Key To Success

What do you do when you come across a key to success in a book you're reading? You ponder over it. Since I read many books and come across many keys, I thought it would be fun to share the ideas that arise as I contemplate a key to success. Reading is not just about absorbing information, it's also about contemplating, allowing the ideas to blossom within, and nurturing a seed tossed in the rich soil of the inner garden.

Name:
Location: Denver, Colorado, United States

I got my Master's degree in psychotherapy more than a decade ago. Since then I've studied the human condition with fascination. Over the years, I've learned a singular lesson: your life does not work when you oppose your soul nature. If you want a magical life, you have to drop your inauthentic transactions with the world. You discover your own power when you spend time alone to figure out what you really love to do.

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Magical Universe Online Success Checklist

I see you now.

You’re sitting there at your computer, surfing the net, feeling a heaviness in your chest.

It’s late evening.

Outside the window, the moon has again drifted behind the clouds.

The clock in the right hand corner of your screen is marking away the passing hours.

You know that you should be in bed. Tomorrow is going to be another long day.

Still, you’re there thinking: “It’s not even the money. It’s the freedom. It’s the freedom to just stay at home all day and do my own thing. If only there were some clear guidelines on how to tap into the magical universe and create success online.”

Then your eyes fall on this letter written just for you, and you smile, because here are 10 magical keys to open up the door to the freedom and abundance and self-expression you seek.

Magic key #1: Set an intention. Write it out. This is both your inner lighthouse and a way for the universe to know exactly what it is that you want.

Magic key #2: Follow your hunch. Your intention has activated your subconscious mind and the universal law of attraction. It’s important you don’t squelch your intuitions. Allow a little room to be outrageous. Sometimes miracles, the big ones, aren’t tame, but wild and exciting.

Magic key #3: Get a notepad and divide the page in half. On the right side, fill out what you want the universe to do. On the left side, fill out what you are going to do.

Magic key #4: Take daily action on your list. And, as the universe does it’s part, express gratitude, and don’t forget to celebrate. There is nothing more important than feeling good to put you into vibration with your desires.

Magic key #5: Go to the forums where your people hang out. Those who can advise you, those who can inspire you, and also those who want to buy what you have to sell. They may not all be in the same place. You may need several stomping grounds. Seek community.

Magic key #6: Make friends. Online, offline. Expand and uplift your energy through connection with others.

Magic key #7: Write articles and write free books that you can give away. Let people know how good you really are at what you do.

Magic key #8: Post testimonials from books you’ve enjoyed and ask that your URL be placed underneath your testimonial to increase back links to your website, increase your flow of traffic as people click through out of curiosity, and expand your sense of goodwill to the author who inspired you in some way, even if it were only one idea in a 100 page book.

Magic key #9: Again, this is about giving. Give some money to someone who has inspired you in some way. You need not give to those who need it, just those who have touched your life in some way. I remember that I used to give $20 to the library whenever I visited because its books nourished me and within a few days I would receive a tenfold return. The best way to guarantee your return is if you abide by all laws of seeding first.

Magic key #10: Give yourself away. Help people. Be a person others turn to when they need a friend. Share your time and talent with others and amazing things will multiply for you.

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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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How do you write splendid copy for your website?

Imagine it is the Elizabethan era, and a young man with a broad forehead and contemplative eyes, sits poised, quill pen in his firm hand, a vellum parchment before him, thinking.

Ink pot, pen, and paper are all laid out neatly on the crude wooden table with it’s knots and wormholes.

Within him is the excitement of advertising his visions, and he hears claps of appreciation, and he sees, dancing in the sunlight, falling from the heavens, golden coins.

As he connects with this inner thrill, it translates into words, and as ink spots fly on his crisp white shirt, he is transported into a world of eloquent testimonial.

As in this ancient scene, the answer is the same for you.

Use short words and use old words; these are the best.

Speak from your heart.

Let your enthusiasm speak through you.

And write as if to a dear and sympathetic friend, one who shares the same rhapsody over this marvelous new invention that you wish to gift the world.

Revel in the story of it’s creation—the ardor and grandeur of it, and how from nothing, from a mere whimsical idea, not even worthy of a second thought, it flourished into this bold, new invention that all will desire.

The craft is the same, only the tools have changed. You now have a table made of some prefabricated material that you call your desk. You now have replaced your piece of vellum with a computer and a monitor. And your pen is your keyboard.

Perhaps you have a software program where you simply fill in the blanks after it prompts you with questions.

