Why You Can't Always Trust Your Feelings

When I was in graduate school for psychology, our rallying cry was "Go with you feelings."

When somebody got up in front of class to give a presentation and we were in a rowdy mood that's what we said.

When one of our gang hesitated over a project, whether it were conducting some original research or figuring out how to get a date,
that's what we said.

And when we were in a session with a client, that's what we said, too.

The reason we passionately believed in this idea was because it was quite obvious to us that the cause of most psychological disorders, whether they were the garden variety or the serious ones, were due to emotional suppression.

We equated "feel more" with "be more."

On the surface, this seems correct.

After all, if you want to try something new that will eventually empower you, feeling it more will empower you more.

And, if you want to help someone pull out of a stuck state, feeling it more will flush it out.

Or, if something doesn't feel right and you shouldn't go along with a person or situation, it may be your intuition ringing a loud alarm.

In such cases, it's wise to trust your feelings.

But there is a shadow side to trusting your feelings and going with them.

Let me explain:

This is when you should do something, but you don't feel like doing it. So you don't do it.

You probably want some examples.

You should clean up the kitchen, tidy your desk, or go to bed early because you have a busy day ahead, but you don't feel like it.

The result is that your kitchen becomes a health hazard, your desk the source of your habitual inefficiency, and your late nights, the reason for your low energy and bad moods.

You went with your feelings alright, and had to pay a price for it. Was it wise to trust those feelings?

Now let's dig a little deeper.

Why do we have feelings that we shouldn't trust in the first place? Where do they come from? Is a part of our mind deliberately out to wreck our little world?

The answer to the source of these feeling is the subconscious mind. In particular, past associations of pain associated with the necessary activities.

It's not fun cleaning the kitchen, washing and rinsing dishes, wiping down the counter, putting away dinner, and taking out the trash. It's a lot more fun to watch T.V. So pleasure wins.

It's not fun tidying up your desk, filing away old documents, finding a place to put your calculator, and wondering what to do with all the excessive pens you've collected. It's more fun to fire up your computer and check your email.

It's not fun going to bed early when you feel the need to watch T.V., chat on the phone, or do something else that you consider pleasurable.

Pain, pain, pain.

Why opt for pain, when it can be substituted for pleasure?

It's because the pain you avoid today will only get worse tomorrow.

The 15 minutes it takes to clean the kitchen will one day prevent a 3 hour attempt to create sanity (and sanitation).

The 10 minutes it takes to tidy your desk will one day prevent a frantic search for that overdue bill that you're now paying a late fee on.

The 5 minutes it takes to go to bed will prevent you from dragging through the next day feeling like death warmed over.

Ideally, you can flip the switch and change associations of pain into those of pleasure and make the clean kitchen, and the tidy desk, and the early bedtime sources of pride.

But it does take some work, and you may not feel like it.

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The Rules Of Engagement For The Game Of Life

Since my clothes dryer had suddenly coughed and died I went to our local Laundromat.

And it was there that I met her.

Within five minutes of talking to her, I knew that she was playing The Game of Life with the usual Rules of Engagement.

The wrong rules.

Her life was difficult.

Here was this beautiful, bright, and highly-talented woman and she was struggling over a mean, deprived life.

Moreover, life was not only not giving her what she didn't want but taking away even the little that she had.

Bogdana was from Romania. She had come to America because she believed it to be the "land of dreams."

She spoke several languages perfectly. She had been brought up by loving parents and graduated from a prestigious university. And she had the kind of good looks and charm that fully expressed the meaning of her name, "Gift of God."

America seemed the next logical step to "a great life."

Unfortunately, Bogdana did not find the "land of dreams." Instead she found a job at McDonalds during the day and a job as a buffet wait-person at a casino at night. Still, even this was not enough to pay her bills, and she was being evicted from her apartment that same day.

Naturally, like anybody in her situation she was angry, upset, and aggravated. She was reacting to her situation. And from the sounds of it, it wasn't going to get better soon.

She was playing the Game of Life by the rule almost everybody plays it by called "reacting to the world."

Her thoughts were following what had happened to her, and she was reacting to the world.

I tried to tell her that it's the other way around.

I told her about the Law of Attraction.

"Think of what you want and it will start showing up for you," I said.

Master that one rule, I told her, and you will not only turn everything around for yourself but hold the world in the palm of your hand.

Naturally, she thought I was playing by the wrong rules. I illustrated for her how following that one simple rule had completely improved my life. It had, in fact, flipped everything that was wrong with it and made it work out right.

