Successful Living

Video: Wayne Dyer Interview Part 9

2007-09-11T18:26:00.000-07:00

Here's part nine of the interview Tony Robbins did with self-help legend Wayne Dyer.

This interview is from Robbins' Power Talk CD series.

Video: Wayne Dyer Interview Part 8

2007-09-04T20:40:00.000-07:00

Here's part eight of the interview Tony Robbins did with self-help legend Wayne Dyer.

This interview is from Robbins' Power Talk CD series.

Video: Wayne Dyer Interview Part 7

2007-08-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

Here's part seven of the interview Tony Robbins did with self-help legend Wayne Dyer.

This interview is from Robbins' Power Talk CD series.

Video: Wayne Dyer Interview Part 6

2007-08-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

Here's part six of the interview Tony Robbins did with self-help legend Wayne Dyer.

This interview is from Robbins' Power Talk CD series.

Video: Wayne Dyer Interview Part 5

2007-08-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

Here's part five of the interview Tony Robbins did with self-help legend Wayne Dyer.

This interview is from Robbins' Power Talk CD series.

Time for a Successful Vacation

2007-08-13T20:03:00.001-07:00

I am taking a much needed vacation from work and blogging.

I will return to the Denim and Leather blog next Monday.

Take care everyone, peace.

Video: Wayne Dyer Interview Part 4

2007-08-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

Here's the fourth part of the interview Tony Robbins did with self-help legend Wayne Dyer.

This interview is from Robbins' Power Talk CD series.

Monday Video: Wayne Dyer Interview Part 3

2007-08-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

Here's the third part of the interview Tony Robbins did with self-help legend Wayne Dyer.

This interview is from Robbins' Power Talk CD series.

Saturday Video: Wayne Dyer Interview Part 2

2007-08-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here's part two of Tony Robbins' interview with self help legend Wayne Dyer.

This was recorded by Robbins for his Power Talk CD series.

Guest Article: The World Is Speaking to You, Are You Listening?

2007-08-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

By Jack Canfield

The world is constantly communicating with you through feedback. Feedback comes in many forms and it is very helpful in moving you toward your successes, if you choose to respond to it.

Think about feedback as your goals talking back to you. When your actions are not in line with your goals, you will know it by getting results that are not in line with your goals. Your goals are telling you that you have fallen off course.

If you want to have a wonderful supportive relationship but your spouse is angry with you for neglecting your share of the household responsibilities, what do you do? Get mad at your spouse for being upset? Your goal of having a supportive relationship is telling you that you’ve gone off course. To get back on course you listen and take the appropriate action, start helping out around the house!

Therefore, it’s important to note that there really is no such thing as “negative” feedback. Feedback is simply information about your progress, about your course of action, about your abilities and attitudes. It is up to you to interpret this information to help you improve yourself and your situation.

Successful people learn to use feedback to their advantage. They put their awareness on what kind of results they get with certain actions. If the response is good, they continue. If the response is not what they want, they make adjustments. Feedback is that simple, and learning to listen to feedback and respond to feedback will keep you on track to achieve your success.

When feedback is telling you that what you are doing is not working you have a choice as to how you will respond. You can either see it as an opportunity to improve yourself and correct your behavior, or you can see it as the world ganging up on you and insulting you. You can quit trying to reach your goal when feedback keeps telling you what you’re doing isn’t working. You can get mad and criticize it right back. You can simply not listen to the feedback you are getting. But those are not effective ways to respond to the information you want to have guiding you in the appropriate direction!

So how can you become successful in dealing with feedback? The answer is to ask for it and to create a safe space for people to tell you what they are seeing. Don’t be vague about what kind of information you want. Ask for it in specific terms. Ask how you are limiting yourself, how you can improve, and what it will take to get back on course. Don’t be afraid of what you will hear. Once you know the truth, you can set about taking action to improve. Everyone will be better for it.

Make it a habit to ask for feedback!

Even when things appear to be going pretty well, there is always room for improvement. Ask how you can make things even better. When you get feedback, take an honest look at it and see if it rings true with you. Obviously, someone telling you you’re a lazy piece of chopped liver could be feedback that isn’t accurate. However, if ten people tell you you’re a lazy piece of chopped liver, it is probably time to re-evaluate the path you’re on.

Learn to recognize feedback for what it is. Trust your gut feeling about things, listen to what others are saying, and look at the results of your actions. Feedback is a powerful tool to keep you on the road to success.

Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Monday Video: Wayne Dyer Interview

2007-07-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

This weeks video is the first of a nine-part interview of Wayne Dyer conducted by Tony Robbins for his Power Talk CD audio series.

The interview was put up on YouTube with some video shots and it has a tone of inspirational material throughout. During the upcoming weeks I'll share with you the complete interview series.

Guest Article: Life Is Simpler Than We Think

2007-07-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

Life Is Simpler Than We Think—"Yeah Right! My responsibilities at work and home are huge and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel anytime soon,” you lament. If you think life is difficult—then it is.

Your thoughts are powerful forces in the creation of your experiences in life. “Every choice we make, every thought and feeling we have, is an act of power that has biological, environmental, social, personal and global consequences.” –Caroline Myss

You can monitor your thoughts and hear yourself in the middle of investing your energy. Are you investing energy on self-limiting thoughts? Or are you focusing your thoughts on the infinite possibilities of the present. Taking a deep breath will help you center your thoughts on being in the moment right now.

Regular meditation allows you to gain mastery over your mind so that you can still your thoughts to focus on the richness of being. If you dwell on the past or the future, you will miss the experience of living in the present moment. Setting and visualizing goals is wonderful, but you can bring your thoughts into your current experience by taking steps to create them now.

Life is simple when we remember to focus our thoughts on possibilities instead of impossibilities and systematically manage tasks by approaching them one step at a time. Even the most difficult and challenging tasks are composed of numerous components, which can be easily compartmentalized and tackled one step at a time.

As you systematically focus on each step to reach a goal, you will recognize your detail-oriented capabilities have many benefits. The effort you put into your endeavors can energize you in ways you had not noticed before—this reward will prompt you to recognize your goal achievement process is truly easier than you think.

When you accept life is simpler than you think, you can move forward in confidence, prepared to face the challenges that lie ahead because you understand that a misstep or a mistake will not have a tremendously adverse effect on your progress. The thoroughness and patience you embody serve as a constant reminder that you are well prepared to walk the path before you.

Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD, Life Coach, Hypnotherapist, Author, "101 Great Ways To Improve Your Life." Dr. Dorothy has the unique gift of connecting people with a broad range of profound principles that resonate in the deepest part of their being. She brings awareness to concepts not typically obvious to one's daily thoughts and feelings. http://www.drdorothy.net

Monday Video: Tony Robbins 2

2007-07-23T16:39:00.000-07:00

This is from the Tony Robbins CD, "Awaken the Giant Within."

In this little seven minute clip, Robbins discusses the power of belief.

Guest Article: The Myth Of Creative Freedom

2007-07-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

"Creative Freedom" is a phrase that at first sounds like the ultimate goal to strive for.

Free to create whatever we want to create, free from restrictions and pressures and demands. Free from limitations put on us by ourselves and by others. Free from anything and everything that might restrict our creativity.

Heaven!

Except it doesn’t quite work like that...

What happens when we have this complete freedom is not that our creativity flows with the might and volume of the Amazon River.

In fact you might be lucky to even get a trickle with the force of a pinhole in a hosepipe.

So what happens, what goes wrong?

Why does the promise of so much freedom actually restrict our creativity, often to the point of complete standstill?

Quite simply, we become overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with possibilities, overwhelmed with choice.

Which medium should I create in? What materials shall I use? How big is the project going to be? What’s it going to be about? What themes will run through it? Where do I START?

Plus a hundred thousand other variables marching through your head as relentlessly as hungry ants who’ve just caught the scent of a family picnic.

Contrary to what we think - and what might be the sensible, logical conclusion – when we start to put a few boundaries in place, we actually give our creativity the go ahead to get busy.

Let me give a personal example if I may:

I used to record music using an electric guitar, a small amp, a microphone and a 4 track cassette recorder. I had big ambitions to create deep, complex, ”sonic soundscapes”.

I had to be very inventive to get the layers and sounds I wanted in the music.

This included recording then flipping the tape over and record the next layer backwards, swinging the microphone from a light fitting to get the effects of the music coming closer then farther away, and physically “manipulating” the guitar (ie banging and shaking it with varying amounts of force!) to get the different sounds I wanted.

It was great fun! And a very creative period of time.

Later on I got a multi-effects pedal and computer software that did everything but make you a cup of tea and a sandwich. (It probably did this too, I didn’t read past about chapter 5 of the 65 chapter manual).

I did go on to create more sophisticated tracks. But something was lost. And it didn’t feel as “hands on and dirty” as creating in those early days.

The point is, the fewer options we give ourselves, the more creative we HAVE to be.

Sometimes it’s about defining the boundaries we think are going to stimulate our creativity and force us to take it to another level that are most important. Not how many knobs and filters and effects our equipment has.

What project can you take on today to get back to basics and “hands on and dirty” with YOUR creativity?

Pick something that needs the minimum of equipment, approach it like you’re creating for the first time, finding your way around and learning as you go.

It’s a great exercise in getting back in touch with your core creativity.

Take the next step to increase your creativity today. Get your FREE copy of Creativity Coach Dan Goodwin’s powerful and practical "Explode Your Creativity!" Action Workbook when you sign up to the FREE twice monthly ezine “Create Create!”. Visit the website now: www.CoachCreative.com

Setting Career Goals

2007-07-18T16:54:00.000-07:00

One of the toughest issues in making a good career choice is identifying what it is you want. Even when it seems you know what you want, you could still have doubts if the career choice is the right one.

Reaching clarity in those issues may be the most important thing you can do in your career planning and goal setting. Here are a few career goal setting guidelines that can help.

Most people, even very successful ones, have some periods in their career path when they seem unsure about their choices and goals. It's totally human to feel this way.

Often, such periods come and go. For example, they come when you face some overwhelming obstacles but vanish as soon as you get through the obstacles.

That situation by itself is not a problem of choosing a career, only a test of your perseverance in seeing it through. But what if those doubts persist, or if they always live somewhere in the background of your thoughts?

If this is the case, then it is time to look more carefully at your career choice and overall career objectives.

Often we choose or are placed in a career because it just seems like the right step to make or it's something you've fallen into, without a plan.

Choosing the right career goal to sink into requires a great deal of soul searching. You need to ask yourself these questions beforehand:

1. Am I making the kind of money that I want to make?
2. Do I want to make more money?
3. Does money even matter to me?
4. Do I like what I’m doing right now?
5. What am I passionate about?
6. What could I be doing that would make me happier than I am right now?
7. Would I be happier simply switching positions or getting a promotion; or would I be happier changing careers all together?
8. Why am I still working here?
9. What is stopping me from leaving this job or getting that promotion?
10. What is stopping me from leaving this job?

These are all vital questions that you have to ask yourself before deciding what your career goals are going to be. If you are honest with yourself, you will know exactly what direction you should be going in.

Without being honest with yourself you can’t expect to better your life, you can only expect to have to ask yourself these questions all over again until you find happiness.

Monday Video: Tony Robbins

2007-07-16T18:35:00.000-07:00

This weeks Monday video is a presentation by Tony Robbins. He gave this motivational speech in Monterrey, California in 2006.

Robbins talks to the crown about unlocking your true potential.

Guest Article: Seven Keys to Managing Stress

2007-07-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Stress management is a complex area. There is not one “off the shelf” solution that will suit every individual who needs to manage their stress. We often turn to psychology to help us manage our stress but my experience is that psychology does not have all the answers. Psychology does play an important role but there is so much more to this subject. Although it is complex my work with others and my own research has thrown up what I believe are the seven keys to managing stress.

1. Learning to relax
This is the most important place to start. If you are under too much stress at the moment then learning to relax is essential for reducing the negative effects and restoring good health. There are many resources available and many books have been written on this one aspect. Find something that works for you and don't assume that meditation is the only solution because there are many.

2. Know what stress is and where it comes from
It is important to understand stress and what it can do to you. Sometimes this stuff can be a little frightening but its important to understand. You should also be looking out to identify stress in yourself as part of this process.

3. Change the way you think
The way we think can have a profound effect on the amount of stress we experience. For instance why can one person walk in to a presentation feeling confident and yet a better trained and more experienced person can feel physically sick walking in to the same situation. It's to do with what is in your mind – this is where Psychology comes into its own.

4. Get some practical things in place
Some of the ways of handling stress are very practical. Good time management skills and education on how to do a job well are all excellent sources of stress management.

5. Make your body work for you and not against you
The fitter your body is the better able it is to cope with stress. Being fit is not an excuse for living on the edge but if you have to live there it will help you survive. Always remember that fitness is not an absolute, even top athletes struggle and put themselves through pain to get fitter. To get fitter usually involves a certain amount of struggle but there are ways of making that struggle enjoyable.

6. Become a part of the world
Good friends and strong families help people who are under stress. Take the time to build relationships and find ways of belonging. Commitment has been a tough word to hear for many years but it needs to become a part of your vocabulary if you are going to be a master of stress management.

7. Get a bigger view of life
It's a simple truth that people who believe in a God who helps feel less stress. It's also true that those who have learned to appreciate life and beauty are happier. We must all find our own way here but don't neglect your spiritual life.

There is a certain irony in the fact that to manage stress well involves doing more things, but in many cases it is about learning to be more effective as people. This increased effectiveness leads to a happier and more productive life. I recommend making these seven keys your habits for life and feel the sense of inner peace that they can bring.

Christopher Brown is a full-time Stress Management Consultant in the UK. To discover more visit his website at www.browncow-opportunities.co.uk where you can sign up for a free e-course called "Avoiding Burnout". You may also contact Chris direct at chris@browncow-training.co.uk

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

The Specifics of Goal Setting

2007-07-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

Although the concept of setting goals in general is a great one to learn, specificity is the key to making them work.

For example; if you want to better your career options, you'll be setting goals that are specifically attuned to your career. Of course, career goals aren’t the only goals that most people are looking to set. Other areas include:

• Relationships
• Family
• Health and fitness
• Spiritual
• Social/cultural

What do you think stops most people from achieving what they want out of life? Many believe it's a lack of talent, lack of ability, personal circumstances, and upbringing. Sorry, none of the above.

The single biggest reason for the inability in reaching your goals is a lack of focus and action.

If you don't start, how do you expect to move forward? Many a life-long adventure started with the smallest of steps. Action is the first step to achieving your goals.

Most are fine at choosing a goal to set, but are inept at reaching them. You can achieve everything you want by taking it one step at a time.

One step is all you need to make. One step today, and the next day and so on and so forth. The important thing is to start.

The trouble is, the first step is the hardest, and momentum is tough to build. To get past this inertia you need to break your goals down to smaller manageable steps. Do the easy things first, build momentum and like a snowball rolling down hill, it gets easier wants you get started.

Motivation and goal setting go hand in hand. The goal is your journey and the motivation your fuel to get there.

You may have many goals, but no fuel to get there. You may have gallons and gallons of fuel, but no journey to go on. Decide on what you want, make a plan to get it and do something daily to move you closer to it.

It is really common for those around to hold you back simply because they are not doing anything themselves. For example, if you are losing weight, some of your support system will inadvertently sabotage you by offering you food or alcohol.

I'm not saying that all advice is bad, it's just that sometimes the most well meaning of comments can empty your desire and motivation very quickly. You need to develop mental muscle and self-discipline to reach any worthwhile goal.

It won't be easy, but anything worthwhile isn't. If you hang in there and don't give up, you'll eventually have the life you always dream about.

If You Can Spare 30 Minutes a Month, I Guarantee To Work Miracles In Your Personal and Financial Life

Monday Video: Les Brown Part 2

2007-07-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here is another video from master motivator Les Brown.

Brown is an incredible speaker and master teacher. Watch this video and if you can't get inspired by his message, check your pulse.

The Key Points of Goal Setting

2007-07-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

Goal setting is an important method of accomplishing any lifetime achievement. However, there are some key points you should consider before setting your goals.

Let’s take a look at what they are:

• Deciding what is important for you to achieve and making your choices based on this knowledge
• Separating what is important from what is irrelevant so that your focus is in the right place
• Motivating yourself to achievement to ensure accomplishment
• Building your self-confidence based on the measured achievement of goals
• Ensuring that your goals are your own and no one else’s

You should allow yourself to enjoy the achievement of goals and reward yourself appropriately. You must draw lessons where they are appropriate, and feed these back into future performances. In learning from mistakes and errors, you are guaranteeing future success.

If You Can Spare 30 Minutes a Month, I Guarantee To Work Miracles In Your Personal and Financial Life

Happy Fourth Everyone!

2007-07-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

Just a short little post today wishing everyone a happy, healthy and safe Independence Day celebration.

This is a time for friends, family, barbecue and reflection.

Reflection on the sacrifices our Founding Father's made to create the personal freedom, opportunity and liberty we have here in the United States.

So, forget your problems and anxieties, at least for today, and enjoy the many freedoms that God and this country brings us.

Happy Fourth of July everyone.

Monday Video: Les Brown

2007-07-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

This week our video feature focus is on motivational speaker Les Brown.

If you haven't heard Les before, you're in for a treat. He's energetic, inspiring and puts his heart and soul into what he does.

Listen, learn and be inspired.

Guest Article: Goal Setting Guidelines

2007-06-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

(We continue our focus on goal setting with a guest article by former Olympic wrestler Ken Chertow)

Goal Setting Guidelines

1. Be Specific, setting technique and training goals, as well as performance goals.

2. Set a variety of goals, including a combination of short, medium and long range goals.

3. Make your goals personal. Personal goals are more meaningful because they are what you want for yourself, not what others expect of you.

4. Make your goals challenging yet realistic. Many of your short term goals should be easily achievable while others should be lofty. You accomplish in proportion to what you attempt.

5. Post your goals. Write your goals down and refer to them often. Post your most important goals in your bedroom, on the fridge and/or in your locker.

6. Do not fear failure. If you only set easily obtainable goals, you will never succeed.

7. Evaluate your goals. Refer to your goals regularly. Check them off as you achieve them and set new goals. You must constantly evaluate where you are and where you are heading.

8. Design a strategy for achieving your goals. Decide how much and what type of work
it will take to achieve your goals. Then design and follow a training schedule.

9. Make a commitment to your goals and work plan. Anyone can set a goal. Those who
achieve their goals have the discipline to stay focused.

10. Believe in yourself! If you do not believe in yourself...chances are that nobody else will.

Set your goals high and let our
Super Gold Medal Training Camp help you reach them!

If You Can Spare 30 Minutes a Month, I Guarantee To Work Miracles In Your Personal and Financial Life

Get In The Game: Goal Planning

2007-06-27T10:02:00.000-07:00

This article explains how to set personal goals. It starts with your lifetime goals, and then works through a series of lower level plans culminating in a daily to-do list.

By setting up this structure you can break even the biggest life goal down into a number of small tasks you need to do each day to reach your lifetime goals.

The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your lifetime, as setting lifetime goals that gives you the overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your decision making process.

To help give you a broad, and balanced coverage of all important areas in your life, try to set goals in some or all of the following categories:

Artistic: Do you want to achieve any artistic goals? If so, what is it? Do you want to write a book; paint a masterpiece, or create a song?

Attitude: Does your own mindset hold you back from making progress? Is there any part of the way you behave that upsets you. For example, do you talk too much? If so, set a goal to improve your behavior or find a solution to the problem.

Career: What level do you want to reach in your career? Is it your goal to be the boss or own your own company someday, or do you want to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company?

Education: Is there any knowledge you want to acquire in particular or some area of study you would like to pursue? What information and skills will you need to achieve these goals?

Family: Do you want to be a parent? If so, how are you going to be a good parent? How do you want your partner or family members to see you?

Financial: How much do you want to earn by what age in your life? What can you do to make that come about?

Physical: Are there any athletic goals you want to achieve, or do you want good health deep into old age? What steps are you going to take to achieve this?

Pleasure: How do you want to enjoy yourself? You should ensure that some of your life is geared toward making yourself happy for no reason other than being happy.

Service: Do you want to make the world a better place by your existence? If so, how?
Once you have decided your goals in these categories, assign a priority on them if you want to succeed.

Review your goals and re-prioritize until you are satisfied that they reflect the shape of the life you want to lead.

Also, you should ensure the goals you have set are the goals you want to achieve, and not what your parents, spouse, family, or employers want them to be.

Success only happens when you are working for your own well being, with a determined focus and plan to make those dreams a reality.

If You Can Spare 30 Minutes a Month, I Guarantee To Work Miracles In Your Personal and Financial Life

Monday Video: Jim Rohn Part 2

2007-06-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

Here's another video from legendary teacher Jim Rohn.

This is a great piece on setting effective goals. He calles them the Three Keys to Greatness.

Watch it now below.

If You Can Spare 30 Minutes a Month, I Guarantee To Work Miracles In Your Personal and Financial Life

Goal Setting Basics

2007-06-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Goal setting is a relatively simple process many have made much more complicated than it is.

By setting goals, and measuring their achievement, you are able to see what you have done and are capable of.

The process of achieving and attaining goals gives you the confidence and a belief in to achieve higher and more difficult goals.

Goal setting is nothing more than a formal process for personal planning. By setting goals on a routine basis you decide what you want to achieve, and then move in a step-by-step manner towards the achievement of these goals.

The act of setting goals and targets allows you to choose where you want to go in life. By knowing exactly what you want to achieve, you know what you have to concentrate on to do it.

Goal setting is a standard technique used by professional athletes, successful business people and high achievers in all fields. It gives you long term vision and provides you with short term motivation.

Having goals allows you to focus your attention, knowledge and organize your resources. By setting sharp and clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals. You can see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless effort.

Goals are set on a number of different levels. First, you decide what you want to do with your life and what large scale goals you want to achieve.

Second, you break these down into the smaller aims that you must hit so you reach your overall lifetime goals. It's a step-by-step, inch-by-inch process.

Finally, once you have your plan, you start working towards achieving it. As Einstein said, "Nothing happens without movement." Goal setting and planning is nothing but daydreaming if you set on your duff and do nothing.

So set your goals, write out a flexible step-by-step plan to achieve them and then take action and make it happen.

Monday Video: Jim Rohn

2007-06-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

This weeks Monday video is from self developement legend Jim Rohn.

In this 10 minute video, Rohn talks about how to have your best year ever.

Enjoy!

Successful Living Podcast 7: The GOYA Factor

2007-06-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

I've decided to bring back the Successful Living Podcast. I stopped for awhile because I had other obligations on my plate, but with the surge of subscribers to the feed, I decided to bring it back to life. I hope you enjoy it.

The Successful Living Podcast is a show designed to give honest advice about what it takes to succeed in the game of life. The Successful Living podcast will feature discussions on various self-improvement and business building topics.

In this podcast you'll learn what the GOYA factor is and how you can use it to explode your productivity and success.

This podcast runs a little over 10 minutes and provides important information that any success seeker needs to hear and reaffirm in their own lives.

You can listen to the show in streaming media here.

Or you can download the podcast by clicking here.

How Do You Start Your Day?

2007-06-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

This is one of the most important questions you can answer that will have a dramatic improvement in your life.

Do you get up moaning, grumbling and complaining about what lies ahead or do you jump out of bed excited, invigorated, refreshed and ready to tackle your day head on?

The difference in how you start your day off is a major factor between living a life of fulfillment and one of missed opportunity and failure.

The time you first awaken in the morning is the most important of the day. The mind is still in a stage of semi-sleep, the part that drifts from the subconscious dream state to the fully alert stage.

This is the best time to program the brain.

When you first arise, visualize your day going perfectly. See yourself accomplishing all your tasks in a positive, happy manner. You can add a special affirmation, (make up your own it's more powerful that way), to make your visualization even more effective. You can even use the affirmations if you have trouble visualizing.

After your morning conditioning, go about your day in a deliberate, positive frame of mind and watch what happens to the rest of your day.

Nine times out of ten, your day will go as you visualized, and you will be much more productive, focused and successful. There will be days when things don't work out like you visualized, just stay positive and remember that bad days do happen. Just keep doing the morning programming and it will bring profound results to your life.

Don't believe me? You have nothing to lose by trying. Just do the morning ritual religiously for 30 days and see if your life changes for the better. I know from experience it will.

Monday Video: Jack Canfield Part 2

2007-06-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

Here is another inspirational video from "Success Principles" and "Chicken Soup For The Soul" author, Jack Canfield.

Canfield talks about his early childhood and his current success as a author and teacher.

Don't Waste Your Most Precious Asset

2007-06-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

One realizes the full importance of time only when there is little of it left. Every man’s greatest capital asset is his unexpired years of productive life. – P.W. Litchfield

Time. We humans have a distinct under-appreciation for the concept.

Most of us tend to fritter it away thinking we have an abundant supply waiting in reserve. The truth is, all we have is a little block of time we like to call the present.

The ever-present now is the sum total of our allotment of time. Eventually, the nows are going to dwindle until there's no more left. Sorry to bum you out but it's true.

There aren't many things you can be certain of, but one of them is we won't get out of here alive. Death is a natural part of life. Just like the plants and flowers that perish in winter only to return full bloom in spring.

Death is inevitable. There's no escaping it.

Fortunately for us, there is a way to enjoy the time we do have and that's to seize the day and live our life to the fullest. And it's not very hard to do. The secret is simple: take action.

Action is the catalyst of change. Action makes things happen. Action is the number one difference between a successful, happy life and one of despair and regret.

Go after your dreams and aspirations. Don't live life like a jellyfish. Go after what you want. Why be afraid? So what if you fail the first time you try, everybody does. Get back up and go after it even harder, learning from your failures as you go.

I was watching the movie "Invincible" with Mark Wahlberg recently and in the film, Vince Papale, a 30-year old bartender, decides to try out for the Philadelphia Eagles.

At the urging of his friends, he goes to the tryout and earns a trip to training camp. During camp, he takes his lumps, fails and gets back up and keeps on trying. The whole time in camp, Papale never believes that he can make the team so he keeps his bags packed for the entire camp. (You see, belief is not a requirement on the road to success. Many successful people suffered from huge bouts of self-doubt).

In the end, he makes the team and spends three seasons (1976-78) with the Eagles. The lesson of the film is two-fold: if you have a dream, goal or vision, take immediate, massive action and never give up until you reach it.

And that's the way the game of life is to be played - all out with no remorse or regret. Live it to the fullest and leave nothing left in your tank when the end does come.

I don't care how poor or down you are right now, you can change your life in an instant by setting a goal and taking persistent action to achieve it. Life is the greatest gift there is. It is meant to be enjoyed and savored, especially with loved ones, not hard and bitter.

It's our attitudes and perceptions that make life either a heaven or a hell and if yours is a hell right now, you have the the power to change it. Look for the good and beautiful in life and goodness and beauty will appear.

Don't let your most precious asset, time, pass you by. Grab for the brass ring and make every moment count.

If you can spare 30 minutes a month, I guarantee to work miracles in your personal and financial life. Click here for more.

Monday Video: Jack Canfield

2007-06-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

This is a new feature on the Successful Living site.

Every Monday we will post a video dealing with the subject of self-development and success.

This week we feature Jack Canfield and his The Secret Success Principles.