Perhaps, too, you have a new set of books, freshly downloaded from the internet, a swipe file from other people’s successful promotions, then another pile of papers on the most arresting clichés, and finally just beneath the pile, that dog-eared course you paid too much for on how to write arresting copy

Yet behind all the clutter, your real tools are the same: your brain and your heart. How sincere are your statements, how honest your claims, how beneficial your offering, and how can it truly be the blessing that you claim?

Be an optimist—it will not do you any good to be anything less.

Tell the truth—otherwise your lie may be exposed halfway across the world before you can say “Yahoo.”

Detail your history of invention, and it will be a kind history, for you intend to write it.

Do not jabber like a parrot.

Show how your invention will end all animosity on the planet and will be better for the human heart than a rare book crammed with the loftiest quotations from the most sublime minds throughout history.

Perhaps you understand now. The best way to write splendid copy is write as if you mean it. An honest and detailed description will awaken your inner Shakespeare.
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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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The Business Of Words

A woman walks into a sweet-smelling shop, the product display is exquisite, the perfumes and oils and soaps bright and enticing.

She is approached by a young man. His face is bright, enthusiastic, well-scrubbed. His hair is clean and fragrant, his nails trimmed, his suit pressed, and his shoes polished. Then he opens his mouth and uses words with the sophistication of a back-alley brawler.

The magic is lost. After a few flustered words, a few patent excuses, the woman leaves.

The cash register remains untouched, and the proceeds for the day the same. Hour after hour this tragedy continues.

What tragedy befell this merchant?

Meanwhile, she, still in need of cosmetics and toiletries visits another store in the mall. There the pace is hectic, the display mauled over, and the salesman, despite careful grooming in the morning, now appears disheveled by too much work.

She approaches with hesitation, and her impatience and resistance, too, are stronger.

Seeing her approach, the salesman speaks.

She smiles for the first time that day, the pinched look on her face disappears, the pursed lines around the mouth soften.

Eloquent words flow from his lips, words of courtesy, interest, and charm.

He shows her one product after another, describing the benefits and the magnetism of each in turn.

Soon she is moving swiftly, from one choice piece of soap to another bottle of exquisite scents. She piles up her arms then asks him to assist her to carry more. Together they carry the boxes to the counter. The cash register rings yet again, the drawer is almost overflowing with ill-pressed bills, and the salesman barely has enough time to close it and catch his breath when she has been replaced by yet another eager customer.

Why the good fortune of this merchant?

Business. It is simple. It is the words you use.

Business. It is complex. It is the words you use.

Words create reactions, people buy or refrain from buying because of them.

A product is manufactured. A service is created. A structure is built around them. A strategy is designed to deliver them to the public with the most appeal. Yet without words, no perception is created.

The beautiful product image is not interpreted. The stirring value of it’s content is not appreciated. The elaborate service model is not permitted full execution.

Without words, it is only so much dust. Another product that sits on the shelf, another enterprise that is unvisited, another service that is not sought.

But add words, the right words, and it is as if the dust is now fairy dust. Everything now has a certain magic, a mysterious appeal, an allure that cannot be denied. Even yesterday’s outdated product is perceived with a nostalgic touch and considered a vintage find. The eager hand of the customer reaches for it. Money is exchanged. The cash register rings. The merchant is happy, his face uplifted in a smile, a vision of prosperity glazing his eyes.

What do words do?

They lift up perception.

A product is just another product. Until words are added to it. Then it takes on luster and power and comes into a life of its own.

Heed your words, your spoken words, your written words.

It’s not enough to throw a pitch, to make a broad appeal for interest, to say any foolish thing that comes to mind in a clumsy grope for rapport.

Something else is necessary, the right words; and behind the words, a service philosophy, a genuine desire to be of help.

Business is about words. The right words. The expressive words. The words that lure, dazzle, entangle.

Each person is in a world of their own, a trance of mixed variety, and your product is just another product, until you add the right words to it; then it flies off the shelf, and behind your customer is another, waiting eagerly in line to satisfy the perception that the words she overheard you speak aroused in her.

Business is simple if you use the right words. It’s complex if you use the wrong ones.

Train your sales people with the right words and magic happens.

The rest of the story, the quality, the display, the structure around which the business is molded pale in comparison to the words used to describe the merchandise.

Business is about words.

Whatever the business, regardless of the magnificence of its shape, size, and reach; regardless of its originality, brilliance, and design; deny it the power of words, and like a magnificent ocean liner striking a reef, it will sink like a rock.
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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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Saturday, June 24, 2006

How To Make Money

What is the secret of making money?

