Law of Attraction Naysayers and Rampant Capitalism

Well, it seems that ‘The Secret’ is no longer a secret. For those people who believe in or have seen the power of the Law of Attraction, this comes as no surprise. What about everyone else, though? What about the “naysayers”?

As with all concepts, products, or services that become known in the mainstream circles of society, there are always going to be believers as well as non-believers.

I don’t personally agree with the naysayers, since I know for a fact that the Law of Attraction works, and that it has been a part of the human experience since the dawn of time - long before today’s teachers ever came on the scene. However, my confidence in the truth of existence allows me to freely consider the point of view of others, as well as to share that point of view in order to better educate my readers.

To that end, here are two wonderfully positive (said with tongue firmly planted in cheek) posts that you can check out to read from a few of the people on the opposite side of the Law of Attraction coin. In fact, I have put a trackback from this blog post to their sites in the hopes that they will allow their readers to see both points of view as well:

Andrew Johnson’s Web Publishing Blog - The Secret/The Law of Attraction Scam

KevinHogan.com - The Secret…The Truth Behind the Lie

Now, I will not debate the content of either one of those posts, simply because I don’t need to. People who truly understand the Law of Attraction and conscious creation know that they create their own realities, and they know that it is not “magic”.

If I were to start a “flame war” with every person who disagreed with the LOA or even with just my personal take on it, this blog would become a war zone.

So, conscious creators, what do we get when we focus on war?

Yes, more war.

On the other hand, what do we get when we focus on more open-mindedness, understanding of other people’s points of view, and a willingness to accept others for who they are?

Yes, more of the same.

All of that being said, I do want to address one issue that has come up repeatedly about the “new” interest in the Law of Attraction, and that is the fact that people are making money from teaching others about it.

I will answer that issue by saying, yes, that is absolutely correct! Why wouldn’t people make money helping other people to live better lives?

People pay personal trainers, nutritionists, therapists, counselors, teachers, coaches, doctors, and pretty much any other profession that you can imagine. People are willing to pay to learn about things that they want to understand.

Ummm… that’s not a crime. To say that people should not make money by teaching other people to create better lives for themselves is the same thing as saying that your doctor should not collect a paycheck, or that your physical therapist should not get any money, or that your marriage counselor, financial coach, or school guidance counselor should do what they do for free.

Everyone deserves to get paid for the things that they offer as a way to help others. If you take a concept like the LOA and teach people how to LIVE THEIR LIVES instead of just doing a one-time service for them, in my opinion, that is far more valuable than any other kind of product or service.

“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. However, if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”

So yes, people get paid to teach others how to improve their lives, and I am one of those people. I am as transparent as they come. I don’t try to hide the fact that this blog is a source of income for me and my family. I don’t pretend that I don’t want people to buy my products. Sure I do!

It costs me loads of time, effort, and continuing education in order to maintain this blog, produce new products, and come up with new services. However, my goal is to give people FAR more value with my products and with this blog than they actually pay for, and I succeed in doing that every single day.

So, for any alleged non-capitalists who are reading this post, I want you to know that - just like you - LOA and conscious creation teachers get paid to provide a product or a service.

Personally, I am ecstatic about the fact that my products and services related to teaching Self Improvement and the Law of Attraction are helping people to enrich their lives, and empowering them to become whoever they want to be!

In fact, here, I will make it easy for you:

Be sure to NOT save $5 off of already inexpensive products by joining the Today is that Day Newsletter.

You see, teaching people about concepts that help them to enrich their lives should be done with one goal in mind:

To help people enrich their lives!

Whew! That was a tough one…

Are there people out there who take advantage of the fact that “the secret” is out and that the concepts surrounding the LOA are now in the mainstream media?

Yes, there are. Just like there were people who took advantage of the Atkin’s craze, satellite TV over your computer, and people who peddle Hoodia as a miracle weight loss product.

There will always be people who take advantage of the latest social buzz and use it for the sole purpose of making money - at least during this stage of our evolution.

However, there will also be people who can actually help others by teaching them the TRUTH. Whether that truth is thousands of years old, whether it just got discovered yesterday, or even if that truth does nothing but inspire people to believe in themselves, there will always be true Teachers who are willing to share that information.

So, if you personally don’t believe in the Law of Attraction, does that mean that you should look down your nose at it, and bash it publicly? That is totally up to you.

You choose to live your life however you please, and you take the rewards and the punishments that are a result of the choices that you make. Whether you believe in the LOA or not, you ARE a conscious creator of your existence, and that fact will play itself out in whatever positive or negative manifestations that you bring about.

The Secret of Experiencing Perfection

If someone were to say to you that everything in the Universe is absolutely perfect, would you believe them?

I mean, it seems hard to believe that in a world that is filled with at least as much insanity as order that the word perfect could ever even enter into the equation.

Actually, the Universe MUST be perfect, because if it wasn’t, the entire system would have collapsed a long time ago. In fact, it probably would have never even existed to begin with.

Everything that happens in the Universe happens in a very specific way, because that is the only way that it CAN happen based on any given set of circumstances.

Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if the Law of Gravity suddenly started to just randomly affect different things in different ways? What if jumping off a building one day meant a messy collision with a sidewalk, but the next day jumping off a building meant you were able to leap tall buildings in a single bound?

Imagine what would happen if the electromagnetic field that protects the earth from the harmful spectrum of radiation emitted by the sun suddenly decided to reverse its polarity, just for a change of pace? We would all instantly cease having these types of debates, that’s for sure!

What about if water suddenly stopped being a conductor of electricity, but rubber and wood both suddenly became conductors of electricity? Does the term BIG BANG mean anything to you?

Think of what would happen if the moon suddenly doubled its weight and density over night?

What about if the human body’s immune system completely stopped working?

What if it is really DID start raining cats and dogs???

Okay, maybe the cats and dogs thing was over the top, but do you see the point? Everything that happens in the universe happens because it is supposed to happen that way. That’s the way things are “set up” for lack of a better term.

However, by having access to this knowledge, us mere humans on the blue marble that we call Earth have a decided “edge” over Fate. By knowing and understanding the very basic but unalterable concept of cause and effect, we can manipulate the universal laws in order to create the lives that we want to live.

Any regular readers of this blog will be familiar with the Law of Attraction, which is one of the most obvious ways that as individuals we can practice the art of conscious creation. However, there are other universal laws that also come into play, such as the Law of Polarity, the Law of Relativity, the Law of Vibration, the Law of Gender, etc.

I am not linking to a location for you to learn more about the universal laws because, to be honest, I could not find one location that I felt had all of the information in one spot. If anyone knows of a professional and fact-filled source, please post it in the comments section.

Even without one solid information source about the Universal Laws, it is still clear that they exist, and that they exert control over every aspect of our lives. Here’s the kicker, though:

By understanding that the Universe MUST be perfect, we become conscious creators of our lives by our ability to manipulate the natural laws of the Universe for our own benefit.