Video: Jobs On Success

2007-06-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a great video taken from a commencement address Former Apple and current Imax CEO Steve Jobs gave to the 2005 graduating class at Stanford.

There's tons of lessons to apply to your own life that I advise to watch as many times as you can. Enjoy and prosper.

The Path of Prosperity: Conclusion

2007-05-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

The Path of Prosperity: Chapter Six

2007-05-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

(This month we here at Successful Living are focusing on some of the great self development books of the past. Now we focus on James Allen and his classic Path of Prosperity. We will have a chapter posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the complete book is posted).

Chapter 6
The Secret of Abounding Happiness

Great is the thirst for happiness, and equally great is the lack of happiness. The
majority of the poor long for riches, believing that their possession would bring
them supreme and lasting happiness.

Many who are rich, having gratified every desire and whim, suffer from ennui and
repletion, and are farther from the possession of happiness even than the very
poor.

If we reflect upon this state of things it will ultimately lead us to a knowledge of
the all important truth that happiness is not derived from mere outward possessions,
nor misery from the lack of them; for if this were so, we should find the
poor always miserable, and the rich always happy, whereas the reverse is frequently
the case.

Some of the most wretched people whom I have known were those who were surrounded
with riches and luxury, whilst some of the brightest and happiest people
I have met were possessed of only the barest necessities of life.

Many men who have accumulated riches have confessed that the selfish gratification
which followed the acquisition of riches has robbed life of its sweetness, and
that they were never so happy as when they were poor.

What, then, is happiness, and how is it to be secured? Is it a figment, a delusion,
and is suffering alone perennial? We shall find, after earnest observation and reflection, that all, except those who have entered the way of wisdom, believe that
happiness is only to be obtained by the gratification of desire.

It is this belief, rooted in the soil of ignorance, and continually watered by selfish cravings, that is the cause of all the misery in the world.

And I do not limit the word desire to the grosser animal cravings; it extends to
the higher psychic realm, where far more powerful, subtle, and insidious cravings
hold in bondage the intellectual and refined, depriving them of all that beauty,
harmony, and purity of soul whose expression is happiness.

Most people will admit that selfishness is the cause of all the unhappiness in the
world, but they fall under the soul-destroying delusion that it is somebody else's
selfishness, and not their own.

When you are willing to admit that all your unhappiness is the result of your own
selfishness you will not be far from the gates of Paradise; but so long as you are
convinced that it is the selfishness of others that is robbing you of joy, so long will you remain a prisoner in your self-created purgatory.

Happiness is that inward state of perfect satisfaction which is joy and peace, and
from which all desire is eliminated. The satisfaction which results from gratified
desire is brief and illusionary, and is always followed by an increased demand for
gratification.

Desire is as insatiable as the ocean, and clamors louder and louder as its demands
are attended to.

It claims ever-increasing service from its deluded devotees, until at last they are
struck down with physical or mental anguish, and are hurled into the purifying
fires of suffering. Desire is the region of hell, and all torments are centered
there.

The giving up of desire is the realization of heaven, and all delights await the pilgrim there,

I sent my soul through the invisible,
Some letter of that after life to spell,
And by-and-by my soul returned to me,
And whispered, I myself am heaven and hell,"

Heaven and hell are inward states. Sink into self and all its gratifications, and you
sink into hell; rise above self into that state of consciousness which is the utter
denial and forgetfulness of self, and you enter heaven.

Self is blind, without judgment, not possessed of true knowledge, and always leads
to suffering. Correct perception, unbiased judgment, and true knowledge belong
only to the divine state, and only in so far as you realize this divine consciousness
can you know what real happiness is.

So long as you persist in selfishly seeking for your own personal happiness, so
long will happiness elude you, and you will be sowing the seeds of wretchedness.

In so far as you succeed in losing yourself in the service of others, in that measure
will happiness come to you, and you will reap a harvest of bliss.

It is in loving, not in being loved,
The heart is blessed;
It is in giving, not in seeking gifts,
We find our quest.
Whatever be thy longing or thy need,
That do thou give;
So shall thy soul be fed, and thou indeed
Shalt truly live.

Cling to self, and you cling to sorrow, relinquish self, and you enter into peace. To
seek selfishly is not only to lose happiness, but even that which we believe to be
the source of happiness.

See how the glutton is continually looking about for a new delicacy wherewith
to stimulate his deadened appetite; and how, bloated, burdened, and diseased,
scarcely any food at last is eaten with pleasure.

Whereas, he who has mastered his appetite, and not only does not seek, but never
thinks of gustatory pleasure, finds delight in the most frugal meal. The angel-form
of happiness, which men, looking through the eyes of self, imagine they see in
gratified desire, when clasped is always found to be the skeleton of misery. Truly,
"He that seeketh his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life shall find it."

Abiding happiness will come to you when, ceasing to selfishly cling, you are willing
to give up. When you are willing to lose, unreservedly, that impermanent thing which is so dear to you, and which, whether you cling to it or not, will one day be snatched from you, then you will find that that which seemed to you like a
painful loss, turns out to be a supreme gain.

To give up in order to gain, than this there is no greater delusion, nor no more
prolific source of misery; but to be willing to yield up and to suffer loss, this is
indeed the Way of Life.

How is it possible to find real happiness by centering ourselves in those things
which, by their very nature, must pass away? Abiding and real happiness can only
be found by centering ourselves in that which is permanent.

Rise, therefore, above the clinging to and the craving for impermanent things,
and you will then enter into a consciousness of the Eternal, and as, rising above
self, and by growing more and more into the spirit of purity, self-sacrifice and
universal Love, you become centered in that consciousness, you will realize that
happiness which has no reaction, and which can never be taken from you.

The heart that has reached utter self-forgetfulness in its love for others has not
only become possessed of the highest happiness but has entered into immortality,
for it has realized the Divine.

Look back upon your life, and you will find that the moments of supremest happiness
were those in which you uttered some word, or performed some act, of compassion or self-denying love. Spiritually, happiness and harmony are, synonymous.

Harmony is one phase of the Great Law whose spiritual expression is love. All
selfishness is discord, and to be selfish is to be out of harmony with the Divine
order.

As we realize that all-embracing love which is the negation of self, we put ourselves
in harmony with the divine music, the universal song, and that ineffable
melody which is true happiness becomes our own.

Men and women are rushing hither and thither in the blind search for happiness,
and cannot find it; nor ever will until they recognize that happiness is already
within them and round about them, filling the universe, and that they, in their
selfish searching are shutting themselves out from it.

I followed happiness to make her mine,
Past towering oak and swinging ivy vine.
She fled, I chased, o'er slanting hill and dale,
O'erfields and meadows, in the purpling vale;
Pursuing rapidly o'er dashing stream.
I scaled the dizzy clifSs where eagles scream;
I traversed swifily every land and M.
But always happiness eluded me.

Exhausted, fainting, Ipursued no more,
But sank to rest upon a barren shore.
One came and asked for food, and one for alms
Iplaced the bread and gold in bony palms.
One came for sympathy, and one for rest;
I shared with every needy one my best;
When, lo! sweet Happiness, with form divine,
Stood by me, whispering sofily, Tam thine'.

These beautiful lines of Burleigh's express the secret of all abounding happiness.
Sacrifice the personal and transient, and you rise at once into the impersonal and
permanent.

Give up that narrow cramped self that seeks to render all things subservient to its
own petty interests, and you will enter into the company of the angels, into the
very heart and essence of universal Love.

Forget yourself entirely in the sorrows of others and in ministering to others, and
divine happiness will emancipate you from all sorrow and suffering.

"Taking the first step with a good thought, the second with a good word, and the
third with a good deed, I entered Paradise." And you also may enter into Paradise
by pursuing the same course. It is not beyond, it is here. It is realized only by the unselfish.

It is known in its fullness only to the pure in heart. If you have not realized this
unbounded happiness you may begin to actualize it by ever holding before you
the lofty ideal of unselfish love, and aspiring towards it.

Aspiration or prayer is desire turned upward. It is the soul turning toward its
Divine source, where alone permanent satisfaction can be found. By aspiration
the destructive forces of desire are transmuted into divine and all-preserving energy.

To aspire is to make an effort to shake off the trammels of desire; it is the prodigal made wise by loneliness and suffering, returning to his Father's Mansion.
As you rise above the sordid self; as you break, one after another, the chains that
bind you, will you realize the joy of giving, as distinguished from the misery of
grasping - giving of your substance; giving of your intellect; giving of the love and
light that is growing within you.

You will then understand that it is indeed "more blessed to give than to receive.''
But the giving must be of the heart without any taint of self, without desire for
reward. The gift of pure love is always attended with bliss. If, after you have given, you are wounded because you are not thanked or flattered, or your name put in
the paper, know then that your gift was prompted by vanity and not by love, and
you were merely giving in order to get; were not really giving, but grasping.
Lose yourself in the welfare of others; forget yourself in all that you do; this is the secret of abounding happiness.

Ever be on the watch to guard against selfishness, and learn faithfully the divine
lessons of inward sacrifice; so shall you climb the highest heights of happiness,
and shall remain in the neverclouded sunshine of universal joy, clothed in the
shining garment of immortality.

Are you searching for the happiness that does not fade away?
Are you looking for the joy that lives, and leaves no grievous day?
Are you panting for the waterbrooks of Love, and Life, and Peace?
Then let all dark desires depart, and selfish seeking cease.
Are you ling'ring in the paths of pain, grief-haunted, stricken sore?
Are you wand'ring in the ways that wound your weary feet the more?
Are you sighing for the Resting-Place where tears and sorrows cease?
Then sacrifice your selfish heart and find the Heart of Peace.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

The Path of Prosperity: Chaper Five Continued

2007-05-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

(This month we here at Successful Living are focusing on some of the great self development books of the past. Now we focus on James Allen and his classic Path of Prosperity. We will have a chapter posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the complete book is posted).

Strive, 0 reader! to acquire, above everything, the priceless possession of this
dauntless faith, for it is the talisman of happiness, of success, of peace, of power,
of all that makes life great and superior to suffering.

Build upon such a faith, and you build upon the Rock of the Eternal, and with the
materials of the Eternal, and the structure that you erect will never be dissolved,
for it will transcend all the accumulations of material luxuries and riches, the end
of which is dust.

Whether you are hurled into the depths of sorrow or lifted upon the heights of joy,
ever retain your hold upon this faith, ever return to it as your rock of refuge, and
keep your feet firmly planted upon its immortal and immovable base.

Centered in such a faith, you will become possessed of such a spiritual strength as
will shatter, like so many toys of glass, all the forces of evil that are hurled against you, and you will achieve a success such as the mere striver after worldly gain can never know or even dream of. "If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this, . . . but if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done."

There are those today, men and women tabernacled in flesh and blood, who have
realized this faith, who live in it and by it day by day, and who, having put it to the uttermost test, have entered into the possession of its glory and peace.

Such have sent out the word of command, and the mountains of sorrow and disappointment, of mental weariness and physical pain have passed from them, and
have been cast into the sea of oblivion.

If you will become possessed of this faith you will not need to trouble about your
success or failure, and success will come.

You will not need to become anxious about results, but will work joyfully and
peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring
about right results.

I know a lady who has entered into many blissful satisfactions, and recently a
friend remarked to her, "Oh, how fortunate you are! You only have to wish for a
thing, and it comes to you."

And it did, indeed, appear so on the surface; but in reality all the blessedness that
has entered into this woman's life is the direct outcome of the inward state of blessedness which she has, throughout life, been cultivating and training toward
perfection.

Mere wishing brings nothing but disappointment; it is living that tells.

The foolish wish and grumble; the wise, work and wait. And this woman had
worked; worked without and within, but especially within upon heart and soul;
and with the invisible hands of the spirit she had built up, with the precious stones
of faith, hope, joy, devotion, and love, a fair temple of light, whose glorifying radiance was ever round about her.

It beamed in her eye; it shone through her countenance; it vibrated in her voice;
and all who came into her presence felt its captivating spell.
And as with her, so with you. Your success, your failure, your influence, your
whole life you carry about with you, for your dominant trends of thought are the
determining factors in your destiny.

Send forth loving, stainless, and happy thoughts, and blessings will fall into your
hands, and your table will be spread with the cloth of peace.

Send forth hateful, impure, and unhappy thoughts, and curses will rain down
upon you, and fear and unrest will wait upon your pillow. You are the unconditional
maker of your fate, be that fate what it may. Every moment you are sending
forth from you the influences which will make or mar your life.

Let your heart grow large and loving and unselfish, and great and lasting will be
your influence and success, even though you make little money.

Confine it within the narrow limits of self-interest, and even though you become
a millionaire your influence and success, at the final reckoning will be found to be
utterly insignificant. Cultivate, then, this pure and unselfish spirit, and combine
with purity and faith, singleness of purpose, and you are evolving from within the
elements, not only of abounding health and enduring success, but of greatness
and power.

If your present position is distasteful to you, and your heart is not in your work,
nevertheless perform your duties with scrupulous diligence, and whilst resting
your mind in the idea that the better position and greater opportunities are waiting
for you, ever keep an active mental outlook for budding possibilities, so that
when the critical moment arrives, and the new channel presents itself, you will
step into it with your mind fully prepared for the undertaking, and with that intelligence and foresight which is born of mental discipline.

Whatever your task may be, concentrate your whole mind upon it, throw into it
all the energy of which you are capable. The faultless completion of small tasks
leads inevitably to larger tasks. See to it that you rise by steady climbing, and you
will never fall. And herein lies the secret of true power.

Learn, by constant practice, how to husband your resources, and to concentrate
them, at any moment, upon a given point. The foolish waste all their mental and
spiritual energy in frivolity, foolish chatter, or selfish argument, not to mention
wasteful physical excesses.

If you would acquire overcoming power you must cultivate poise and passivity.
You must be able to stand alone. All power is associated with immovability. The
mountain, the massive rock, the storm-tried oak, all speak to us of power, because
of their combined solitary grandeur and defiant fixity; while the shifting
sand, the yielding twig, and the waving reed speak to us of weakness, because
they are movable and non-resistant, and are utterly useless when detached from
their fellows.

He is the man of power who, when all his fellows are swayed by some emotion or
passion, remains calm and unmoved. He only is fitted to command and control
who has succeeded in commanding and controlling himself.

The hysterical, the fearful, the thoughtless and frivolous, let such seek company,
or they will fall for lack of support; but the calm, the fearless, the thoughtful, and let such seek the solitude of the forest, the desert, and the mountain-top, and to their power more power will be added, and they will more and more successfully
stem the psychic currents and whirlpools which engulf mankind.

Passion is not power; it is the abuse of power, the dispersion of power. Passion
is like a furious storm which beats fiercely and wildly upon the embattled rock
whilst power is like the rock itself, which remains silent and unmoved through it
all.

That was a manifestation of true power when Martin Luther, wearied with the
persuasions of his fearful friends, who were doubtful as to his safety should he go
to Worms, replied, "If there were as many devils in Worms as there are tiles on
the housetops I would go."

And when Benjamin Disraeli broke down in his first Parliamentary speech, and
brought upon himself the derision of the House, that was an exhibition of germinal
power when he exclaimed, "The day will come when you will consider it an
honor to listen to me."

When that young man, whom I knew, passing through continual reverses and
misfortunes, was mocked by his friends and told to desist from further effort,
and he replied, "The time is not far distant when you will marvel at my good fortune
and success," he showed that he was possessed of that silent and irresistible
power which has taken him over innumerable difficulties, and crowned his life
with success.

If you have not this power, you may acquire it by practice, and the beginning of
power is likewise the beginning of wisdom. You must commence by overcoming
those purposeless trivialities to which you have hitherto been a willing victim.
Boisterous and uncontrolled laughter, slander and idle talk, and joking merely to
raise a laugh, all these things must be put on one side as so much waste of valuable
energy.

St. Paul never showed his wonderful insight into the hidden laws of human
progress to greater advantage than when he warned the Ephesians against "Foolish
talking and jesting which is not convenient," for to dwell habitually in such
practices is to destroy all spiritual power and life.

As you succeed in rendering yourself impervious to such mental dissipations you
will begin to understand what true power is, and you will then commence to grapple
with the more powerful desires and appetites which hold your soul in bondage,
and bar the way to power, and your further progress will then be made clear.

Above all be of single aim; have a legitimate and useful purpose, and devote yourself
unreservedly to it. Let nothing draw you aside ; remember that the doubleminded
man is unstable in all his ways.

Be eager to learn, but slow to beg. Have a thorough understanding of your work,
and let it be your own; and as you proceed, ever following the inward Guide, the
infallible Voice, you will pass on from victory to victory, and will rise step by step to higher resting-places, and your ever-broadening outlook will gradually reveal
to you the essential beauty and purpose of life.

Self-purified, health will be yours; faith-protected, success will be yours; self-governed, power will be yours, and all that you do will prosper, for, ceasing to be a
disjointed unit, self-enslaved, you will be in harmony with the Great Law, working
no longer against, but with, the Universal Life, the Eternal Good.

And what health you gain it will remain with you; what success you achieve will
be beyond all human computation, and will never pass away; and what influence
and power you wield will continue to increase throughout the ages, for it will be a
part of that unchangeable Principle which supports the universe.

This, then, is the secret of health, -a pure heart and a well-ordered mind ; this is
the secret of success, -an unfaltering faith, and a wisely-directed purpose; and to
rein in, with unfaltering will, the dark steed of desire, this is the secret of power.

All ways are waiting for my feet to tread,
The light and dark, the living and the dead,
The broad and narrow way, the high and low,
The good and bad, and with quick step or slow,
I now may enter any way I will,
Andfind, by walking, which is good, which ill.

And all good things my wandering feet await,
If I but come, with vow inviolate,
Unto the narrow, high and holy way
Of heart-born purity, and therein stay;
Walking, secure from him who taunts and scorns,
To flowery meads, across the path of thorns.

And I may stand where health, success, and power
Await my coming, if, eachfleeting hour,
I cling to love and patience; and abide
With stainlessness; and never step aside
From high integrity ; so shall I see
At last the land of immortality.

And I may seek andfind; I may achieve,
I may not claim, but, losing, may retrieve.
The law bends not for me, but I must bend
Unto the law, if I would reach the end
Of my aflictions, if1 would restore
My soul to Light and Life, and weep no more.

Not mine the arrogant and seljish claim
To all good things; be mine the lowly aim
To seek andfind, to know and comprehend,
And wisdom-ward all holy footsteps wend,
Nothing is mine to claim or to command,
But all is mine to know and understand.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

The Path of Prosperity: Chaper Five

2007-05-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

(This month we here at Successful Living are focusing on some of the great self development books of the past. Now we focus on James Allen and his classic Path of Prosperity. We will have a chapter posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the complete book is posted).

Chapter 5
The Secret of Health, Success and Power

We all remember with what intense delight, as children, we listened to the nevertiring fairy-tale. How eagerly we followed the fluctuating fortunes of the good
boy or girl, ever protected, in the hour of crisis, from the evil machinations of the
scheming witch, the cruel giant, or the wicked king.

And our little hearts never faltered for the fate of the hero or heroine, nor did we
doubt their ultimate triumph over all their enemies, for we knew that the fairies
were infallible, and that they would never desert those who had consecrated
themselves to the good and the true.

And what unspeakable joy pulsated within us when the Fairy-Queen, bringing
all her magic to bear at the critical moment, scattered all the darkness and trouble,
and granted them the complete satisfaction of all their hopes, and they were
"happy ever after."

With the accumulating years, and an ever-increasing intimacy with the so-called
" realities" of life, our beautiful fairy-world became obliterated, and its wonderful
inhabitants were relegated, in the archives of memory, to the shadowy and
unreal.

And we thought we were wise and strong in thus leaving for ever the land of childish
dreams, but as we re-become little children in the wondrous world of wisdom,
we shall return again to the inspiring dreams of childhood and find that they are,
after all, realities.

The fairy-folk, so small and nearly always invisible, yet possessed of an all-conquering and magical power, who bestow upon the good, health, wealth, and happiness, along with all the gifts of nature in lavish profusion, start again into reality and become immortalized in the soul-realm of him who, by growth in wisdom,
has entered into a knowledge of the power of thought, and the laws which govern
the inner world of being.

To him the fairies live again as thought-people, thought-messengers, thoughtpowers
working in harmony with the over-ruling Good. And they who, day by day, endeavor to harmonize their hearts with the heart of the Supreme Good, do in reality acquire true health, wealth, and happiness.

There is no protection to compare with goodness, and by "goodness" I do not
mean a mere outward conformity to the rules of morality; I mean pure thought,
noble aspiration, unselfish love, and freedom from vainglory.

To dwell continually in good thoughts, is to throw around oneself a psychic atmosphere of sweetness and power which leaves its impress upon all who come in
contact with it.

As the rising sun puts to rout the helpless shadows, so are all the impotent forces
of evil put to flight by the searching rays of positive thought which shine forth
from a heart made strong in purity and faith.

Where there is sterling faith and uncompromising purity there is health, there is
success, there is power. In such a one, disease, failure, and disaster can find no
lodgment, for there is nothing on which they can feed.

Even physical conditions are largely determined by mental states, and to this
truth the scientific world is rapidly being drawn.

The old, materialistic belief that a man is what his body makes him, is rapidly
passing away, and is being replaced by the inspiring belief that man is superior to
his body, and that his body is what he makes it by the power of thought.

Men everywhere are ceasing to believe that a man is despairing because he is dyspeptic, and are coming to understand that he is dyspeptic because he is despairing, and in the near future, the fact that all disease has its origin in the mind will become common knowledge.

There is no evil in the universe but has its root and origin in the mind, and sin,
sickness, sorrow, and affliction do not, in reality, belong to the universal order,
are not inherent in the nature of things, but are the direct outcome of our ignorance
of the right relations of things.

According to tradition, there once lived, in India, a school of philosophers who
led a life of such absolute purity and simplicity that they commonly reached the
age of one hundred and fifty years, and to fall sick was looked upon by them as an
unpardonable disgrace, for it was considered to indicate a violation of law.

The sooner we realize and acknowledge that sickness, far from being the arbitrary
visitation of an offended God, or the test of an unwise Providence, is the result of
our own error or sin, the sooner shall we enter upon the highway of health.

Disease comes to those who attract it, to those whose minds and bodies are receptive
to it, and flees from those whose strong, pure, and positive thought-sphere
generates healing and life-giving currents.

If you are given to anger, worry, jealousy, greed, or any other inharmonious state
of mind, and expect perfect physical health, you are expecting the impossible, for
you are continually sowing the seeds of disease in your mind.

Such conditions of mind are carefully shunned by the wise man, for he knows
them to be far more dangerous than a bad drain or an infected house.

If you would be free from all physical aches and pains, and would enjoy perfect
physical harmony, then put your mind in order, and harmonize your thoughts.

Think joyful thoughts; think loving thoughts; let the elixir of goodwill course
through your veins, and you will need no other medicine. Put away your jealousies,
your suspicions, your worries, your hatreds, your selfish indulgences, and
you will put away your dyspepsia, your biliousness, your nervousness and aching
joints.

If you will persist in clinging to these debilitating and demoralizing habits of
mind, then do not complain when your body is laid low with sickness. The following
story illustrates the close relation that exists between habits of mind and
bodily conditions.

A certain man was afflicted with a painful disease, and he tried one physician after
another, but all to no purpose. He then visited towns which were famous for
their curative waters, and after having bathed in them all, his disease was more
painful than ever.

One night he dreamed that a Presence came to him and said, "Brother, hast thou
tried all the means of cure?" and he replied, "I have tried all." "Nay," said the
Presence, "Come with me, and I will show thee a healing bath which has escaped
thy notice."

The afflicted man followed, and the Presence led him to a clear pool of water, and
said, "Plunge thyself in this water and thou shalt surely recover," and thereupon
vanished.

The man plunged into the water, and on coming out, Io! his disease had left him,
and at the same moment he saw written above the pool the word "Renounce."
Upon waking, the fall meaning of his dream flashed across his mind, and looking within he discovered that he had, all along, been a victim to a sinful indulgence,
and he vowed that he would renounce it for ever.

He carried out his vow, and from that day his affliction began to leave him, and
in a short time he was completely restored to health. Many people complain that
they have broken down through over-work. In the majority of such cases the
breakdown is more frequently the result of foolishly wasted energy.

If you would secure health you must learn to work without friction. To become
anxious or excited, or to worry over needless details is to invite a breakdown.
Work, whether of brain or body, is beneficial and health-giving, and the man who
can work with a steady and calm persistency, freed from all anxiety and worry,
and with his mind utterly oblivious to all but the work he has in hand, will not
only accomplish far more than the man who is always hurried and anxious, but he
will retain his health, a boon which the other quickly forfeits.

True health and true success go together, for they are inseparably intertwined in
the thought-realm. As mental harmony produces bodily health, so it also leads to
a harmonious sequence in the actual working out of one's plans.

Order your thoughts and you will order your life. Pour the oil of tranquility upon
the turbulent waters of the passions and prejudices, and the tempests of misfortune,
howsoever they may threaten, will be powerless to wreck the barque of your
soul, as it threads its way across the ocean of life.

And if that barque be piloted by a cheerful and never-failing faith its course will
be doubly sure, and many perils will pass it by which would other-wise attack it.
By the power of faith every enduring work is accomplished. Faith in the Supreme;
faith in the over-ruling Law; faith in your work, and in your power to accomplish
that work, -here is the rock upon which you must build if you would achieve, if
you would stand and not fall.

To follow, under all circumstances, the highest promptings within you; to be always
true to the divine self; to rely upon the inward Light, the inward Voice, and
to pursue your purpose with a fearless and restful heart, believing that the future
will yield unto you the meed of every thought and effort; knowing that the laws of
the universe can never fail, and that your own will come back to you with mathematical exactitude, this is faith and the living of faith.

By the power of such a faith the darkwaters of uncertainty are divided, every mountain of difficulty crumbles away, and the believing soul passes on unharmed.

To be continued.....

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The Path of Prosperity: Chaper Four Continued

2007-05-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

(This month we here at Successful Living are focusing on some of the great self development books of the past. Now we focus on James Allen and his classic Path of Prosperity. We will have a chapter posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the complete book is posted).

To persist in such a state of mind would be fatal, for when anxiety steps in, correct
judgment passes out. Now if you will take advantage of a quiet hour or two in the
early morning or at night, and go away to some solitary spot, or to some room in
your house where you know you will be absolutely free from intrusion, and, having
seated yourself in an easy attitude, you forcibly direct your mind right away
from the object of anxiety by dwelling upon something in your life that is pleasing
and blissgiving, a calm, reposeful strength will gradually steal into your mind,
and your anxiety will pass away.

Upon the instant that you find your mind reverting to the lower plane of worry
bring it back again, and re-establish it on the plane of peace and strength.
When this is fully accomplished, you may then concentrate your whole mind upon
the solution of your difficulty, and what was intricate and insurmountable to you
in your hour of anxiety will be made plain and easy, and you will see, with that
clear vision and perfect judgment which belong only to a calm and untroubled
mind, the right course to pursue and the proper end to be brought about.

It may be that you will have to try day after day before you will be able to perfectly calm your mind, but if you persevere you will certainly accomplish it. And the course which is presented to you in that hour of calmness must be carried out.