It’s invention.

Ingenuity in the marketplace.

It’s seeing a new pattern and pouncing on it. It’s what technical traders do in the stock or commodity markets.

It’s devising a new strategy. It’s what managers who have free rein to express their initiative do.

But, most often, it’s creating something new. It can be entirely new. Or it can be a twist on something that has popular appeal.

Most people, for some reason, don’t know that making money is about invention.

They think it’s about conformity.

It’s what has been drilled into them in school. It’s what they first encounter when they join the workforce.

It’s a socially-reinforced belief that traps them into mediocrity.

They learn the rules then do their best to play by them.

Usually, if they work for someone, they play by the rules they have been told to obey.

Those slightly more independent, work for themselves; but they too try to learn the rules that others in their field use.

And even in investing, this strategy of finding out the rules and playing by them is followed.

Yet, pause for a moment, and look around you.

Those struggling to pay their bills are the only one’s playing by the rules.

In this group, they are two types: the enforcers and the enforced. It’s a miserable situation for both because neither express their own true nature. Instead, they’ve become numb to creativity. Their attention is preoccupied with either force or resistance.

The few who are actually making money are enjoying themselves. It’s an exhilarating game for them. Money is a way to keep score. The game itself absorbs them.

What is this game?

It’s invention.

They are pumping new ideas into the marketplace. They creatively maneuver their way in the world. They try different things, experiment constantly, test bravely, but never give in to the belief that failure is a possibility.

If they adopt someone else’s strategy, they tweak it until it works for them.

The rules they play by are general rules and they feel free to innovate within them.

Those who struggle all their lives to make ends meet know only highly specific rules, rules that ruthlessly crush their initiative and enterprise.

Money likes creative people. Brave people. It likes inventors.

Initially it tests those who move forward with an original idea, pushes them to a point where it seems defeat is inevitable, then it rolls at their feet in ecstasy.

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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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P.T. Barnum’s 21 Timeless Virtues Of Money Getting

I have spent a pleasant Saturday studying the wealth creating habits of P.T. Barnum.

I’d like to share them with you here to help you with your prosperity.

Here, then, is the strategy of one of America’s rich and famous men, in the days when both were almost impossible, with America mainly a agrarian nation and technological ways and techniques of conducting business today did not exist.

One. Don’t skip on trifles and spend on luxuries.

Two. Don’t try to keep up appearances, but instead always have more money coming in than going out, even if it means having to save and do without certain things.

Three. Stay in good health. Avoid “poisons”—cigarettes and alcohol that destroy the health.

Four. Choose the right vocation. The one that fits your particular temperament and genius. Only then will you have the energy to succeed in it. The wrong vocation will exhaust you. Success in it will always be a struggle against your own interests.

Five. Choose the right place. If you are an excellent mathematician, for example, a farming community will not benefit you at all. You need to be in a technological city or a college town.

Six. Avoid debt. That means consumer debt. Investment debt, properly managed, is the source of future wealth.

Seven. Persevere. Nothing in business is easy. Everything will tax you to the limits of your endurance. Only those who persist through their own doubts, confusion, and inadequate knowledge will be able to move to a better place with more opportunity.

Eight. Work with all your might. Ambition, energy, industry. These are your tools to refine your economic power.

Nine. Don’t wait for something to show up. Act with what you have on hand. Better prospects will come later when you are more able to perceive it and receive it.

Ten. Learn the many details of your business.
Eleven. You must buy your experience. It is never given free. There is a price that you have to pay to get it.

Twelve. Cautiously lay out your plans but boldly carry them out. First, thought. Methodical and exact thinking and planning. Then, decisive and incisive action.

Thirteen. Never have anything to do with an unlucky man (or woman) or place. Some people and places will never improve. You have to go where the energy is right for you. Just as a bad location can do you in, so too can the wrong associations.

Fourteen. Use the best tools that you can afford. Precise work will be paid for in higher income, and for that you need the right tools to do the job well.

Fifteen. Understand the value of a dollar by earning it. Money that is simply given is not respected, but money that is earned comes from effort and ingenuity.

Sixteen. Daily add to your stock of knowledge. Learn a little more about your craft each day.

Seventeen. Daily expand your experiences. Put into practice what you have learned because there is always a discrepancy between the academic and the experiential.

Eighteen. Don’t scatter your power. Trying out too many ventures without sufficient skills in any of them will not create the focus and creative expansion that earns you mastery.