To break this down into a simple example, answer the following question:

Have you ever thrown or caught a ball or a Frisbee?

Yes? Congratulations. You just demonstrated your ability to manipulate the laws of the Universe. If you can throw a ball, then you understand gravity, the law of cause and effect, the law of vibration, the law of relativity, the law of perpetual transmutation, and on and on the list goes…

If it is possible for you to throw or catch a ball or a Frisbee, then in the perfect Universe that we live in, it must also be possible for you to do anything else that you can imagine.

Cook some of those concepts on your brain for awhile, or better yet, do some of your own research into the Laws of the Universe. You may be shocked when you realize that perfection not only abounds, but it can be made to correspond to your desires!

For more brain-cooking research into one of the laws - the Law of Polarity, I invite you to check out Steve Pavlina’s post on that subject. However, also be sure to stop by and see Edward over at Evolving times as he claims that Steve’s post might not be entirely accurate.

Hey, I’m just the messenger!

Challenge Solving - An Easy but Powerful Personal Development Mindshift

What happens whenever someone comes up to you and issues you a Challenge?

Do you tend to back away because you fear confrontation, or do you take an attitude that resembles something more along the lines of:

“Bring it on! Anything you can do, I can do better!”

Most people - whether they are willing to admit it or not - will take the standpoint of accepting challenges simply because they don’t want to be viewed as the person who couldn’t handle any given situation.

Now, I’m not talking about drunk people at bars picking fights or challenging you to see how many shots of tequila you can do in 5 minutes…

No, the type of challenges that I am talking about are things that you actually WANT to do, even if it is just to prove that you can do it.

After recently listening to Heidi Miller’s podcast about overcoming challenges, I was struck by her use of the term “challenge solving” and immediately had the idea to put together an empowering blog post about that concept. Big thanks to Heidi for such an excellent phrase!

As with so many other things that have been discussed in the past on this blog, the way that you think and feel about something is the primary driving force behind your level of success in that endeavor.

If you view something as negative, then your results surrounding that thing will be perceived by you to be negative. On the flip side, if you see something as positive, then you will perceive positive results about that thing.

This is the fundamental - yet very basic - mind shift that most people fail to actually fully grasp, and their lack of success in certain areas of their life is a result.

So, if you see something as a “problem” then you immediately put yourself into the frame of mind of needing to solve that problem.

And what is the nature of a problem? Something that needs a solution, and then is taken from your focus once the solution has been found.

Does that sound like the kind of attitude that you should take towards your LIFE? Are you just looking to solve one problem after another, just to find another problem waiting around the next corner?

Compare that to the concept of a “challenge”. Whenever you are challenged to accomplish something, the immediate mental process that goes into place is that you are going to have to make a consistent effort to win the challenge.

Please note the key phrase ‘consistent effort‘.

You will not need to go very far through the archives of this blog or the archives of articles that I have written in order to find many references to the fact that consistency is one of the primary keys to success.

A challenge is not something that you accept, find a solution for, and then push away because you are done with it. No, a challenge is something that you have to continually apply focus to in order to succeed.

Whether you have challenged yourself to the attainment of a goal, or if you are competing with other people in the challenge, you will still have to make a continual effort in order to win the challenge.

Consider the following list of problems and challenges and note the obvious difference between how resolving problems is a one-time affair, while winning challenges is an on-going effort.

Problems

Problem: You have a flat tire. Solution: Install the spare tire and get the flat tire fixed.

Problem: You just cut your finger slicing carrots. Solution: Wash it out and put on a band-aid.

Problem: Your workload is getting out of control at work. Solution: Apply time and material management practices and put in some extra time until your workload is caught up.

Challenges

You challenge yourself to lose 20 pounds in 3 months. Instant Solution: Start and continue on a diet and exercise plan that will allow you to lose the weight. Long-term Benefit: You will have innumerable health and personal benefits as a result of your weight loss efforts, and you will have learned to live a lifestyle that will benefit you for the rest of your life.

You challenge yourself to get out of debt within 12 months. Instant Solution: You come up with a savings plan and/or a way to bring in more income in order to eliminate your debt. Long-term Benefit: You will have the opportunity to potentially live debt-free from now on, and you will have developed the habit of long-term financial awareness that will ensure financial freedom for the rest of your life.

You challenge yourself to stop smoking. Instant Solution: You apply a consistent regimen of both physical and psychological practices that eventually allow you to kick the habit completely. Long-term Benefit: You will probably live a lot longer, but just as importantly, you will have developed a level of confidence that will allow you to more fully enjoy the rest of your life.

In the case of solving the problems that were listed, yes, you got some immediate satisfaction. Take a closer look at the challenges, though.

What are the 3 things that you can see about every single instance of accepting and overcoming each of the challenges that were listed?

…

…

…

Give up? Here they are:

1) The so-called “instant solution” was actually a HUGE benefit, and not something so inconsequential as fixing a flat tire, getting caught up at work, or slapping a band-aid on a minor cut.

2) Every challenge also had a long-term benefit associated with it. Not only was there the instant benefit, but there was a long-term on-going benefit as well.

3) And finally, every challenge ended with you having skills, habits, beliefs, or confidence levels that would last you for the rest of your life.

So, from now on whenever you are faced with something that you perceive to be a problem, do not go into problem solving mode. Go into CHALLENGE solving mode and turn that situation into an opportunity to not only resolve the issue, but to create a better life for yourself in the process!

Why the BLEEP isn’t the Law of Attraction Working?

This is Volume 1 of an on-going series of posts that I am calling “What the Bleep…”.

On a regular basis, probably weekly, I will be tackling some of the finer points of how to actually make certain things happen in your life, and I will be detailing those thoughts in descriptive posts characterized with BLEEP in the title. For example:

“What the BLEEP is…”

“How the BLEEP do I…”

“Why the BLEEP isn’t…”

Look for frequent posts in this area as I put forth the Intention of helping people take control of their lives by getting into the “nitty gritty” of how to use some of the common self improvement and conscious creation methods.

For this entry, let’s get on with discussing the question of why you (think) the Law of Attraction isn’t working for you.

I put the word think in the previous sentence in parentheses for a reason, because there is no such thing as the LOA not working. It is always working, around the clock, for all people, no matter if they believe in it or not.

To say that it isn’t working because you don’t understand how to use it would be the same thing as saying that the Law of Gravity only works for people who believe in it.

If you drop your favorite glass coffee cup from a significant distance onto your tile floor, that cup is going to break. Do you think that the cup believes in the Law of Gravity?

Moving forward…

Now that we have established that the Law of Attraction is always working, regardless of belief levels, we now have the task of determining why it “seems” to work for some people, but not for others.

Steve Pavlina recently put forth a post along these lines where he uses some common examples to describe the difference between wanting something, and bringing forth the energy that will actually manifest that thing into your life.