Doubtless when you are again involved in the business of the day, and worries
again creep in and begin to dominate you, you will begin to think that the course
is a wrong or foolish one, but do not heed such suggestions.

Be guided absolutely and entirely by the vision of calmness, and not by the shadows
of anxiety. The hour of calmness is the hour of illumination and correct judgment.
By such a course of mental discipline the scattered thought-forces are re-united,
and directed, like the rays of the search-light, upon the problem at issue, with the
result that it gives way before them.

There is no difficulty, however great, but will yield before a calm and powerful
concentration of thought, and no legitimate object but may be speedily actualized
by the intelligent use and direction of one's soul-forces.

Not until you have gone deeply and searchingly into your inner nature, and have
overcome many enemies that lurk there, can you have any approximate conception
of the subtle power of thought, of its inseparable relation to outward and material things, or of its magical potency, when rightly poised and directed, in
readjusting and transforming the life-conditions.

Every thought you think is a force sent out, and in accordance with its nature and
intensity will it go out to seek a lodgment in minds receptive to it, and will react
upon yourself for good or evil. There is ceaseless reciprocity between mind and
mind, and a continual interchange of thought-forces.

Selfish and disturbing thoughts are so many malignant and destructive forces,
messengers of evil, sent out to stimulate and augment the evil in other minds,
which in turn send them back upon you with added power.

While thoughts that are calm, pure, and unselfish are so many angelic messengers
sent out into the world with health, healing, and blessedness upon their wings,
counteracting the evil forces; pouring the oil of joy upon the troubled waters of
anxiety and sorrow, and restoring to broken hearts their heritage of immortality.

Think good thoughts, and they will quickly become actualized in your outward
life in the form of good conditions. Control your soul-forces, and you will be able
to shape your outward life as you will.

The difference between a savior and a sinner is this, that the one has a perfect
control of all the forces within him; the other is dominated and controlled by
them.

There is absolutely no other way to true power and abiding peace, but by self-control, self-government, self-purification. To be at the mercy of your disposition is to be impotent, unhappy, and of little real use in the world.

The conquest of your petty likes and dislikes, your capricious loves and hates,
your fits of anger, suspicion, jealousy, and all the changing moods to which you
are more or less helplessly subject, this is the task you have before you if you
would weave into the web of life the golden threads of happiness and prosperity.

In so far as you are enslaved by the changing moods within you, will you need to
depend upon others and upon outward aids as you walk through life.

If you would walk firmly and securely, and would accomplish any achievement,
you must learn to rise above and control all such disturbing and retarding vibrations.

You must daily practice the habit of putting your mind at rest, "going into the silence," as it is commonly called. This is a method of replacing a troubled thought
with one of peace, a thought of weakness with one of strength.

Until you succeed in doing this you cannot hope to direct your mental forces upon
the problems and pursuits of life with any appreciable measure of success. It is a
process of diverting one's scattered forces into one powerful channel.

Just as a useless marsh may be converted into a field of golden corn or a fruitful
garden by draining and directing the scattered and harmful streams into one wellcut
channel, so, he who acquires calmness, and subdues and directs the thoughtcurrents
within himself, saves his soul, and fructifies his heart and life.

As you succeed in gaining mastery over your impulses and thoughts you will begin
to feel, growing up within you, a new and silent power, and a settled feeling of
composure and strength will remain with you.

Your latent powers will begin to unfold themselves, and whereas formerly your
efforts were weak and ineffectual, you will now be able to work with that calm
confidence which commands success.

And along with this new power and strength, there will be awakened within you
that interior Illumination known as "intuition," and you will walk no longer in
darkness and speculation, but in light and certainty.

With the development of this soul-vision, judgment and mental penetration will
be incalculably increased, and there will evolve within you that prophetic vision
by the aid of which you will be able to sense coming events, and to forecast, with
remarkable accuracy, the result of your efforts.

And in just the measure that you alter from within will your outlook upon life
alter; and as you alter your mental attitude towards others they will alter in their
attitude and conduct toward you.

As you rise above the lower, debilitating, and destructive thought-forces, you will
come in contact with the positive, strengthening, and up-building currents generated
by strong, pure, and noble minds, your happiness will be immeasurably intensified, and you will begin to realize the joy, strength, and power, which are born only of self-mastery.

And this joy, strength, and power will be continually radiating from you, and
without any effort on your part, nay, though you are utterly unconscious of it, strong people will be drawn toward you, influence will be put into your hands,
and in accordance with your altered thought-world will outward events shape
themselves.

"A man's foes are they of his own household," and he who would be useful, strong,
and happy, must cease to be a passive receptacle for the negative, beggardly, and
impure streams of thought; and as a wise householder commands his servants and invites his guests, so must he learn to command his desires, and to say, with
authority, what thoughts he shall admit into the mansion of his soul.

Even a very partial success in self-mastery adds greatly to one's power, and he
who succeeds in perfecting this divine accomplishment, enters into possession of
undreamed-of wisdom and inward strength and peace, and realizes that all the
forces of the universe aid and protect his footsteps who is master of his soul.

Would you scale the highest heaven,
Would you pierce the lowest hell,
Live in dreams of constant beauty,
Or in basest thinkings dwell.

For your thoughts are heaven above you,
And your thoughts are hell below,
Bliss is not, except in thinking,
Torment nought but thought can know.

Worlds would vanish but for thinking;
Glory is not but in dreams;
And the Drama of the ages
From the Thought Eternal streams.

Dignity and shame and sorrow,
Pain and anguish, love and hate
Are but maskings of the mighty
Pulsing Thought that governs Fate.

As the colors of the rainbow
Makes the one uncolored beam,
So the universal changes
Make the One Eternal Dream.

And the Dream is all within you,
And the Dreamer waiteth long
For the Morning to awake him
To the living thought and strong.

That shall make the ideal real,
Make to vanish dreams of hell
In the highest, holiest heaven
Where the pure and perfect dwell.

Evil is the thought that thinks it;
Good, the thought that makes it so
Light and darkness, sin and pureness
Likewise out of thinking grow.

Dwell in thought upon the Grandest,
And the Grandest you shall see ;
Fix your mind upon the Highest,
And the Highest you shall be.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

The Path of Prosperity: Chaper Four

2007-05-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

The Path of Prosperity: Chaper Three Continued

2007-05-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

This month we here at Successful Living are focusing on some of the great self development books of the past. Now we focus on James Allen and his classic Path of Prosperity. We will have a chapter posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the complete book is posted).

You likewise may go into that sanctuary. It is within you. It is that state of consciousness which remains when all that is sordid, and personal, and impermanent
is risen above, and universal and eternal principles are realized.

That is the God state of consciousness; it is the sanctuary of the Most High. When
by long strife and self-discipline, you have succeeded in entering the door of that
holy Temple, you will perceive, with unobstructed vision, the end and fruit of all
human thought and endeavor, both good and evil.

You will then no longer relax your faith when you see the immoral man accumulating
outward riches, for you will know, that he must come again to poverty and
degradation.

The rich man who is barren of virtue is, in reality, poor, and as surely, as the
waters of the river are drifting to the ocean, so surely is he, in the midst of all his riches, drifting towards poverty and misfortune; and though he die rich, yet must
he return to reap the bitter fruit of all of his immorality.

And though he become rich many times, yet as many times must he be thrown back into poverty, until, by long experience and suffering he conquers the poverty within.

But the man who is outwardly poor, yet rich in virtue, is truly rich, and, in the
midst of all his poverty he is surely traveling towards prosperity; and abounding
joy and bliss await his coming. If you would become truly and permanently prosperous,
you must first become virtuous.

It is therefore unwise to aim directly at prosperity, to make it the one object of life, to reach out greedily for it, To do this is to ultimately defeat yourself.
But rather aim at self-perfection, make useful and unselfish service the object of
your life, and ever reach out hands of faith towards the supreme and unalterable
Good.

You say you desire wealth, not for your own sake, but in order to do good with it,
and to bless others. If this is your real motive in desiring wealth, then wealth will
come to you; for you are strong and unselfish indeed if, in the midst of riches, you
are willing to look upon yourself as steward and not as owner.

But examine well your motive, for in the majority of instances where money is
desired for the admitted object of blessing others, the real underlying motive is a
love of popularity, and a desire to pose as a philanthropist or reformer.

If you are not doing good with what little you have, depend upon it the more
money you got the more selfish you would become, and all the good you appeared
to do with your money, if you attempted to do any, would be so much insinuating
self-laudation.

If your real desire is to do good, there is no need to wait for money before you do
it; you can do it now, this very moment, and just where you are. If you are really
so unselfish as you believe yourself to be, you will show it by sacrificing yourself
for others now.

No matter how poor you are, there is room for self-sacrifice, for did not the widow
put her all into the treasury?

The heart that truly desires to do good does not wait for money before doing it,
but comes to the altar of sacrifice and, leaving there the unworthy elements of
self, goes out and breathes upon neighbor and stranger, friend and enemy alike
the breath of blessedness.

As the effect is related to the cause, so is prosperity and power related to the inward good and poverty and weakness to the inward evil.

Money does not constitute true wealth, nor position, nor power, and to rely upon
it alone is to stand upon a slippery place.

Your true wealth is your stock of virtue, and your true power the uses to which
you put it. Rectify your heart, and you will rectify your life. Lust, hatred, anger,
vanity, pride, covetousness, self-indulgence, self-seeking, obstinacy,- all these are
poverty and weakness; whereas love, purity, gentleness, meekness, compassion,
generosity, self-forgetfulness, and self-renunciation,- all these are wealth and
power.

As the elements of poverty and weakness are overcome, an irresistible and all conquering power is evolved from within, and he who succeeds in establishing
himself in the highest virtue, brings the whole world to his feet.

But the rich, as well as the poor, have their undesirable conditions, and are frequently farther removed from happiness than the poor. And here we see how
happiness depends, not upon outward aids or possessions, but upon the inward life.

Perhaps you are an employer, and you have endless trouble with those whom you
employ, and when you do get good and faithful servants they quickly leave you.

As a result you are beginning to lose, or have completely lost, your faith in human
nature.

You try to remedy matters by giving better wages, and by allowing certain liberties,
yet matters remain unaltered. Let me advise you.

The secret of all your trouble is not in your servants, it is in yourself; and if you
look within, with a humble and sincere desire to discover and eradicate your error,
you will, sooner or later, find the origin of all your unhappiness.

It may be some selfish desire, or lurking suspicion, or unkind attitude of mind
which sends out its poison upon those about you, and reacts upon yourself, even
though you may not show it in your manner or speech.

Think of your servants with kindness, consider of them that extremity of service
which you yourself would not care to perform were you in their place.

Rare and beautiful is that humility of soul by which a servant entirely forgets
himself in his master's good; but far rarer, and beautiful with a divine beauty, is
that nobility of soul by which a man, forgetting his own happiness, seeks the happiness of those who are under his authority, and who depend upon him for their
bodily sustenance.

And such a man's happiness is increased tenfold, nor does he need to complain of
those whom he employs. Said a well known and extensive employer of labor, who
never needs to dismiss an employee: "I have always had the happiest relations
with my workpeople.

If you ask me how it is to be accounted for, I can only say that it has been my aim
from the first to do to them as I would wish to be done by." Herein lies the secret
by which all desirable conditions are secured, and all that are undesirable are
overcome.

Do you say that you are lonely and unloved, and have "not a friend in the world"?
Then, I pray you, for the sake of your own happiness, blame nobody but yourself.
Be friendly towards others, and friends will soon flock round you. Make yourself
pure and lovable, and you will be loved by all.

Whatever conditions are rendering your life burdensome, you may pass out of
and beyond them by developing and utilizing within you the transforming power
of self-purification and self-conquest.

Be it the poverty which galls (and remember that the poverty upon which I have
been dilating is that poverty which is a source of misery, and not that voluntary
poverty which is the glory of emancipated souls), or the riches which burden, or
the many misfortunes, griefs, and annoyances which form the dark background in the web of life, you may overcome them by overcoming the selfish elements
within which give them life.

It matters not that by the unfailing Law, there are past thoughts and acts to work
out and to atone for, as, by the same law, we are setting in motion, during every
moment of our life, fresh thoughts and acts, and we have the power to make them
good or ill.

Nor does it follow that if a man (reaping what he has sown) must lose money or
forfeit position, that he must also lose his fortitude or forfeit his uprightness, and it is in these that his wealth and power and happiness are to be found.

He who clings to self is his own enemy and is surrounded by enemies.

He who relinquishes self is his own savior, and is surrounded by friends like a
protecting belt. Before the divine radiance of a pure heart all darkness vanishes
and all clouds melt away, and he who has conquered self has conquered the universe.
Come, then, out of your poverty; come out of your pain; come out of your troubles,
and sighings, and complainings, and heartaches, and loneliness by coming
out of yourself.

Let the old tattered garment of your petty selfishness fall from you, and put on
the new garment of universal Love. You will then realize the inward heaven, and
it will be reflected in all your outward life.

He who sets his foot firmly upon the path of self-conquest, who walks, aided by
the staff of Faith, the highway of self-sacrifice, will assuredly achieve the highest
prosperity, and will reap abounding and enduring joy and bliss.

To them that seek the highest good
All things subserve the wisest ends;
Nought comes as ill, and wisdom lends
Wings to all shapes of evil brood.

The dark'ning sorrow veils a Star
That waits to shine with gladsome light;
Hell waits on heaven; and afier night
Comes golden glory from afar.

Defeats are steps by which we climb
With purer aim to nobler ends;
Loss leads to gain, andjoy attends
True footsteps up the hills of time.

Pain leads to paths of holy bliss,
To thoughts and words and deeds divine-,
And clouds that gloom and rays that shine,
Along life's upward highway kiss.

Misfortune does but cloud the way
Whose end and summit in the sky
Of bright success, sunkiss'd and high,
Awaits our seeking and our stay.

The heavy pall of doubts and fears
That clouds the Valley of our hopes,
The shades with which the spirit copes,
The bitter harvesting of tears,

The heartaches, miseries, and griefs,
The bruisings born of broken ties,
All these are steps by which we rise
To living ways of sound beliefs.

Love, pitying, watchful, runs to meet
The Pilgrim from the Land of Fate;
All glory and all good await
The coming of obedient feet.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

The Path of Prosperity: Chaper Three

2007-05-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

(This month we here at Successful Living are focusing on some of the great self development books of the past. Now we focus on James Allen and his classic Path of Prosperity. We will have a chapter posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the complete book is posted).

Chapter 3
The Way Out of Undesirable Conditions

Having seen and realized that evil is but a passing shadow thrown, by the intercepting self, across the transcendent Form of the Eternal Good, and that the
world is a mirror in which each sees a reflection of himself, we now ascend, by
firm and easy steps, to that plane of perception whereon is seen and realized the
Vision of the Law.

With this realization comes the knowledge that everything is included in a ceaseless
interaction of cause and effect, and that nothing can possibly be divorced
from law.

From the most trivial thought, word, or act of man, up to the groupings of the
celestial bodies, law reigns supreme. No arbitrary condition can, even for one moment, exist, for such a condition would be a denial and an annihilation of law.

Every condition of life is, therefore, bound up in an orderly and harmonious sequence, and the secret and cause of every condition is contained within itself,
The law, "Whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap," is inscribed in flaming
letters upon the portal of Eternity, and none can deny it, none can cheat it, none
can escape it.

He who puts his hand in the fire must suffer the burning until such time as it has
worked itself out, and neither curses nor prayers can avail to alter it.
And precisely the same law governs the realm of mind. Hatred, anger, jealousy,
envy, lust, covetousness, all these are fires which bum, and whoever even so much
as touches them must suffer the torments of burning.

All these conditions of mind are rightly called "evil," for they are the efforts of
the soul to subvert, in its ignorance, the law, an they, therefore, lead to chaos and
confusion within, and are sooner or later actualized in the outward circumstances
as disease, failure, and misfortune, coupled with grief, pain, and despair.

Whereas love, gentleness, good-will, purity, are cooling airs which breathe peace
upon the soul that woes them, and, being in harmony with the Eternal Law, they
become actualized in the form of health, peaceful surroundings, and undeviating
success and good fortune.

A thorough understanding of this Great Law which permeates the universe leads
to the acquirement of that state of mind known as obedience.

To know that justice, harmony, and love are supreme in the universe is likewise to
know that all adverse and painful conditions are the result of our own disobedience
to that Law.

Such knowledge leads to strength and power, and it is upon such knowledge alone
that a true life and an enduring success and happiness can be built.

To be patient under all circumstances, and to accept all conditions as necessary
factors in your training, is to rise superior to all painful conditions, and to overcome them with an overcoming which is sure, and which leaves no fear of their
return, for by the power of obedience to law they are utterly slain.

Such an obedient one is working in harmony with the law, has in fact, identified
himself with the law, and whatsoever he conquers he conquers for ever, whatsoever
he builds can never be destroyed.

The cause of all power, as of all weakness, is within; the secret of all happiness as
of all misery is likewise within.

There is no progress apart from unfoldment within, and no sure foothold of prosperity
or peace except by orderly advancement in knowledge.

You say you are chained by circumstances; you cry out for better opportunities,
for a wider scope, for improved physical conditions, and perhaps you inwardly
curse the fate that binds you hand and foot.

It is for you that I write; it is to you that I speak. Listen, and let my words burn
themselves into your heart, for that which I say to you is truth:

You may bring about that improved condition in your outward life which you desire,
if you will unswervingly resolve to improve your inner life.

I know this pathway looks barren at its commencement (truth always does, it
is only error and delusion which are at first inviting and fascinating,) but if you
undertake to walk it; if you perseveringly discipline your mind, eradicating your
weaknesses, and allowing your soul-forces and spiritual powers to unfold themselves,
you will be astonished at the magical changes which will be brought about
in your outward life.

As you proceed, golden opportunities will be strewn across your path, and the
power and judgment to properly utilize them will spring up within you. Genial
friends will come unbidden to you; sympathetic souls will be drawn to you as
the needle is to the magnet; and books and all outward aids that you require will
come to you unsought.

Perhaps the chains of poverty hang heavily upon you, and you are friendless and
alone, and you long with an intense longing that your load may be lightened; but
the load continues, and you seem to be enveloped in an ever-increasing darkness.

Perhaps you complain, you bewail your lot; you blame your birth, your parents,
your employer, or the unjust Powers who have bestowed upon you so undeservedly
poverty and hardship, and upon another affluence and ease.

Cease your complaining and fretting; none of these things which you blame are
the cause of your poverty; the cause is within yourself, and where the cause is,
there is the remedy.

The very fact that you are a complainer, shows that you deserve your lot; shows
that you lack that faith which is the ground of all effort and progress.
There is no room for a complainer in a universe of law, and worry is soul-suicide.

By your very attitude of mind you are strengthening the chains which bind you,
and are drawing about you the darkness by which you are enveloped, Alter your
outlook upon life, and your outward life will alter.

Build yourself up in the faith and knowledge, and make yourself worthy of better
surroundings and wider opportunities. Be sure, first of all, that you are making
the best of what you have.

Do not delude yourself into supposing that you can step into greater advantages
whilst overlooking smaller ones, for if you could, the advantage would be impermanent
and you would quickly fall back again in order to learn the lesson which
you had neglected.

As the child at school must master one standard before passing onto the next, so,
before you can have that greater good which you so desire, must you faithfully
employ that which you already possess.

The parable of the talents is a beautiful story illustrative of this truth, for does it not plainly show that if we misuse, neglect, or degrade that which we possess, be
it ever so mean and insignificant, even that little will be taken from us, for, by our conduct we show that we are unworthy of it.

Perhaps you are living in a small cottage, and are surrounded by unhealthy and
vicious influences.

You desire a larger and more sanitary residence. Then you must fit yourself for
such a residence by first of all making your cottage as far as possible a little paradise.

Keep it spotlessly clean. Make it look as pretty and sweet as your limited means
will allow. Cook your plain food with all care, and arrange your humble table as
tastefully as you possibly can.

If you cannot afford a carpet, let your rooms be carpeted with smiles and welcomes,
fastened down with the nails of kind words driven in with the hammer of
patience. Such a carpet will not fade in the sun, and constant use will never wear
it away.

By so ennobling your present surroundings you will rise above them, and above
the need of them, and at the right time you will pass on into the better house and
surroundings which have all along been waiting for you, and which you have fitted
yourself to occupy.

Perhaps you desire more time for thought and effort, and feel that your hours of
labor are too hard and long. Then see to it that you are utilizing to the fullest possible extent what little spare time you have.

It is useless to desire more time, if you are already wasting what little you have;
for you would only grow more indolent and indifferent.

Even poverty and lack of time and leisure are not the evils that you imagine they
are, and if they hinder you in your progress, it is because you have clothed them
in your own weaknesses, and the evil that you see in them is really in yourself.
Endeavor to fully and completely realize that in so far as you shape and mould
your mind, you are the maker of your destiny, and as, by the transmuting power
of self-discipline you realize this more and more, you will come to see that these
so-called evils may be converted into blessings.

You will then utilize your poverty for the cultivation of patience, hope and courage;
and your lack of time in the gaining of promptness of action and decision of
mind, by seizing the precious moments as they present themselves for your acceptance.
As in the rankest soil the most beautiful flowers are grown, so in the dark soil of
poverty the choicest flowers of humanity have developed and bloomed.

Where there are difficulties to cope with, and unsatisfactory conditions to overcome,
there virtue most flourishes and manifests its glory.

It may be that you are in the employ of a tyrannous master or mistress, and you
feel that you are harshly treated. Look upon this also as necessary to your training.
Return your employer's unkindness with gentleness and forgiveness.

Practice unceasingly patience and self-control. Turn the disadvantage to account
by utilizing it for the gaining of mental and spiritual strength, and by your silent
example and influence you will thus be teaching your employer, will be helping
him to grow ashamed of his conduct, and will, at the same time, be lifting yourself
up to that height of spiritual attainment by which you will be enabled to step
into new and more congenial surroundings at the time when they are presented
to you.

Do not complain that you are a slave, but lift yourself up, by noble conduct, above
the plane of slavery. Before complaining that you are a slave to another, be sure
that you are not a slave to self.

Look within; look searchingly, and have no mercy upon yourself. You will find
there, perchance, slavish thoughts, slavish desires, and in your daily life and conduct slavish habits.

Conquer these; cease to be a slave to self, and no man will have the power to enslave
you. As you overcome self, you will overcome all adverse conditions, and
every difficulty will fall before you.

Do not complain that you are oppressed by the rich. Are you sure that if you
gained riches you would not be an oppressor yourself?

Remember that there is the Eternal Law which is absolutely just, and that he who
oppresses today must himself be oppressed tomorrow; and from this there is no
way of escape.

And perhaps you, yesterday (in some former existence) were rich and an oppressor,
and that you are now merely paying off the debt which you owe to the Great
Law. Practice, therefore, fortitude and faith.

Dwell constantly in mind upon the Eternal justice, the Eternal Good. Endeavor
to lift yourself above the personal and the transitory into the impersonal and permanent.

Shake off the delusion that you are being injured or oppressed by another, and try
to realize, by a profounder comprehension of your inner life, and the laws which
govern that life, that you are only really injured by what is within you. There is no
practice more degrading, debasing, and soul-destroying than that of self-pity.

Cast it out from you. While such a canker is feeding upon your heart you can
never expect to grow into a fuller life.

Cease from the condemnation of others, and begin to condemn yourself. Condone
none of your acts, desires or thoughts that will not bear comparison with spotless
purity, or endure the light of sinless good.

By so doing you will be building your house upon the rock of the Eternal, and all
that is required for your happiness and well-being will come to you in its own
time.

There is positively no way of permanently rising above poverty, or any undesirable
condition, except by eradicating those selfish and negative conditions within,
of which these are the reflection, and by virtue of which they continue.

The way to true riches is to enrich the soul by the acquisition of virtue. Outside
of real heart-virtue there is neither prosperity nor power, but only the appearances
of these. I am aware that men make money who have acquired no measure of virtue, and have little desire to do so; but such money does not constitute true riches, and its possession is transitory and feverish.

Here is David's testimony:- For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.. . .. . Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish ....... -Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my
hands in innocence ... When I thought to know this it was too painful for me; until
I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end."

The prosperity of the wicked was a great trial to David until he went into the sanctuary of God, and then he knew their end.

To Be Continued..

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The Path of Prosperity: Chaper Two

2007-05-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

(This month we here at Successful Living are focusing on some of the great self development books of the past. Now we focus on James Allen and his classic Path of Prosperity. We will have a chapter posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the complete book is posted).

Chapter Two
The World A Reflex Of Mental States

What you are, so is your world. Everything in the universe is resolved into your
own inward experience. It matters little what is without, for it is all a reflection of your own state of consciousness.

It matters everything what you are within, for everything without will be mirrored
and colored accordingly.

All that you positively know is contained in your own experience; all that you ever
will know must pass through the gateway of experience, and so become part of
yourself.

Your own thoughts, desires, and aspirations comprise your world, and, to you, all
that there is in the universe of beauty and joy and bliss, or of ugliness and sorrow
and pain, is contained within yourself.

By your own thoughts you make or mar your life, your world, your universe, As
you build within by the power of thought, so will your outward life and circumstances
shape themselves accordingly.

Whatsoever you harbor in the inmost chambers of your heart will, sooner or later
by the inevitable law of reaction, shape itself in your outward life.

The soul that is impure, sordid and selfish, is gravitating with unerring precision
toward misfortune and catastrophe; the soul that is pure, unselfish, and noble is
gravitating with equal precision toward happiness and prosperity.

Every soul attracts its own, and nothing can possibly come to it that does not belong
to it. To realize this is to recognize the universality of Divine Law.

The incidents of every human life, which both make and mar, are drawn to it by
the quality and power of its own inner thought-life. Every soul is a complex combination of gathered experiences and thoughts, and the body is but an improvised
vehicle for its manifestation.

What, therefore, your thoughts are, that is your real self; and the world around,
both animate and inanimate, wears the aspect with which your thoughts clothe it.

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought.

It is founded on our thoughts; it is made up of our thoughts." Thus said Buddha,
and it therefore follows that if a man is happy, it is because he dwells in
happy thoughts; if miserable, because he dwells in despondent and debilitating
thoughts.

Whether one be fearful or fearless, foolish or wise, troubled or serene, within that
soul lies the cause of its own state or states, and never without. And now I seem
to hear a chorus of voices exclaim, "But do you really mean to say that outward
circumstances do not affect our minds?" I do not say that, but I say this, and know
it to be an infallible truth, that circumstances can only affect you in so far as you
allow them to do so.

You are swayed by circumstances because you have not a right understanding of
the nature, use, and power of thought.

You believe (and upon this little word belief hang all our sorrows and joys) that
outward things have the power to make or mar your life; by so doing you submit
to those outward things, confess that you are their slave, and they your unconditional master; by so doing, you invest them with a power which they do not, of
themselves, possess, and you succumb, in reality, not to the mere circumstances,
but to the gloom or gladness, the fear or hope, the strength or weakness, which
your thought-sphere has thrown around them.

I knew two men who, at an early age, lost the hard-earned savings of years. One
was very deeply troubled, and gave way to chagrin, worry, and despondency.
The other, on reading in his morning paper that the bank in which his money
was deposited had hopelessly failed, and that he had lost all, quietly and firmly
remarked, "Well, it's gone, and trouble and worry won't bring it back, but hard
work will."