Nineteen. Be systematic. Break procedures down to replicable tasks to create continuity and momentum. But also don’t be rigid, or else it will be stagnant and dysfunctional.

Twenty. Advertise your business. If nobody knows about you, how can they buy from you? If your skills are not known, then who will hire you?

Twenty-one. Treat customers well, or they will not only not buy from you again, but they will also sow seeds of malice about you that will shrink your clientele.

As you can see, the money rules that applied a hundred years ago still apply today. Money, then and now, still likes smart people.

P.T. Barnum was more than a gifted showman, remembered for his museums and his circus. He was also a brilliant businessman, with a knack for making money through creative enterprise, in the days when such a feat bordered on the legendary.


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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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Monday, June 19, 2006

The Genius Of Persistence

Every time we plug an appliance into the wall, it’s because he figured electricity out for us. His incandescent bulb changed our world.
He literally spread the light of his genius around the world.

Thomas Alva Edison.

150 years have passed since he was born.

What is the most remarkable thing about him is that he was not the most technically brilliant mind of his time.

In fact, Nikola Tesla considered him rather dimly.

Here is his comment on Edison. ``If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search....
I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor.''

Nor was this mere abuse. Those who knew Tesla and his work were astonished. On May 18, 1917, at an AIEE annual meeting, B.A. Behrend made this laudatory poem: Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, "Let Tesla be", and all was light.

The Serbian-American inventor, electrical engineer, and scientist was an astonishing and prolific inventor.

His inventions included a telephone repeater, rotating magnetic field principle, polyphase alternating-current system, induction motor, alternating-current power transmission, Tesla coil transformer, wireless communication, radio, and fluorescent lights.

In all he had more than 700 patents.

Although he worked for Edison for a short while, the two men could not get along. Ironically, in the conflict between Edison’s direct current and Tesla’s alternating current, Edison won more public approval and the inferior technology was readily adopted.

Thomas Alva Edison was brilliant.

Nikola Tesla, however, was dazzling.

Here is how Chancey McGovern describes one of Tesla’s famous experiments

“Fancy yourself seated in a large, well-lighted room, with mountains of curious-looking machinery on all sides. A tall, thin young man walks up to you, and by merely snapping his fingers creates instantaneously a ball of leaping red flame, and holds it calmly in his hands. As you gaze you are surprised to see it does not burn his fingers. He lets it fall upon his clothing, on his hair, into your lap, and, finally, puts the ball of flame into a wooden box. You are amazed to see that nowhere does the flame leave the slightest trace, and you rub your eyes to make sure you are not asleep.”

Yet today, and even in his time, Edison has stolen all the accolades.

Why?

It’s because Edison was a persistent plodder who won mainstream approval and worked steadily enough to create more inventions. He was an excellent businessman who knew how to market and promote his inventions. He was also extremely productive.

Tesla, in contrast, was an eccentric genius, given to financial incompetence, compulsions and phobias.

Reporters loved him because he was always coming up with sensational comments. He made wild statements that won him public disapproval, like having received communication from other planets, like claiming that he could split the earth like an apple, and like claiming that he could create a death ray capable of destroying 10,000 airplanes at 250 miles.

In the end, persistence won over talent, sensible living over wild imaginative indulgence, and business acumen over financial mismanagement.

Edison died rich and famous; Tesla, poor and scorned.

Today, everybody remembers Edison, but the name Tesla generally draws a blank look when mentioned.

It’s a sad story. Sometimes even overwhelming genius isn’t enough to guarantee a successful life.

Persistence, more than brilliance, marked Thomas Alva Edison as the greatest electrical inventor in the history of the world.

There is nothing greater than persistence. With it, the most obscure undertaking will win. Without it, the most brilliant concept will be ignored. Persistence is to success what carbon is to steel.

As Calvin Coolidge once said, "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Genius will not. Education will not. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."
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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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Friday, June 16, 2006

The Secret To Unlocking The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind

You don’t realize it yet but in the next few minutes I’m going to reveal to you a powerful key to unlocking the power of your subconscious mind to create an amazing and fulfilling life.

Let me explain exactly what I mean with a true story.

(Although, it’s a longer story than I intended it to be, I didn’t want to short you on any of the details and deprive you of getting a true picture of how the key works.)

When I was in college, I had four roommates, two were the complete opposite of each other.

Greg Phillips was a tall, skinny, gangly, uncoordinated boy, with a face that perpetually broke out with acne.