Steve is 100% right, because that is exactly where people fail to get exactly the results that they wanted when it comes to consciously creating their lives. It’s not the method they are using that is at fault, but the way that they feel about the method that they are using.

In order to actually get what you want when using the Law of Attraction, it is not the thing that you want that is in question. You could want anything from a shiny penny all the way up through a million dollars, and the Universe is going to apply exactly the same energy and methods in order to bring you what you want in both of those instances.

In fact, the Universe applies exactly the same energy and methods to everything that it does. It is only our “human” beliefs about what is easy or what is difficult that get in the way, because we then put out vibrations (via our emotions) that send the clear message to the universal powers that we believe that getting [insert your goal here] is going to be difficult.

The only way that you are going to be able to manifest the things that you want in your life is to put out vibrations that are in resonance with the things that you desire.

It is not possible to sit around and think about how broke you are, yet magically manifest a pile of money.

You cannot lament about how depressed you are every day, and then expect that you are going to be delivered into a life of utter happiness.

You can’t drive your piece of junk car every day, think about how much of a piece of junk it is, and expect that the Universe is going to drop a brand-new Mustang into your driveway.

Do you see the pattern here?

In each of those examples, the thing that you wanted and the feelings that you were putting out to the Universe were completely opposite of each other.

That’s like trying to turn left and right at the same time. It’s not going to happen!

In order to manifest the things that you want in your life with the Law of Attraction, you have to do what James Arthur Ray calls going “three for three.” You you have match up your thoughts, your feelings, and your actions.

1) Think about what you want on a regular basis, preferably many times throughout each day.

2) Feel what it will be like to have the thing that you desire, and feel joyous about having it.

3) Take whatever action you are inspired to take in order to bring that thing into your existence.

How do you feel like you have something that you don’t actually have? The Theater of the Mind, dear reader, the Theater of the Mind.

If you can imagine it, and you can believe that it is possible, then you can manifest it into your reality. W. Clement Stone said “Anything the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve” and Mr. Stone was absolutely correct.

Here is the problem, though. Most people don’t spend enough time seeing their goals in their mind in order to then bring those goals into reality! They make a token effort here, and a token effort there, but the majority of their time is spent not thinking about and feeling about the things that they want.

I posted awhile ago about how desire is the single most important part of self improvement. It doesn’t matter whether you want world peace, or if you just want your lawn mower to start on the first pull. You have to want your goal so badly that you can’t NOT think about it. Then, the power of your desire will lead you down a path that is absolutely 100% guaranteed to bring that desire into your life.

So, the question now becomes, “How badly do you want it?”

Do you get excited just thinking about your goal? Are you afraid to talk to people about your goal because they have heard about it so many times already that they stop taking your phone calls? Do you write poetry, compose music, or draw pictures about your goals? Are there visual, auditory, or tactile reminders about your goals placed all over your house, your car, and your place of business?

Is your goal the driving force that gets you out of bed in the morning and powers your very existence?

Do you think that those types of examples are silly, or far-fetched? If you do, then I now pronounce you an official graduate of ‘Why the BLEEP isn’t the Law of Attraction Working University’.

You have discovered why the LOA isn’t working for you. The question is, what are you going to do about it?

Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love, Volume 2

This is Volume 2 of the Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love series. This series will be published weekly and will be comprised of links to quality blog posts that have proven to be extraordinary in their ability to assist, inform, or empower the reader. Enjoy!

1) Guy Kawasaki - Is Your Boss an Asshole?

Pardon the lingo for those of you easily offended by such terms, but I must admit that Guy hit the nail on the head with this one! Not only does he describe the type of boss who creates more negativity than positivity, but if you despise the corporate lifestyle (as I do), you’ll get a kick out of this.

2) Breathing Prosperity - Why Do Poor People Always Have to Choose?

An excellent riff on the B.S. belief that you can’t have your cake and eat it, too, including a salute-worthy epiphanic moment about Oprah Winfrey.

3) GoalsSuccess.com - How Goals Ignite the Law of Attraction By Jill Koenig

A compact but very well-rounded explanation of how the Law of Attraction works, including the fact that YOU have responsibilities in the manifestation process!

4) Achieve-IT - What People Think About You Is None Of Your Business

Short but powerful post about an easy way to fix a BIG problem that almost everyone has.

5) Evolving Times - The Size Of Your Segment DOES Matter

Great method of succeeding at your Intentions by breaking them down into manageable blocks to keep from overwhelming your mind and your belief system.

6) Life Coaches Blog - How to Give a Good Compliment

Dropping a compliment on someone is not a “duty,” but rather a way to open up a floodgate of potentially positive side effects. Check out this short instruction on how to do it in the most effective manner.

7) Lifehacker - Ze Frank on Procrastination

Hilarious video bit on something that we can all identify with. Click on through to get a funny reminder about something so many of us are so good at!

8) The Positivity Blog - One simple Method to become Inspired and Courageous

The simple but powerful message delivered in this post is (ironically enough considering #7 above) that whether you want to or not, getting up and taking action is the way to get past your self-imposed road blocks.

9) Ririan Project - See How Easily You Can Forget You Were Ever Forgetful

Simple explanation of why we forget common things, and great “hacks” to help us remember them. Items discussed include phone numbers, dates & anniversaries, names, keys, passwords, and pin codes.

10) Lifehack - Want results? Frame your work.

Detailed info about “Information Fatigue Syndrome,” but the real value that I saw was the bit on how to defeat IFS. I have recently started using techniques similar to these and I have seen a dramatic increase in my productivity, as well as a decrease in my stress level!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition! Look for Volume 3 in a week or so!

Self Improvement Terminology: Do Visualizations and Affirmations really Work?

If you saw some of the teachers from the movie ‘The Secret’ on the Oprah Winfrey show, or if you’ve seen the movie, then you will be familiar with terms like “visualization” and “affirmation”.

The question is: “Do they really work?”

Let’s start with defining just what these two terms mean, and then we’ll delve into whether or not they are worth your time.

Visualization

When you visualize, you are going through the mental process of seeing in your mind whatever it is that you want to achieve.

For some people that will be successful weight loss, for others it will be massive financial success, some people want fulfilling relationships, others are after career satisfaction. Everyone has their own agenda when it comes to attaining their goals, and the key to visualizing that success is to create the success in your head first, and then the “real world” will follow.

There are different schools of thinking about the proper way to visualize. Some people think that visualization should include every possible detail, while others believe that it is the feeling that you will have once you have attained success that you should focus on.

However, in both cases, having a clear mental picture of the “scene” that you are visualizing is paramount to your success, because one thing is certain:

If you can’t see it in your head, you definitely will never see it in your life!

Affirmation

Affirmations work along the same lines as visualization, only with affirmations, you are giving yourself words rather than pictures.