He went to work with renewed vigor, and rapidly became prosperous, while the
former man, continuing to mourn the loss of his money, and to grumble at his
"bad luck," remained the sport and tool of adverse circumstances, in reality of his
own weak and slavish thoughts.

The loss of money was a curse to the one because he clothed the event with dark
and dreary thoughts; it was a blessing to the other, because he threw around it
thoughts of strength, of hope, and renewed endeavor.

If circumstances had the power to bless or harm, they would bless and harm all
men alike, but the fact that the same circumstances will be alike good and bad to
different souls proves that the good or bad is not in the circumstance, but only in
the mind of him that encounters it.

When you begin to realize this you will begin to control your thoughts, to regulate
and discipline your mind, and to rebuild the inward temple of your soul, eliminating
all useless and superfluous material, and incorporating into your being
thoughts alone of joy and serenity, of strength and life, of compassion and love,
of beauty and immortality; and as you do this you will become joyful and serene,
strong and healthy, compassionate and loving, and beautiful with the beauty of
immortality.

And as we clothe events with the drapery of our own thoughts, so likewise do we
clothe the objects of the visible world around us, and where one sees harmony
and beauty, another sees revolting ugliness.

An enthusiastic naturalist was one day roaming the country lanes in pursuit of
his hobby, and during his rambles came upon a pool of brackish water near a
farmyard.

As he proceeded to fill a small bottle with the water for the purpose of examination
under the microscope, he dilated, with more enthusiasm than discretion, to an uncultivated son of the plough who stood close by, upon the hidden and innumerable wonders contained in the pool, and concluded by saying, "Yes, my friend, within this pool is contained a hundred, nay, a million universes, had we but the sense or the instrument by which we could apprehend them." And the unsophisticated one ponderously remarked, " I know the water be full o' tadpoles, but they be easy to catch."

Where the naturalist, his mind stored with the knowledge of natural facts, saw
beauty, harmony, and hidden glory, the mind unenlightened upon those things
saw only an offensive mud-puddle.

The wild flower which the casual wayfarer thoughtlessly tramples upon is, to the
spiritual eye of the poet, an angelic messenger from the invisible.

To the many, the ocean is but a dreary expanse of water on which ships sail and
are sometimes wrecked; to the soul of the musician it is a living thing, and he
hears, in all its changing moods, divine harmonies.

Where the ordinary mind sees disaster and confusion, the mind of the philosopher
sees the most perfect sequence of cause and effect, and where the materialist
sees nothing but endless death, the mystic sees pulsating and eternal life.
And as we clothe both events and objects with our own thoughts, so likewise do
we clothe the souls of others in the garments of our thoughts.

The suspicious believe everybody to be suspicious; the Liar feels secure in the
thought that he is not so foolish as to believe that there is such a phenomenon
as a strictly truthful person; the envious see envy in every soul; the miser thinks
everybody is eager to get his money; he who has subordinated conscience in the
making of his wealth, sleeps with a revolver under his pillow, wrapped in the
delusion that the world is full of conscienceless people who are eager to rob him,
and the abandoned sensualist looks upon the saint as a hypocrite.

On the other hand, those who dwell in loving thoughts, see that in all which calls
forth their love and sympathy; the trusting and honest are not troubled by suspicions; the good-natured and charitable who rejoice at the good fortune of others, scarcely know what envy means; and he who has realized the Divine within himself recognizes it in all beings, even in the beasts.

And men and women are confirmed in their mental outlook because of the fact
that, by the law of cause and effect, they attract to themselves that which they
send forth, and so come in contact with people similar to themselves.

The old adage, "Birds of a feather flock together," has a deeper significance than
is generally attached to it, for in the thought-world as in the world of matter, each
clings to its kind.

Do you wish for kindness? Be kind.
Do you ask for truth? Be true.
What you give of yourself you find;
Your world is a reflex of you.

If you are one of those who are praying for, and looking forward to, a happier
world beyond the grave, here is a message of gladness for you, you may enter into
and realize that happy world now; it fills the whole universe, and it is within you,
waiting for you to find, acknowledge, and possess. Said one who knew the inner
laws of Being,"

When men shall say 10 here, or 10 there, go not after them; the kingdom of God
is within you."

What you have to do is to believe this, simply believe it with a mind unshadowed
by doubt, and then meditate upon it till you understand it.

You will then begin to purify and to build your inner world, and as you proceed,
passing from revelation to revelation, from realization to realization, you will discover the utter powerlessness of outward things beside the magic potency of a
self-governed soul.

If thou would'st right the world,
And banish all its evils and its woes,
Make its wild places bloom,
And its drear deserts blossom as the rose,-
Then right thyself.

If thou would'st turn the world
From its long, lone captivity in sin,
Restore all broken hearts,
Slay grief, and let sweet consolation in,-
Turn thou thyself.

If thou would'st cure the world
Of its long sickness, end its grief and pain;
Bring in all-healing joy,
And give to the afflicted rest again,-
Then cure thyself.

If thou would'st wake the world
Out of its dream of death and dark'ning strife,
Bring it to Love and Peace,
And Light and brightness of immortal Life,-
Wake thou thyself.

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The Path of Prosperity: Chaper One

2007-05-07T08:39:00.000-07:00

(This month we here at Successful Living are focusing on some of the great self development books of the past. Now we focus on James Allen and his classic Path of Prosperity. We will have a chapter posted on Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the complete book is posted).

Forward
I looked around upon the world, and saw that it was shadowed by sorrow and
scorched by the fierce fires of suffering. And I looked for the cause. I looked
around, but could not find it; I looked in books, but could not find it; I looked
within, and found there both the cause and the self-made nature of that cause. I
looked again, and deeper, and found the remedy.

I found one Law, the Law of Love; one Life, the Life of adjustment to that Law;
one Truth, the truth of a conquered mind and a quiet and obedient heart. And I
dreamed of writing a book which should help men and women, whether rich or
poor, learned or unlearned, worldly or unworldly, to find within themselves the
source of all success, all happiness, all accomplishment, all truth. And the dream
remained with me, and at last became substantial; and now I send it forth into
the world on its mission of healing and blessedness, knowing that it cannot fail to
reach the homes and hearts of those who are waiting and ready to receive it.
- JAMES ALLEN.

Chapter 1
The Lesson Of Evil

Unrest and pain and sorrow are the shadows of life. There is no heart in all the
world that has not felt the sting of pain, no mind has not been tossed upon the
dark waters of trouble, no eye that has not wept the hot blinding tears of unspeakable anguish.

There is no household where the Great Destroyers, disease and death, have not entered, severing heart from heart, and casting over all the dark pall of sorrow.
In the strong, and apparently indestructible meshes of evil all are more or less fast
caught, and pain, unhappiness, and misfortune wait upon mankind.

With the object of escaping, or in some way mitigating this overshadowing gloom,
men and women rush blindly into innumerable devices, pathways by which they
fondly hope to enter into a happiness which will not pass away.

Such are the drunkard and the harlot, who revel in sensual excitements; such is
the exclusive aesthete, who shuts himself out from the sorrows of the world, and
surrounds himself with enervating luxuries; such is he who thirsts for wealth or
fame, and subordinates all things to the achievement of that object; and such are
they who seek consolation in the performance of religious rites.

And to all the happiness sought seems to come, and the soul, for a time, is lulled
into a sweet security, and an intoxicating forgetfulness of the existence of evil; but the day of disease comes at last, or some great sorrow, temptation, or misfortune
breaks suddenly in on the unfortified soul, and the fabric of its fancied happiness
is torn to shreds.

So over the head of every personal joy hangs the Damocletian sword of pain, ready, at any moment, to fall and crush the soul of him who is unprotected by knowledge.

The child cries to be a man or woman; the man and woman sigh for the lost felicity
of childhood. The poor man chafes under the chains of poverty by which he is bound, and the rich man often lives in fear of poverty, or scours the world in search of an elusive shadow he calls happiness.

Sometimes the soul feels that it has found a secure peace and happiness in adopting
a certain religion, in embracing an intellectual philosophy, or in building up an intellectual or artistic ideal; but some overpowering temptation proves the religion to be inadequate or insufficient; the theoretical philosophy is found to be a useless prop; or in a moment, the idealistic statue upon which the devotee has for years been laboring, is shattered into fragments at his feet.

Is there, then, no way of escape from pain and sorrow? Are there no means by
which bonds of evil may be broken? Is permanent happiness, secure prosperity,
and abiding peace a foolish dream?

No, there is a way, and I speak it with gladness, by which evil can be slain for
ever; there is a process by which disease, poverty, or any adverse condition or
circumstance can be put on one side never to return; there is a method by which a
permanent prosperity can be secured, free from all fear of the return of adversity,
and there is a practice by which unbroken and unending peace and bliss can be
partaken of and realized.

And the beginning of the way which leads to this glorious realization is the acquirement of a right understanding of the nature of evil.

It is not sufficient to deny or ignore evil; it must be understood. It is not enough to pray to God to remove the evil; you must find out why it is there, and what lesson
it has for you.

It is of no avail to fret and fume and chafe at the chains which bind you; you must
know why and how you are bound. Therefore, reader, you must get outside yourself,
and must begin to examine and understand yourself.

You must cease to be a disobedient child in the school of experience and must begin
to learn, with humility and patience, the lessons that are set for your edification
and ultimate perfection; for evil, when rightly understood, is found to be, not
an unlimited power or principle in the universe, but a passing phase of human
experience, and it therefore becomes a teacher to those who are willing to learn.

Evil is not an abstract some thing outside yourself; it is an experience in your own
heart, and by patiently examining and rectifying your heart you will be gradually
led into the discovery of the origin and nature of evil, which will necessarily be
followed by its complete eradication.

All evil is corrective and remedial, and is therefore not permanent. It is rooted in
ignorance, ignorance of the true nature and relation of things, and so long as we
remain in that state of ignorance, we remain subject to evil.

There is no evil in the universe which is not the result of ignorance, and which
would not, if we were ready and willing to learn its lesson, lead us to higher wisdom, and then vanish away. But men remain in evil, and it does not pass away
because men are not willing or prepared to learn the lesson which it came to teach
them.

I knew a child who, every night when its mother took it to bed, cried to be allowed
to play with the candle; and one night, when the mother was off guard for a moment,
the child took hold of the candle; the inevitable result followed, and the child never wished to play with the candle again.

By its one foolish act it learned, and learned perfectly the lesson of obedience,
and entered into the knowledge that fire burns. And, this incident is a complete
illustration of the nature, meaning, and ultimate result of all sin and evil.

As the child suffered through its own ignorance of the real nature of fire, so older
children suffer through their ignorance of the real nature of the things which they
weep for and strive after, and which harm them when they are secured; the only
difference being that in the latter case the ignorance and evil are more deeply
rooted and obscure.

Evil has always been symbolized by darkness, and Good by light, and hidden within the symbol is contained the perfect interpretation, the reality; for, just as light always floods the universe, and darkness is only a mere speck or shadow cast by a small body intercepting a few rays of the illimitable light, so the Light of the
Supreme Good is the positive and life-giving power which floods the universe, and evil the insignificant shadow cast by the self that intercepts and shuts off the
illuminating rays which strive for entrance.

When night folds the world in its black impenetrable mantle, no matter how dense
the darkness, it covers but the small space of half our little planet, while the whole universe is ablaze with living light, and every soul knows that it will awake in the light in the morning.

Know, then, that when the dark night of sorrow, pain, or misfortune settles down
upon your soul, and you stumble along with weary and uncertain steps, that you
are merely intercepting your own personal desires between yourself and the
boundless light of joy and bliss, and the dark shadow that covers you is cast by
none and nothing but yourself.

And just as the darkness without is but a negative shadow, an unreality which
comes from nowhere, goes to nowhere, and has no abiding dwelling place, so the
darkness within is equally a negative shadow passing over the evolving and Lightborn
soul.

"But," I fancy I hear someone say, "why pass through the darkness of evil at all?"
Because, by ignorance, you have chosen to do so, and because, by doing so, you
may understand both good and evil, and may the more appreciate the light by
having passed through the darkness.

As evil is the direct outcome of ignorance, so, when the lessons of evil are fully
learned, ignorance passes away, and wisdom takes its place. But as a disobedient
child refuses to learn its lessons at school, so it is possible to refuse to learn the lessons of experience, and thus to remain in continual darkness, and to suffer
continually recurring punishments in the form of disease, disappointment, and
sorrow.

He, therefore, who would shake himself free of the evil which encompasses him,
must be willing and ready to learn, and must be prepared to undergo that disciplinary
process without which no grain of wisdom or abiding happiness and peace
can be secured.

A man may shut himself up in a dark room, and deny that the light exists, but it is
everywhere without, and darkness exists only in his own little room.

So you may shut out the light of Truth, or you may begin to pull down the walls of
prejudice, self-seeking and error which you have built around yourself, and so let
in the glorious and omnipresent Light.

By earnest self-examination strive to realize, and not merely hold as a theory, that
evil is a passing phase, a self-created shadow; that all your pains, sorrows and
misfortunes have come to you by a process of undeviating and absolutely perfect
law; have come to you because you deserve and require them, and that by first enduring, and then understanding them, you may be made stronger, wiser, nobler.

When you have fully entered into this realization, you will be in a position to
mould your own circumstances, to transmute all evil into good and to weave, with
a master hand, the fabric of your destiny.

What of the night, 0 Watchman! see'st thou yet
The glimmering dawn upon the mountain heights,
The golden Herald of the Light of lights,
Are his fair feet upon the hilltops set?
Cometh he yet to chase away the gloom,
And with it all the demons of the Night?

Strike yet his darting rays upon thy sight?
Hear'st thou his voice, the sound of error's doom?
The Morning cometh, lover of the Light;
Even now He gilds with gold the mountain's brow,
Dimly I see the path whereon even now

His shining feet are set toward the Night.
Darkness shall pass away, and all the things
That love the darkness, and that hate the Light
Shall disappear for ever with the Night:
Rejoice! for thus the speeding Herald sings.

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Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Conclusion

2007-05-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

Conclusion

What conclusion is to be drawn from all this?

The conclusion is very simple and can be expressed in a few words: We possess
within us a force of incalculable power, which, when we handle it unconsciously
is often prejudicial to us. If on the contrary we direct it in a conscious and wise
manner, it gives us the mastery of ourselves and allows us not only to escape and
to aid others to escape, from physical and mental ills, but also to live in relative
happiness, whatever the conditions in which we may find ourselves.

Lastly, and above all, it should be applied to the moral regeneration of those who
have wandered from the right path.

EMILE COUE.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Part Nine

2007-04-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Part Eight

2007-04-27T15:25:00.000-07:00

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Part Seven

2007-04-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

For the next week or so, the Successful Living blog will post the complete book, "Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion" by Emile Coue. Coue, a french doctor, was one of the pioneers in the field of autosuggestion - now known as affirmations or self talk. This is his seminal work.)

Chapter 7
The Superiority of This Method

This method gives absolutely marvellous results, and it is easy to understand
why. Indeed, by following out my advice, it is impossible to fail, except with the
two classes of persons mentioned above, who fortunately represent barely 3 per
cent of the whole. If, however, you try to put your subjects to sleep right away,
without the explanations and preliminary experiments necessary to bring them
to accept the suggestions and to transform them into autosuggestions you cannot
and will not succeed except with peculiarly sensitive subjects, and these are rare.

Everybody may become so by training, but very few are so sufficiently without the
preliminary instruction that I recommend, which can be done in a few minutes.
Formerly, imagining that suggestions could only be given during sleep, I always
tried to put my patient to sleep; but on discovering that it was not indispensable,
I left off doing it in order to spare him the dread and uneasiness he almost always
experiences when he is told that he is going to be sent to sleep, and which often
makes him offer, in spite of himself, an involuntary resistance.

If, on the contrary, you tell him that you are not going to put him to sleep as there is no need to do so, you gain his confidence. He listens to you without fear or any ulterior thought, and it often happens -- if not the first time, anyhow very soon -- that, soothed by the monotonous sound of your voice, he falls into a deep sleep from which he awakes astonished at having slept at all.

If there are sceptics among you -- as I am quite sure there are -- all I have to say
to them is: "Come to my house and see what is being done, and you will be convinced
by fact.

"You must not however run away with the idea that autosuggestion can only be
brought about in the way I have described. It is possible to make suggestions to
people without their knowledge and without any preparation. For instance, if a
doctor who by his title alone has a suggestive influence on his patient, tells him
that he can do nothing for him, and that his illness is incurable, he provokes in
the mind of the latter an autosuggestion which may have the most disastrous consequences; if however he tells him that his illness is a serious one, it is true, but that with care, time, and patience, he can be cured, he sometimes and even often
obtains results which will surprise him.

Here is another example: if a doctor after examining his patient, writes a prescription and gives it to him without any comment, the remedies prescribed will
not have much chance of succeeding; if, on the other hand, he explains to his
patient that such and such medicines must be taken in such and such conditions and that they will produce certain results, those results are practically certain to
be brought about.

If in this hall there are medical men or brother chemists, I hope they will not
think me their enemy. I am on the contrary their best friend. On the one hand
I should like to see the theoretical and practical study of suggestion on the syllabus of the medical schools for the great benefit of the sick and of the doctors
themselves; and on the other hand, in my opinion, every time that a patient goes
to see his doctor, the latter should order him one or even several medicines, even
if they are not necessary. As a matter of fact, when a patient visits his doctor, it is in order to be told what medicine will cure him. He does not realize that it is the hygiene and regimen which do this, and he attaches little importance to them. It
is a medicine that he wants.

In my opinion, if the doctor only prescribes a regimen without any medicine, his
patient will be dissatisfied; he will say that he took the trouble to consult him for
nothing, and often goes to another doctor. It seems to me then that the doctor
should always prescribe medicines to his patient, and, as much as possible, medicines
made up by himself rather than the standard remedies so much advertised and which owe their only value to the advertisement. The doctor's own prescriptions will inspire infinitely more confidence than So and So's pills which anyone can procure easily at the nearest drug store without any need of a prescription.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Part Six

2007-04-23T09:39:00.000-07:00

(For the next week or so, the Successful Living blog will post the complete book, "Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion" by Emile Coue. Coue, a french doctor, was one of the pioneers in the field of autosuggestion - now known as affirmations or self talk. This is his seminal work.)

Chapter 6
Method of Procedure in Curative Suggestion

When the subject has passed through the preceding experiments and has understood
them, he is ripe for curative suggestion. He is like a cultivated field in which
the seed can germinate and develop, whereas before it was but rough earth in
which it would have perished.

Whatever ailment the subject suffers from, whether it is physical or mental, it is
important to proceed always in the same way, and to use the same words with a few variations according to the case.

Say to the subject: "Sit down and close your eyes. I am not going to try and put
you to sleep as it is quite unnecessary. I ask you to close your eyes simply in order
that your attention may not be distracted by the objects around you. Now tell
yourself that every word I say is going to fix itself in your mind, and be printed,
engraved, and encrusted in it, that, there, it is going to stay fixed, imprinted, and
encrusted, and that without your will or knowledge, in fact perfectly unconsciously
on your part, you yourself and your whole organism are going to obey. In the first place I say that every day, three times a day, in the morning, at midday, and in the evening, at the usual meal times, you will feel hungry, that is to say, you will experience the agreeable sensation which makes you think and say: "Oh! how nice it will be to have something to eat!" You will then eat and enjoy your food, without of course overeating. You will also be careful to masticate it properly so as to transform it into a sort of soft paste before swallowing it. In these conditions you will digest it properly, and so feel no discomfort, inconvenience, or pain of any kind either in the stomach or intestines. You will assimilate what you eat and your organism will make use of it to make blood, muscle, strength and energy, in a word: Life.

"Since you will have digested your food properly, the function of excretion will
be normal, and every morning, on rising, you will feel the need of evacuating the
bowels, and without ever being obliged to take medicine or to use any artifice, you
will obtain a normal and satisfactory result.

"Further, every night from the time you wish to go to sleep till the time you wish
to wake next morning, you will sleep deeply, calmly, and quietly, without nightmares,
and on waking you will feel perfectly well, cheerful, and active.

"Likewise, if you occasionally suffer from depression, if you are gloomy and prone
to worry and look on the dark side of things, from now onwards you will cease
to do so, and, instead of worrying and being depressed and looking on the dark
side of things, you are going to feel perfectly cheerful, possibly without any special reason for it, just as you used to feel depressed for no particular reason. I say further still, that even if you have real reason to be worried and depressed you are not going to be so.

"If you are also subject to occasional fits of impatience or ill-temper you will cease to have them: on the contrary you will be always patient and master of yourself, and the things which worried, annoyed, or irritated you, will henceforth leave you absolutely indifferent and perfectly calm.

"If you are sometimes attacked, pursued, haunted, by bad and unwholesome ideas,
by apprehensions, fears, aversions, temptations, or grudges against other people,
all that will be gradually lost sight of by your imagination, and will melt away and
lose itself as though in a distant cloud where it will finally disappear completely.
As a dream vanishes when we wake, so will all these vain images disappear.

"To this I add that all your organs are performing their functions properly. The
heart beats in a normal way and the circulation of the blood takes place as it should; the lungs are carrying out their functions, as also the stomach, the intestines, the liver, the biliary duct, the kidneys and the bladder. If at the present moment any of them is acting abnormally, that abnormality is becoming less every day, so that quite soon it will have vanished completely, and the organ will have recovered its normal function. Further, if there should be any lesions in any of these organs, they will get better from day to day and will soon be entirely healed."

(With regard to this, I may say that it is not necessary to know which organ is affected for it to be cured. Under the influence of the autosuggestion "Every day, in every respect, I am getting better and better", the unconscious acts upon the organ which it can pick out itself.)

"I must also add -- and it is extremely important -- that if up to the present you
have lacked confidence in yourself, I tell you that this self-distrust will disappear
little by little and give place to self-confidence, based on the knowledge of this
force of incalculable power which is in each one of us. It is absolutely necessary for every human being to have this confidence. Without it one can accomplish nothing,
with it one can accomplish whatever one likes, (within reason, of course). You are then going to have confidence in yourself, and this confidence gives you the assurance that you are capable of accomplishing perfectly well whatever you wish to do, -- on condition that it is reasonable, -- and whatever it is your duty to do.

"So when you wish to do something reasonable, or when you have a duty to perform,
always think that it is easy, and make the words dificult, impossible, I cannot,
it is stronger than I, I cannotprevent myserffiom . . . . , disappear from your
vocabulary; they are not English. What is English is: "It is easy and I can". By
considering the thing easy it becomes so for you, although it might seem difficult
to others. You will do it quickly and well, and without fatigue, because you do it
without effort, whereas if you had considered it as difficult or impossible it would
have become so for you, simply because you would have thought it so."

To these general suggestions which will perhaps seem long and even childish to
some of you, but which are necessary, must be added those which apply to the
particular case of the patient you are dealing with.

All these suggestions must be made in a monotonous and soothing voice (always
emphasizing the essential words), which although it does not actually send the
subject to sleep, at least makes him feel drowsy, and think of nothing in particular.
When you have come to the end of the series of suggestions you address the subject
in these terms: "In short, I mean that from every point of view, physical as
well as mental, you are going to enjoy excellent health, better health than that
you have been able to enjoy up to the present. Now I am going to count three,
and when I say 'Three', you will open your eyes and come out of the passive state
in which you are now. You will come out of it quite naturally, without feeling in
the least drowsy or tired, on the contrary, you will feel strong, vigorous, alert, active, full of life; further still, you will feel very cheerful and fit in every way. ONE -- TWO -- THREE --" At the word "three" the subject opens his eyes, always with a smile and an expression of well-being and contentment on his face.

Sometimes, -- though rarely, -- the patient is cured on the spot; at other times,
and this is more generally the case, he finds himself relieved, his pain or his depression has partially or totally disappeared, though only for a certain lapse of
time.

In every case it is necessary to renew the suggestions more or less frequently
according to your subject, being careful always to space them out at longer and
longer intervals, according to the progress obtained until they are no longer necessary, -- that is to say when the cure is complete.

Before sending away your patient, you must tell him that he carries within him
the instrument by which he can cure himself, and that you are, as it were, only a
professor teaching him to use this instrument, and that he must help you in your task. Thus, every morning before rising, and every night on getting into bed, he
must shut his eyes and in thought transport himself into your presence, and then
repeat twenty times consecutively in a monotonous voice, counting by means of a
string with twenty knots in it, this little phrase:

"EVERY DAY, IN EVERY RESPECT, I AM GETTING BETTER AND BETTER."

In his mind he should emphasize the words "in every respect" which applies to
every need, mental or physical. This general suggestion is more efficacious than
special ones.

Thus it is easy to realize the part played by the giver of the suggestions. He is not
a master who gives orders, but a friend, a guide, who leads the patient step by
step on the road to health. As all the suggestions are given in the interest of the
patient, the unconscious of the latter asks nothing better than to assimilate them
and transform them into autosuggestions. When this has been done, the cure is
obtained more or less rapidly according to circumstances.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Part Five

2007-04-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

(For the next week or so, the Successful Living blog will post the complete book, "Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion" by Emile Coue. Coue, a french doctor, was one of the pioneers in the field of autosuggestion - now known as affirmations or self talk. This is his seminal work.)

Chapter 5
How To Teach Patients To Make Autosuggestion

The principle of the method may be summed up in these few words: It is impossible
to think of two things at once, that is to say that two ideas may be in juxtaposition, but they cannot be superimposed in our mind.

Every thought entirely filling our mind becomes true for us and tends to transform
itself into action.

Thus if you can make a sick person think that her trouble is getting better, it will
disappear; if you succeed in making a kleptomaniac think that he will not steal
any more, he will cease to steal, etc., etc.

This training which perhaps seems to you an impossibility, is, however, the simplest
thing in the world. It is enough, by a series of appropriate and graduated
experiments, to teach the subject, as it were the A. B. C. of conscious thought, and
here is the series: by following it to the letter one can be absolutely sure of obtaining a good result, except with the two categories of persons mentioned above.

First experiment. (These experiments are those of Sage of Rochester.) Preparatory.
--Ask the subject to stand upright, with the body as stiff as an iron bar,
the feet close together from toe to heel, while keeping the ankles flexible as if they were hinges. Tell him to make himself like a plank with hinges at its base, which is balanced on the ground. Make him notice that if one pushes the plank slightly either way it falls as a mass without any resistance, in the direction in which it is pushed. Tell him that you are going to pull him back by the shoulders and that he must let himself fall in your arms without the slightest resistance, turning on his ankles as on hinges, that is to say keeping the feet fixed to the ground. Then pull him back by the shoulders and if the experiment does not succeed, repeat it until it does, or nearly so.

Second experiment. -- Begin by explaining to the subject that in order to demonstrate the action of the imagination upon us, you are going to ask him in a moment to think: "I am falling backwards, I am falling backwards . . ." Tell him that
he must have no thought but this in his mind, that he must not reflect or wonder
if he is going to fall or not, or think that if he falls he may hurt himself, etc., or fall back purposely to please you, but that if he really feels something impelling him to fall backwards, he must not resist but obey the impulse.