He also had big horse-teeth, guffawed, and chattered in an endless stream of clichés.

The other roommate was also named Greg.

Greg Garner was remarkably handsome, with a deep, contemplative, and serious nature.

He had a passion for bodybuilding and the physique of a Greek statue.

He also read Existential philosophy and periodically made profound observations about mundane events, transforming the profane into the sublime.

In addition, Garner was a gifted artist with paintings that looked like photographs, almost perfect in every detail.

Which Greg do you imagine turned out to be more successful in later years?

If you’re thinking Greg Phillips, then you’re a contrarian, and if you’re thinking Greg Garner, you’re a logician.

The contrarian wins.

When I first met the two Gregs, I mentally voted Garner as the most likely to succeed.

After all, he seemed to have it all: Classical beauty, an aesthetic physique, a keen intelligence, and a rare talent in art.

Yet Phillips turned out to be the most amazing person I’ve ever met. And in my mind, the word “success” is inextricably linked with my image of him.

He succeeded almost effortlessly in everything that he did and was as close to the legendary Forrest Gump as one can ever hope to meet in real life.

He barely studied, yet he never dipped below a 4.0 in 4 years.

He was uncoordinated, yet he totally dominated the basketball team.

He was not very eloquent, except when he stepped on stage at intercollegiate speech tournaments, and then you thought you were listening to Abe Lincoln making the Gettysburg Address.

And, although he was not physically attractive, women adored him. In fact, Cheryl, a stunningly beautiful woman who was engaged when she first met him, even dumped her fiancé to be with him.

Later, they got married and raised a happy family...but that’s a different story.

Garner, meanwhile, possessed the Midas touch in reverse.

Despite his obvious assets, nothing ever worked out for him.

His only joy was painting, pumping iron alone in the school gym, and contemplating French, German and Russian literature about the futility of existence.

Women shunned him and considered him boring and egotistical.

He frequently skipped classes, hung out with only a few morose friends, and dropped out of college in his third year because of his low grades.

What made the difference?

Here’s a clue before I tell you:

When I visited Phillips home in San Diego on a spring vacation break, his room was overflowing with trophies, scrolls, certificates and plaques. They were for both academic as well as athletic achievements.

He apologized, saying that he hadn’t yet stored away the stuff from High School. Since he had come home with even more from our college, his little bedroom looked like a compressed hall-of-fame gallery.

I also noticed that his parents adored him and treated him like a young god. In fact, so did everyone else. The front door was always opening as old friends from High School who had heard about his home town visit stopped by to see him.

It was only years later, after I became trained as a psychologist and knew a little more about human behavior, that I managed to puzzle things out.

It was simply this: Greg Phillips completely believed in himself. His self-confidence was unshakable.

Since childhood his parents had instilled in him a belief in himself.

They told him through their attitude toward him that he could do anything that he set his mind to achieve.

And because he loved his parents, he became utterly successful to prove them right.

It didn’t really matter if he didn’t have the obvious physical attributes and talents of someone like Garner...in his own mind, he was the best; and he proved it, over and over and over again.

The last time I heard from him, six years ago, he was close to making his first million dollars. He said that he worked for national governments in Africa surveying underground water resources for indigenous villages.

I learned something invaluable by observing the difference between the two Gregs and how it played out in their destinies over the years.

From Phillips I learned that to power-up your subconscious mind to work for you rather than against you, you only need to have an attitude of total self-confidence and high self-esteem.

Initially I used to believe that personality was fixed, an accident of your upbringing, but if there is one thing I’ve learned in all my years in helping people to have a better life, it’s this: It’s never too late to have a happy childhood and a great life.

In working with former clients to improve their self-image and self-confidence, I’ve witnessed them transition from zero to hero.

It’s not always about working harder or getting smarter. Sometimes its as simple as simply believing in your own true value. You’re then motivated to work harder, learn more, associate with the right people, and become super-competent.

What we don’t acquire through a perfect upbringing, we can still nurture within ourselves through a systematic process of improving our internal resources, inner dialogue, and inner image.

In the final analysis, success is more about who you are inside than what you do. Actions springing up from a solid inner identity always succeed in the long run.

My book Boost Your Confidence will help you to get started on the road to reinventing yourself and becoming the person that you really want to be. You can snap it up here: http://theempoweredsoul.com/SelfImprovementBooks/confidence.html


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Thursday, June 15, 2006

Island of Dreams

Sometimes life is not as complex as you think. Sometimes all you need to do to create massive change is to alter the way you see things.