She challenged me about my broken dryer. I told her that it obviously served a larger purpose. Because it had happened I had bumped into her and been given the opportunity to share my story about the "rules of engagement."

She shook her head from side to side. "No, no, no," she was thinking. When she left, she was still shaking her head slightly.

It's funny about the obvious. It has a way of appearing invisible. And when it is spelled out, it sounds like nonsense.

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It's Never Too Late To Stop Doing Work You Hate

This may shock you--but it's never too late to stop doing work that you hate.

You probably know already that you're not going to live forever (at least on this plane). If you didn't, I'm sorry to be the one to break the bad news to you.

In the next few minutes, I want to share some ideas with you that I hope will awaken your divine discontent and arouse in you the determination to become the amazing person that both you and I know you really are.

Most people do work that they feel ill-suited to do. Over time, this aversion turns into hatred.

Consequently, most people are miserable at their jobs. And since they spend most of their day working, they are miserable most of the time.

This is such an ancient problem that it is even mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita.

In this classical poem that dates back many thousands of years, the divine charioteer Krishna says to the deluded warrior Arjuna: "Better one's own duty (dharma) devoid of merit than another's (duty) well performed. Better death in fulfilling one's own duty, another's duty is full of fear." (3.35)

When you see someone actually following this principle, you find a happy person. It's a rare and often vicariously exhilerating sight.

They are happy because they have not betrayed themselves. They have the energy of authentic power and true self-expression, and it shows. You intuitively know that even if they have started out poorly, they will end up in a very good place fairly soon.

The difference between doing work you ought to do because it masquerades as an opportunity and work that you want to do because it represents your true interests is life changing.

This is dramatically interested in the story of Oprah Winfrey.

Before she graduated with a degree from college, Oprah was offered a full-time job as a reporter in Baltimore, Maryland. She was forced to decide between the job and graduating. She chose the job. It was "a great opportunity."

She soon found that she was awful at it. Intellectually, she could not refrain from commenting. Emotionally, she could not refrain from crying over the sad stories she had to cover. She simply could not be objective, no matter how hard she tried. At the age of twenty-two, she was fired from her job as a reporter.

However, her boss set her up for a job as a co-host of a morning show called "People Are Talking."

After her first show, she knew that she was in her element. She made the little-known show popular, and it launched her into becoming the person we now know and love.

Work with your strengths, forget your weaknesses.

There isn't enough time to be well-rounded and it isn't rewarding enough. It's wiser to do work you love and evolve to ever higher levels of it.

Why do so few people do work that they love?

It's always because the "wrong" work comes disguised as an opportunity and the "right" work as a challenge. It's a little trick life plays on us, and most people fall for it time and again.

Over time, the dream gets fainter and fainter. And they get better and better at doing that which they could not care less about.

I repeat: work with your strengths, forget your weaknesses. Do it before it's too late and the dream becomes a regret. You have only so much time and energy available before your twilight years, and even those are never guaranteed.

This is not popular advice.

Since childhood we have been taught to make a supreme effort to work with our weakness and not focus on our strengths. If you're good at English but poor at Math, you're exhorted to spend the bulk of your effort improving your Math.

The idea does have merit. You can be more balanced.

In school, it may be important to be balanced. In character development, it may help to be balanced. But in the world of work, following this ingrained habit is the root cause of most people's unhappiness. It's what makes the life of quiet desperation possible.

After many years of ingrained education, you can find this discipline of trying to compensate for weakness still operating in the consciousness of most working people. Like a piece of malignant software running in the background of their operating systems, it's ruining their lives.

In fact, you can tell at once that they're operating under this rule.

How do you know? They're miserable at their jobs. At a glance, you can see that they're doing work that they have little interest in and even less talent and ability for.

Set aside your fear. Stop doing work you hate. Start doing work you love. You're worth it.


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How To Get Into The Zone

Alan C. Walters, an author and motivational expert, has often been "in the zone." He calls it the Golden Magic Zone.

In his book, The Secrets to Increasing Your Wealth, Power, and Happiness, he describes one of his remarkable experiences.

Once I wanted to purchase an airplane, a turbo-charged Beech Bonanza, that cost $38,000; I had $3,000.

I circled the advertisement in red ink and thought, "How am I going to turn this $3,000 into $38,000?"

An idea flashed to mind: Play Blackjack!

It was a Sunday morning. I got into my car and drove 280 miles to John Ascuga's Nugget in Sparks, Nevada, a suburb of Reno.