For example, if you were going to visualize owning a brand new car, you would visualize the actual car that you want. If you were going to practice affirmation in order to attain that new car, you could use the following time-tested affirmation formula:

In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, it is my intention to own a black 2007 Mercedes, or something even better.”

What’s with all of the extra words, you ask? The short version of the explanation is that you need to affirm getting what you want, but not getting it in such a way that it causes negativity in your life.

If getting a black 2007 Mercedes happens, but in return you have to work 18-hour days for 2 years straight, your spouse leaves you, and the dealer runs over your dog when they deliver the car, then it probably wouldn’t be worth the price, right?

Also, a big tip of the hat to Dr. Joe Vitale for the addition of the phrase “or something even better.” That part of the affirmation is critical because the Universe will always deliver the things that you want. However, by adding “or something even better,” you leave the door open for the powers that be to bring you something that would make you even happier than what you originally asked for.

Sounds great, but does it all work?

Here is where you come into the equation, dear reader. In response to the question of if it all works, I ask:

“Do you THINK it works?”

Because that is the ONLY thing that matters when it comes to visualizations and affirmations - your level of belief. You can visualize success and read or say your affirmations all day, every day, but if you don’t believe that you are actually going to get what you are visualizing and affirming for, then you won’t get it!

The Universe (God, Holy Guardian Angel, Buddha, whatever YOU call it) does not actually “see” your visualizations, or “hear” your affirmations. The thing that will always and only be acted upon is the feeling that you express whenever you visualize and affirm.

If your feeling is one of doubt, fear, or uncertainty, then you will promptly be delivered more things to be doubtful, fearful, and uncertain about.

However if your feeling is one of success, confidence, and happiness as a result of believing that you are going to get what you are visualizing or affirming for, then the Universe will bring that thing to you in order to ensure your continued feelings of success, confidence and happiness.

Does it sound like a bunch of mystical mojo that has no basis in scientific fact, and therefore cannot possibly work? If that’s what it sounds like to you, then don’t bother making the attempt.

However, for those of you who are ready to truly embrace the fact that you are are a universally powerful being who can literally have anything that you want in life by attracting your desires to you, then I invite you to visualize and affirm to your heart’s content!

p.s. - For those of you ready to believe in your universal power, be sure to get your “princess wave” ready. We’ll need to use it as we drive our brand new cars past the group of people who think it’s mystical mojo!

See How Easy it is to Make a Million Dollars?

If someone were to ask you if it was possible for you to make a million dollars in just over 3 months, would you believe it could be done?

Check out the following story swiped from an email I received from my friend Namaste:

“Michelle Goering of Vancouver, British Columbia, read the book THE ONE MINUTE MILLIONAIRE in December of 2005. The book is co-authored by Mark Victor Hansen who co-created the Chicken Soup For The Soul series. She was excited about the idea of making an enlightened million and a few weeks later, on January 12, she formed a team that met together for the first time. They called themselves (ok this is cheesy but it worked) the MillionHares. It took four weeks of incubation for them to come up with a GREAT IDEA. By February 16 they were testing and marketing the idea. By March 11 they had found a buyer for their idea and negotiated a seven-figure contract. Michelle went from idea to payday in 99 days!”

Michelle certainly made it possible to make a cool million in a very short period of time. Is Michelle’s story a rare occasion?

Sure it is. Bob Proctor - a man who has been studying and creating wealth for more than 40 years - says that only about 1% of the population of this planet control around 96% of the wealth.

So, yes, Michelle’s story is rare, but that is actually the entire point that I want to make. Michelle is one of the rare people who will ultimately fit into that very small 1%.

Her success story is rare, but only because we believe those type of stories to be rare!

If I had started out this post by asking if it was possible to make a million dollars, most people would have said Yes. The world has plenty of people who have made a million dollars or more in their lifetime.

It was the question of whether or not that million dollars could be made in 3 months that threw you for a loop and kicked your “I don’t believe it” engine into overdrive.

If I may quote the sage wisdom of the mighty Yoda:

“THAT is why you fail.”

You see, our beliefs power our very existence, and it does not matter if your beliefs are steeped in poverty, or abundance. Whatever you believe is the truth IS the truth, simply because you believe it.

The question of whether or not it is possible to make a million dollars elicits a completely different instinctive response than the question of whether or not it is possible to make a million dollars in only 3 months.

As long as you continue to allow your beliefs about health, wealth, and happiness to be limited, your results will directly correspond to those belief limitations.

If I may once again quote a great teacher, this time a living, breathing human, Dr. Michael Beckwith from the movie ‘The Secret’:

“We are Unlimited beings!”

So, the only question that you have to ask yourself is if you are going to continue to be shocked when confronted with something as staggering as making a million dollars in 3 months, or if your gut reaction will be something more along the lines of “I don’t need 3 months. I’ll do it in 2!”

The Consistent Inconsistency of Self Improvement

The Self Improvement industry is booming. What started with the likes of Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill, and Earl Nightingale has morphed into one of the biggest and most densely populated industries in the world today.

You can’t read a newspaper, watch TV, listen to the radio, or surf the Internet without seeing or hearing about people who are trying to make their lives better.

Self improvement products are available in all shapes and sizes, people are flocking to personal development seminars by the thousands, and even the pseudo-amateur Blogging population has taken up the Self Improvement gauntlet.

So why isn’t our world a utopia full of enlightened individuals who weigh less, have more money, enjoy incredible business success, and partake in decades long picture-perfect romances?

I’ll tell you why, and considering my own positive outlook and teachings that I bring to the world, please understand that this is an observation of fact, not an opinion:

Most people aren’t doing it!

Yes, they are learning about it. Yes, they are talking about it. Yes, they are spending plenty of their time and their money on the concepts. However, there is one absolutely mission-critical thing that is still missing, and that thing can be summed up in one simple word:

Consistency.

Everyone is jumping on the self improvement bandwagon, and there is room for all. People who want to lose weight, get rich, build successful careers, find true love - the list goes on and on. The masses are flocking, but one concept is standing a head and shoulders above the rest, and that is a serious lack of consistency.

Think about it. The methods for how to lose weight and be healthy have been known for decades. The power of positive thinking, visualization, and even affirmations have long since been proven to be effective. The methods for making at least a decent living - if not an opulent one - are no mystery to anyone who takes the time to learn them. Even relationship success can be had by anyone who cares to make a consistent effort with that goal in mind.

So why is that even though the answers are clearly available, people still fail to follow through on their self improvement efforts?

For a lot of people, it is nothing more mysterious than falling victim to their own self-limiting beliefs. No matter how much someone truly wants to succeed at any given endeavor, they are so used to not having what they want, that they will unconsciously sabotage their own efforts to achieve success.

Here is the real kicker, though: All of the methods that we know - and have known for decades - WILL work if you only consistently put them into practice.

Even if you don’t have a lot of faith in the beginning, by simply going “by the numbers” and consistently applying the success principles that are freely available to all who want to learn them, success is not only possible, but it is a guarantee.