I’m going to give you a trivial example to illustrate something huge.

Apply this tip and you’ll step into a transformation.

I’m promising you this because it happened to me.

For years now, I’ve had, as my desktop, a picture of a white colonial mansion set in a verdant green garden.

This symbolized prosperity for me. Tradition, security, and spacious and gracious living.

One day, however, I got impatient with it, sifted through what other images I had on my hard-drive and discovered a breathtaking island scene…sparkling waters, a painted swatch of cerulean blue sprinkled with sapphire, a golden, sun-drenched island with languid palm trees rustling in the wind, and a massive white sailing ship cutting through the water, heading straight for the island.

Now whenever I sit in front of my computer, I feel the pull of my dreams even stronger—a life of beauty and elegance, achievement, contribution, and even joy.

This is the trivial example...but, there is a powerful metaphor behind it.

You are the pictures in your mind.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Everything that you see, feel, experience, and acknowledge around you is due to a singular fact: it is an out-picturing of your inner vision.

If you’re surrounded by beauty, truth, and goodness, magnanimous friends, a loyal and devoted family, a business that lays golden eggs every morning so that you can enjoy the best breakfast possible—then my advice to you is to stop tuning in...you have much better things to do with your time.

If, however, everything is distressingly short of your ideal, then you may want to listen in.

Your thoughts, moment by moment, create your reality. They force you to make this choice over that one. You see only through the filter of your mental pictures. Opportunity or the lack of it only appears before you based on how your internal map of reality is set. You navigate your whole life based on your conditioned experiences.

Now if it’s not what you want—you need to change the picture, redraw the map, reconfigure your internal boundaries, and polish up the tarnished silver of your dreams

Instead of focusing on what is before you, you have to focus in on what resonates with your heart. It’s the belief in the evidence of things not seen that will shift your reality.

Seeking counsel is a fine thing, doing the best you can is a noble one, but the sage that you seek and the path that is your own can only be found within.

If you don’t make this move, you’ll continue living out your life unconsciously, accepting what is and going with it. While this is the fate of the bulk of humanity, the depression inherited by centuries of helplessness, is it really the best way for you?

You have a vast internal power, my friend.

Imagine what would happen if you used it?

You turn on the power by changing the pictures in your head. You have to run a different internal movie.

Little by little, things will change for you. Instead of living as a drone, part of the conditioned masses, you’ll become a visionary. Instead of accepting limitation, you’ll start embracing possibility. And instead of being like everyone else, you’ll become the person that you really believe yourself to be inside, the one who wakes up in the morning with a smile and a heart overflowing with joy.

Your stodgy white colonial mansion may make you feel safe, but you’ll be missing out on the thrill of riding an 18 meter Catamaran straight to the island of your dreams, where the sun is always warm and inviting, the sand beneath your feet is soft and yielding, and the song of the ocean is a lullaby that caresses every cell of your body with an echoing peace.



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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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Monday, June 12, 2006

What is Enlightenment?

What is the end of all need and want, all deprivations of the flesh, all hunger for fulfillment?

In a world marked by cruelty and death, where insecurity is the rule, and survival the game, how can one find peace, joy, and a fullness of life?

The answer is the same as when the avatars walked upon the earth and spoke of the end of suffering.

Even to this day, the awakened and the awakening speak of the same.

You know the answer—for you have heard it many times.

Yet no matter how often we hear it, we rarely ever understand it.

The fault is not with you, but with your mind.

For the answer is beyond the mind.

It is in the pure experience of being yourself; a self that transcends any limitation of mind and body, emotion and circumstance; a transcendent self.

Throughout time, human beings have hungered for this primal experience, the return to unitive consciousness, a recognition that all the ten thousand things are woven of the one thing that is beyond space, time, and the relentless force of causality.

Yet the world is a distracting place—as the bard once said, “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” And it is indeed the most difficult of tasks to find the way home to one’s own true self, that which does not transact with limitations of any kind.

Behind the linear, is the non-linear. Behind form and substance, is that open essence that shapes and reshapes beings and worlds beyond number.

There is no language for it.

No symbolic representation.

All creeds, beliefs, and systems, and even the most well-woven and abstruse philosophy cannot capture it.

It is beyond the senses, beyond the mind, and beyond any interpretation of life and the world.

Yet despite it’s silence and invisibility, it’s always calling to you, urging you once again to capture the oceanic consciousness that is who you really are; and you will never stop your seeking, until you find it.

In fact, it is the only reality. Everything else is but a shadow, ephemeral, elusive.