I sat down with two other people at a table that had a $400 a hand limit. I cashed my $3,000 for chips and bet $400 on two positions.

I played for twenty minutes and bought cards three times by double downing an ace, two, and received an eight each time.

I hit blackjack twenty-three times in twenty minutes; I had a huge pile of chips. The first time I lost a hand, I quit.

Picking up my chips and taking them to the cashier, I found I had won $58,000; I had $46,000 after taxes.

I purchased the Bonanza for $34,000, cash.

On my first flight, I blew the engine over Aurora, Oregon. Looking down, I saw a small airport. It had no radio, so I landed with great billows of black smoke pouring from the engine. I didn't know where I was, and the airport was surrounded by trees and hedges.

With several taxiways disappearing into the trees, something made me choose a taxiway toward the south end of the field.

As I taxied between those trees, I saw an old, broken-down shed. I stopped the plane in front of the shed, climbed out and walked through the front door. There I saw an elderly man putting away tools.

"Is there anyone at this airport who really understands turbo-Bonanzas?" I asked.

The man smiled. "Well," he drawled. "Up until last week, I was the foreman and head mechanic of Bonanza West, over at Portland Airport."

Amazing! (I was in the right place at the right time).

I had him replace the engine and do a complete overhaul of the plane. It cost $12,400, the exact amount I had left from my winnings. I flew that plane for ten years and never had another problem.

What are the factors that create this unique experience?

Dr. Perry Mitchell, a psychologist and public speaker, has identified some critical elements that can help anyone step into the zone.

Since what you focus on expands, you get into the zone when you naturally capitalize on your strengths and get over your mistakes quickly.

If you enjoy what you do, you will effortlessly create a momentum that can carry you into the zone, a state where you are focused, relaxed, and self-trusting.

People rarely enter the zone because they completely believe in two myths about success.

One is that to do well you have to work hard. The result of this, of course, is that since you want to do well to succeed, you believe that working harder and harder will get you closer and closer to your goal. What it does, however, is increase pressure, anxiety, and fear. Instead of doing better, you actually do worse as you fatigue and tense up.

Another myth is that pain is good. It has been particularly popularized in sports with the slogan, "no pain, no gain." Again, increasing pain results in a state of exhaustion and the cessation of effort toward your goal.

These myths are so ingrained in the collective unconsciousness that most people operate on them without even noticing them. They feel that they are not making progress unless they feel a sense of strain and effort. And they doubt if something can be good for them if it doesn't cause discomfort.

What keeps these two myths operating is what Dr. Mitchell calls the "Critical Advisor." In Freudian terms, this would be the Super-Ego. It is an ego state that is omnipresent and works on you by making you doubt anything and everything, especially your own self-worth. It is your inner map of how you should be and persistently criticizes you for not measuring up. It considers negative motivation to be necessary for your success.

To get into the zone, you have to shut off the Critical Advisor and get into the "Hands Free Zone." This term is based on an analogy. When you are riding a bicycle without holding the handlebars, you're in the "hands free zone."

When you are in the Hands Free Zone you are soaring. When you are in it, you are focused, but in a relaxed way, like a karate expert, who is both alert and relaxed enough to strike quickly at an opponent. However, once you start to notice that you are focused,
the Critical Advisor leaps in and puts you down, thus cutting off the evenly flowing psychic energy that was putting you in the zone.

The Critical Advisor has a contest mentality and a critical mentality. The contest mentality is polarity. An evaluation of whether you are good or bad, performing well or poorly. The critical mentality is the belief that you are not good enough to do it well, not worthy of accomplishment. It constantly looks at results.

Thus, the Critical Advisor operates on a polarity paradigm and a results paradigm. Since its job is to criticize you in the belief that this will steer you in the right direction (negative motivation), it cuts off any flow or zone states. You are so focused on not making a mistake that you manifest mistakes. By trying not to miss the ball flying at you, you fumble and let it slip through your fingers. By trying not to hit the lake as you make your golf swing, you send it straight into it .

The way to avoid "choking" is to turn the Critical Advisor off. You do this by being willing to consider multiple options. And you do this by focusing on the process, not the results.

If there are more than two options, then the polarity of right and wrong lose their grip on you. Similarly, if you're still in process, you can't judge results.

Doing it right is relevant to the Critical Advisor. But to the person in flow, doing it is all that matters. When you are just doing it, not worrying about whether you are good or bad at it, not concerned about results, then you are in the zone.

In the zone, you surge (enter the Hands Free Zone), recover (from the Critical Advisor), and surge again (back in the Hands Free Zone).