Between the readership of this Blog, and my own newsletter distribution list, there are quite a few people who have access to the knowledge about self improvement that I write about in my articles, products, and blog posts.

I have decided to start leveraging that reach (Yay - I got to use a corporate term!) in order to start turning the tide in the favor of those who truly want to start making positive changes in their lives.

If you’re interested in seeing what I’ve put together, simply click on over to the Self Improvement 30-Day Challenge that I am sponsoring. See if you’re up to the challenge of realizing how much progress you can make if you will truly commit yourself - even if only for 30 short days.

Do you need my help in order to start improving your life? Absolutely not! You have that power inside of you at this very moment.

However, if you want some assistance, check out the program, and feel free to send me an email if you have any questions.

Whether you check out my program or not, I do implore you to take the message of this post to heart:

Your “knowledge” about self improvement won’t do you any good unless you use it - over and over and over again. You know, consistently!

Give me One Word and I’ll Give you a Direction for your Life

Awhile ago I started reading a book called ‘Full Steam Ahead‘ by Ken Blanchard and Jesse Stoner.

The basic idea of the book is to teach the reader the absolutely invaluable lesson that if you want to accomplish certain things in your life, you have to have a very clear vision of what you want to accomplish.

It seems like common sense to read it in such simplistic terms, but the truth of the matter is that most people don’t really give their lives a mission or a vision.

Most people tend to look around the next corner for toys or experiences, when in all actuality, your life can represent a lot more than that.

If you have a nice car (or 5 or 6 of them), if you have a beautiful house on the beach, and if you have enough money that you could literally start throwing it away, do you really think that people are going to remember those things about you?

People remember how other people make them feel, not how much money someone had, or if they had a nice car or a big house.

I remember way back when I used to be in the Army, and I was home on leave visiting my family, my friends, and my girlfriend. My best friend had moved into a new apartment since the last time I had been home, and the new place was pretty small, especially when you got 8 or 10 people packed in there.

However, when I remember that vacation, I don’t think about how small the apartment was. I think about the fact that we had SO much fun while I was home! I remember the entire experience as leaving me with “warm and fuzzies” and I was actually upset when I found out that he moved out of there.

My point is that even though most people strive to have financial or material success - and there is nothing wrong with that - you might also think about about what the “bigger picture” in your life is.

In ‘Full Steam Ahead‘, the book opens up with the description of a heart-warming and tear-jerking eulogy that a girl reads about her father at his funeral.

After the funeral, someone comes up to thank her for putting together such wonderful words about her father, and she admits that she didn’t write the eulogy.

It turns out that he had written it - many years earlier!

The man had such a clear vision of what he wanted his life to be like, that in order to live up to his wonderful dreams, he wrote a eulogy about himself, and then spent his life making sure that he was living up to those standards.

When he finally left the physical earth, his eulogy didn’t need to be modified at all, because he had successfully lived up to his own standards, and as a result, everyone who knew him also adored him.

That is not to say that your goal should be the adoration of the masses, or that you should start living your life in such a way so that someone can read a great eulogy about you when you’re dead.

However, it does speak volumes about the fact that by deciding what you to accomplish in life - and never backing down from that decision - that you will empower yourself to have, be, or do anything that you can imagine.

Over at The Marketing Minute, Drew’s “Quought of the Day” (see site for details) was as follows:

“If, on the day of your funeral someone were to walk up to the podium and speak a single word or phrase that captured the essence of your life - what would you want that word or phrase to be and what are you doing today and every day to earn it?”

So, what is YOUR word?

Mine is FUN, and you can bet that I make sure I have some of that every single day!

Kick start Self Improvement by getting rid of “Old School” beliefs

If you are not achieving maximum success in your self improvement efforts, you may be an unknowing victim of your own antiquated belief systems.

Each of us has beliefs that we perceive to be the way that things are done in the world. These beliefs power our lifestyle, and if those beliefs are incorrect, then no amount of action that we take will ensure our success.

• If we want to lose weight, then we think that proper diet and exercise is the answer
• If we want to attain business, career, or financial success, then we think that working harder and conforming is the key to doing so
• If we want to have wonderful relationships, then we think that finding Mr. or Mrs. Right will instantly transport us into the land of perpetual romantic bliss

Each of those antiquated reasoning processes, and any similar lines of thinking, are so far off base that it is no wonder that so many people are not finding the success that they want in their lives!

The key to success in any area of your life has always started inside of yourself, and the key to maintaining that success will continue to be your internal responsibility, regardless of the external circumstances.

Will things like diet and exercise be a part of your health and weight loss goals? Absolutely. However, you can starve yourself and workout around the clock, but if you don’t fix the REASON why you are overweight to begin with, no amount of the standard fitness fare is going to help you.

Will financial or business success depend upon you taking action in order to create wealth? Sure it will. If you don’t fix the inside issues first, however, you could win the lottery and your internal poverty meter will eventually drag you back down again.

Would finding a fulfilling relationship be easier if there were a lot of quality relationship prospects available? Most definitely. However, you need to believe that you are worthy of a great relationship first, or no amount of prospective suitors is going to change your relationship status over the long-term.

One of my most popular recent posts was entitled ‘How to Help Yourself and Everyone Else at the Same Time’. It discusses how you can manage your own beliefs in such a way as to affect your surroundings and positively charge your circumstances for your own benefit.

That post was recently featured in Edition 72 of the Carnival of Healing. Swing by there to check it out and read over some of the other empowering content while you are there.

In addition, I have personally gained a large amount of my present perspective on how to attain success by following the wisdom of many of the teachers who were featured in the movie ‘The Secret’.

One of them, James Arthur Ray, was recently interviewed by Steve Pavlina, and you can check out a transcript of that interview over at Steve’s site.

Bob Proctor is another teacher whose wisdom is immeasurable by any standards that I have ever been exposed to. Even though he is successful beyond what most people can even imagine, he is still out there in the trenches every single day helping other people. Any of his teachings are highly recommended.

If business success is your goal, then you would do well to start listening to an on-going series of free teleseminars that are hosted by John Assaraf and his partner.

John, Bob, and James were all in ‘The Secret’, they were all on Larry King Live, and James was also recently on the very empowering edition of the Oprah Winfrey show that discussed ‘The Secret’ and the Law of Attraction.

I highly recommend the works of any of those teachers, but I want to finish out this post by putting forth the disclaimer that you do not NEED anyone’s products or services.

The power to change your life is inside of you right now at this very moment. If you want positive change, then activate the power within yourself by focusing constantly on the things that you want, and taking action to achieve your dreams when you are inspired to do so.

That is the Law of Attraction in action, but YOU are the catalyst for everything. Your success has always started with - and will end with - yourself.

How Focus puts You in the Driver’s Seat with the Law of Attraction

See if any of the following phrases are familiar to you:

What you focus on grows.