Enlightenment cannot be described; it can only be experienced.

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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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Sunday, June 11, 2006

How To Solve Persistent And Frustrating Problems

"To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly,” said Henri Bergson.

Life is a creative act.

It is a series of events, one after another, and sometimes one over another.

Through this procession of things happening to us, we experience change—and hopefully, growth.

Maturity, however, is not assured. We may have to repeat the same thing over and over again. Yet we still don’t get it right.

When a chain of events that cause discomfort repeat in a circular pattern, we call them problems.

They can be infuriating...and extremely frustrating. The longer they continue, the less we know what to do about them.

For example--no matter how hard you work, you always end up with more month than money.

Or, no matter how hard you try to be patient, kind, and understanding, you always end up in a relationship with someone who is extremely difficult.

And so on. I think you get the point.

These are circular issues. You may change the job or the person—and yet, somehow, you end up in almost the same situation.

What is the solution?

It’s creativity.

It’s not about doing more or trying harder, nor is it even about soliciting an expert opinion—it’s about changing your mind, your circumstances, and your life by finding a new answer that specifically works for you.

Since, ultimately, you’re the final authority on your life—the best advice from an expert will be simply to point you to your own creativity. General advice may give you some direction, but you have to tailor it to your particular psyche for it to work.

Here, then, are three quick steps to becoming creative.

It does take some work, but not as much as staying stuck.

First, define the problem as clearly as you can. The length of words or quality of language you use doesn’t matter. Make it so plain and so obvious that anybody reading it would understand right away what is bothering you.

Second, step outside the problem and pretend to be someone else, an expert observer. Choose a known expert, either someone you personally know or a historical or famous personality. It has to be someone whom you highly respect. Now pretend to be them, to be inside their body and their mind as they review your problem and think about it.

Third, as this world-famous expert, make a list of all possible answers, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Brainstorm until you can’t come up with any more answers. Then take a long break and brainstorm some more.

Finally, turn it over to your unconscious. Your answer will come in an unexpected way. It may be something that you brainstormed—or it may be something else entirely.

You’ll know exactly what to do and how to do it.


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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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Saturday, June 10, 2006

The Challenge Of Success

Success is a challenge.

It’s not easy. It’s not easy at all.

And that is why most people simply do not have it.

It’s fine to learn from successful people, follow their principles, and try and emulate their example, a process called modeling, but there is always a gap between what we perceive and what we experience.

What we don’t grasp or perhaps can’t grasp after reading the success literature and visiting seminars is what others have really done to achieve their level of success.

You see, it is the invisible element that defines success.

You don’t see the late hours, the bouts of self-questioning, the dark night of the soul that everybody who quests for greatness has to experience.

You don’t see the intuitions, the inspirations, the insights.

You don’t see the failures, one after another, piling on top of each other that strengthens the successful person.

What you see is the finished product, the easy lifestyle, the flawless charm, and the eloquent expression of success principles.

You see the charisma, but not the struggle that brought it out of darkness and obscurity into the light.

You see the displays of wealth and power, but you don’t see the pain the person once went through to overcome poverty, inertia, and utter confusion.

You aren’t privy to the struggle and while you may hear about it your awareness can’t fully engage it.

Success is a challenge because it is not easy.

If it were easy most people would have attained it by now.

Instead only a few do.

When you strive to rise from one level to another, your greatest enemy is yourself.

Everything inside you craves the comfort of the old, useless, life-force robbing ways. It craves the companionship of those who entertain stagnant energy and fixed ideas.

Your mind quickly tires from too much study, and your body from too much labor, and your heart from too much isolation.

Yet study, labor, and doing things on your own are part of the price that you have to pay for success.

Success is not easy.

It’s not easy at all.

There is a huge price to pay for it.

Yet it is the most rewarding thing of all. What can be better than looking at yourself in the mirror one day and saying, “I am the now the person that I always wanted to be.”

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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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Wednesday, June 07, 2006

It Takes As Much Energy To Fail As To Succeed

When we view failure and success as an energy-consuming matrix it becomes quite obvious where and how to apply our attention and effort.

As humans we have only a limited amount of mental, emotional and physical energy before we need to recharge.

It seems logical, then, to conclude that energy is an essential element in both failure and success.

They both use energy.

And it takes as much energy to fail as to succeed.

Many people don’t quite fathom this simple concept.

After all, it seems that failing is like rolling down a hill while succeeding is like climbing up one.