Then ask your subject to raise the head high and to shut his eyes, and place your
right fist on the back of his neck, and your left hand on his forehead, and say to
him: "Now think: I am falling backwards, I am falling backwards, etc., etc. . . "
and, indeed, "You are falling backwards, You. . . are. . . fall . . . ing . . . back. . .wards, etc." At the same time slide the left hand lightly backwards to the left temple, above the ear, and remove very slowly but with a continuous movement the
right fist.

The subject is immediately felt to make a slight movement backwards, and either
to stop himself from falling or else to fall completely. In the first case, tell him
that he has resisted, and that he did not think just that he was falling, but that
he might hurt himself if he did fall. That is true, for if he had not thought the
latter, he would have fallen like a block. Repeat the experiment using a tone of
command as if you would force the subject to obey you. Go on with it until it is
completely successful or very nearly so. The operator should stand a little behind
the subject, the left leg forward and the right leg well behind him, so as not to be
knocked over by the subject when he falls. Neglect of this precaution might result
in a double fall if the person is heavy.

Third experiment. -- Place the subject facing you, the body still stiff, the ankles flexible, and the feet joined and parallel. Put your two hands on his temples without any pressure, look fixedly, without moving the eyelids, at the root of his nose, and tell him to think: "I am falling forward, I am falling forward . . . " and repeat to him, stressing the syllables, "You are fall . . . ing . . . for. . . ward, You are fall . .. ing . . . for. . . ward. . ." without ceasing to look fixedly at him.

Fourth experiment. -- Ask the subject to clasp his hands as tight as possible, that is to say, until the fingers tremble slightly, look at him in the same way as in the preceding experiment and keep your hands on his as though to squeeze them together still more tightly. Tell him to think that he cannot unclasp his fingers, that you are going to count three, and that when you say "three" he is to try to separate his hands while thinking all the time: "I cannot do it, I cannot do it . . . "and he will find it impossible. Then count very slowly, "one, two, three", and add immediately, detaching the syllables: "You . . . can. . . not . . . do . . . it . . . . You . . . can. . . not. . . do . . . it . . ." If the subject is thinking properly, "I cannot do it", not only is he unable to separate his fingers, but the latter clasp themselves all the more tightly together the more efforts he makes to separate them. He obtains in fact exactly the contrary to what he wants. In a few moments say to him: "Now think: 'I can do it,"' and his fingers will separate themselves.

Be careful always to keep your eyes fixed on the root of the subject's nose, and do
not allow him to turn his eyes away from yours for a single moment. If he is able
to unclasp his hands, do not think it is your own fault, it is the subject's, he has
not properly thought: "I cannot". Assure him firmly of this, and begin the experiment
again.

Always use a tone of command which suffers no disobedience. I do not mean that
it is necessary to raise your voice; on the contrary it is preferable to employ the
ordinary pitch, but stress every word in a dry and imperative tone. When these experiments have been successful, all the others succeed equally well and can be easily obtained by carrying out to the letter the instructions given above.

Some subjects are very sensitive, and it is easy to recognize them by the fact that
the contraction of their fingers and limbs is easily produced. After two or three
successful experiments, it is no longer necessary to say to them: "Think this", or
"think that"; You need only, for example, say to them simply -- but in the imperative
tone employed by all good suggestionists -- "Close your hands; now you cannot open them". "Shut your eyes; now you cannot open them," and the subject finds it absolutely impossible to open the hands or the eyes in spite of all his efforts. Tell him in a few moments: "You can do it now," and the de-contraction takes place instantaneously.

These experiments can be varied to infinity. Here are a few more: Make the subject
join his hands, and suggest that they are welded together; make him put his
hand on the table, and suggest that it is stuck to it; tell him that he is fixed to his chair and cannot rise; make him rise, and tell him he cannot walk; put a penholder on the table and tell him that it weighs a hundredweight, and that he cannot lift it, etc., etc.

In all these experiments, I cannot repeat too often, it is not suggestion properly
so-called which produces the phenomena, but the autosuggestion which is consecutive
to the suggestion of the operator.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Part Four

2007-04-17T08:27:00.000-07:00

(For the next week or so, the Successful Living blog will post the complete book, "Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion" by Emile Coue. Coue, a french doctor, was one of the pioneers in the field of autosuggestion - now known as affirmations or self talk. This is his seminal work.)

Chapter 4
THE USE OF AUTOSUGGESTION

Let us now return to the point where I said that we can control and lead our
imagination, just as a torrent or an unbroken horse can be controlled. To do so,
it is enough in the first place to know that this is possible (of which fact almost
everyone is ignorant) and secondly, to know by what means it can be done. Well,
the means is very simple; it is that which we have used every day since we came
into the world, without wishing or knowing it and absolutely unconsciously, but
which unfortunately for us, we often use wrongly and to our own detriment. This
means is autosuggestion.

Whereas we constantly give ourselves unconscious autosuggestions, all we have
to do is to give ourselves conscious ones, and the process consists in this: first,
to weigh carefully in one's mind the things which are to be the object of the autosuggestion, and according as they require the answer "yes" or "no" to repeat
several times without thinking of anything else: "This thing is coming", or "this
thing is going away"; "this thing will, or will not happen, etc., etc. . . .". (Of course,the thing must be in our power.) If the unconscious accepts this suggestion and transforms it into an autosuggestion, the thing or things are realized in every
particular.

Thus understood, autosuggestion is nothing but hypnotism as I see it, and I would
define it in these simple words: The influence of the imagination upon the moral and physical being of mankind. Now this influence is undeniable, and without returning to previous examples, I will quote a few others.

If you persuade yourself that you can do a certain thing, provided this thing be
possible, you will do it however difficult it may be. If on the contrary you imagine
that you cannot do the simplest thing in the world, it is impossible for you to do
it, and molehills become for you unscalable mountains.

Such is the case of neurasthenics, who, believing themselves incapable of the least
effort, often find it impossible even to walk a few steps without being exhausted.
And these same neurasthenics sink more deeply into their depression, the more
efforts they make to throw it off, like the poor wretch in the quicksands who sinks
in all the deeper the more he tries to struggle out.

In the same way it is sufficient to think a pain is going, to feel it indeed disappear little by little, and inversely, it is enough to think that one suffers in order to feel the pain begin to come immediately.

I know certain people who predict in advance that the will have a sick headache
on a certain day, in certain circumstances, and on that day, in the given circumstances, sure enough, they feel it. They brought their illness on themselves, just as others cure theirs by conscious autosuggestion.

I know that one generally passes for mad in the eyes of the world if one dares to
put forward ideas which it is not accustomed to hear. Well, at the risk of being
thought so, I say that if certain people are ill mentally and physically, it is that they imagine themselves to be ill mentally or physically. If certain others are paralytic without having any lesion to account for it, it is that they imagine themselves to be paralyzed, and it is among such persons that the most extraordinary cures are produced.

If others again are happy or unhappy, it is that they imagine themselves to be so, for it is possible for two people in exactly the same circumstances to be, the oneperfectly happy, the other absolutely wretched.

Neurasthenia, stammering, aversions, kleptomania, certain cases of paralysis,
are nothing but the, result of unconscious autosuggestion, that is to say the result
of the action of the unconscious upon the physical and moral being.

But if our unconscious is the source of many of our ills, it can also bring about the
cure of our physical and mental ailments. It can not only repair the ill it has done,
but cure real illnesses, so strong is its action upon our organism.

Shut yourself up alone in a room, seat yourself in an armchair, close your eyes to
avoid any distraction, and concentrate your mind for a few moments on thinking:
"Such and such a thing is going to disappear", or "Such and such a thing is corning
to pass."

If you have really made the autosuggestion, that is to say, if your unconscious has
assimilated the idea that you have presented to it, you are astonished to see the
thing you have thought come to pass. (Note that it is the property of ideas autosuggested to exist within us unrecognized, and we can only know of their existence by the effect they produce.) But above all, and this is an essential point, the will must not be brought into play in practising autosuggestion; for, if
it is not in agreement with the imagination, if one thinks: "I will make such and
such a thing happen", and the imagination says: "You are willing it, but it is not
going to be", not only does one not obtain what one wants, but even exactly the
reverse is brought about.

This remark is of capital importance, and explains why results are so unsatisfactory
when, in treating moral ailments, one strives to re-educate the will. It is the
training of the imagination which is necessary, and it is thanks to this shade of
difference that my method has often succeeded where others -- and those not the
least considered -- have failed.

From the numerous experiments that I have made daily for twenty years, and which I have examined with minute care, I have been able to deduct the following conclusions which I have summed up as laws:

1. When the will and the imagination are antagonistic, it is always the imagination which wins, without any exception.

2. In the conflict between the will and the imagination, the force of the imagination is in direct ratio to the square of the will.

3. When the will and the imagination are in agreement, one does not add to the other, but one is multiplied by the other.

4. The imagination can be directed.

(The expressions "In direct ratio to the square of the will" and "Is multiplied by"
are not rigorously exact. They are simply illustrations destined to make my meaning
clearer.)

After what has just been said it would seem that nobody ought to be ill. That is
quite true. Every illness, whatever it may be, can yield to autosuggestion, daring
and unlikely as my statement may seem; I do not say does always yield, but can
yield, which is a different thing.

But in order to lead people to practise conscious autosuggestion they must be
taught how, just as they are taught to read or write or play the piano.

Autosuggestion is, as I said above, an instrument that we possess at birth, and
with which we play unconsciously all our life, as a baby plays with its rattle. It is
however a dangerous instrument; it can wound or even kill you if you handle it
imprudently and unconsciously. It can on the contrary save your life when you
know how to employ it consciously. One can say of it as Aesop said of the tongue:
"It is at the same time the best and the worst thing in the world".

I am now going to show you how everyone can profit by the beneficent action of
autosuggestion consciously applied. In saying "every one", I exaggerate a little,
for there are two classes of persons in whom it is difficult to arouse conscious
autosuggestion:

1. The mentally undeveloped who are not capable of understanding what you say to them.

2. Those who are unwilling to understand.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Part Three

2007-04-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Part Two

2007-04-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

(For the next week, the Successful Living blog will post the complete book, "Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion" by Emile Coue. Coue, a french doctor, was one of the pioneers in the field of autosuggestion - now known as affirmations or self talk. This is his seminal work.)

Chapter 2
WILL AND IMAGINATION

If we open a dictionary and look up the word "will", we find this definition: "The
faculty of freely determining certain acts". We accept this definition as true and
unattackable, although nothing could be more false. This will that we claim so
proudly, always yields to the imagination. It is an absolute rule that admits of no
exception.

"Blasphemy! Paradox!" you will exclaim. "Not at all! On the contrary, it is the purest truth," I shall reply.

In order to convince yourself of it, open your eyes, look round you and try to understand what you see. You will then come to the conclusion that what I tell you is
not an idle theory, offspring of a sick brain but the simple expression of a fact.
Suppose that we place on the ground a plank 30 feet long by 1 foot wide. It is evident that everybody will be capable of going from one end to the other of this
plank without stepping over the edge. But now change the conditions of the experiment, and imagine this plank placed at the height of the towers of a cathedral.

Who then will be capable of advancing even a few feet along this narrow path? Could you hear me speak? Probably not. Before you had taken two steps you would begin to tremble, and in spite of every effort of your will you would be certain to fall to the ground.

Why is it then that you would not fall if the plank is on the ground, and why
should you fall if it is raised to a height above the ground? Simply because in the
first case you imagine that it is easy to go to the end of this plank, while in the
second case you imagine that you cannot do so.

Notice that your will is powerless to make you advance; if you imagine that you
cannot, it is absolutely impossible for you to do so. If tilers and carpenters are
able to accomplish this feat, it is because they think they can do it.

Vertigo is entirely caused by the picture we make in our minds that we are going
to fall. This picture transforms itself immediately into fact in spite of all the efforts of our will, and the more violent these efforts are, the quicker is the opposite to the desired result brought about.

Let us now consider the case of a person suffering from insomnia. If he does not
make any effort to sleep, he will lie quietly in bed. If on the contrary he tries to
force himself to sleep by his will, the more efforts he makes, the more restless he
becomes.

Have you not noticed that the more you try to remember the name of a person
which you have forgotten, the more it eludes you, until, substituting in your mind
the idea "I shall remember in a minute" to the idea "I have forgotten", the name
comes back to you of its own accord without the least effort?

Let those of you who are cyclists remember the days when you were learning to ride. You went along clutching the handle bars and frightened of falling. Suddenly catching sight of the smallest obstacle in the road you tried to avoid it, and the
more efforts you made to do so, the more surely you rushed upon it.

Who has not suffered from an attack of uncontrollable laughter, which bursts out
more violently the more one tries to control it?

What was the state of mind of each person in these different circumstances? "I do not want to fall but I cannot help doing so"; "I want to sleep but I cannot"; "I
want to remember the name of Mrs. So and So, but I cannot"; "I want to avoid
the obstacle, but I cannot"; "I want to stop laughing, but I cannot."

As you see, in each of these conflicts it is always the imagination which gains
the victory over the will, without any exception.

To the same order of ideas belongs the case of the leader who rushes forward at
the head of his troops and always carries them along with him, while the cry "Each
man for himself!" is almost certain to cause a defeat. Why is this? It is because in
the first case the men imagine that they must go forward, and in the second they
imagine that they are conquered and must fly for their lives.

Panurge was quite aware of the contagion of example, that is to say the action of
the imagination, when, to avenge himself upon a merchant on board the same boat, he bought his biggest sheep and threw it into the sea, certain beforehand
that the entire flock would follow, which indeed happened.

We human beings have a certain resemblance to sheep, and involuntarily, we are
irresistibly impelled to follow other people's examples, imagining that we cannot
do otherwise.

I could quote a thousand other examples but I should fear to bore you by such
an enumeration. I cannot however pass by in silence this fact which shows the
enormous power of the imagination, or in other words of the unconscious in its
struggle against the will.

There are certain drunkards who wish to give up drinking, but who cannot do so. Ask them, and they will reply in all sincerity that they desire to be sober, that drink disgusts them, but that they are irresistibly impelled to drink against their will, in spite of the harm they know it will do them.

In the same way certain criminals commit crimes in spite of themselves, and when
they are asked why they acted so, they answer "I could not help it, something impelled me, it was stronger than I."

And the drunkard and the criminal speak the truth; they are forced to do what
they do, for the simple reason they imagine they cannot prevent themselves from
doing so. Thus we who are so proud of our will, who believe that we are free to act
as we like, are in reality nothing but wretched puppets of which our imagination
holds all the strings. We only cease to be puppets when we have learned to guide
our imagination.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion: Part One

2007-04-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

(For the next week, the Successful Living blog will post the complete book, "Self Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion" by Emile Coue. Coue, a french doctor, was one of the pioneers in the field of autosuggestion - now known as affirmations or self talk. This is his seminal work.)

Introduction

Suggestion, or rather Autosuggestion, is quite a new subject, and yet at the same time it is as old as the world.

It is new in the sense that until now it has been wrongly studied and in consequence wrongly understood; it is old because it dates from the appearance of man on the earth. In fact autosuggestion is an instrument that we possess at birth, and in this instrument, or rather in this force, resides a marvelous and incalculable power, which according to circumstances produces the best or the worst results.

Knowledge of this force is useful to each one of us, but it is peculiarly indispensable to doctors, magistrates, lawyers, and to those engaged in the work of education.

By knowing how to practise it consciously it is possible in the first place to avoid provoking in others bad autosuggestions which may have disastrous consequences, and secondly, consciously to provoke good ones instead, thus bringing physical health to the sick, and moral health to the neurotic and the erring, the unconscious victims of anterior autosuggestions, and to guide into the right path those who had a tendency to take the wrong one.

Chapter I
THE CONSCIOUS SELF AND THE UNCONSCIOUS SELF

In order to understand properly the phenomena of suggestion, or to speak more correctly of autosuggestion, it is necessary to know that two absolutely distinct selves exist within us. Both are intelligent, but while one is conscious the other is unconscious. For this reason the existence of the latter generally escapes notice. It is however easy to prove its existence if one merely takes the trouble to examine certain phenomena and to reflect a few moments upon them. Let us take for instance the following examples:

Every one has heard of somnambulism; every one knows that a somnambulist gets up at night without waking, leaves his room after either dressing himself or not, goes downstairs, walks along corridors, and after having executed certain acts or accomplished certain work, returns to his room, goes to bed again, and shows next day the greatest astonishment at finding work finished which he had left unfinished the day before. It is however he himself who has done it without being aware of it. What force has his body obeyed if it is not an unconscious force, in fact his unconscious self?

Let us now examine the alas, too frequent case of a drunkard attacked by delirium tremens. As though seized with madness he picks up the nearest weapon, knife, hammer, or hatchet, as the case may be, and strikes furiously those who are unlucky enough to be in his vicinity. Once the attack is over, he recovers his senses and contemplates with horror the scene of carnage around him, without realizing that he himself is the author of it. Here again is it not the unconscious self which has caused the unhappy man to act in this way? (And what aversions, what ills we create for ourselves, everyone of us and in every domain by not "immediately" bringing into play "good conscious autosuggestions" against our "bad unconscious autosuggestions," thus bringing about the disappearance of all unjust suffering.)

If we compare the conscious with the unconscious self we see that the conscious self is often possessed of a very unreliable memory while the unconscious self on the contrary is provided with a marvelous and impeccable memory which registers without our knowledge the smallest events, the least important acts of our existence. Further, it is credulous and accepts with unreasoning docility what it is told. Thus, as it is the unconscious that is responsible for the functioning of all our organs but the intermediary of the brain, a result is produced which may seem rather paradoxical to you: that is, if it believes that a certain organ functions well or ill or that we feel such and such an impression, the organ in question does indeed function well or ill, or we do feel that impression.

Not only does the unconscious self preside over the functions of our organism, but also over all our actions whatever they are. It is this that we call imagination, and it is this which, contrary to accepted opinion, always makes us act even, and above all, against our will when there is antagonism between these two forces.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

25 Ways to Boost Self-Esteem

2007-04-03T08:21:00.000-07:00

Confidence and arrogance are two totally different things. If you confuse the two, you will most certainly become a very unhappy person with very few real friends. Arrogance is NOT a “quality” and it won’t help you reach your goals any faster.

Confidence in oneself, or the lack thereof is what stops people from getting tightly focused on what they want to achieve. That little voice telling them they can't do something is their biggest UN-motivator. What can YOU do to gain confidence?

25 tips toward boosting your confidence and self esteem.

1. Love Yourself:

This can take a bit of practice and looks really funny, but try it, it works. When you wake up, give yourself a great big hug. Do the same when it’s time for sleep.

You’ve heard this said a million times before: “How can you expect others to love you if you don't love yourself?” It’s true. Practice the morning and evening hugs for 2 weeks, maybe 3 weeks if you're the stubborn type, and you’ll see how well it works.

2. Look in the mirror:

Every time you pass a mirror, look into it and flash your biggest and best smile at yourself. It might feel strange at first, but eventually it’ll make you feel brilliant about yourself. Tell yourself “Looking good!” or “Wow, I love me!” or similar phrases often enough to actually start believing it.

3. Do things that make you feel good:

This can be anything from listening to music, trekking in the Andes, doing some volunteer work or even just taking a shower. Anything that gives you a positive feeling about yourself works for this one.

4. Listen to YOU:

Face it. Nobody knows you better than you know yourself, no matter how many people try to tell you differently. So if your body, mind or gut is telling you something, then take notice of it, and don't worry about what other people may possibly have to say about it.

5. Talk to YOU:

In times of stress, take a time-out break. Wander into your own mind and have a conversation with yourself about anything at all. Tell yourself how lucky you are to be you, and praise yourself for every good and positive thing you can attribute to yourself.

6. Remove negatives:

If anything feels like it’s dragging you down, get rid of it. If it’s clutter, tidy up, if it’s a friend full of negativity explain nicely that you don’t really feel up to talking right now. If it’s your kids acting up, leave the room for a while and so on.

7. Surround with positives:

Surround yourself with things that bring out good feelings in you. Examples could be things such as happy, upbeat friends, a nice new picture, a new car, an old comfy blanket, candles, pictures of your family, your girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse etc.

8. Rumours Die:

Did you hear something about somebody who said something about somebody else? Drop it! Rumours are nasty, horrible things that will only bring you down. Best way to kill a rumour? Ignore it!

9. Total Honesty:

Be totally honest with yourself at all times. If there’s something you don't like, admit it. If there’s something you don’t want to do “right now” and it isn’t necessary for health and safety reasons then just don’t do it until you feel like it.

Same goes for the positive aspects. If there’s something you want to do, and it’s not hurting anybody, then go ahead and do it. If you start feeling great about yourself for no apparent reason admit it and enjoy the feeling.

10. Responsibility:

Take full responsibility for your own actions. Don't shove the blame for anything over onto someone or something else. We all make choices in our lives, and once we take responsibility for those choices we tend to choose better for ourselves.

Once we start to choose better, we feel better and things start falling into place. On the other hand, don't take over someone else’s responsibilities just because you feel “you have to”.
11. Pretend:

If you feel unsafe, unsure or nervous then go inside yourself and pretend you’re a hot-shot lawyer, actor, actress, singer or whatever you need to be.
Make believe you’re presenting yourself as that person would until you feel better. Trust me, you WILL feel better, and eventually have no need to be anything but yourself.

12. Keep Trying:

If you’re trying to do something but don't get it right first time round, then try again, and again, and again, constantly learning from your mistakes until you get it right. When you finally DO get it right, you’ll feel wonderful about it.

13. Credit where credit is due:

If you’ve done something really good, and people compliment you on it, accept the compliments with thanks! Understand that they’re complimenting because they really ARE impressed with what you’ve done.

Believe in you and give yourself a pat on the back. (Although physically it would probably be easier to just give yourself a round of applause).

14. Stand Tall:

Standing up straight will ALWAYS make you feel better about yourself than slouching does. Stand with your feet slightly apart, suck in your tummy and behind, broaden your shoulders and straighten your neck. It’s an amazingly quick confidence boost.

15. Say Hello:

Make it a rule to say hi to at least one person you don't know EVERY day. Give them the smile you flash at yourself in the mirror, the biggest and best one you can find. They’ll smile back automatically, and they’ll walk away with a little extra confidence boost thanks to you.

People look their best when they smile, and they also feel better by smiling too! This ultimately means you get a confidence boost too, for making someone else feel good about themselves.

16. Never Say Never....Ever:

If you think something can’t be done, then you'll end up proving yourself right eventually. So never say never, just keep plugging along until it works for you.
If other people are telling you it can’t be done, you're going to feel such immense satisfaction at actually doing it that your confidence will soar.

17. Get Active:

Don't sit around the house just doing nothing. Get up, go out, cycling, walking, exercising, anything that might invigorate your brain. A lively brain full of thoughts will help you gain confidence.

18. “Happy Foods”:

Happy foods, such as chocolate, strawberries, lemons, ice-cream etc will increase the serotonin levels in your brain, leading to an increased feeling of happiness.

Feeling happy is a natural confidence boost. So go on, enjoy your food! (in moderation, of course).

19. Face Your Fear:

Is there something you are afraid of? Face it full on. Doing something scary and overcoming the fear is a fantastic way to boost your confidence. So go on, jump out of that plane (with a parachute of course), drive that car, speak in front of a large crowd, ask for a promotion, or whatever it is that scares you. You'll feel absolutely brilliant once it’s done.

20. Willpower:

Create a goal that you really want to reach. Possibly something like weight loss before a certain time, giving up smoking or having a certain amount of money in the bank within so many months etc. Take baby steps, and use your willpower until you succeed at reaching your goal.

It will be really hard, as will power can be very elusive at times, but keep going and don't give up. Once you have reached that first goal by using your willpower you will have the confidence to create new goals AND reach them.

21. Ask questions:

Any time you find yourself worrying about something you haven’t done, or something you think you should have done, ask yourself positive questions. Instead of thinking “I’m terrible for missing my friend’s birthday” think “What can I do to make my friend feel special?”

Or, instead of “Why can’t I ever seem to do things on time?” change it to “What can I change to better manage my time” Creating positive questions will release the negative energies which have a tendency to pull down your self confidence.

22. Learn:

Accept that not everything works out the way we plan it. Decide to accept any mistakes and rejections as part of a learning curve that we all need to go through.

Without mistakes, you can’t learn from your own experiences. Remember, experience builds confidence, so always learn as much as you can.

23. List:

Write a list of every single thing you're good at, anything from clipping the dog’s toenails to putting up a shelf. Take the time to sit and actually think about what you ARE good at and add them all to the list. You'll be surprised at how many things you end up jotting down, no matter how minor or trivial they may seem at the time.

Whenever you have a spare 5 minutes, or if you're feeling a little low, take the list out of your pocket and read it. This is a great little way to give yourself a nice confidence boost.

24: Help out:

There are lots of ways to help others, and feeling useful and helpful are great ways of building your confidence. Just make sure you do things because you WANT to do them. You could call a good friend who may be down at the moment-even take them out for coffee, you will brighten both your days, or you could possibly help out at an old folks home or similar. Knowing that people appreciate your help will boost your confidence for sure.

25: Show the way:

Think of the one thing you do best of all. Think long and hard about this one. Thought of something? Now, find a discussion group or similar related to that topic and spread your wisdom by answering questions, offering advice or help to anybody needing it. If you can’t find a group, you could even start one yourself.

People will look up to you and that will give you all the more reason to feel confident about yourself.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Focus Part 2: Self-Discipline

2007-03-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

To really be able to focus demands a lot of self-discipline. Remember that your outcome depends on YOU, not on the world around you. If you want something badly enough you WILL do everything in your power to get it.

Self-discipline in this context is basically only letting yourself do what you WANT to do at that precise moment in time to be able to reach your goals more quickly.

Remember that YOU are the boss of your actions. YOU are the one who is in control. So ultimately YOU decide what and when to do things you need to do to achieve your ultimate success.

Your ability to manage your actions is directly related to the level of success and happiness you will experience throughout your life. Managing your actions is commonly known as exercising self-discipline.

It's absolutely not about restricting your lifestyle, or punishing yourself. It's about being able to work with your thoughts, behaviour and actions in order to reach the goals that you wish to reach.

Not having self-discipline is one of the main reasons why we fail at what we want to do, both professionally and personally. Excuse-making often creates lack of self-discipline, so drop all your excuses and start keeping habits that in themselves will create the self-discipline you need. Make routines that you know you are capable of sticking to, and keep them.

How do you attain self-discipline? A few options could be regular exercise, better, healthier eating, even learning to spend less money. It could be something like deciding to learn something new every single day or just getting up an hour earlier than you normally would.

Having self-discipline will help you to complete the most boring and mundane of the tasks you are focusing on. Should you find yourself sitting and thinking thoughts like “Oh, I’ll just do this instead” or “I can do that some other time” when you are working on your goals then STOP, take a deep breath and remember your self-discipline.

You can do anything you want to do, be anything you want to be and go where you want to go. All you need is confidence in yourself and the ability to focus.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Focus: The Pathway to Prosperity

2007-03-23T10:16:00.000-07:00

Focus is a scary word to most people. What can it do for us? How can it help us? Can we program ourselves to focus? Focus, confidence and self-discipline all work hand in hand with each other.

