildest dreams. When you decide to change your thinking and picture your reality as you dream it and find the passion that sets your mind on fire, then your soul will shine, the nay-sayers will have no impact on you and you will create wondrous things and help multitudes of people and feel fulfilled, satisfied and alive.

Have a great day.

Ken


Sunday, March 22, 2009

What does Bob Doyle have to do with fishing?




It often amazes me how small we think. The universe is constantly presenting us with a smorgasbord of lasting fulfillment, yet we tend to settle for scraps.

There is a story of a man who goes fishing. After he catches the fish, he measures it up against a ruler and if it's bigger than the ruler, he throws it back. By the end of the day he has thrown back quite a few, and a fellow fisherman asks him why. He explains, "The pot I use to cook the fish is only 12 inches wide. I have no use for the bigger fish."

Life wants to give us everything, but, when we're stuck with our small desires, it's like we are throwing it away.

Today, rethink what it is you want out of life. Expand your desires. Imagine that you can do or have anything and allow yourself the courage to go for it.        Yahuda Berg


Bob Doyle's name might sound familiar to you, it might because he was one of the teachers from "The Secret" and he's well known around the personal development community for his expertise in the Law of Attraction.

Here’s a brief video to help you think about a bigger pot to cook your fish in. It's a re-iteration on the principles to expand your thinking and create a life where your attraction to everything is limitless, eternally expanding, positively energetic, contagiously prosperous and gloriously enriching.

Have an amazing day.

Ken



Sunday, March 1, 2009

"Be the change you want to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi



I believe these are among the most powerful words ever spoken.



Before we proceed with our session this week, I would like you to view this clip that wasn’t in the movie ‘The Secret.’ It was edited out – for whatever reason – and I guess left on the editing room floor. It’s now a secret I guess, because they did not include it in The Secret.
For those of you who have never seen The Secret, I recommend it – it is inspiring, uplifting and has been one of the most talked about and viewed movies around the globe the last couple of years that never hit a theatre or television screen. 

We’ve talked about this before. Whatever you focus on expands into your reality. Whatever your thoughts, you attract more of the same thoughts, and situations, people, behaviours and events that support your thinking. Like energy attracts like energy.
There is no question about this anymore. It is a proven scientific fact. It is being tested over and over and over and over and over by our leading edge quantum physicists in Universities all over the world. Now is the time to harness the power you have in you.
Now is not the time to sit idly by and add to the energy that the people of this world are generating right now.
History shows that change – truly significant change – comes from individuals with a vision, with the right tools and the commitment to make things happen and create something new that changes the course. Be the catalyst to the change you want to see in your life, in your home and in your business world. Let’s begin to make the change now.
There is a woman whose name is Deborah Powell. She is the Principal of a school in our area - my daughter went there. She has a vision about creating the right environment for kids, an environment where kids want to learn. Her vision is all about creating a culture of cooperation, sharing, respect and harmony.
This is in an environment – our school system today – where bullying has become rampant. Where bullying that disguises itself in many forms, such as teasing, name-calling, sarcasm, making people feel like they don’t belong in the group, not letting people play with them, laughing at their clothes, or their hair, or their speech, or their work, racism, sexism, machoism, ageism, genderism – the list goes on, - but all this behaviour tears people down, hurts them, makes them feel less than they are and creates feelings that push people away instead of pulling them together as a team. All of this generates a feeling of negativity.
Deborah has created a school where kids respect one another, help one another, feel good about themselves and you can tell as soon as you walk in the doors there is happiness and joy in the halls of this school. People feel good about coming here every day.
She changes behaviour by telling people over and over about her vision. She tells them every moment she can, every day and even in formal assemblies every week. She tells them what is acceptable behaviour and what is not and she rewards good behaviour and penalizes bad behaviour. She has made it clear that there is zero tolerance for bullying. And when there is any bullying behaviour, she stops it dead in its track. Deals with it swiftly, even calls in the parent when necessary and tells the student and the parents that the behaviour will not be tolerated and if it continues they will be suspended from school and lose privileges, including bussing which has an impact on the parents too. The changes have been remarkable, and our daughter excelled in this environment.
Deborah is the catalyst. She is the change she wants to see. And her world and everyone in her world is benefitting form it.
So this week, look at yourself. Be bold. Take the step. Change how you see your world. Look at how you can help people around you. If you are a leader, of a group, a team, a department, a division, a company, take the steps to change what you see. Create an environment that pulls people together. Where a sense of purpose, cooperation, sharing, respect and harmony begins to change the old energy of crisis, conflict, competition and scarcity – energy that needs to change in our world.
And finally think about this. There are three groups of people in this world. The first group makes things happen. The second group sits there and says ‘it can’t happen and the third wakes up one day and says ‘what happened?’ Let's get ourselves into this first group.
Have a great week.
Ken





Sunday, February 15, 2009

Transformation in 21 days.