We become what we think about.

Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re right.

Most people have heard at least one of those phrases in their life, if not all three. The simple reason why so many people are familiar with phrases such as those are because they are the Truth.

And yes, I meant to put a capital “T” on Truth, because the truth of us consciously creating our lives by focusing on what we want is a cornerstone of our very existence.

When it comes to utilizing the amazing power of the Law of Attraction, your ability to focus on your goals opens up doors for you that you literally could not have possibly imagined in advance.

By focusing on whatever it is that you want, the Universe hears your request, figures out how to deliver what you want, and then sets in motion a series of events that will bring your desires to you.

However, here is the catch: If you don’t stay focused on your goals, then you will never “meet up” with the goal attainment destination that the Universe has set up for you.

Use this picture as an example of this concept. One line represents the direct path that the Universe has set up in order to bring you what you want, and the other line represents your ability to stay on the path that will take you to your goal by staying focused on your desires.

Now, take a look at this picture, which represents what happens whenever you stop focusing consistently on your goals and desires.

My own lack of artistic expertise notwithstanding, do you see how simple it is to take yourself off track for goal attainment simply by not continuing to focus on what you want?

However, on the flip side, it is just as easy to stay on the straight and narrow path to the attainment of your goals, and you do it by simply focusing on them over and over and over again.

Always remember, though, that focus does not mean “wishing” for something. If you wish for it, then all you are doing is reaffirming to yourself the fact that you don’t already have it, and the Universe will simply deliver more of you not having it.

Focus on your goals as if they already existed in your life! You can choose your method of focus, and you should pick the method or methods that work best for you. Many popular methods include:

• Visualizations
• Affirmations
• Meditation
• Daydreaming
• Recurring discussions with others
• Visiting/Driving/Experiencing the things that you desire

You should decide for yourself what the most comfortable method of focusing on your desires is, because it has been proven time and time again that if something isn’t comfortable for us, we find a way not to do it.

However, that being said, don’t make the mistake of thinking that just because you focus on a goal, that you will never have to get outside of your comfort zone to attain it.

Your job is to focus on what you want in order to put the Law of Attraction to work for you. The Universe will bring you an opportunity to get what you want, and will present that opportunity to you via inspiration to take a certain action.

When that time comes, whether or not that action is inside or outside of your comfort zone, you must get up and do it. Otherwise:

You’re on the never-ending train tracks…

Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love, Volume 1

This is Volume 1 of the Self Improvement and Law of Attraction Link Love series. This series will be published weekly and will be comprised of links to quality blog posts that have proven to be extraordinary in their ability to assist, inform, or empower the reader. Enjoy!

1) Christine Kane - It Might Be Time to Take a Risk if…

A very informative and often funny discussion of how to properly utilize the amazing power of the Law of Attraction by taking action.

2) Persistence Unlimited - How to Turn Your Ipod Into A Motivational Timer

A brief primer on the very cool concept of how you can accomplish more in any given time period by putting yourself on a short time line, and then instructions for how to do so using your iPod.

3) Ririan Project - Wake Up Feeling Great With These 22 Tips for High Self-Esteem

A power-packed list of realistic things that you can do to get the self improvement ball rolling, and most of them won’t cost you a dime.

4) Life Coaches Blog - Are You Fighting Yourself?

You either know of or are the kind of person discussed in this brief, but informative piece on recognizing and eliminating self sabotage.

5) Speaking Freely - Five Things To Do With A PC When You Have No Internet Connection

Whether you have frequent or infrequent bouts of being unable to get your “internet fix,” this list of things to do when you are offline provides ideas that will help your mental health, as well as the health of your PC.

6) Make it Great - 5 Ways to Change the World

More completely free advice on how to make positive changes without breaking the bank. NOTE: These solutions seem simple, but they work. Don’t underestimate their power!

BLOGGING

7) Daily Blog Tips - Blog Project: 30 Traffic Generation Tips

Great job of bringing together many different points of view that cover one of the biggest focus points for Bloggers.

8) The Probabilist - Why You’re Obliged to Make Money from Your Blog

A great piece on the concept of making money with your blog. Blogging, like any other information source, is valuable, so why should Bloggers not get paid?

9) ProBlogger - How I Make Money from Blogs - My Top Earners

Arguably one of the most knowledgeable and successful Bloggers out there, Darren Rowse lists the Top 9 ways that he is presently making money with is blog.

BONUS

If you have ever heard of Earl Nightingale, then you will not need any convincing about the fact that his words are powerful and inspiring. Credited with being the founder of the spoken word industry, and co-founder of Nightingale-Conant, Earl had it all figured out before many of you who are reading this were even born.

Take a listen to this brief but absolutely life-changing audio, dubbed by Earl himself as ‘The Strangest Secret‘.

Click to Download MP3 File

‘The Secret’ Teachers on Oprah, February 8th

Rhonda Byrne, the creator of the life-changing movie ‘The Secret’ will be on the Oprah Winfrey show on Thursday, February 8th. Check your local listings for the show time in your area.

Rhonda will have 4 of the very empowering teachers from the movie with her on Oprah, and I highly recommend that you check out the show to see all of them:

Jack Canfield

James Arthur Ray

Michael Beckwith

Lisa Nichols

Whether you have seen ‘The Secret’ or not, you want to catch some of the positive and empowering energy that is given off by these amazing individuals, so be sure to tune in!

Also, after the show, there will be 2 separate teleconferences discussing the Law of Attraction, and you can sign up for the time slot that works best for you at the following URL:

http://www.lawofattractionteleconference.com

Enjoy the show and the free call!

The Secret to Business Success using the Law of Attraction

Despite that massive amount of “buzz” around the Law of Attraction lately, there is still one area where a lot of people haven’t fully embraced the conscious creation possibilities, and that is in the business arena.

If there was a free way to increase your level of business success - and your bottom line - by consciously creating that success by using the Law of Attraction, don’t you think that would be worth your time to look into?

If you answered Yes to that question and you are still reading, then the next question is, of course, with regard to how to do that.

The beautiful answer to that question is that the solution is not only simple and free, but it’s fun, too!

All you have to do in order to achieve business success using the Law of Attraction is to decide what result it is that will make you happy.

Please note that I did not say to think about profit and loss statements, wage/earning comparisons, or any similar corporate drivel that is normally used to measure success.

Are those types of tools useful? Sure they are, and I am not saying that you shouldn’t use them as a part of your business plan. However, those are ways that you measure success, not ways that you create it. That’s a difference worth committing to memory.

In order to consciously create business success, the only thing that you need to do is visualize the way that you want to feel once you have achieved whatever it is that you consider to be success.

If success for your business means having more clients, then visualize interacting with those clients and how wonderfully successful you will feel during those interactions.

If business success means selling more products, then mentally put yourself in the emotional state of what it feels like whenever you realize that your product sales are up. Visualize that moment in time frequently throughout each day.