Learning to focus can help us in many ways. It can help us realise what we really want in life, it can help us make good and informed decisions. It can also help us to accept ourselves just the way we are, without feeling the need to condemn ourselves or put ourselves down in any way, shape or form.

Focus can help us gain confidence, power and happiness. Focus can also help us remain grounded and stay on track. Focus can change confusion into absolute knowledge and self-criticism into love for oneself.

Always be aware that you are able to focus on what you want, and to focus your thoughts on anything at all. Try it now by thinking about the dishes, now change your focus and think about your car. Switch focus again and think about a dog. It really is that easy to focus on whatever you want to focus on.

We all need to learn to set aside time to be used on the one thing we want or need to focus on. It’s not a matter of “taking the time” to focus, but more a matter of “making the time”. If we are willing to make the time, we will focus a lot better on whatever it is you want/need to do.

You ask me how I can possibly make time to focus with four demanding children, 3 dogs and a new house?

Easy, I can stay up for an extra hour when all the kids are in bed and the house is quiet, and MAKE the time to focus on what I’m doing with absolutely no distractions at all.

Oh, that’s right; you work too, so you’re too tired to stay up late. How about getting up half an hour early, before the madness at home begins? Before you go to bed, get everything ready for your early morning “focus time” so that you don’t have to run around looking for it when you’re half awake. Of course, this means you have to have a plan of action ready beforehand.

Decide when you are going to make time, and stick to it like glue. Don’t let ANYTHING take you away from that time. Make sure you have everything you need all in one place, a room, or even a corner of a room where you can sit in peace. Unplug the phone, turn off the television, and don’t even listen to quiet background music.

Whatever happens around you will distract you unless you learn how to focus. Sometimes it seems easier to just go along with these distractions than to focus on the end goal. Remember, if you let yourself go along with the distractions, you are losing sight of your goals. Sharpen your vision of what you want or you WILL be at the mercy of your environment.

When you want something you have to decide EXACTLY what it is you want. If you don’t know what you want, there’s no way on earth you’re going to be able to focus on it. So you want to pass that driving test that you’ve taken and failed umpteen times, or you want to pass that really important exam in school.

You might want to write a book, or build a website, run your own business, be a teacher or any number of different things. The main thing is you have to KNOW that’s what you want, and you have to set your aims high and demand yourself to focus on getting it.

Once you decide what you want, you have to decide WHY you want it. Visualize yourself in that brand new Mercedes or BMW, or in front of that school desk teaching the kids geography. The vision makes you feel good right? So that’s why you want it, it feels good to do what you want to do, be who you want to be and own what you want to own.

Visualization is a major part in being able to focus. If you can actually see yourself in the position you want to be in, then it’s so much easier to focus on the task of getting there.

Next thing you have to do is decide how you’re going to actually get what you want. What are you willing to sacrifice in the quest to get those great exam grades? What can you do without in order to start up your own business? How can you make your family life happier and more peaceful?

Sit back and close your eyes, imagining what it will be like to have what you want in life, and think long and hard about what you can give up so that you can get there.

Say you want a new sofa, but the only way you can get one is if you quit smoking. Envision the sofa, with you and your partner cuddling up on it. What colour is it? Is it big and fluffed up, or is it a small ultra-modern sofa? Focus on the sofa and want it badly enough, you WILL stop smoking so you can get it.

These are all small things and perfectly attainable with a little bit of focus, but what if you want bigger and better things than that? Well then you set goals for yourself. First overcome the exams, once that goal is reached go get that driving licence. Next you get a brand spanking new BMW.

Keep setting goals; as soon as you reach the first one, move on to the next, staying focused all the time on what it is you want.

Reaching that first goal will give you an incredible boost of confidence, which in turn will make it so much easier to get started on the next goal. The more goals you reach, the more confidence you will have in yourself and that will fuel the success of the next goal, and the next one after that, until there are endless possibilities for you.

Start off by writing down each and every goal you WANT to reach in your lifetime. Then write a daily plan for the goal you want to reach first. Write the plan before you go to bed at night, it gives your brain time to take it all in and work with it.

It’s amazing what the brain will do when we are sleeping. Also, writing the plan the night before helps free up that time during the next day so that you can purely sit and focus on the task at hand.

Make the plan a numbered list and cross each item off as you finish it. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you get through it this way. Once you’ve reached the outcome you want, move on to your next goal following the same pattern as before.

If you find your thoughts wandering in your “focus time” take a break, write down your thoughts and put them away somewhere for future reference. If you find there are multiple things you can do to attain your goals, figure out which of them is the one most likely to help you get there quickest.

Put the others on hold, they may come in useful when you’re aiming for that next goal.

If you lock your focus, and stick with it for as long as you have to, you WILL succeed. If you stick to one thing, one goal and focus on that, it's virtually impossible to not reap the rewards of your actions.

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Success Resides Within

2007-03-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Not all success can be counted in dollars; not all richness is measured by money.

"The great secret of success is to go through life as a person who never gets used up," said Albert Schweitzer.

Look within yourself for the ultimate inspiration, and follow the true feelings you discover. "One of my favorite methods is to whisper," said Alfred Hitchcock. "I've discovered the best work is done with sweet reason."

Act upon your own conscience -that guides; that judges your actions and signals your behavior. "Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone may be looking," wrote H.L. Mencken.

Accomplish what you desire; fulfill your inner yearnings. But don't compromise your deepest feelings.

"We do our best that we know how at the moment, and if it doesn't turn out, we modify it," said F.D. Roosevelt.

Follow the paths that life offers you and live the fullest existence you can.

Look at yourself and look at those who have succeeded throughout history. Do you have what it takes? Even if you have only a few of the qualities of the other great people, you can achieve your heart's desire.

Reach for the highest, then reach higher.

Accomplish your steps one by one on a daily basis, always moving forward, always making progress, even if only “part and parcel”. Encourage yourself.

Insist that you can succeed and affirm these thoughts daily.

Keep a sense of proportion and judge for yourself. Then keep busy at the tasks you've set out to accomplish. What's keeping you?

"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration," said Albert Einstein.

Find inspiration wherever you can. Talk to people; read about people; learn your business or craft. Believe that you can do it and you will. The only way to dispel the doubt that you can do something is to finish it.

Always be the best you can be.

Never fall short from fatigue or lethargy.

Don't attempt to do anything that you can't give your all to.

There is no way to inner satisfaction without appealing to the higher self/ consciousness.

Search within and without to find the paths that are meant for you and follow them with conviction and a steady heart.

And, you will succeed to become as rich and full as you ever desired.

Harold Ickes wanted the "freedom to live one's life with the window of the soul open to new thoughts, new ideas and new aspirations."

And Woody Allen looked for a clear path. "If only God would give me some clear sign" he said. "Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank."

Finally, Sophie Tucker sums up everyone's worldly outlook: "I've been rich and I've been poor," she said. "Rich is better."

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Take Responsibility For Your Success

2007-03-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

"The price of greatness is responsibility" wrote Winston Churchill. Are you willing to maintain that responsibility once you attain the success you desire?

"The deepest personal defeat suffered by human beings is constituted by the difference between what one was capable of becoming and what one has in fact become," wrote Ashley Montague.

And the greatest tragedy is to become less than your full potential, using less than the abilities you have to work with.

Are you waiting for something to happen...merely a spectator in Life?

It is up to you to take the actions and be responsible for their consequences. "Our responsibility: every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty," wrote John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

 Inspire yourself.

 Read books that will spurn you to action.

 Talk to people who have the qualities you admire.

How would you like to lead your life? And make the changes necessary to be like that. "There is nothing permanent except change," wrote Heraclitus.

What changes do you want to make? What are you waiting for?

Want to know the Five Steps to Getting Everything You Want in Life? Then you need to check out the new Successful Living Video Newsletter right here.

Are You Planning the Steps to Your Accomplishments?

2007-03-05T14:58:00.000-08:00

What actions will take you closer to your goals? Decide upon the steps and write them down. Review them until you feel comfortable with those steps.

Then repeat them at least once a day, crossing them off as you accomplish them.

"I believe there is no escape from the rule that we must do many, many little things to accomplish even just one big thing. This gives me patience when I need it most." - James Dupont.

The most rewarding accomplishments are those that take long to achieve and present difficulties.

It is only through these difficulties that a person can rise above the rest to be the unusual, the outspoken and the well-deserved. As if building a kit, follow your own instructions.

Decide your best courses of action and achieve their benefits.

Whether the steps are small or large, make them achievable and then do them.

Do not commit yourself to things that you never whole-heartedly intend to do.

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there," said Will Rogers. Don't be paralyzed by inaction; rather act upon your own convictions.

Set yourself up for rewards.

Don't give yourself goals that have no feeling of satisfaction or no monetary rewards.

If you want to be an artist, be the best and learn from the best.

Don't dwell on imperfections or the awkwardness of unpolished skills.

If you go into business- reinvest.

"In business, the earning of profit is something more than an incident of success. It is an essential condition of success. Because the continued absence of profit itself spells failure" - Justice Brandeis.

Marchant wrote, "To be a success in business, be daring, be first, be different."
Think of ways to achieve the best; formulas to increase productivity or decrease overhead. Profit is your drive.

"Profitability is the sovereign criterion of the enterprise," wrote Peter Drucker. And, profitability is the core of any achievement - whether financial or artistic.

Once you achieve your goals, think of ways to benefit others.

"Money-getters are the benefactors of our race," said P.T. Barnum. "To them we are indebted for our institutions of learning, and of art, our academies, colleges and churches."

How can you benefit humankind and still keep enough to fulfill your own desires?

If you want to learn how to be the best you can be the Successful Living Video Newsletter and Four Pillars of Success coaching program can show you how. Even the most successful people who ever lived needed coaches and mentors to help when times were tough or for needed advice. Get on the fast track to success and start living the life of your dreams right now. Please visit the Four Pillars of Success and make 2007 your best year yet.

Going the Extra Mile: Video

2007-03-02T08:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a great video about perseverance and going the extra mile. It's an excerpt from the movie "Facing the Giants." It's worth a look.

If you want to learn how to be the best you can be the Successful Living Video Newsletter and Four Pillars of Success coaching program can show you how. Even the most successful people who ever lived needed coaches and mentors to help when times were tough or for needed advice. Get on the fast track to success and start living the life of your dreams right now. Please visit the Four Pillars of Success and make 2007 your best year yet.

Keep Learning to Reach Your Goals

2007-02-26T22:14:00.000-08:00

"To get profit without risk, experience without danger, and reward without work, is as impossible as it is to live without being born", wrote A. P. Gouthey. Every person who has attained something worth-while has worked for that goal.

Cary Grant said, "I do believe that people can do practically anything they set out to do if they apply themselves diligently and learn."

Which path is the right way towards your goal...

Do you need more education?

Do you need a few years experience in your field of business?

Maybe you need a teacher or Mentor.

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached, as by the obstacles which are overcome while trying to succeed", wrote Booker T. Washington.

What obstacles are in your way?

Consider them as easy to pass through as hurdles are to a champion runner. Take each obstacle as a special challenge placed especially for you. Approach it with intelligence and courage, then learn what it has to teach.

"Success is a journey," said Ben Sweetland, "not a destination." For some, the process of attainment is the attainment itself. They move on, keep growing and expanding. There is no still water at the top.

"The message from the moon is that no problem need any longer be considered insoluble", wrote Norman Cousins. And you can attain anything that seems impossible.

If you have a problem that needs to be solved, sit calmly and consider it with a clear mind. Observe all the consequences of the actions- both good and bad.

Gently ponder the paths and actions and contemplate the core of the problem.

The solution will appear.

"Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you for everyone who asketh, receiveth. He that seeketh, findeth and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened." - Jesus of Nazareth

Tap the inner self and encourage positive actions.

With each outgoing breath, release the impossible; at each incoming breath, inhale the attainable. Command the best of yourself, but don't despair from an overused sense of perfection.

What can you learn?

And who can teach you?

Can you attend classes and seminars from universities near home? Check out books from the libraries and absorb the material. Find a master and become an apprentice.

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." - Henry Ford.

Never stop learning; never stop growing and expanding as a person and in your personal endeavor.

Establish Your Ultimate Goal

2007-02-23T11:23:00.000-08:00

What do you want?

Are you looking for financial security, professional acknowledgment, spiritual attainment?

Do you want to fit better socially, or become more expressive creatively?

Establish the goal that's right for you.

Then turn that goal from a dream into a desire.

You want to realize that goal, not just wish for it.

Aesop said, "Beware that you do not lose the substance by grabbing at the shadow."

Know exactly what you want, then go for it.

Don't be robbed by your own procrastination- especially if you want to achieve something unique or original...artistic.

The writer Thomas Wolfe wrote, "I had been sustained by that delightful illusion of success which we all have when we dream about the books we are going to write instead of actually doing them.”

He went on to say “Now I was face to face with it, and suddenly I realized that I had committed my life and my integrity so irrevocably to this struggle that I must conquer now or be destroyed."

Can you see -with complete clarity- what you want?

If you want the abundance of material wealth that money provides, what goal will give you that money?

Do you want the prestige of owning your own business?

What business do you want to begin?

Where are the opportunities for you?

Talk to everyone in the business you want to join. Make friends in the literary or art societies in your area. Read books and articles about your field of endeavor. How can you attain your goal?

"If you don't want to work, you have to work to earn enough money so that you don't have to work," wrote Ogden Nash. And, isn't that the way:

Money makes Money; Success breeds Success.

How can you break through those thoughts to help yourself to the rewards?

Henry David Thoreau wrote...

"I have learned this at least by my experiment: that if you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, and endeavor to live the life which you imagine, you will meet with success."

Think big and visualize success:

Do you see yourself in a big house?

Maybe you picture your artwork hanging in a gallery.

Can you feel your book in print and in your hands?

How does it feel to be a person of success?!?

Make firm that you are; know that it is in your grasp. That's what the others did, and that's how people make it to the top. Then get down to basics. Be precise.

Exactly how much money do you want, and by what date?

And exactly what are you going to do to earn that money?

Be realistic, but give yourself short-term goals. Write it down.

In six months or one year, you will have how much money. And visualize and repeat it until it feels good...natural and normal...at least twice a day until it swirls in your subconscious, until it becomes your single-pointed goal.

"The goal stands up, the keeper stands up to keep the goal" wrote A.E. Housman.

Do You Have What It Takes?

2007-02-19T19:50:00.001-08:00

Thousands of potential millionaires are born every year. And with the advent of e-commerce, making a million dollars is becoming more and more commonplace.

What advice did the money-makers follow?

Aristotle Onassis worked eighteen hours a day to maintain his fortune. He started as a welder and aimed for the top. "You have to think money day and night," he said, "you should even dream about it in your sleep." Do you?

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., said, "I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes every person an opportunity to make a living."

And J. Paul Getty acknowledged his hard work: "I have no complex about wealth. I have worked hard for my money, producing things people need."

Even Proverbs advises: "In all labor there is profit."

Richard Bach, the author of the best selling Jonathan Livingston Seagull wrote...

"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however."

The Empress of the British Empire, Queen Victoria, admonished, "We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat."

Do YOU Have What it Takes?

There are qualities of endeavor and achievement that are common to many people who make it to the top. The following questions are a guideline to self-enterprise and attaining your goals.

1. Do you prefer to work for yourself than for others?

2. Are you well-informed on current business and political affairs?

3. Are you a leader?

4. Do you take advantage of opportunities?

5. Do you pay attention to what other people say?

6. Can you finish a job even when it is difficult or unpleasant?

7. Are you challenged by problems?

8. Do you have a goal you want to achieve?

9. Do you strive to attain?

10. Can you bounce back after defeat?

11. Do you believe in yourself?

12. Can you stand by your actions in spite of criticism?

13. Will you give credit and value to others?

14. Can you make your own decisions?

15. Are you determined?

16. Are you ready for success?

Carpe Diem: The Way to Achieve

2007-02-12T14:20:00.000-08:00

People are judged by what they think and what they say. But the true measure of their character is what they do. Anyone who has achieved success and fortune in the world has done it by action.

William Jennings Bryan wrote, "Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."

The choice of the path you follow is often put before you as opportunity. "Few people recognize opportunity" said Cary Grant, "because it comes disguised as hard work."

Don't let opportunities slip past while you're still considering them, and create new ones as you see them. "Wise people make more opportunities than they find", said Francis Bacon.

What opportunities can you act upon?

Woolworth saw a need for small inexpensive items and opened the chain of stores that grossed billions.

Wrigley started giving gum away as a bonus from a supplies wagon he sold from, and saw the opportunity to make money from the gum that became in high demand.

All successful people the world over have found the opportunities for their own special talents and acted upon those ways to achieve. Why wait for the time to pass?

There will never a better time than now- for you days are numbered and you know not your final breath.

Lewis Carroll believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Take your own impossible dreams and make them become reality.

How Strong Is Your Conviction?

2007-02-09T08:07:00.000-08:00

The single attribute that every successful person has is the one-pointed devotion to attain a goal.

"There in the sunshine are my highest aspirations", wrote Louisa May Alcott, "I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."

What are your desires?

How can you form them into definite goals that you can attain?

Lawrence Peter wrote, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere else."

Maybe you're studying a craft or skill.

Perhaps you're caught in a rung of the corporate ladder.

Or, you might feel constricted by your family and the environment around you...

Which star are you reaching for?

"Ours is a world where people don't know what they want and are willing to go through anything to get it", wrote Don Marquis.

Take the time to think about your own aspirations.

Look inside to find what feels right.

Almost everyone entertains the notions of fame and fortune, but put on the exact costume that fits you. Remember- conviction requires certain qualities of action.

You must be sincere and be willing to assume responsibility. And you need the self-discipline necessary to work towards your goals.

Are you prepared to achieve your dreams?

Can you form their reality in your mind?

Will you devote your entire being to attaining what you want?!?

It's coming! The Four Pillars of Success Video Newsletter and coaching program. Finally, an affordable alternative to those expensive seminars and coaching clinics is debuting in four days. In four days, your life will never be the same again. Watch for the site to debut at here

How Bad Do You Want Success?

2007-02-06T23:58:00.000-08:00

Many people who achieve fortune in the world are not born rich. But they accomplished it through hard work and a plan of action.

Every type of person on earth can become successful. There are saints and sinners; philanthropists and thieves; poets and politicians; young and old.

There are no limitations or physical boundaries for success.

Success comes to those who deeply think about success; do you constantly strive and yearn for it?

Although many rich financiers at the turn of the century had no formal education, they overcame that and went on to great fame.

Some people strive towards a single goal from early in life, and often attain that goal while still young. Others are willing to risk new adventures later and still attain success.

"It's never too late to learn", wrote Malcolm Forbes, the medial mogul. "I learned to ride a motorcycle at 50 and fly balloons at 52."

Whatever your task, whatever your obstacles, you can be as successful as anyone else. Study the people who accomplished recognition in the areas of your pursuit.

How did they achieve their goals?

Don't think for an instant that you don't have what it takes. We all have it inside of us to be whatever we choose to be. The keyword is choice.

Successful people thought about what they wanted, held it in the mind until it became a deep conviction and took action to make it a reality. You can do the same.

Have no fear for as Daniel Webster wrote, "There is always room at the top."

Abundance Can Be Yours

2007-02-05T15:36:00.000-08:00

"Had I but plenty of money, money enough to spare," wrote Robert Browning.

And money is the greatest attribute of riches. A universal desire, money is the materialization of riches, the stuff that makes the rest possible.

Are you looking for financial security?

For retirement, for education or perhaps leisure?

Riches are the overflowing abundance of health and wealth, which naturally includes material possessions- houses, cars, boats, furnishings...everything you ever wanted.

Centuries ago, Horace wrote, "By right means, if you can, but by any means, make money."

For many people it is a path towards happiness, a cure-all for worry and peace of mind. For others, riches come in the form of satisfaction and personal independence.

Satisfaction comes from accomplishment, in employment or attaining goals. It is that feeling of contentment and confidence from a good task well done. Riches are closely linked with success.

And with that comes fame and acknowledgment of position. Success might be the feeling of well-being from the rewards of good effort.

Or the enthusiasm and vitality triggered by recognition. "Success is how well I enjoy the minutes," said producer Norman Lear. How well do you typically enjoy yours?

Throughout history, the people who lived with riches often achieved them by hard work, diligence and a belief in themselves. For some people, it took courage, genius and stamina.

But for many others, it took nothing special but the desire to turn dreams into reality.

Whether you want millions of dollars, recognition as an artist, or personal freedom, you have the ability to make your life as rich as you want.

Think about what you most desire. It may not be hard cash, but what it can buy.

Or, it may be those feelings of inner satisfaction, from creating something beautiful or strong...

Maybe personal independence from the work week, or freedom to live anywhere you want...even something meaningful and significant in life - something other than things money can buy.

Whatever your goals, and however difficult they seem to be to accomplish, you have the inherent ability to become who you want.

Take a look - can you actually lucidly see yourself surrounded by riches?

Picture the world open and in front of you, ready to become the form of your dreams, ready to stage your desires.

"Why then, the world's mine oyster," wrote Shakespeare, "which I with sword will open."

Go and open your own oysters right now, before it's too late.

Successful Living Podcast 6: The One Concept to Master for Success

2007-02-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

The Successful Living Podcast is a show designed to give honest advice about what it takes to succeed in the game of life. The Successful Living podcast will feature discussions on various self-improvement and business building topics.

In this podcast you'll discover the one concept you must learn and master to achieve true and lasting success.

This podcast runs a little over 12 minutes and provides important information that any success seeker needs to hear and reaffirm in their own lives.

You can listen to the show in streaming media here.

Or you can download the podcast by clicking here.

If you would like more information on Brian's "Breaking Down the Barriers in 2007" coaching program and newsletter. Send your first name and email address to Brian at support@writepowerfulresumes.com.

Riches Start in Your Mind

2007-01-29T11:12:00.000-08:00

Want to have a never ending supply of money flowing towards you everyday?
You know where it all starts don't you?

That's right - in your own mind.

Practically every financial planning and personal finance book you'll ever read advises you to start an emergency savings fund, to meet unexpected financial emergencies, as one of the first steps in building wealth.

If you truly want to be wealthy, this is just about the worst financial advice you could follow.

In an article, titled "The Constructive Attitude", Wallace D. Wattles, best known for his classic masterpiece "The Science of Getting Rich", said this on the subject:

"… do not lay up for a rainy day. If you live right, think right, and work right, there will never be a rainy day for you. If you lay up for a rainy day, you will impress the sub-conscious with the fear of a rainy day; with the idea of weakness and incompetence, and so you will cause the rainy day to come."

Does this mean you shouldn't keep any extra money at all?

Absolutely not…

In the same article, he said this:

"… provide a surplus, so that you may take advantage of any new opportunity…"

There's a Creative Power within you that makes your life into the exact image of that to which you focus your attention.

If you focus your attention on financial emergencies, by saving for them, that's exactly what you'll have in your life… financial emergencies.

On the other hand…

If you focus your attention on financial opportunities, by providing for them, that's exactly what you'll have in your life… financial opportunities!"

Riches truly are a mindset - focus on them to the exclusion of everything else - and you shall have them.

As Napoleon Hill said, "Keep your mind on the things you want and off the things you don't want."

If you would like more information on Brian's "Breaking Down the Barriers in 2007" coaching program and newsletter. Send your first name and email address to Brian at support@writepowerfulresumes.com.

Theories of Procrastination

2007-01-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

A University of Calgary professor in the Haskayne School of Business has recently published his studies and findings on the subject of procrastination.

Dr. Piers Steel is probably the world's foremost expert on the subject of putting off until tomorrow what should be done today. His comprehensive analysis of procrastination research, published in the recent edition of the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin, presents some surprising conclusions on the subject, such as:

Most people's New Year's resolutions are doomed to failure

Most self-help books have it completely wrong when they say perfectionism is at the root of procrastination, and

Procrastination can be explained by a single mathematical equation

"Essentially, procrastinators have less confidence in themselves, less expectancy that they can actually complete a task," Steel says. "Perfectionism is not the culprit. In fact, perfectionists actually procrastinate less, but they worry about it more."

Other predictors of procrastination include: task aversiveness, impulsiveness, distractibility, and how much a person is motivated to achieve. Not all delays can be considered procrastination; the key is that a person must believe it would be better to start working on given tasks immediately, but still not start.

It's estimated that about 15-20 per cent of the general population are procrastinators. And the costs of procrastinating can add up well beyond poor work performance, especially for those who delay filing their taxes or planning their retirement.

Steel says motivational failures such as difficulty in sticking to diets and exercise regimes – frequently the focus of New Year's resolutions – are related to procrastination because impulsiveness is often at the root of the failure.

"Temptations that are close at hand are difficult to resist. Addicts often relapse after returning from treatment facilities because drugs and alcohol become easily available and daily habits reassert themselves. Or we load up on bread in the restaurant before the meal is served. Or we check our email 10 times an hour instead of completing a project."

The good news is that willpower has an unusual capacity. "The old saying is true: 'Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right'," Steel says. "And as you get better at self control, your expectancy about whether you can resist goes up and thus improves your ability to resist."

If you would like more information on Brian's "Breaking Down the Barriers in 2007" coaching program and newsletter. Send your first name and email address to Brian at support@writepowerfulresumes.com.

Don't Forget Your Boldness

2007-01-22T09:35:00.000-08:00

Many individuals on the path of life are living a timid and safe existence. They're afraid to leave their comfort zones for fear of failure or lack of belief in themselves.

Bold and decisive action away from your established comfort zones is what gives spice and flavor to life. And in many cases, amazing wealth as well.

Author Joe Vitale says that "Money likes speed". However, I think it is really boldness and decisiveness that attract money, rather than just the speed. Speed often accompanies bold and decisive action.

One of my favorite quotes about boldness is by Goethe.

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”
There really is an energy that flows when you act boldly, because acting boldly requires that you think boldly. You act in belief and confidence in the outcome. Your whole being vibrates in excitement and anticipation as you "feel" the results as if they have already been achieved!

Don't act rashly or hastily without thinking things through, that will only get you in trouble. But when you have a great idea - pursue it now. Take concrete and committed action steps.

Start writing the book, don't just think about it.

Call for the audition, just pick up the phone and call.

Go talk to the person who could get you that job.

Make a business plan and put the steps in place for your new business.

Create that first website or marketing piece for your internet venture.

Set some extreme goals that will push you into new levels of thinking.

Most people do way too much "thinking about it" and not nearly enough action. The universe rewards those who act boldly and with faith. Security and safety are illusory and greatly overrated. Act boldly in spite of any fear.

You may think it easy for the rich to be bold, yet they acted with boldness and faith first, and then the wealth flowed.

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal and then leap in the dark to our success. - Henry David Thoreau

If you would like more information on Brian's "Breaking Down the Barriers in 2007" coaching program and newsletter. Send your first name and email address to Brian at support@writepowerfulresumes.com.

Who’s Coaching You on Your Path to Success?

2007-01-19T09:35:00.000-08:00

(As I have recently announced on this blog, I will be creating a coaching program this year called, 'Breaking Down the Barriers in 2007' with my Four Pillars of Success system. It will be open to the public for a select few on January 29th. My goal is to help motivated people achieve all their goals and aspirations and do it without spending an arm and a leg like some coaching programs require. To prove the importance of having a coach or mentor - I have reprinted an article written by 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' creator Jack Canfield.)