Lose 20 lbs in 20 days. Create wealth in 30 days. You can have beautiful abs in 7 days. We hear these promises all the time. We have become addicts of the “instant” gratification syndrome. We expect results from everything immediately.

Well, here’s a promise to you to transform yourself in 21 days – all you need is to get a bracelet and follow the instructions in this week’s blog.

In one of the courses I teach, I give all the participants a bracelet (my apologies for not giving you one, but the mechanics and size of this blog makes this impractical.) Attached to each bracelet is a piece of paper that reads as follows:

Positive Vibration Transformation Bracelet

This bracelet has the power to create joy, happiness, and bring everything positive into your life. Psychologists have long known that it takes 21 days of consistency to change any behaviour. If you can create positive energy in every thought, every comment and every action for 21 days you will begin a new behaviour, a new approach, a new way of dealing with life in a more positive way.

Wear this bracelet for 21 days and consistently think and hold positive, non-judgemental thoughts, comments and feelings. If you think or express any negative thought, don’t worry, put the bracelet on the other wrist and start again. Keep this up until you complete 21 days. It will transform your life.

 

The principles of the discipline behind the bracelet are solid, well accepted psychological truths. We now know that behaviours create neuro-passageways in your brain. Like a road map, a behaviour always follows the same neuro-passageway. Over time, the passageway gets a little stronger every time you exhibit that behaviour.

For example, if your significant other pushes a button, your reaction is immediate, it is the same every time because you have gone down that familiar passageway a thousand times and it gets stronger every time. They have learned, through testing, that in order to form a new passageway, and make it more familiar, you need to exhibit the new behaviour for 21 days and create a new neuro-passageway with enough familiarity that the old one closes off and the new one becomes the pattern.

So if you want to break the habit of negative thinking, or making judgments on the world, or people, or just discover how much of this comes to the surface, get yourself an inexpensive bracelet and try this exercise. Most of my participants tell me that they become shocked at how negative they are – that they were completely unaware of their negative attitudes towards many things and they feel a release; they feel lighter, an increase in energy and a whole lot more happiness and joy, all as a result of this bracelet exercise.

Try it out. Let me know. Pass it on. Discover that the negative energy in you and in the world can be tamed. And the reverse – what is our true selves – is positive, attractive, loving energy that will change – make that transform – you and your world into the loving, prosperous, exciting and stress-free world you deserve.

Have a great day.

Ken

Here's a short video - actually a commercial - that inspires. Have a great day.


Sunday, February 1, 2009

The recipe for success is like baking a cake

While I was going to school many, many years ago, looking for ways of making money to further my education, I found myself, one night, sitting on the edge of my seat in an auditorium, with three hundred people, hanging on every word being delivered by a man up on stage telling us about baking a cake. You could feel the room become energized and it all radiated from this young man of 30 or so; this amazing energy that was his presence as he passionately told us his story.

He showed me the power of being inspired and driven by purpose. He showed me how any disabilities you may have mean nothing when your passion for something shines through. This man was short, fat, with an odd looking face, and ruffled hair and he had a hair-lip (the proper term is cleft lip and palate), so he talked in a very peculiar and that very distinct hair-lip way. All of these “physical deficiencies” seemed to disappear as we listened to him inspire us and told us this story about how the recipe for success is like baking a cake.

You see, he said, you could get all the finest ingredients in the world to bake a cake; the finest flour, the best tasting chocolate, the freshest eggs and creamiest whipping cream and put it all together and then at the last minute put in a cup of sand, and that cup of sand would destroy that cake. No matter how good everything else was, the sand would make the cake inedible. And then he proceed to tell us, it didn’t matter if we put in a cup of sand, a bucket of sand or just a table spoon of sand, the cake would not be ruined any more or any less. The result would be the same.

Then he said, our negative thinking was like that sand. We could put all the positive intentions, the best ideas, the most creative ways of doing things, the best conviction and resources together and if we had any negative thoughts about our success, any feelings of lack, limitation, danger, difficulty, fear or any other troubled feeling, our success would be choked off.

Because it has nothing to do with the amount of negative thinking. It has everything to do with any negative thinking. That is why it is so important to clear yourself of any self-doubts and move forward with feelings of pure positive intention, confidence, a sense of knowing your success and when you are aligned with a sense of purpose and inspired to create something that makes a difference in this world and put behind this the pure empowering energy that flows from this focus, then you will attract limitless possibilities and be guided and receive the tools, the assistance, the resources, the situations, and the people to bring this into your reality.

But it all starts with getting clear. Of eliminating self-sabotaging and limiting beliefs. That is why the exercises that we talked about in earlier sessions are so important. That is why a daily discipline of meditation and visualization are so crucial to a path of growth, prosperity and personal mastery. So many people know this in their minds and then find every excuse to keep from doing it. And then they can continue to tell their story of lack to everyone who will listen, of why they are not succeeding in life and they will create all the dramas and situations that support their story.