In relationship to time, the Critical Advisor seeks to either dominate the past or the future.
In reviewing the past, it stirs the emotion of guilt and regret. In previewing the future, it stirs the emotion of doubt and anxiety.

A person in the zone, focuses on the present, which completely removes all the negative emotions that arise from contemplating the past or the future.

There are two formulas for getting into the zone.

In the first formula, you do the following:

1. Notice what is happening right now.
2. Weigh all your options (also called the magic of the third option).
3. Learn from your experiences.
4. See what is different.

In the second formula, you do the following:

1. You perform a centering ritual. For example, a basketball player may bounce the ball three times before shooting for the net.
2. You perform a mental rehearsal. The basketball player envisions the ball arcing and flying into the center of the hoop.
3. You optimize. Turn up the volume, so to speak. Releasing the ball into the air.
4. Finally, you capitalize on what you did well. Say a loud "yes" with a clenched fist as the ball slides perfectly into the hoop. This reinforces the subconscious.

Getting into the zone is possible. But it is a skill more than just luck. And like any skill, you have to practice to get good at 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
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What Do Angels Look Like?

She threw all her bills into the waste basket without opening them up. The kids were outside playing at the neighbors house. Her husband, as usual, had simply disappeared without saying a word to her, slamming the door behind him, stalking silently into the cool evening. He was probably drinking beer with his friends and watching a football game. Anything to be out of the house. Anything to be away from her.

She sat down on her couch and put her face in her hands.

"How did things get this bad?" she asked herself.

Somehow she couldn't cry. She had got so used to suppressing her feelings that all she felt was a numb sensation. It was like an anesthesia over her broken heart.

She worked hard at her job as a cashier at the grocery store--but it wasn't enough. And Jim seemed to have given up on finding another job after he was laid off from the bakery.

Suddenly a strange vision appeared in her mind's eye.

It was an angel wearing the body of her 12-year-old son, Matt. The same splash of red hair, with the same freckles on his amiable chubby cheeks. The same disarming soft eyes of pale green, like the waters of the lake on a cloudy day she remembered when she was growing up in Michigan. And the same beguiling smile.

"I wonder what angels look like," she mused to herself.

"That's not the right question?" said her angel.

"What is it then?"

"What do your thoughts look like?"

"I have no idea."

"Just look around you. What you have. The people in your life. The pattern of your experiences.

"Those are your thoughts made visible.

"From the invisible they have sprung into the visible world.

"The evidence of who you are and what you think is all around you.

"And if you don't like it you can change it."

"How?" she asked.

"The same way.

"You probably want an example.

"If you don't have enough money right now for all your needs, you have been thinking about how difficult it is to make money. You have then proved to yourself exactly how this is true.

"If you want to have more money than your expenses, you have to think about your reality in this way. You have to think, "I have more money than bills. All my needs are met as I express my creative talents." And so on.

"The general pattern of your thoughts, consistently applied over time, will make it the way you desire.

"Many people, of course, know all about this. Yet few demonstrate it. This is because the habitual power of your thoughts has a greater pull on you. It's much easier to live out the past than to boldly seek refuge in the future. It's easier to believe in the evidence of things seen than in the evidence of things that can come to be."

Just then her son, Matt, came into the room. Seeing his mother sitting on the couch with a far away look in her eye, he came and sat quietly beside her.

"It'll get better, Mom," he said.

"It already has."

"How?"

"An angel visited me."

"What do angels look like?"

"They look like the people you love."

"What do they do Mom?"

"They remind you that you have the power to change anything."

"How?"

"By giving up the belief that you gave it away and can't get it back."

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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
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7 Magical Keys To A Millionaire Mindset

I remember this as though it were yesterday.

The images are so clear in my mind: The impeccable dark blue suit, the splashy patterns on a light blue tie and the brilliantly polished black shoes; the suave demeanor, the hypnotic delivery, and the engaging stories.

I remember how we sat perched on our chairs watching his every move, listening to every nuance of his intonation, not wanting to miss a word.

We smiled at every promise and laughed at every joke and vicariously experienced his life as he revealed it to us.

When you have these “aha” moments, you have to capture them. Otherwise they slip into oblivion. Otherwise…before you know it, your old scarcity thinking has taken over -- and you’ve missed that moment when the crack between your past and your future opened up…a precious moment when you could have slipped through and changed the pattern of your reality forever.

That day, I believe, everyone in the warm, friendly room experienced this type of epiphany.