Failure appears easier because it’s root appears to be inertia, which is expressed as apathy, grief, fear, lust, anger, and pride.

Yet when you really think about it, all these states are extremely debilitating and result in extreme drops in energy.

In addition, these states stimulate very difficult circumstances, and love and support, finances, and health are further drains in energy.

It takes a lot of energy to fail.

Like an old gas-guzzling car, you get very poor mileage, and performance drops with each mile. Energy is consumed rapidly and inefficiently.

Conversely, success is a rise to states of courage, acceptance, and peace.

Since success is never in isolation, it always serves the public good as well. Any act of success is an outflow of contribution. It benefits everyone.

Once you reach a certain level of success, it actually becomes less energy-consuming, and a certain momentum takes over.

In fact, success itself is a highly energy-efficient state, because you feel good, you’re surrounded by cooperative people, and your relationships flourish. Your financial well-being and health improves, too.

It takes energy, however, to become successful—because, like a rocket ship pressed down by the earth’s gravitational field, you need to exert an excess of force to climb to new heights.

Furthering this analogy, once you’re in space, you need to burn less fuel and yet can travel with equal or greater velocity.

Naturally everybody would rather succeed than fail, but success is envisioned as an almost a mythical concept, attained by only a few, and very often restricted only to certain aspects of life and not as a state of being.

How does one succeed in life in general?

The answer is both simple and complex.

It’s simple because you become successful by learning how to be successful. You associate with successful people and learn how they do things. You read books on success. You master the elements of financial literacy, relationship building, and health maintenance. Study and practice—that’s how you do it.

It’s complex because there isn’t really a curriculum laid out for you—and you have to learn how to self-educate yourself about success.

It takes energy to learn to be successful, but once you get the hang of it, you can get on a roll and then things just seem to escalate from then on.

Success incorporates failing—but rather than perceiving failure as a limit and a stopping point, a success-oriented person sees it as a learning tool, responding to it as feedback.

Rather than using failure as a way of dropping to a low mood level and becoming ineffectual, it is used to learn what not to do and how to discontinue what does not work. It takes some experimenting to learn what works and what doesn’t. Learning what doesn’t work is valuable information because it pushes you further to what does work.

The energy it takes to become successful, then, is twofold: the energy it takes to learn new ways of doing things, and the energy it takes to learn to using failure as a stepping stone rather than a sign to just give up.

Since it takes as much energy to succeed as to fail, doesn’t it make sense to start pointing yourself in the right direction?

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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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Saturday, June 03, 2006

The Epitome Of Success

I’d like to share an insight into how to create or amplify success in your life.

To bring out the full impact of this insight, I invite you to take two quick flashbacks through American cultural history with me.

Flashback 1:

The elderly man with the shock of white hair and the goaty beard stumbled back into his car after another rejection, his pale face now flushed red with anger and heat.

Determined to end his poverty, enraged by his pitiful social security check, he scanned his list and drove to the next restaurant, where he met the same reaction from amused owners and chefs who were surprised by his audacity in trying to sell them something they already had in abundance: chicken recipes.

Finally, one restaurant owner, chose to indulge the gentleman and try out HIS recipe.

From that moment on the recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken became THE recipe and the obscure retiree, Colonel Harland Sanders, became a cultural icon for those who like southern fried chicken.

Comments:

From this flashback, where the Colonel went from rags to riches we can discern an obvious success principle, which you’ve probably already guessed, but I want to cover one more quick flashback before I talk about what is behind that principle.

Flashback 2:

This inventor was known for his desire to never give up. His story is now the very fabric of most self-improvement literature.

Thomas Edison is famous for his persistence in discovering 10,000 ways that the electric light bulb did not work—until he found the one way that did work and literally lit up the world with this momentous discovery.

Comments:

Obviously both the chef and the inventor realized that persistence is the essential ingredient to success because it is to success what carbon is to steel.

Insight:

What is the psychological mechanism that makes persistence possible in the first place?

It’s vision fueled by burning desire.

The more the chef and the inventor failed, the more their desire burned a brighter and clearer vision.

This, my friend, is the epitome of all success.

All your dreams are possible for you if you will only feel them strongly enough, envision them clearly enough, and act on them persistently enough.

The psychic force of these three elements combined is irresistible. Embrace them and you will BE unstoppable, the very incarnation of a force of nature.



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Saleem Rana is a psychotherapist in Denver, Colorado. If you're up to the challenge and want to create the kind of freedom and lifestyle you truly deserve - starting now - then get his free book from
http://theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

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