You would never expect an athlete to reach the Olympic Games without a world-class coach. Nor would you expect a professional football team to enter the stadium without a whole team of coaches – head coach, offensive coach, defensive coach, and a special teams coach. Well, today, coaching has moved into the business and personal realm to include coaches who have succeeded in your area of interest – and who can help you traverse this same path or even one far greater.

One of the Best-Kept Secrets of the Successful

Of all the things successful people do to accelerate their trip down the path to success, participating in some kind of coaching program is a the top of the list.

A coach will help you clarify our vision and goals, support you through your fears, keep you focused, confront your unconscious behaviors and old patterns, expect you to do your best, help you live by your values, show you how to earn more while working less, and keep you focused on your core genius.

Worth More Than Money

I have had many coaches who have helped me achieve my goals - business coaches, writing coaches, marketing coaches, and personal coaches.

What were the results?

First and foremost, I immediately doubled my free time. I delegated more tasks, scheduled vacations rather than merely thought about them, and hired additional staff that ultimately positioned my business to earn more. And that was just in the first few months.

Not only did my business benefit, but my family did, too.

For me, coaching wasn’t just about making more money. It was about helping me make better decisions for myself and my business. The truth is, most coaching clients are smart – very smart. Yet they still know the value of accessing someone who can be objective, honest, and constructive about the options they are facing.

Why Coaching Works

Regardless of whether the program is designed to achieve a specific business goal – say, increasing your real estate listings – or whether it is specifically designed to help you simply gain more clarity and progress in all areas of your personal and professional life, a coach can help you…

* Determine your values, vision, mission, purpose and goals
* Determine specific action steps to help you achieve those goals
* Help you sort through opportunities
* Keep you focused on your top priorities
* Achieve balance in your life while still accomplishing your business or career goals

Different Formats for Coaching

Coaching can be delivered privately or in groups. Most often, it’s done through regularly scheduled telephone contact, although it can also be done in person. Over the course of the sessions, you’ll work together with your coach to develop goals, strategies, and a plan of action that is positive, desirable, and realistic. Support is often provided between sessions through e-mail and other media.

Occasionally, depending on the coach, you may be coached via structured large-group teleconferences in which you listen to valuable information, and then implement what you hear on your own. Some coaches will work with you every week and others once a month.

How to Find a Coach

There are literally thousands of coaches available to work with you. There are personal coaches, life coaches, and business coaches. Some are industry specific (dental, chiropractic, real estate, and speaking), some are job specific (executive coaches), and some are interest specific (strategic planning, health and wellness, finances, and career transition).

You can find them on the Internet, in the phone book, and by asking around. There are organizations like Coach U and the International Coach Federation that can help you find a coach near you.

In my experience, the reason many of us are not living up to our fullest potential lies in the gap, the gap between knowing and doing. Often, we attempt to close that gap with the New Year’s Resolution only to find ourselves back where we started come February or March.

In the end, a coach will challenge you to do more and be more.

Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

The Easiest Plan in the World for Getting Whatever You Want

2007-01-12T09:11:00.000-08:00

(Every once in a while I find an article written by someone else that's so good and meaningful that I want to share it with my readers. This is a great article written by Andreas Ohrt of Mind Power News)

The Easiest Plan in the World for Getting Whatever You Want

By Andreas Ohrt
Editor, Mind Power News

Over the past 18 years, I have been obsessed with learning how we can change our reality with the creative power of our minds. I've studied dozens of experts, read hundreds of books, and spent thousands of dollars in this quest. Through all of my experimentation, I've discovered that there are five simple core principles at the heart of the creation process.

In this short article, I have tried to make this knowledge as simple as humanly possible. I want every single person reading this to be able to take this information and use it, easily and quickly. Here then, is the most simple possible explanation of the power of your creative energy. Follow these five steps, and any goal can be yours.

STEP ONE: KNOW WHAT YOU WANT

Yes, it seems so obvious, doesn't it?

You must know what you want in order to get what you want. Yet this most basic fist step is missed by the majority of people. You must know what you want as specifically as possible. This is the magic first step.

Daydreaming about your future will not bring you what you want. Waiting for life to work out the way you've always expected won't bring you what you want. The only way to get what you want is to decide, with clarity and focus, exactly what you want to create.

So how do you know what you want? Well, it's very simple. Write down your desires, your dreams, and everything that you want for your life. Then pick the one thing on your list that you know you could accomplish if you dedicated some energy to it. Pick that one and forget about the rest. Pick the very next goal in the creation of your live and go for it.

Focus, focus, focus. Don't waste your energy wishing and dreaming for a million and one things. Pick one and go with it. Just as the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, so does the journey to your ideal life begin with a single goal.

So begin with an easy, do-able goal, so far unaccomplished, plug it into this 5-step system. Write down as specifically and exactly what it is you will create. After it's finished, move on to the next goal.

STEP TWO: FOCUS ON WHAT YOU WANT

You must give positive focus, energy, and attention to your goal. Setting a goal and then forgetting about it will not do. You must imprint it on your conscious and subconscious mind until it becomes reality.

Remember, thought is blindingly fast compared to the manifestation of thoughts into reality. Of course, as you practice this system and become more confident, your thoughts will come into reality much more quickly. But as a beginner, you must keep your energy and intention directly on your goal.

You must focus on what you want, not on what you don't want. Stop complaining about things that are not the way you want them to be. Instead, decide how you would like them to be and focus on that. Whenever you find yourself giving attention to some area of your life with which you are unhappy, immediately ask yourself "What do I want in this situation?" and focus on the answer.

Take a look at your goal every day, give it positive focus and attention. Before you fall asleep and after you wake up, instead of worrying about your problems, imagine your goal successfully attained, and feel how you would feel if your goal was accomplished. Go to sleep with this feeling, and your subconscious mind will quickly find a way to bring it into your reality.

STEP THREE: TAKE ACTION NOW!

You must take action towards your goal, and you must take action right now! There is no other time that you can act. The past is gone, the future is an illusion. Making plans to take action is not action. You must take action right now.

There is always something that you can do to propel you towards your goal. It doesn't matter how tiny the action is, or how insignificant you might feel it is, you must do it. There is always some small step you can take. Take that step.

You must convince your subconscious mind that you are serious about accomplishing your goal, and there is nothing more convincing than taking action.

No matter where you are along your path to your goal, no matter how near or far you mihgts feel to be, there is always an obvious next step you can take. Take that step in this present moment. Right now.

If you have trouble figuring out what to do, or are paralyzed into inaction because it seems there are too many things to do, just do this: Make a list of all the things that need to happen in order for your goal to arrive. List all the intermediary steps that you will experience as your goal begins to enter your life.

Somewhere on this list will be the obvious next step. Do it. Do it now!

If your goal is truly out of your hands, you need a new goal. Waiting for other people to change or give you what you want is a sure way to always be unsatisfied. You must pick a goal you are in control of and do whatever it takes to make it come true. That is the only path to power and mastery in life, and the only way to ever feel fulfilled.

STEP FOUR: CHOOSE THE SAME THING EVERY DAY

You must be consistent. You must, consistently, choose the same goal every day until your goal is accomplished. You cannot send out constantly changing vague wishes into the universe and expect to create results in the real world.

It's as simple as ordering a meal in a restaurant. You must decide what you want and then ask for it. If you can't make up your mind the waiter will simply server someone else until you're ready. If you do not provide the universe with a specific goal which you consistently ake action toward, your "meal" will never come to you.

And the most important secret of all, DON’T GIVE UP UNTIL YOUR GOAL IS ACCOMPLISHED.

This article is excerpted from the e-book, "Money Making Secrets of Mind Power Masters," which is included in the "Mind Over Money" total success package

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

Think With the End in Mind

2007-01-08T08:23:00.000-08:00

"View life as a series of movie frames, the ending and meaning may not be apparent until the very end of the movie, and yet, each of the hundreds of individual frames has meaning within the context of the whole movie. View your life from your funeral, looking back at your life experiences, what have you accomplished? What would you have wanted to accomplish but didn't? What were the happy moments? What were the sad? What would you do again, and what you wouldn't?" - Victor Frankl

As the new year begins and everyone is flush with resolutions and goals, I thought it would be a good time to write to you about a way to make those resolutions not just will-o-wisps of thought, but actually bring them into concrete reality.

You can create the life you want, you can make all your goals and resolutions in 2007 come true, provided that you decide, right here and now, that you will do it. Don't just say it, but believe it - right down to the very core of your being.

The above quote from Victor Frankl, the famous psychologist who survived the Nazi death camps in WWII, is a perfect place to get one started on the road to lasting achievement and success.

Within his words contain the seeds of wisdom for manifesting the life of your dreams. Please, go back and read it again and let Frankl's message really sink in.

Basically, he is telling us to think from the end. Think of your life from your funeral, yes I know it sounds a little morbid, but it can be the most inspiring thing you ever do for yourself.

Think from the end. What would do over? What do you want to have in your life? What do you want to be remembered for? What were your long-lost dreams? If you think from the end, you'll find answers to these questions and when you know the answers, start immediately to bring them into your life.

It's never too late. All your hopes, dreams and aspirations can come true. It's all in your hands. It's up to you.

Look at life like Frankl did - as a series of movie frames. You don't know the meaning of the beginning or the end until the movie is over, which is another important lesson in thinking from the end. When you think with the end in mind, you trust that God will lead you in the direction of your desires. And that trust becomes faith and faith, next to love, is the strongest force in the universe.

See yourself as you want to be. Feel the feelings, enjoy the moment. Daydreaming is not a bad thing. Don't worry how you're going to accomplish your goal - that's for the universe to decide. If you fume and fret over how and when it happens, you cut off the flow of creative energy that will bring your goals to you.

Think from the end. Discover your true north, your real desires. The key to having anything you want in life is to first know what you want. Visualize yourself as already having what you desire and trust, without fear or doubt, that God will bring your visions to you at the proper time and place.

Your job is to stay focused on your goals, believe that you already have them and take action when intuition, inspiration and opportunity arises.

So take Frankl's advice and think from the end. For if you do, the world will give you whatever you ask of it.

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

Visualizing Your Goals For Success

2007-01-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

Believing in yourself, believing that you can leap barriers and achieve your goals, is the ticket to success. One of the most powerful tools for building self-confidence is visualization.

This easy technique involves imagining the accomplishment of the changes or goals you're working to achieve. It is a process of "training" purely within the mind.

By visualizing in detail your successful execution of each step in a given activity, you create, modify, or strengthen brain pathways that are important in coordinating your muscles for the visualized activity. This prepares you to perform the activity itself. The technique is useful in many areas of life — from avoiding anxiety during a stressful situation, to performing well during competition, to achieving a particular goal.

1. Identify the goal you want to visualize—for example, walking a golf course.
Find a comfortable place to sit and relax.

2. Eliminate all distractions—turn off the phone, television, etc.

3. Close your eyes and focus on feeling relaxed. Free your mind of intruding thoughts.

4. Now, imagine yourself on the golf course. Create a picture in your mind of the place—the sights, sounds, and smells. Imagine a perfect day, warm and sunny, with a gentle breeze. Picture yourself with your favorite golfing friends, talking and laughing. Now visualize yourself starting on your way, passing the golf carts, and setting off to walk the whole course.

5. Take a moment to feel the pleasure and excitement of achieving this goal.

6. Then imagine yourself walking from hole to hole, enjoying the sunshine, the views, the fresh air, the good company and excellent play.

7. Finally, visualize yourself finishing the course and feeling great, both physically and emotionally.

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

Get Ready to Change Your Life

2007-01-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year. I hope you're having a good day, nursing your hangovers and enjoying the football games (if you are a fan).

I wanted to announce a special class I'm conducting titled - "Smashing Down Your Barriers in 2007." Since everyone makes resolutions and usually breaks them - I thought it would be good to address this particular challenge - the art of setting and accomplishing your goals.

If you make resolutions and never keep them, don't worry, it can be another way. I'm going to teach you how to change your mindset, make goals and achieve them. No hype, no bull, only what really works. This will be part of a 4-week e-class that will feature worksheets, audio, video and personal coaching from me. You will succeed because I'll be coaching and showing you the way.

And yes, my time is valuable as is yours, so I want all the tire kickers out there to know that it isn't going to be free, but its' worth every penny, I guarantee it. This is only for individuals who really want to make 2007 their best year yet. The people who really want to change and grow are the same people who will benefit from this class.

You may not of heard of me and that's okay. I don't like attention or publicity. Being famous or some type of guru is not my thing. I try to avoid the limelight.

All I have done is build a restaurant business from scratch and sold it for seven figures. Then I went into the Internet Marketing business were I gross over $10,000 a month and I've only been doing it for 8 months. I've recently written a book, "The Four Pillars of Success," which is about to be published (all those who sign up for the class will receive the ebook version) and I did all of this with only a high school education and hardly any money to start.

I'm not saying this to brag, just to let you know that I'm not just blowing hot air - I have used these principles, the Four Pillars of Success I call them, to take my life from living in my car to where I am now. You can do it too!

I'm only selecting 15-20 people for this because I want to give everyone who signs up my undivided attention and I can't do that if the class is too big.

Stay tuned for more details...This could change your life, if you really want to change it.

Happy New Year everyone!

Success Requires Some Risk

2006-12-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

Success requires risk, and risk requires guts. Success demands that you stretch your boundaries and challenge your limits. History honors the daring but forgets the fainthearted. Virtually all of the great achievements in human history are the result of risk-taking. Every successful venture, breakthrough innovation, and technological advance was achieved because someone took a risk.

The rewards of risk are enormous, but most people never dare to embrace it. Why? Because every risk carries the possibility of failure. That's what immobilizes most people. They're just plain scared to fail. But if you don't attempt great things you will never achieve greatness.

When Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca reflected on the risks he took in business, he observed, "I have to take risks every day. I'd rather not, but the world doesn't give you that option. You're never going to get what you want out of life without taking some risks."

When you enter into a risky venture, there are specific steps you can use to minimize the possibility of failure. Here's an acronym to help you remember how to master RISK-taking:

Research: Never incur blind risk. Before taking any significant risk, gather all relevant information. Assess the potential for both gain and loss. Your research should provide a big-picture summary of the probability of success and the possibility of failure. Make sure the probability of gain outweighs the possibility of loss.

Invest: Count the cost. Never risk what you can't afford to lose. There's no such thing as "risk-free" success. Your risk will cost you in time, energy, and money. Know what you will need to invest, and be prepared to pay up.

Strategize: What are the exact steps you need to take to make your venture succeed? What people or organizations should you involve? How will you market your product or service? These are the fundamental questions that your success rides on. Most people attempt to strategize after they've incurred risk. By then it's too late. Formulate your strategy at the beginning so you can hit the ground running--not just hit the ground.

Know your critics are wrong: There will be plenty of people who believe your idea is impossible, who swear it can never be done. The same thing was said to every great innovator, from Ben Franklin to Bill Gates. Opposition cannot be avoided, but it can be transcended. Refuse to listen to negative, critical people.

If you've followed these keys and feel you are facing a wise risk, go for it.

Don't be intimidated. The thrill of a lifetime awaits you. Go ahead ... Jump!

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

Today is not a day to be doing any kind of work and if you are stop what you're doing right now.

Christmas is a time to be with loved ones and to give thanks for all the good things that have happened in your life in 2006.

Believe me, even if you think this year was unkind to you, you're still better off than most. Many in the third world don't even have any food to eat or a place to call their own.

Give thanks for your family, friends and all that you have. Merry Christmas to everyone and a very happy new year as well!

Experience Builds Immunity to Stress

2006-12-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

It's long been known that experiencing control over a stressor immunizes a rat from developing a depression-like syndrome when it later encounters stressors that it can't control. Now, scientists funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have unraveled the workings of the brain circuitry that inoculates against such hard knocks – the circuitry of resilience.

Control not only activated the brain's executive hub, the prefrontal cortex, but also altered it so that it later activated even when the stressor was not controllable. This activation turned off mood-regulating cells in the brainstem's alarm center. The immunizing effect was so powerful that even a week later, when confronted with an uncontrollable stressor, the cells behaved as if the stressor was controllable and the rat was protected.

"It's as if the original experience with control leads the animal to later have the illusion of control even when it's absent, thereby producing resilience in the face of challenge," explained NIMH grantee Steven Maier, Ph.D., University of Colorado. "The prefrontal cortex is necessary for processing information about the controllability of stressors as well as applying this information to regulate responses to subsequent stressors."

A report on this first study exploring the neural mechanisms by which an initial experience with a controllable stressor can block the later behavioral effects of an uncontrollable stressor, by Maier, Jose Amat, Ph.D., and colleagues, appears in the December 20, 2006 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

"Lack of control over stressful life experiences has been implicated in mood and anxiety disorders," noted NIMH Director Thomas Insel, M.D. "Understanding how the brain encodes the experience of control to protect against such adverse consequences should help us develop better treatments for these disorders."

Rats exposed to uncontrollable stress develop a syndrome similar to depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in which they lose the ability to learn how to escape stressors and behave more fearfully.

Maier's research team had last year reported that the prefrontal cortex quelled the brainstem center's alarmist tendencies. The current study sought to pinpoint how and when the cortex influenced the alarm center to produce the stress immunity.

The researchers chemically inactivated the cortex at critical stages of experiencing and reacting to controllable and uncontrollable stress while measuring neurotransmitter activity and gene expression in cells of the alarm center via chemical monitoring and brain mapping techniques. Increased secretion of serotonin (a mood regulating chemical) and gene expression in the alarm center, as well as the depression-like behavioral changes, no longer occurred following an uncontrollable stressor, if a controllable stressor had been experienced as much as a week earlier.

When the prefrontal cortex was experimentally turned off during the controllable stressor, the animal failed to develop such immunity. Similarly, turning the cortex area off prior to the uncontrollable stress also abolished the usually protective effect of a prior controllable stress experience. Thus, the prefrontal cortex was required both at the time of the initial control experience and then later at the time of challenge for protection to occur.

"Perceived control, or coping, can buffer individuals against the negative emotional and physiological impact of stress," said Maier. "Enhancing the cortex's control over brainstem and other stress-responsive structures appears to be critical for preventing and treating mood and anxiety disorders."

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

Discover the "Secret"

2006-12-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

Every so often a self-help book, CD or video comes out and actually delivers on its promise of changing your life for the better - provided you apply what it tells you too.

You may or may not have heard of the movie, "The Secret."

The story centers around a woman who finds a book with the hidden secret of life in it. She then goes online to find others that know the secret and what follows turns from a fictional story into a documentary with interviews of successful people like Joe Vitale, John Assaraf, Bob Proctor and many more explaining in detail what the secret is and how it can change your life if you use it.

I for one was blown away when I watched it. I knew what the secret was, but it was never explained so clearly and concisely before. You will come away from this with a whole new perspective on life and your incredible potential.

I truly believe that if people follow the wisdom contained in the movie
and apply the knowledge they've learned - "The Secret" could have a greater impact than even "Think and Grow Rich" has had in changing lives for the better.

The producers of film have put the entire movie online on Google Video for free. So as a special treat for my readers here, I have embedded the film onto my site.

Watch the movie, listen and apply what you learn and I guarantee, your life will never be the same again.

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

The Five Worst Foods to Consume

2006-12-18T12:57:00.000-08:00

Leading nutritionists recently got together and a list of the five most damaging foodstuffs for humans.

Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Sweet carbonated soft drinks. In fact, they are designed to cause thirst instead of quenching it. All of them have huge sugar content; a glass of cola contains an equivalent of five tablespoons of sugar.

2. Potato chips are sheer poison, especially those made of potato puree. The chips are basically a mixture of carbohydrates and fat with some artificial food additives thrown in to enhance flavor.

3. Sweet candy bars. A high content of sugar combined with various food additives makes this high-calorie food pretty addictive.

4. Frankfurters, kielbasa, mortadella, pates and other foodstuffs containing the so-called hidden fat. The foods are disguised as meat yet they are actually made of lard, internal fat and pork skin up to 40% by the weight. A variety of food additives helps do the trick.

5. Meats with high fat content, especially when fried.

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

Happy People Are Healthier People

2006-12-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Happiness and other positive emotions play an even more important role in health than previously thought, according to a study published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine by Carnegie Mellon University Psychology Professor Sheldon Cohen. The paper will be available online at www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/

This recent study confirms the results of a landmark 2004 paper in which Cohen and his colleagues found that people who are happy, lively, calm or exhibit other positive emotions are less likely to become ill when they are exposed to a cold virus than those who report few of these emotions.

In that study, Cohen found that when they do come down with a cold, happy people report fewer symptoms than would be expected from objective measures of their illness. In contrast, reporting more negative emotions such as depression, anxiety and anger was not associated with catching colds.

That study, however, left open the possibility that the greater resistance to infectious illness among happier people may not have been due to happiness, but rather to other characteristics that are often associated with reporting positive emotions such as optimism, extraversion, feelings of purpose in life and self-esteem.

Cohen's recent study controls for those variables, with the same result: The people who report positive emotions are less likely to catch colds and also less likely to report symptoms when they do get sick. This held true regardless of their levels of optimism, extraversion, purpose and self-esteem, and of their age, race, gender, education, body mass or prestudy immunity to the virus.

"We need to take more seriously the possibility that positive emotional style is a major player in disease risk," said Cohen, the Robert E. Doherty Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon.

The researchers interviewed volunteers over several weeks to assess their moods and emotional styles, and then infected them with either a rhinovirus or an influenza virus. The volunteers were quarantined and examined to see if they came down with a cold. This was the same method Cohen applied in his previous study, but with the addition of the influenza virus.

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

New Report: Give PPC the Finger

2006-12-13T07:52:00.000-08:00

I just got an email about Keith Baxter's Free Report called - "Give PPC the Finger"

I will admit, like you may be feeling now, that I thought it was some hyped up offer to get me to join for free and get some offer...

...Turns out I was wrong. Way wrong.

The bottom line is, this report really opened my eyes. The good news is, the report also shows you what you need to know to succeed in the near future.

The times are changing and I it would be a shame for anyone to not read this report and fail like many will.

I read it, and I wanted to share it with you ASAP.

If you are involved in anyway in earning money online, then you should read this report. I recommend you take a break from whatever it is you are doing, if you can, and get access to this report now.

Consider your future online success by going here now...

Give PPC the Finger

PS - Keith says it will only be available for a few weeks at most so do not delay...

Getting Out From the Debt Trap

2006-12-11T11:40:00.000-08:00

Do you dream of living without the burden of excessive debt hanging over your head? It's possible, but not easy. Living debt free requires financial discipline, all the time. To become debt free and maintain a debt free life, try the following three steps:

1. Get rid of existing debt. This is obviously your first step to living a debt free lifestyle. Cut up any credit cards that you currently have in your wallet, purse, or desk drawer and do not apply for or accept any other cards. Pay your bills on time, sending as much as possible to one account while paying the minimum due on all of your other accounts until the account is paid off. Do this until all of your debt has been paid off.

2. Create a budget. Every single person who lives without debt has a financial budget and follows it. Without budgeting for expenses and incidentals, people overspend on unnecessary items and then when things just "happen" unexpectedly, (otherwise known as unplanned for expenses) these individuals rely on credit cards to make ends meet. Make a list of every monthly expense you can think of. Then, make another list of every incidental expense that you pay throughout the year but not necessarily on a monthly basis. If you usually get 3 oil changes a year at $20 a piece, you need to plan for $60 a year for oil changes, which is the equivalent of $5 per month. Once you have a comprehensive list, subtract your total monthly expenses from your total monthly income and see what is left over. Be sure you include savings accounts in your "expenses." Pay yourself first is a good rule to live by. If there is still money left over, congratulations! Use it to pay more on each individual account until everything is fully paid off, or invest in IRA, 401K's, or even a money market account with high interest rates to help your money earn more money.

3. Avoid credit like the plague. Make all of your purchases with cash and you will never fall into the debt trap again.

Manage Your Money

As you are starting the process to a debt free life, you should be extremely mindful as to where your money is going. It's important that you track your spending habits for a period of time in order to see where money is being wasted, or where you can cut costs without completely changing your lifestyle. Keep a notebook where you list every single item you purchase, including the amount you paid, where you purchased it, and the reason. Include all bills that were paid, how much you paid, and how much you still owe.

After a few months of tracking your spending habits, you will be able to determine exactly where all of your money is going, and you may be surprised at how much your little purchases are adding up and eating away at money you could be using to pay off debt to enjoy a debt free lifestyle! That cup of coffee you grab every morning on the way to work could be costing you $10 or more each week- about $40 per month, and brewing your own coffee at home could save you considerably since you can purchase a can of coffee for about $4 and it will last you about a month!

How to Remain Debt Free after Recovery

One of the biggest mistakes people make after making a financial recovery is to allow themselves to fall back into old habits and get into debt. Before they know it, they have racked up another few thousand in credit bills, and they are heading down the same path to having a desperate situation where they just can't make their payments on time each month.

You do not need to have credit cards in your wallet. Yes, it is a very odd feeling to go from having several cards available to you to none, but it is the safest way to avoid overspending. You may want to keep one credit card in a safe place in your home, for purchases that do require a credit card.

Think long and hard before using the card, and if it is possible to buy it with cash, than do that instead. A credit card should not be used for every purchase, nor should it be used when you want to buy something unnecessary that you don't have enough cash to purchase.

If you want a luxury item, save your money until you can buy it- if after several months of saving you decide you don't need it, then you have saved the money on an item you previously may have purchased on a credit card, discovered you didn't really need or want it, and then had to pay back three to four times what the item is worth after all the interest and finance charges were added.

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

Successful Living Podcast 5: The 3 Ways to Create Wealth

2006-12-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

The Successful Living Podcast is a show designed to give honest advice about what it takes to succeed in the game of life. The Successful Living podcast will feature discussions on various self-improvement and business building topics.

In this podcast you'll discover the only three ways to create wealth.

This podcast runs a little over 11 minutes and provides important information that any success seeker needs to hear and reaffirm in their own lives.

You can listen to the show in streaming media here.

Or you can download the podcast by clicking here.

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

Stop Struggling Online - Make Money Selling Other People’s Stuff

2006-12-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

You have probably heard before that the easiest way to get started making money online is to sell other people’s products.

But how do you actually get started?

You could literally spend hundreds of hours trying to get to grips with affiliate marketing, as it’s called, but basically all you need to do is find the best products to promote and start sending people to them.

The biggest site to help you do this is ClickBank and there are now thousands of people making a lot of money just by promoting other people’s products that can be found on ClickBank.

You can get up and running in minutes and start making your own passive income stream for your future and the best place for you to start is to get the free report called “Cheney’s ClickBank Report” that shows you HOW to get started. It will save you a lot of time and help you avoid the mistakes and dead-ends that can rob you of your precious time and resources.

You can get the free ClickBank Report here;

http://www.cheneysclickbankreport.com

To learn your credit score or find ways to improve your score, as well as financial advice and credit repair - go to Credit-Score for free information and links.

Emotions Drive Irrational Decisions

2006-12-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

Irrational behaviour arises as a consequence of emotional reactions evoked when faced with difficult decisions, according to new research at UCL (University College London), funded by the Wellcome Trust. The UCL study suggests that rational behaviour may stem from an ability to override automatic emotional responses, rather than an absence of emotion per se.