It was a quantum leap from our limited view of money to the unlimited view of prosperity that he proposed. He told us how he made the leap from scarcity to abundance through the experiences of his life…and in our own minds we made it, too.

This remarkable lecture was by a multimillionaire called Randy Gage. I’d like to share with you my experience of that moment—because it completely shifted my thinking and changed my life. I’m hoping that as you follow my recollection, you’ll enjoy some of the benefits. I want to pass on my significant moment to you, like a runner passing a baton in a relay race.

Randy started the lecture with a dramatic story about how he used to be a dishwasher and how he was now a multimillionaire. He shared the difference between the two lifestyles and the mentality that led to each.

This mentality has also been called “mindset” or “attitude.”

It is, I believe, the secret of manifestation.

The more deeply you read into this article, the more you’ll come to realize that real manifestation is not just doing a manifestation exercise. Real manifestation is about creating a whole new way of thinking, feeling, and believing—because what manifests most easily is your overall structure of thinking. Everything around you right now is a manifestation of a pattern of thinking rather than just the outcome of a single dynamic thought.

It is commonly believed that a person becomes a millionaire because of education, luck, connections, and money. Yet these are the effects, not the cause.

Please listen carefully to what the cause is to becoming really, really rich--

“When you first become a millionaire in your mind, then the entire universe will conspire to make that your reality.”

When the habitual pictures in your mind are that of a millionaire then the outer picture will conform to it. But you have to hold that pattern long enough and not reverse it through scarcity thinking.

Most people try to figure out how to do it. This is self-defeating and results in a complete nullification of hope. You can’t know the whole story while you’re still at the opening chapter. You have to work your way through the pages of your life to find out what happens next. The only thing that you can provide is your motivation to move forward. The universe takes care of the details.

This is what made Randy’s lecture so inspiring because he gave us the exact blueprint of how he did it. And this is what I’d like to share with you here. For the sake of brevity, I’ll present them here as 7 keys.

Key 1. Eliminate a “welfare” attitude. This is the “us” and “them” point of view. The belief that since “they” have so much they owe “us” some of it, too.

Key 2. Recognize jealousy and envy toward rich people. This is the “it’s not fair” point of view. “How come they have so much and I (or we) have so little.”

Key 3. Instead of trying to make a budget and compress your desires into it, expand how much you want to make so that you can start having more. The universe is infinite, with infinite resources. Using finite thinking will just keep you constricted in your thinking and action.

While space prevents me from going into detail about these points, consider them as starting points for discussion in your own mind. These are the “thought-boundaries” that many people experience, consciously or unconsciously, to foster scarcity-thinking. These ideas are also commonly expounded by all political parties and by most media publications because this is what appeals to voters and readers. Thus, only a Martian is unlikely to be affected by these three limiting mindsets.

Now let’s talk about how to expand your thinking:

Key 4. Birds of a feather flock together. Whether you agree or disagree, this is true. You become like the people you hang out with most of the time. Subtle influences are always at work to make you more like them. It follows that if you surround yourself with people who are sick, broke, and stupid, you have some serious thinking to do about your choices. Rich and successful people like to spend time with people who are also innovative, bold, and adventurous.

Key 5. Just as people affect your thinking, so, too, does your environment. If you can surround yourself in a pleasing, uplifting, and beautiful environment, you will experience more good moods and a better life.

Key 6. Take charge of your media influences. As the Program Director of your life, you are in charge of the movies you watch, the books you read, and the other media you expose yourself to. Whether you realize it or not, this “thought food” is what is nourishing your mind. Mentally, you can either eat at McDonalds or at a health-food restaurant. One is cheap and convenient, the other makes you positive and proactive.

Key 7. Make a serious and dedicated commitment to self-development. It’s not just about “positive thinking.” Its more about strategies of communication, styles of thinking, and methods of organizing your experiences better.

Prior to sharing these points with us, Randy Gage, pointed out that they were sure to be controversial. After all, if you were in complete agreement, you would have the mindset already. It is those points that rankle you the most that are where you need to do the most work.

If you’re reading this article today, consider this final point. You manifested it into your experience because you’re ready to create a millionaire mindset. This may have been an introduction to a journey you’re planning to make. You have the baton now, will you drop it on the ground and forget about it or finish the race and develop the millionaire mindset?

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It’s Not Over Until You Win!

The wind was up to 25 miles per hour before the event. Some 3,000 spectators were gathered at the Iffley Road track in Oxford. It was a meet between the British Amateur Athletic Association and Oxford University.

The howling winds dropped just before the race.