If a measure of your business success is moving to a bigger office, or hiring more employees, then picture those scenes in your head.

Plug in as many details as you can, and remember that you aren’t just “looking” at the scene in your head, but you are feeling what it will be like during that moment. Emotions are the fuel that power the Law of Attraction, not the mental pictures.

Don’t forget that you are not to focus on the journey - ONLY the destination! Also, kick the “I don’t have time to visualize” routine. Visualization does not require religious robes, incense, and a swami. Just think about the success that you want, picture yourself in that successful moment, and feel how great it feels to be there.

I frequently visualize without even leaving my desk. Waiting for a slow web page to load, killing time while waiting for my overworked computer to catch up with itself, sitting on hold when on the telephone - whenever.

Or, if visualization isn’t your thing, then plug those same details into affirmations, and take those same opportunities to say your affirmations in your head, or, out loud would be even better.

Bottom Line: The secret to business success using the Law of Attraction is to attract the way you want to feel when you are successful. Focus only on that, and it will come directly to you. Every time.

What Everyone should Know about Equanimity and the Law of Attraction

Equanimity, although it hardly falls under the category of a word that gets used in a sentence every day, it is still a concept that everyone should understand if they are going to practice the art of conscious creation.

Conscious creation is basically the act of creating your life by being mindful of your thoughts and feelings, and in so doing, controlling the experiences that are brought into your life via the Law of Attraction.

For example, if you tend to worry excessively about negative things that might or might not happen, you will tend to attract negative things into your life. On the other hand, if you have a “whatever happens, happens” attitude, and you manage to keep up a cheerful or positive outlook, then you will in turn attract experiences and circumstances that you consider to be positive.

This is where equanimity enters into the equation. Over at The Probabilist as well as The Comedy and Humor Blog, there are excellent descriptions of equanimity and how it enters into your life.

For the purposes of this post, we will define equanimity as the ability to control your reaction to the external events of your life. The ability to remain calm and emotionally in control, even though the present circumstances may seem to call for a more negatively-charged reaction.

The reason why this is so important when it comes to the Law of Attraction is because each of the emotions that you experience are magnets that attract similar emotions back to you.

If you experience positive emotions, then that is a good thing. However, if you are having a negative emotional reaction, then the last thing that you want to do is attract more negativity, which will just make the situation even worse.

This is especially true when it comes to relationships, or dealings with people that you see frequently, such as co-workers. The emotions that you experience not only attract similar emotions, but they will also tend to elicit similar responses in the people that you are interacting with.

In the case of a close personal relationship, have you ever noticed that during a disagreement, the more upset you get, the more upset the other person tends to get (equanimity masters notwithstanding, of course)?

The same things happens at work. A negative experience with a co-worker will tend to “stain” both of you with a negative charge that will serve to attract more negativity to both of you - either immediately, or later on down the road.

However, just as you may be able to identify with the 2 examples just given, you can probably also remember experiences when you got really upset about something, but the other person seemed to remain “nonplussed” about the whole thing.

They just sat there talking to you in the same tone of voice, that same (infuriating!) look on their face, and it seemed that no matter how amped up you personally became, their emotional reaction changed little, if it all.

That’s equanimity in action. And, as annoying as it may be to the person who is letting their emotions control them, the person who is practicing equanimity is actually protecting not only their own circumstances, but yours as well.

Now, don’t misunderstand. As The Probabilist pointed out (link above), the other side of equanimity is empathy. Empathy basically means that via an understanding of someone else’s emotional state, you allow yourself to be influenced by the emotions that you perceive them to be experiencing.

However - and here is where it all comes together - allowing your own emotions to be controlled by the emotions of others, or recognizing their emotions, but retaining control of your own feelings - are two different things.

If you find yourself in a situation with the potential for negativity - from a disagreement all the way up through an emergency situation - ask yourself what is more valuable; The ability to retain control of your emotions and think clearly about how best to handle the situation, or flying off the handle and allowing your emotions to dictate your actions.

Do emotions have their place? Absolutely! In fact, our emotions are arguably the most powerful and valuable gift that humans have been given. However, using our emotions for benefit vs. allowing them to rule our lives are certainly two different situations.

Equanimity does not mean living without emotion.

Empathy does not mean living as a slave to emotion.

The trick to your own personal success - as well as to benefit the people around you - is to realize that by controlling your emotions, you literally dictate what happens next.

If you want what happens next to be in your favor, then “feel” accordingly. If you want what happens next to be the random result of whatever emotion you happen to feel as the result of what life throws at you, then ignore this entire post.

It is absolutely guaranteed that the world will deliver what you expect it to deliver.

When you expect (via your feelings) to get whatever it is that you want out of life, then you are free and clear to not experience surprise when that is exactly what shows up for you.

If you are reading this post, then there is a good chance that you have spent a fair amount of time reading about self improvement, positive thinking, conscious creation, or other lifestyle-enhancing concepts. Big props to you for having soaked up all of that information, but do you think there might be a chance that some things are starting to slip through the cracks?

Most people believe that we remember everything that we are ever exposed to, and I would have to say that I agree with that.

Considering the small percentage of the potential of the human mind that we use, I would even say that we’ve got WAY more storage space than we probably need. At least during this stage of our evolution.

Either way, whether your mental hard drive is bursting at the seams, or if you feel that you are intellectually running on empty, when it comes to self improvement, it is very easy to start thinking that there is so much information out there, you’re not sure which end is up!

Positive Thinking. The Law of Attraction. Goal Setting. Conscious Creation. Brain Wave Therapy. Meditation. The Power of Intention. EFT. Ho’oponopono. Subliminal Messaging. Photo Reading. Lucid Dreaming. Energy Healing. Hypnotherapy. Visualization. Affirmations.

The list goes on and on and on. How do you choose a discipline that is going to work for you when everyone claims that their system is the best one?

Simple - you don’t.

You are about to be given the one very simple, no degree required, no purchased needed, no holds barred answer to the Self Improvement Question:

Want whatever it is that you want, and don’t stop wanting it until whatever it is comes into your life.

Whew! That was a hard one, wasn’t it? Years of experimentation, millions of dollars worth of research, thousands of books, programs, and seminars, and the simple answer is that all you have to do is really want whatever it is that you want.

It doesn’t matter what “it” is. Weight loss. Financial success. Career satisfaction. Wonderful relationships.

Everything that you could ever want in your life will come into your life by the simple act of you constantly thinking about it. And I do mean constantly!

If I called you up in the middle of the night and said, “What are you doing?” your only response should be “Thinking about my dreams.”

If I came to your place of business and said, “What are you doing?” your only response should be “Thinking about my dreams.”

If I walked into your bathroom while you were taking a shower in the morning, handed you a cup of coffee and said, “What are you doing?” your only response should be “Thinking about my dreams.”