Like the Chinese say, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. And then it is just a question of putting one foot in front of the other, and then before you know it, you have walked your first mile, and then your tenth mile and then your fiftieth mile. Life is about the journey. It has nothing to do with the finish line. You never get it done, and you never get it wrong, it’s just about moving forward.

If you haven’t started a daily practice of meditation and visualizing, I strongly recommend you do – just 5 minutes a day – in the same place and at the same time every day. And then you will find 5 minutes will become 10, and then 20, and who knows where you will get to, but I know this, you will find the journey gets easier, and that you will be wanting and looking forward to your next session, when you begin to see the benefits and the progress you will make.

If you want to combine this with some of the emotional clearing techniques we talked about earlier, it will be like super-charging your daily regimen. And as you move forward you will realize that you are a limitless, all powerful, an all knowing soul capable of amazing things – in fact capable of anything you can imagine, and you will feel energized, balanced, joyful, at peace and people will be attracted to the presence you emanate and you will begin to change your life and the lives of people around you.

I wish you all the best. You are a great soul. Have a great day.

Ken

Here's a video to inspire your day. Turn up your speakers and enjoy.

 

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Bill Gates used this and look what he created!

I have been reading a book that apparently Bill Gates read while he was sleeping in his office because he couldn’t afford a place to live. It was originally written in 1922, called The Master Key System, by Charles F. Haanel.

It doesn’t matter when “truth” is written; it always rings true. The core principles in the book cover everything we have been talking about. One of the keys, in The Master Key System is the “Law of Attraction.” This is a law that has received a lot of press through the movie “The Secret” that was launched a couple of years ago and was even promoted on Oprah.

Little known to only a few of us, is that the foundation to the message in the movie The Secret came from a woman called Esther Hicks through the Teachings of Abraham. Esther’s work was the foundation of everything in this movie. There were only a limited number of copies released with Esther in it before she was edited out because she would not sign over her intellectual property to Channel Nine in Australia, the producers of the Secret.

I thought it would be worth watching Esther today – she is very inspiring and brings wisdom to us about this very important law. She also takes it to a depth not covered in the movie. I must first explain a few things about Esther and the Teachings of Abraham. This may be the first time many of you have seen/heard of a “channeled non-physical entity.” I hope you can be open to this, but if not, I understand. There have been many recorded channeling’s over the years. Seth was famous in the seventies. Ramtha and Veronica are two others today. There are many more. They all seem to bring the same wisdom.

Here is what is important – the wisdom you will hear. Not that it is channeled. There are five parts that fully explain the Law of Atrraction. Here are the links. I recommend that you see them all.

http://www.lawofattractioninteraction.com/LawofAttraction_Videos.php

 If you can't see the five videos here, click the link below and then click "Law of Attraction Video."

http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/videos.php

Enjoy, remember just how powerful you are, and with a little practice and the right intention, you – and we as a group – will create magnificence, and bring prosperity, happiness, abundance and peace into our world.

All the best to you.

Ken

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Beliefs are Chronic Thinking


Happy New Year. I hope you had a wonderful break, a great time with family and friends and you are looking forward to a super year for 2009. I also hope you have found these sessions helpful.

I thought it would be worth looking at our beliefs this week, since they are so instrumental in creating our world.

Our behaviors are often directly influenced by of our beliefs. Beliefs are instrumental in creating the world we live in. All of us have a set of beliefs that influence our lives, probably even more than we realize.

Some beliefs are collective beliefs and serve as the foundations of our institutions like government. We believe in democracy. We believe that the government will look after us. Then we have beliefs in our banking system, our education, healthcare, policing. We have strong beliefs about our biology that significantly influence our approach to medicine, therapies, how we see disease, our diets. In fact our beliefs have changed incredibly in the area of food, with new knowledge on transfats, on chemicals leaching from plastics, on cholesterol, the consumption of red meat. Our beliefs in science are also changing, with most of our scientific beliefs based on Newton theory dating back to the 17thy century.

Beliefs tend to change with new information and new learning. Beliefs tend to change with geography and change from culture to culture.

We now know the world isn’t flat, that we are not the centre of the universe, that you can’t tell the sex of an unborn child by hanging and swinging a wedding ring over the pregnant mother’s belly, and that you can’t catch aids by coming into contact with someone who has it. In fact almost all our beliefs have changed over time and the ones we hold today, for sure will change as we get new information.

Our world has taken a belief pill, an ugly belief pill that perpetuates a lie; that makes us believe in lack, that there isn’t enough to go around, that there isn’t enough money, enough time, and enough resources.