They decided to do it. A margin of opportunity had suddenly opened up for them.

Chris Brasher and Christopher Chataway, his friends, provided the pace.

On that day the lanky 25-year-old man changed the course of history. Roger Bannister
broke the 4-minute barrier. His exact time was 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.

The history of the human race was changed on May 6, 1954.

Yet prior to that day, it was believed to be utterly impossible. The thinkers of the day even gave informal opinions as to why it was not possible. It was not physically possible…because human body simply could not move that fast. It was clearly
against the laws of biology and violated the dynamics of physics.

Yet on that day, one young man did the impossible—despite the solid facts of history and the carefully weighed opinion of the intelligent people of his time.

Once it was proven possible, others began to do it.

Since that time an estimated 200,000 people have done it.

Consider, in the history of the world, this one feat was considered impossible. Yet one man dared to dream the impossible, train for it, and prove it.

The impossible dream is just as possible for you if you dare believe in it.

Even if you are the first person in the history of the human race to dream it…it is possible.

If you can dream it, you can achieve it.

Your will is an irresistible magnetic force that will draw all that you need to accomplish your goal—even when you have nothing going for you at the moment.

Your task is not to ponder how. Your task is to simply ask, “why not?”

Insist on your yourself. Insist on grasping your gift in the present. Insist on using the cumulative force of your will to bring it to you.

The Buddha once said, “Your work is to discover your world then with all your heart give yourself to it.”

Who are you? Where did you come from? Why are you here? And where are you going?

Can you define your world?

Dare you dream? And dare you give yourself over to your dream?

No matter what tribulations and heartaches you’re currently experiencing, no matter what obstacles and setbacks, no matter how great your frustration at the relentless forces opposing your dream, remember one thing—it isn’t over until you win.

If you can truly believe that it is possible—regardless of your current reality—then somehow and in someway, you will make the greatness that is you come into reality.

Follow your dream. Even if it is an impossible one. You can never hope for too much.
You can never dare too much.

“It isn’t over until I win.” Make that your mantra.

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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
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Will You Keep On Slaying Dragons Or Be A Hero?

“Well, Johnny,” said his Mom, as she closed the book, “that’s it for dragons tonight.”

As she tucked him under the covers, she noticed that he was frowning.

“Do you have something on your mind, son?”

“I think St. George had it easy.”

“No, he didn’t he killed the dragon. It wasn’t easy at all.”

“Anyone can kill a dragon, Mom. It’s not hard. Just stick him with your lance.”

She kissed him on his brow and started to walk out of the room.

“You know what’s hard, Mom?” asked Johnny.

Sighing, Agnes returned and sat on the side of the bed.

“You know, Mom…anyone can kill a dragon. What is real hard is waking up every morning and trying to love people all over again. That takes a real hero.”

There comes a time in every life when people face a day of reckoning. For some it comes early. For others late. Possibly, for a few it never comes.

On that day, you ask: “Did I help someone, did I do well by someone, did I make a difference? Did I love myself, did I love other people, did I love the world?”

It’s easy enough to just drift through life and whittle it away, one uncaring day after another, preoccupied with just trying to survive…but that’s not what this entire earth journey is about at all.

Did you give back to others? Did you love enough? Did you laugh with anyone? Did you understand another’s pain? Did you make a small effort to leave things better than you found them?

Perhaps you don’t have a prescient little soul like Johnny in your life to remind you of the deeper things—but you can still be a hero any day. There’s much more to life than just slaying dragons.

Who did you help today? Who did you hurt today? Who did you thank today? Who did you forgive today?

And how will you do it better tomorrow?

What will you be…today, and tomorrow?

What will you do with the rest of your life?

Will you keep on slaying dragons or be a hero?


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12 Good Reasons Why You Can Absolutely Have What You Want

I’d like to introduce you to the most wonderful person you’ve ever met.

I want you to understand right from the start how beautiful, wonderful, and powerful you really are.

It’s possible that this observation has completely escaped you—until now.

This has probably happened because for one reason or another, you’re not aware of your infinite possibilities.

Somehow The Art of Living your Dreams has not been taught in any of the classes that you’ve taken in the School of Life.

You may have skipped this class because you thought that living your dreams had something to do with struggle, discomfort, and pain.

Fortunately, that is not true. Your dreams are always about values, beliefs, ideals, imagination, and hope.

Since you live in a magical universe governed by fixed and indestructible laws, you can easily take this class at any time you choose.

Once you understand your dreams, you can transform your life. Completely.