It has long been assumed in classical theories of economics that people act entirely rationally when taking decisions. However, it has increasingly become recognized that humans often act irrationally, as a consequence of biasing influences. For example, people are strongly and consistently affected by the way in which a question is presented. An operation that has 40 per cent probability of success seems more appealing than one that has a 60 per cent chance of failure.

In the study, published in the journal Science, UCL researchers used a gambling experiment to establish the cognitive basis for rational decision-making. The goal of the task was to accumulate as much money as possible, with the incentive of being paid in real money in proportion to the money won during the experiment. Participants were given a starting amount of money (£50) at the beginning of each trial.

They were then asked to choose between either a sure option or a gamble option (where they would have a certain chance of winning the entire amount, but also of losing it all). Subjects were presented with these choices under two different frames (i.e. scenarios), in which the sure option was worded either as the amount to be kept from the starting amount ("keep £20"), or the amount to be deducted ("lose £30"). The two options, although worded differently, would result in exactly the same outcome, i.e. that the participant would be left with £20.

The UCL study found that participants were more likely to gamble at the threat of losing £30 than the offer of keeping £20. On average, when presented with the "keep" option, participants chose to gamble 43 per cent of the time compared with 62 per cent for the "lose" option.

Furthermore, there was a marked difference in behaviour between participants. Some people adopted a more rational approach and gambled more equally and consistently under both frames, while others showed a real aversion to risk in the "keep" frame while at the same time displaying high risk-seeking behaviour in the "lose" frame.

Brain imaging revealed that the amygdala, a region thought to control our emotions and mediate the 'fight or flight' reaction, underpinned this bias in the decision process. Moreover, the UCL study revealed that people with more rational behaviour had greater brain activity in the prefrontal cortex, a region known to be involved in higher-order executive processes, suggesting that their brains are better able to incorporate their emotions into a more balanced reasoning process.

Mr Benedetto de Martino, of the UCL Institute of Neurology, says: "It is well known that human choices are affected by the way in which a question is phrased. For example, saying an operation carries an 80 per cent survival rate may trigger a different response compared to saying that an operation has a 20 per cent chance of dying from it, even though they offer exactly the same degree of risk.

"Our study provides neurobiological evidence that an amygdala-based emotional system underpins this biasing of human decisions. Moreover, we found that people are rational, or irrational, to widely differing amounts. Interestingly, the amygdala was active across all participants, regardless of whether they behaved rationally or irrationally, suggesting that everyone experiences an emotional reaction when faced with such choices. However, we found that more rational individuals had greater activation in their orbitofrontal cortex (a region of prefrontal cortex) suggesting that rational individuals are able to better manage or perhaps override their emotional responses."

To start your own resume writing business go to Write Powerful Resumes or to learn how to make lots of money by starting your own online business check out the Info Riches website.

Successful Living Podcast 4: Do You Expect Success?

2006-12-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

The Successful Living Podcast is a show designed to give honest advice about what it takes to succeed in the game of life. The Successful Living podcast will feature discussions on various self-improvement and business building topics.

In this podcast, you'll find out how important it is to not just think about success in your life, but to expect it.

The podcast runs a little over 13 minutes and provides important information that any success seeker needs to hear and reaffirm in their own lives.

You can listen to the show in streaming media here.

Or you can download the podcast by clicking here.

To start your own resume writing business go to Write Powerful Resumes or to learn how to make lots of money by starting your own online business check out the Info Riches website.

How You Can Break Into “The Internet Marketing Country Club” and Secure Your Online Success

2006-11-29T08:20:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed how you always seem to see the same names and faces on the Internet?

Why is it that all these top gurus seem to have a closed-door “Internet Marketing Country Club” and HOW did they break into this club?

It’s easy to stand on the outside and think that these guys have somehow just magically worked their way into this small group based on who they know or some special sort of handshake. But the fact of the matter is that this “inner circle” of Internet marketers are no different to you.

The only key difference is that they have followed a SPECIFIC SET OF STEPS to become more and more successful to become part of “The Internet Marketing Country Club”. And that’s the important thing about making it BIG online - it’s not a total coincidence. It’s not down to luck..

..it’s down to someone following a SPECIFIC RECIPE! You can follow simple instructions can’t you? Then you can be super-successful online, it is that EASY.

You can discover EXACTLY what these STEPS are in this FREE Report “The Internet Marketing Country Club”;

http://www.internetmarketingcountryclub.com

Folic Acid Can Reduce Heart Disease

2006-11-27T08:48:00.000-08:00

The scientific evidence is strong enough to justify using folic acid as a cheap and simple way of reducing heart disease and strokes, say researchers in this week's BMJ.

Debate continues over whether raised homocysteine levels in the blood (an amino acid implicated in the development of arterial disease) causes heart disease and stroke, and whether folic acid, which lowers homocysteine, will help reduce the risk of these disorders.

So heart expert, Dr David Wald and colleagues set out to clarify the issue. They examined all the evidence from different studies to see whether raised homocysteine is a cause of cardiovascular disease.

Some studies looked at homocysteine and the occurrence of heart attacks and strokes in large numbers of people (cohort studies), some focused on people with a common genetic variant which increases homocysteine levels to a small extent (genetic studies), while others tested the effects of lowering homocysteine levels (randomised controlled trials).

The cohort studies and genetic studies yielded similar results, indicating a protective effect from lower homocysteine levels, even though they did not share the same sources of possible error. The randomised trials were too small to be conclusive although their results were consistent with the expected protective effects of folic acid.

The conclusion that homocysteine is a cause of cardiovascular disease explains the observations from all the different types of study, even if the results from one type of study are, on their own, insufficient to reach that conclusion, say the authors.

Since folic acid reduces homocysteine concentrations, it follows that increasing folic acid consumption will reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

They therefore take the view that the evidence is now sufficient to justify action on lowering homocysteine concentrations, although the position should be reviewed as evidence from ongoing clinical trials emerges.

To start your own resume writing business go to Write Powerful Resumes or to learn how to make lots of money by starting your own online business check out the Info Riches website.

The Successful Living Podcast 3: The Power of Focus

2006-11-24T07:13:00.000-08:00

The Successful Living Podcast is a show designed to give honest advice about what it takes to succeed in the game of life. The Successful Living podcast will feature discussions on various self-improvement and business building topics.

In this episode, you'll discover the power of focus and how if developed, it can bring you anything you may desire. Plus will go through the four steps to having incredible focus in your own life.

The podcast runs a little over 12 minutes and provides important information that any success seeker needs to hear and reaffirm in their own lives.

You can listen to the show in streaming media here.

Or you can download the podcast by clicking here.

To start your own resume writing business go to Write Powerful Resumes or to learn how to make lots of money by starting your own online business check out the Info Riches website.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T01:06:00.000-08:00

No there isn't going to be an article today. This is a special day...a day for giving thanks.

Thanks for your family, good health, friends, good food and all that football! You gotta love Thanksgiving.

Seriously, you've worked hard all year building your body, mind and spirit, at least I hope you have. But today is a day to take it easy. Forget about your problems, stresses and all that stuff and focus on what's really important - spending time with loved ones and giving thanks for all that you have.

In the end, all that's really important is the love you shared along the way and how you lived your life. Everything else is just details.

In closing, I wish all of you a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

Program Yourself for Greatness

2006-11-20T08:02:00.000-08:00

Are you ready to release a firestorm of success in your life? As 2006 comes to a close, do you hope and pray 2007 will be different? Better? More fulfilling?

If you do, I have good news. The secret to a fantastic new life is right between your ears. Don't believe me? Read on and find out.

Emile Coué, the French psychotherapist once said: "When the imagination and will power are in conflict, are antagonistic, it is always the imagination that wins, without any exception."

You can program yourself for success by understanding the power of imagination.

Imagination builds cities. Imagination makes dreams come true. Imagination will drive many to success, and you are a part of it. We know that imagination and rationalization don't go together so well.

When you dream, the right hemisphere of the brain and your subconscious mind are working and usually, you feel peace, you see compelling pictures and you hear beautiful sounds. Success is within your reach. But the problem is that the left hemisphere of the brain is also working and usually tells you "you can't do that" or "it's not for you" "You don't deserve it" "what if I tell my friends and family?" "You are crazy".

The truth is that you are unique and your contribution is important. You can make a difference and have success.

There are proven methods and techniques to program yourself for success. The only and necessary step to do that is to bypass your conscious mind. When done, your subconscious mind takes it over. You can freely dream and visualize yourself winning the game of life. By turbo charging your mind, you program yourself for success.

The three components to programming your mind are relaxation, visualization and affirmation.

1. Relaxation: the first key to mental programming for success.

As we start to relax our brain wave cycles start to slow down and our brain enters what is called the Alpha State in which the conscious mind has effectively fallen asleep, and our subconscious mind remains in control of our Autonomic Nervous System. During relaxation, the mind relaxes, the body unwinds. It is here where our thoughts slow down until they become so light they begin to float. It is here that we are able to restore, re-energize and empower ourselves and harness the power of the subconscious mind to help create long-lasting change. Alpha state is the gateway, the entry point that leads into the subconscious.

2. Visualization: the second key to mental programming for success.

Through relaxation you enter a state of creativity, essential for your success. You can induce new thoughts and new beliefs to your subconscious. You must hold the image of what you really want and act as if you already possess it. Remember, imagination rules your lives, frightens you, excites you or undermines you. Pictures can make you rich or poor, happy or sad. It's all up to you. Clear pictures, with rich details of what you really want, are critical factors to your success.

3. Affirmations: the third key to mental programming for success.

You can induce new thoughts and new beliefs to your subconscious by affirmations or suggestions. One of the power principles of the subconscious mind is the compliance principle meaning that part of the mind complies to where you direct it to go. In the book, the one minute millionaire" from Robert Allen and Mark Victor Hanson, one of the affirmations they encourage us to say is "I walk like a millionaire, I act like a millionaire, I am a millionaire." When you add intense feelings, it doubles or even triples the result. Really believe what you're inducing and watch the changes taking place around you.

Next, take action on any goals or plans the subconscious mind gives you. Remember, nothing happens without movement. Action is a key to lifelong success. And finally, be persistent. Many people give up on the above techniques because they don't get results right away.

That's not how life works. Nothing is instantaneous in nature, so don't expect it to be in your life either. Nature and life is a process with patience and persistence its keywords. Follow the steps above, keep doing them without fail, and magic will happen in your life.

You can program yourself for success. It's all about using the same tools and techniques that high achievers have used. Relax, visualize and affirm what you really want out of life. You can win and you deserve to win. It is reserved only for those who really want to go for it. Are you ready to take your personal and professional life to a whole new level?

To start your own resume writing business go to Write Powerful Resumes or to learn how to make lots of money by starting your own online business check out the Info Riches website.

A Little Dark Chocolate May Help the Heart

2006-11-17T09:40:00.000-08:00

Some "chocoholics" who just couldn't give up their favorite treat to comply with a study to test blood stickiness have inadvertently done their fellow chocolate lovers - and science - a big favor.

Their "offense," say researchers at Johns Hopkins led to what is believed to be the first biochemical analysis to explain why just a few squares of chocolate a day can almost halve the risk of heart attack death in some men and women by decreasing the tendency of platelets to clot in narrow blood vessels.

"What these chocolate 'offenders' taught us is that the chemical in cocoa beans has a biochemical effect similar to aspirin in reducing platelet clumping, which can be fatal if a clot forms and blocks a blood vessel, causing a heart attack," says Diane Becker, M.P.H., Sc.D., a professor at the Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Becker cautions that her work is not intended as a prescription to gobble up large amounts of chocolate candy, which often contains diet-busting amounts of sugar, butter and cream. But as little as 2 tablespoons a day of dark chocolate - the purest form of the candy, made from the dried extract of roasted cocoa beans - may be just what the doctor ordered.

Researchers have known for nearly two decades that dark chocolate, rich in chemicals called flavonoids, lowers blood pressure and has other beneficial effects on blood flow. The latest Johns Hopkins findings, to be presented Nov. 14 at the American Heart Association's annual Scientific Sessions in Chicago, identified the effect of normal, everyday doses of chocolate found in ordinary foods, unlike previous studies that found decreased platelet activity only at impractically high doses of flavonoids equivalent to eating several pounds of chocolate a day.

"Eating a little bit of chocolate or having a drink of hot cocoa as part of a regular diet is probably good for personal health, so long as people don't eat too much of it, and too much of the kind with lots of butter and sugar," says Becker.

In the study, 139 people Becker - whom Becker somewhat tongue in cheek calls "chocolate offenders" - were disqualified from a much larger study looking at the effects of aspirin on blood platelets. The Genetic Study of Aspirin Responsiveness (GeneSTAR) was conducted at johnd Hopkins from June 2004 to November 2005 and enrolled more than 500 men and 700 women participants nationwide.

Shortly before aspirin dosing began for the subjects, they were told to stay on a strict regimen of exercise and to refrain from smoking or using foods and drinks known to affect platelet activity. These included caffeinated drinks, wine, grapefruit juice - and chocolate.

The non-compliers - who admitted to eating chocolate - were a diverse group who got their flavonoid "fix" from a variety of sources, including chocolate bars, cups of hot cocoa, grapes, black or green tea, and strawberries. And while they were excluded from the aspirin study, Becker and her team scoured their blood results for chocolate's effect on blood platelets, which the body recycles on a daily basis.

When platelet samples from both groups were run through a mechanical blood vessel system designed to time how long it takes for the platelets to clump together in a hair-thin plastic tube, the chocolate lovers were found to be less reactive, on average taking 130 seconds to occlude the system.

Platelets from those who stayed away from chocolate as instructed clotted faster, at 123 seconds.

"These results really bring home the point that a modest dietary practice can have a huge impact on blood and potentially on the health of people at a mildly elevated risk of heart disease," says study co-author Nauder Faraday, M.D., an associate professor at Johns Hopkins. "But we have to careful to emphasize that one single healthy dietary practice cannot be taken alone, but must be balanced with exercise and other healthy lifestyle practices that impact the heart."

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The Death of Internet Marketing

2006-11-13T08:51:00.000-08:00

I just got an email about Mike Filsaime's Free Report called - "The Death of Internet Marketing"

I will admit, like you may be feeling now, that I thought it was some hyped up offer to get me to join for free and get some offer...

...Turns out I was wrong. Way wrong.

The bottom line is, this report really opened my eyes to what really is the death of Internet marketing. The good news is, the report also shows you what you need to know to succeed in the near future.

The times are changing and it would be a shame for anyone to not read this report and fail like many will.

I read it, and I wanted to share it with you ASAP.

I recommend you take a break from what ever it is you are doing if you can and get access to this report now.

Consider your future success by going here now...

The Death of Internet Marketing

Mike says it will only be available for a few weeks at most so do not delay.

This is really important for anyone thinking about doing business online or who is already online but not having the results they like.

Do yourself a favor and get the report and then read it, study it and use it. You'll be glad you did. And best if all it's free! What more could you want? Don't delay, go here now.

The Death of Internet Marketing

Define Your Goals

2006-11-10T05:57:00.000-08:00

Goal setting and planning are fundamental keys to a life of success and happiness. You should identify what you want to accomplish and how you'll carry out your plan. This is important when making positive changes and will help you succeed.

You must set short-term and long-term goals. These goals should be S-M-A-R-T:

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Attainable
R - Relevant
T - Time-based

We will use health and weight training goals as examples:

A specific short-term goal may be to start strength training; the long-term goal may be improving balance, or controlling your weight. This goal is easily measurable: Have you or have you not begun the program? Indeed, this is an attainable goal, as long as your doctor approves, and this goal is certainly relevant to living a long, healthy life.

Your goal should be time-based: you should read this book within 5 days, buy the equipment you need, and set your exercise schedule within the next 5 days. Start the program within the following 2 to 3 days.

The goals and time frame are entirely up to you. You may want to focus your long-term goals on improving a specific health condition, such as reducing pain from arthritis, controlling diabetes, increasing bone density to help combat osteoporosis, or increasing muscle mass to help with balance or weight control.

Or your goal may be to bowl or play tennis, or perhaps to do all of your own chores, such as cleaning windows or vacuuming. Your success depends on setting goals that are truly important to you and possessing a strong desire to achieve them.

Goal-Setting Worksheet #1
Identifying Your Short-Term Goals

Identify at least two of three of your own short-term goals and write them on your personal goal-setting worksheet. If you have more goals, write them down as well. Remember that each goal should be S-M-A-R-T — specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based. Setting these short-term goals will help motivate you to make your long-term goals a regular part of your life.

Examples:
I will talk to my doctor about starting this program.
I will buy the equipment I need and get ready to exercise within 2 weeks.
I will look at my calendar and schedule 2 or 3 45-minute blocks of time for exercise each week.
I will invite my spouse/friend/family member to join me in these exercises.

Goal-Setting Worksheet #2
Identifying Your Long-Term Goals

Identify at least two or three long-term goals and write them on your personal goal-setting worksheet. If you have more goals, write them down as well. What are your dreams and aspirations? Write down whatever your dreams are, no matter how big or outlandish they seem and begin at once to come up with ideas and a plan for their achievement. (Don't forget to use the S-M-A-R-T technique.)

Examples:
I will do each exercise 2 or 3 times each week. Within 3 months, I will do each exercise with 5 lb. weights.
After 12 weeks of the program, I will take the stairs instead of the elevator.
I will be able to walk to the store or office.
I will do my own vacuuming.
I will play golf.
I will reduce some of the pain and stiffness from arthritis.

Think big. The life of your dreams is yours - but only if you know specifically what you want, how you plan to get it and the actions you take to achieve it.

To start your own resume writing business go to Write Powerful Resumes or to learn how to make lots of money by starting your own online business check out the Info Riches website.

What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur?

2006-11-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

Remember when renting a movie meant schlepping to the video store, pawing through the leftovers, and often paying a stiff late fee for the one you returned? Most of us grumbled, "There must be a better way," but then went about our business.

Not entrepreneur Reed Hastings, who founded Netflix in 1997 after paying $40 in late fees for the movie Apollo 13. Capitalizing on his frustration, Hastings created the online DVD rental company that allows customers to pick a wish list of movies, receive them in the mail and keep them for as long as they like.

The entrepreneur's gift, said Anthony Warren, director of the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Penn State, is the ability to see an opening. "They'll see opportunities in some complex picture of the world which mere mortals don't see. Entrepreneurship is a way of seeing."

Typically very focused, with strong social skills, entrepreneurs are persuasive leaders and great networkers who work productively with a high degree of autonomy, Warren added. Often, they achieve success by using someone else's resources to their benefit -- what Warren calls bootstrapping.

Netflix is a good example. Its founder piggybacked on an existing distribution network -- the U.S. Postal Service - and two innovations in technology. DVDs can be mailed easily in a way that videocassettes can't, noteed Warren, and the Internet allows customers to register their requests easily without ever talking to a live worker. Look out Blockbuster.

Surprisingly, many entrepreneurs don't realize what they are capable of achieving until they face a certain set of circumstances. "Only in talking to a number of entrepreneurs do I realize that a significant part of them never planned it," said Warren. "They stumble on an opportunity and they say, 'Well, why not?'"

Accounts of reluctant entrepreneurs show that entrepreneurial skills can be taught, said Warren. "For some people, I suspect there is a strong innate wish to be your own boss, but if you've just got that glimmer in your brain, we can certainly make that blossom."

In his undergraduate entrepreneurship class, Warren has students form teams - with no teammates from the same major. As they come up with ideas for their own companies, he explained, this diversity helps them connect the cross-disciplinary dots in the way that entrepreneurs typically do.

"That's where you get the spark," said Warren. "I think most people have those buried capabilities and if you can awaken them and provide them with the tools, off they go."

Warren, who has designed a four-day course to train high-school teachers to teach entrepreneurship, believes the skills students learn there can have broader impact. "The world is really changing," he said, "and we need to give every student some self-confidence that they can create their own opportunities."

successful entrepreneur motivation

To start your own resume writing business go to Write Powerful Resumes or to learn how to make lots of money by starting your own online business check out the Info Riches website.

Red Wine and Life Span Study-Part 2

2006-11-03T07:29:00.000-08:00

(This is part two of the report on lifespan and health involving a compound found in red wine)

How the Study Was Done

This study examined three groups of mice, one on a standard diet (SD), another on a high calorie diet (HC) with 60 percent of calories coming from fat, and a third group of mice on the same high calorie diet but also treated with resveratrol (HCR). At middle age, or roughly 52 weeks of life, the researchers put the mice on the different diets.

Survival Benefit

At 60 weeks of age, the survival rates of HC and HCR fed mice groups began to diverge and remained separated by a three to four month span. At 114 weeks of age, 58 percent of the HC fed mice had died, compared to 42 percent of the HCR and SD groups. Presently, the team has found resveratrol to reduce the risk of death from the HC diet by 31 percent, to a point where it is not significantly increased over the SD group. [Note: Given that mice are still living, final calculations can't be made.] "The median lifespan increase we are seeing is about 15 percent at this point," says Sinclair. "We won't have final lifespan numbers until all of the mice pass away, and this particular strain of mouse generally lives for two-and-a-half-years. So we are around five months from having final numbers, but there is no question that we are seeing increased longevity."

The team also found that the HCR fed mice had a much higher quality of life, outperforming the HC fed mice on motor skill tests. "The mice on resveratrol have not been just living longer," says Sinclair. "They are also living more active, better lives. Their motor skills actually show improvement as they grow older."

Reversing Genetic Pathways Triggered by High Calorie Diet

The research team also wanted to see if resveratrol could reverse the changes in gene expression patterns triggered by high calorie diets. Using liver tissue of five mice at 18 months of age from each group, the team performed a whole-genome microarray and identified which genes were turned on or off. The researchers then used a database generated by the Broad Institute that groups individual genes into common functional pathways to see where there were major differences.

"We made a striking observation," says Sinclair. "Resveratrol opposed the effects of high caloric intake in 144 out of 153 significantly altered pathways. In terms of gene expression and pathway comparison, the resveratrol fed group was more similar to the standard diet fed group than the high calorie group."

Improved Health Biomarkers: Glucose and Insulin

In humans, high calorie diets can increase glucose and insulin levels leading to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In the HC fed mice, researchers found biomarkers that might predict diabetes, including increased levels of insulin, glucose and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Conversely, the HCR fed group had significantly lower levels of these markers, paralleling the SD group.

For example, a standard diabetes glucose test on the HCR fed group found considerably higher insulin sensitivity, meaning the HCR group had a lower disposition toward diabetes than the HC fed group. Lower insulin levels also predict increased lifespan in mice.

Organ Protection: Heart and Liver

Three pathologists examined heart tissue from the SD, HC, and HCR mice, and while not knowing which organ belonged to which mouse group, they looked for subtle changes in the abundance of fatty lesions, degeneration and inflammation. On a relative scale of 0-4, the assessment produced mean scores of 1.6 for the SD group, 3.2 for the HC group, and 1.2 for the HCR group.

The researchers also found that the livers of mice at 18 months of age on the HC diet were greatly increased in size and weight. Liver tissue studies of these mice showed a loss of cellular integrity, and a build-up of lipids, which is common to high fat diets. In contrast, the HCR group had normal, healthy livers.

Links to Calorie Restriction Lifespan Model

The researchers also looked for metabolic ties to resveratrol's impact: pathway changes that mimicked those caused by calorie restriction. They examined AMP-activated kinase (AMPK), a metabolic regulator that promotes insulin sensitivity and fatty acid oxidation.

It's been shown in previous work that the lifespan of worms has been extended by the addition of copies the AMPK gene, and chronic activation of AMPK is seen on calorie-restricted diets. The researchers examined the livers of the HCR fed group and found a strong tendency for AMPK activation, as well as two downstream indicators of its activity.

Calorie restriction and exercise have also been previously shown to increase the number of mitochondria in the liver. Mitochondria generate energy in cells. Through electron microscopy, investigators showed that the livers of the HCR fed mice had considerably more mitochondria than the HC group, and were not significantly different from those of the SD group.

"This work demonstrates that there may be tremendous medical benefits to unlocking the secrets behind the genes that control our longevity," says Sinclair, "No doubt many more remain to be discovered in coming years."

red wine resveratrol longevity health

To start your own resume writing business go to Write Powerful Resumes or to learn how to make lots of money by starting your own online business check out the Info Riches website.

Red Wine and Life Span Study

2006-11-03T07:18:00.000-08:00

(Editors note: I wanted to share with you a just released report that may have major implications for human beings in the areas of lifespan and good health. I have broken the summary of the findings up into two parts).

Researchers have used a single compound to increase the lifespan of obese mice, and found that the drug reversed nearly all of the changes in gene expression patterns found in mice on high calorie diets - some of which are associated with diabetes, heart disease, and other significant diseases related to obesity.

The research, led by investigators at Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging, is the first time that the small molecule resveratrol has been shown to offer survival benefits in a mammal. The study is reported in the November 1 advanced online edition of Nature.

"Mice are much closer evolutionarily to humans than any previous model organism treated by this molecule, which offers hope that similar impacts might be seen in humans without negative side-effects," says co-senior author David Sinclair, HMS associate professor of pathology, and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Labs for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging.

"After six months, resveratrol essentially prevented most of the negative effects of the high calorie diet in mice," said Rafael de Cabo, Ph.D., the study's other co-senior investigator from the National Institute on Aging's Laboratory of Experimental Gerontology, Aging, Metabolism, and Nutrition Unit. "There is a lot of work ahead that will help us better understand resveratrol's roles and the best applications for it."

Resveratrol is found in red wines and produced by a variety of plants when put under stress. It was first discovered to have an anti-aging properties by Sinclair, other HMS researchers, and their colleagues in 2003 and reported in Nature. The 2003 study showed that yeast treated with resveratrol lived 60 percent longer.

Since 2003, resveratrol has been shown to extend the lifespan of worms and flies by nearly 30 percent, and fish by almost 60 percent. It has also been shown to protect against Huntington's disease in two different animal models (worms and mice).

"The 'healthspan' benefits we saw in the obese mice treated with resveratrol, such as increased insulin sensitivity, decreased glucose levels, healthier heart and liver tissues, are positive clinical indicators and may mean we can stave off in humans age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, but only time and more research will tell," says Sinclair, who is also a co-founder of Sirtris, a company with an author on this paper and which is currently in a phase 1b trial in humans with diabetes using an enhanced, proprietary formulation of resveratrol. [Harvard has license and equity interests with Sirtris, which is not a public company.]

Investigators identified resveratrol while looking for compounds that activate Sir2, an enzyme linked to lifespan extension in yeast and other lower organisms. For the last 70 years, scientists have been able to increase the lifespan of a variety of species by reducing their normal food consumption by 30 to 40 percent - a diet known as calorie restriction.

Through this research, scientists identified Sir2 as a key contributor to life extension. Without Sir2, for example, fruit flies see none of the benefits from either calorie restriction or treatment by resveratrol. The mammalian version of the Sir2 gene is SIRT1, which has the same enzymatic activity as Sir2, but modifies a wider variety of molecules throughout cells. Indicators in this study show that resveratrol might also be activating SIRT1 in mice, as well as other known longevity pathways.

red wine resveratrol longevity health

To start your own resume writing business go to Write Powerful Resumes or to learn how to make lots of money by starting your own online business check out the Info Riches website.