It makes us believe things like we aren’t important, we don’t deserve success, that we are not worthy of prosperity, not worthy of respect, don’t deserve happiness. It conditions us to believe that we are less than we actually are.

A belief is nothing more than chronic thinking. If a thought is ongoing, repetitive, unchanged, then it becomes a truth. A truth for the moment. Your belief will be supported and re-inforced by events and evidence. And you will individually or collectively re-inforce these beliefs by the events you create and the evidence you see. In fact you can become oblivious to evidence that says the contrary because your belief is so strong it does not allow you to see it. Beliefs rely on your interpretation of what you see. Often, in fact in most if not all cases, the belief is created by the observer through their interpretation of what they see. This interpretation can be drastically affected by the filters the observer uses and sees the world through.

Many of the beliefs we hold are formed when we are very young and have significant influence over our reality. Each person’s beliefs can be different because their experiences differ, but there are some common beliefs and common themes that run through most of us.

 When we were learning how to walk, it did not matter to us how often we failed. Failing was part of the learning process. We did not see our inability as failures. We didn’t care how others felt about our inability to walk. It didn’t even enter our minds. We probably fell hundreds, if not thousands of times before we could make that first step properly, balanced upright, standing with a little support on two legs. It took persistence, it took strengthening of muscles, it took practice, it took the training of muscle memory and it took, I guess you could say, failing over and over and over before we began walking and feeling the experience of what it was like to put our two feet together over and over, totally balanced, making our way across the room, or from one end of the coffee table to the other. Failure was something we did not know. This thinking did not exist anywhere in our reality 

Yet through conditioning many of us have learned that failure and mistakes are wrong and this belief has forever affected our lives, our behavior, our thinking and even our judgment and in the process this changed the reality we create and experience. Negative beliefs, such as I’m not good enough, I’m not important, I can’t do it, relationships don’t work, I’m powerless and I’m not worthy. These beliefs have created a negative self-esteem that leads to dysfunctional behavior.

These beliefs are not a true reflection of us and I know we know this rationally, but many of us have been conditioned to believe and therefore our behaviors reflect these beliefs. Many of us may not realize our true magnificence. That we truly are unlimited in our potential. We do not understand how powerful each of us is in creating whatever world we want to live in. That within us is the wherewithal to create whatever we want and have a life of abundance, joy, peace, happiness, and prosperity. That within us are gifts that when brought to the surface, will contribute to a positive world – to contribute to the business we work in, the team we work with, our relationships, our customers, our community.

What is important is to understand that our conditioning has had a negative impact on our beliefs. And that with practice and using some of the great techniques in this world, we can change our beliefs.

There are a number of techniques that work to change and/or eliminate negative beliefs. One technique that works for many people is called the Lefkoe technique. The Lefkoe technique was developed by Morty Lefkoe some twenty years ago. It is a process that has helped tens of thousands of people change their beliefs of how they see themselves and in the process helped them carve out a new and amazing life. And the process works in a short and painless time frame.

Most, if not all, of our beliefs have emerged from childhood in our interpretation of events that have occurred over and over again to form “the truth” rather than “a truth”.

Morty Lefkoe has developed an effective and proven method that he has practiced and refined to eliminate each dysfunctional belief within 15-30 minutes. The method is described in his book in fascinating detail with case studies.

One key point that Morty makes is that the method can be applied to all situations especially parenting and business.

In business the hardest thing is change - or is it? Actually it comes back to the root beliefs in individuals. Why change when you think that what you are doing today is the best thing. If you can address this core belief present in many people, then change becomes easy. Everyone wants to do the right thing and succeed. The trick is to find the key.

Persuasion never works because it does not address the core beliefs.I recommend his 200 page book and the course that Morty offers on-line or actual facilitations. Its worth noting that there have also been various trials to prove that the method works.

There are other methods of changing beliefs and releasing the emotional blocks that get in the way of creating the business world and the life we all want. This is an area where many people have some difficulty in believing these therapies work, because they really are quite simple in their techniques. Our world has forged a belief that things must be complicated to work.  In fact we spend a lot of time complicating everything in our lives, but as Albert Einstein once put it so beautifully, “If the answer is simple, God has spoken.”

Further investigation will help you uncover and select what is best for you. There are techniques such as the Sedona Method and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), the Healing Codes and Energy Healing that are effective. What you need to do is some investigation and decide on one or a combination of techniques that you can use.

If anyone has other techniques, please share these with the group. 

If we could all change the beliefs we are holding about the state of our world right now and begin to create positive, and non-judgmental feelings of prosperity, abundance, cooperation, and respect, we would create from a state of limitless possibilities, and you would be amazed at what positive changes we would see in our lives, our businesses, our countries and in our world. Try it – let’s be the first – and our outlooks will have an impact on everyone else.

Have a great day. Here’s a little video on prosperity to help you “feel” more prosperous.

Best always.

 

Followers