You don’t need more money, more contacts, more love, or more education. You are your own lucky break. All you need to do is to understand the principles that the prophets, avatars, and messiahs have shared with us since the beginning of recorded history.

These principles are about the truth. Not the relative truth of this world, which shifts from one culture to the next, and sometimes from one day to the next…but the truth about who you are—a spiritual being; why you’re here—to learn to love; and the magic power of your own mind—see it, feel it, and believe it and somehow it finds a way to show up in your reality.

Just as a reminder…here are 12 quick reasons why you can absolutely have whatever you want.

1. Thoughts become things. The imaging power of your mind translates into your experiences.

2. Beliefs. What you believe shows up as facts for you.

3. Emotions. What you feel shapes your reality.

4. Expectations. What you hope for happens, if you can hold on to it long enough.

5. Gifts. You came into this world laden with gifts of insight, creativity, and humor, not to mention your unique talents.

6. Magic. Despite all your doubts, you understand that magic does exist. Sometimes it may take waking up early to catch the sunrise to remind you.

7. Connected. No matter how much you like to think otherwise—you’re never alone. You’re always connected to inspiration. There are beings, on this plane and others, who delight in your success and try to help you when you let them.

8. Abundance. You may have noticed that there is no shortage of raindrops, rivers, forests, people, plants, or animals. Nature is abundant. Why do you think that you were left out?

9. Relationships. All you need to do to create an instant relationship with anyone at anytime is to smile.

10. Tools. You have about a 100 billion brain cells. Surely, you could run a galaxy with that amount of power.

11. Curiosity. You want to know things and the more you learn the more your world expands and the more interesting it becomes.

12. Meaning. Yes, life does have meaning. You just have to look in any mirror to find it.

Are you beginning to understand how the greatest epiphany in the universe is the realization of the miracle of your own being?

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An Evening With An Enlightened Man

It was a quiet night by the Ganges as the young man sat on the steps and watched the sun set over the holy waters.

Despite the beauty of the scene, he did not appreciate it.

The lilting cadence of the bathers chatting loudly seemed far away, and even their playful splashing of each other did not amuse him.

Someone started chanting a bhajan about Krishna and the gopis and others soon joined him until their happy voices slapped on the shores of the river and made the mosquitoes pause in midair.

This only irritated the young man more. He was worried about his job…how little it paid…and how he was going to pay for the rent for his 250 rupee room.

He was also lonely and wanted to get married…but what good family would accept someone who spent most of his time serving in a tea stall.

A holy man came and sat by him. He was only wearing sacred ash from head to toe.

“You seem troubled, young man,” said the man, almost jovially.

Soon they began talking and the young man poured out his heart. He learned that the holy man, who spoke very well, had once been a college professor at the University of Allahabad. Then, one day, after he had given a lecture on the philosophy of renunciation he had decided to pursue what he most desired—the quest for enlightenment.

After many years, one night, as he was stroking a stray cat and the two had been sitting for hours under a banyan tree, he understood his true nature and an immense peace filled his life and miracles happened to him spontaneously from then on.

The young man listened impatiently, feeling increasingly irritated.

Finally, in exasperation, the young man said, “I don’t understand how you can be either enlightened or happy. You have even less than I. You don’t even have any clothes and you don’t even know where your next meal is going to come from.”

Suddenly serious, the sadhu said:

“It’s tempting to believe that your problems are real and that your life is hard and that things are simply not going your way.

“After all, isn’t that what everybody else thinks, too?

“It’s a great temptation to believe in yourself as a limited being.

“And everyone will back you up. The newspapers will. The TV will. Your neighbors will.

“How long are you going to let this painful delusion continue?

“You’ve read the great books. You’ve heard the avatars. You’ve walked on the path yourself. You know.

“You know that you’re pure energy.

“You also know that your reach is infinite. You can be, have, and do anything that you choose. You have the power. Right now its turned back on itself and being used to create limitations for yourself.

“Your imaging power is how you express your infinite power.

“All ideas of limitations are an illusion fostered by the mind.

“And you can’t fall back on science either to confirm your limitation.

“Because what physicists say is that there is nothing but energy everywhere and that matter only seems solid but isn’t really. It’s just that the atoms clump together and the electrons spin so fast that even I look like a real thing.

“Of course, it’s fine to keep seeing yourself as “just human” but it’s not going to last for very long. Sooner or later, you’ll drop your body and be faced with your energy form.
I just think it’s easier to admit it now—and see how you can go around expressing your spiritual power while you’re still in this dimension.”