If I gave you a fresh stalk of broccoli to cut up and put into the salad that you were making for dinner and said, “What are you doing?” your only response should be “Thinking about my dreams.”

I could go on and on with examples just like those above, but by now you should get the picture. You have to have what Napoleon Hill called a “white hot” desire to have whatever it is that you want.

That desire should set your very soul ablaze, and you should spend your life on a constant and never-ending quest to put out that fire.

Your very existence should be powered by the unending pursuit of your desire, to the point where you will burn your ships and run wildly into battle screaming “GIVE ME MY DREAMS, OR GIVE ME DEATH!”

That is when you will finally understand. That is when it will “click” for you. That is when you will draw your desires into your life just as surely as you were born, and just as surely as you will one day pass from this physical existence.

When you truly embrace your desires with such a passion and a ferocity that no obstacle will stop you, no circumstance will slow you down, nothing on this earth can sway you from your destiny - THAT is when you will cause yourself to run headlong into your destiny at breakneck speed.

You can cite whatever self improvement “system” that you want for this process. Conscious creation, the Law of Attraction, even just old fashioned good luck.

It is not necessary for you to know how your dreams are brought to you. All you have to know is that if you truly want them, then focus on them as if your very life depended on it, and do not let that laser-focus waver for even a moment.

What will happen then? How will your dreams magically manifest?

Doors will open for you. Opportunities for success will fall into your lap. Necessary people will come into your life. Circumstances will appear, disappear, or change in your favor. By the force of your own WILL, your world will rearrange in such a way as to give you everything that you wish for.

This system is absolutely 100% guaranteed to work. It works for every person, in every circumstance, regardless of who they are or what it is that they want.

Don’t believe me? Then try it for 30 days. Spend the next 30 days thinking of nothing but the thing that you desire more than anything else in all the world. You can use visualizations, affirmations, day-dreaming, subliminal programming, goal setting, etc. Choose the system or systems that work for you, or don’t choose any at all.

Just think about what you want all day, every single day, for 30 days. Not for 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there, a couple more minutes over there. All day. Every day. Picture your life in your head as if you have already achieved whatever it is that you want.

Be careful, though! When you do this properly, you will find yourself dangerously closer to success than you have ever been in your entire life. When that happens, don’t get scared and run away. Just spend some quality time patting yourself on the back, and keep right on doing it the next month.

Before you know it, you will run out of dreams and you will have to now make some even bigger and better ones. How cool will THAT be??

How to Help Yourself and Everyone Else at the Same Time

Would you subscribe to the point of view that there are problems in the world?

For that matter, would you agree that there are problems much closer to home, such as your job, your friends, and even your own household?

Most people would answer “yes” to both of those questions, and most people would also back up that answer by pointing out that a whole pile of other people are either the cause of those problems, or that they keep the “problem engine” running by not cleaning up the way that they handle any given set of circumstances.

You will get no argument from me that there are plenty of problems that need to be solved, and I’ll even put my own “stuff” out there by saying that there are plenty of things in my own circle of influence that I would like to see happen differently than they do.

However, what if everything that happens around you is actually your fault? Which, by the way, is another point of view that I subscribe to, at least on a “local” level, if not worldwide.

Awhile ago I put up a post about the self improvement system known as Ho’oponopono. Although Ho’oponopono is based on healing imbalances with others, it is actually a system that is completely internal, and practitioners of that art claim to be able to solve issues with other people without even meeting or talking to them.

There is some very convincing evidence that we have the ability to influence others by working on our own inner-thoughts, and I will recommend that you grab a copy of Zero Limits by Joe Vitale as soon as it is released, and I will also refer you to this excellent post by Steve Pavlina where he gives some examples of how this concept has benefited his life.

For my part, I want to take it one step further, however, and explain a vicious circle that you can find yourself in that will keep replicating itself over and over until you find a way to break out of it.

In a nutshell, Ho’oponopono and similar beliefs state that our surroundings are powered by our own inner beliefs and perceptions of the way that we think things are, or should be.

To keep it “local”, I will stick with the example of your spouse or your significant other.

If you expect that your spouse is going to get mad at you because you spent too much money, or you stayed out too late with your friends, or because you shirked your responsibilities around the house, there is a very real chance that is exactly what you will get because you expect it.

However, the real truth of the matter is that the anger or disappointment that you expect to see in someone else’s eyes is merely a reflection of what you are already feeling.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that you won’t feel 100% happy with yourself if you allow yourself to succumb to a desire that you know for a fact is not in your best interest, or in the best interest of the people that you care about.

So, whenever it comes time to “face the music” with the person that you believe is going to be angry with you or disappointed, most of the time you will find that anger and disappointment waiting right there for you, just as you expected.

Then, to make matters worse, as you have already beaten yourself up (usually without even knowing it) because you know that you did something that wasn’t up to your own personal standards, your spouse or significant other reacts to you in a negative manner about what you did.

Does the term “rubbing salt in an open wound” mean anything to you at this point? Not only have you done something that you consider to be wrong, but then you have to face it out in the open, usually with people that you care about and whose opinions you respect.

It’s like stubbing your toe, and then falling over in pain only to hit your head on the wall on the way down!

Also, this concept is certainly not limited to when you have done something that you consider to be wrong. The same thing applies whenever you see things in other people that do not please you.

When you expect your children to not make enough of an effort in school, you are actually coming face to face with the fact that on some level you feel that your own education is not up to par.

When you expect your co-workers to find the most effective way to cause your job to be more difficult, you are actually choreographing their performance due to the fact that you feel your own work ethic is not high enough, or that you are unhappy about your career status.

When you expect your neighbors to be loud and obnoxious, what you are really coming face to face with is the fact that you have not achieved the level of success that will allow you to live in a big house on a private lot, or that you have self-limiting beliefs about money.

Fortunately, for every instance that you find your negative expectations of others to be 100% fulfilled, you are actually being given a wonderful opportunity. You can help them to be the kind of people that you want to be around, and help yourself at the same time.

All you have to do is start managing your expectations of yourself as well as the people around you in order to keep those expectations at a happier or more harmonious level.

It all starts with you being honest with yourself, and working on your inner beliefs.

The next time someone does something that you find displeasing, simply ask yourself why you find it displeasing. Dig deep and find the true answer, not the answer that you think is appropriate.

As is often the case with self-limiting beliefs, your reaction to the circumstances of your life can be colored by the self-limiting belief, simply because that is what you are used to.

However, by simply coming to terms with your own “inner demons” you will then start to project happiness, confidence, and prosperity to all who are in your immediate vicinity, not to mention the positive vibrations that you will be sending out into the universe as a whole.

So, the next time you get upset with someone, find out why you are actually upset with yourself. You will then have found the path to your own resolution, which will spill over onto every circumstance that is affected by your new level of understanding.

Think about how great it is to have control over every single moment of your life - even the circumstances that right now might seem hopeless!