“Yes,” said the young man, “I think I understand.”

“What do you understand?” challenged the sadhu.

“I understand that I can be, have, and do anything that I choose because I have the power. The only reason that I don’t recognize it is because I misuse it to limit myself to the extreme.”

“Yes,” said the holy man, pleased. “The world for you is only the images you hold in your mind; change your images and you change the world for you.”

“One thing I don’t understand, though,” said the young man. “Why did you give up everything…a fine education, an excellent job, and a devoted family? Why? Was it worth such a heavy price for enlightenment?”

“Yes, because it led up to that moment under the banyan tree with the cat that I mentioned earlier.”

“What is this enlightenment? What happened?”

“I caught a glimpse of the infinite.”

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The Simple Little Secret That Improves Relationships by 100%

Michelle has many friends. They call her often. She also has a devoted family. Michelle is only alone when she chooses to be, and she is never lonely. This has always been the way for her. Since childhood, she has never lacked for companionship.

Karen has just the opposite experience of life. She makes friends but loses them quickly. She seldom contacts her family, mainly because they often argue about small things. Loneliness is habitual for her. Even when she is with other people, she feels lonely…because she can’t feel a connection with them.

Ramón is shy. He opens up to people slowly and sometimes likes and trusts them. But he is never quite sure of his relationships. He wants to reach out more but is never quite sure of other people. He is often lonely, but sometimes enjoy wonderful companionship. Unfortunately these moments of bonding are not frequent and he spends a lot of time reminiscing on true friends who have since changed or moved away.

Some people live in a loving world. They are surrounded by family, friends, and well-wishers. They move in circles of affection that seem to expand over time.

Other people live in a hostile world. They spend lives full of broken relationships, forsaken trusts, and tarnished hopes. They lose touch with people quickly. They win new friends slowly, if at all.

Most people live in-between these worlds and many times they’re not sure how they stand. The world to them is a shifting place, where boundaries blur and orientations change. They never quite feel comfortable in it. It’s unpredictable. They embark on each relationship with doubt. Hesitation defines their world.

Now, the funny thing is this: it’s the same world.

The world and it’s people does not happen to us. We happen to it. We impact it silently with our thoughts and feelings...and obviously with our words, actions, and attitudes.

How do you move from a world of isolation to one of companionship?

Perhaps a song from The Sound of Music written by the unforgettable Oscar Hammerstein can clue us in.

A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,
A song is no song 'til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn't put there to stay -
Love isn't love
'Til you give it away.

You get from isolation to companionship by giving yourself away. You turn potentiality into actuality through self-sacrifice. Yet you never lose or have less because what you put out comes back to you multiplied.

Those who live in a loving world are natural givers. They give of their time, talent, and treasure. Others respond to them in kind.

Those who live in a hostile world oppose everyone and share little of themselves.

While those who live in a doubtful world wait in vain for others to warm up to them.

You choose, with every interaction, the world you live in.

Reaching out and touching someone’s life in a positive way can be as simple as a smile.

When you give a little of yourself, you receive much more in return. It’s a simple little secret that can brighten up the world and your life.


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The Great Man Who Wanted To Be Free

Sitting by the fireside in the cold desert night, the sky above him pitch black and mysteriously void of stars, he reflected on who he was and what he might have been and the history of the troubled times that were unfolding all around him.

His name was Chief Joseph. Possibly the greatest of the Nez Perce Indian Tribe.

On a parchment in front of him, he wrote these words.

“Let me be a free man.
Free to travel. Free to stop.
Free to work. Free to choose my own teachers.
Free to follow the religion of my fathers.
Free to think and talk and act for myself.”

Then he began to reflect on what it might all mean. If someone were with him this night of his vision quest, what would he say?

Staring at the fire, he understood. For it spoke to him.

Your inner fire is the best part of you.

It’s who you are inside. It’s who you want to be on the outside.

Every time you dream of what is possible for you, it sparks.

Yet almost everybody reacts to it with fear.

And this is why, more than anything else, our world is in such a sorry state.

It’s not even the major tragedies—the wars, the poverty, the sickness, and death that impresses its weight upon the traveler on this stage of the world.

It’s the quotidian numbness of those who aren’t in a war zone, who have food and shelter and enough to meet their needs, who are well enough, and who move from day to day as shadows of their own glory.

If these numbers would step outside the hopeless swamp of mediocrity, step outside the approximate dream, then they could heal the major tragedies of war, hunger, and sickness.

Yet their genius and their collective will has been trapped in the not-quite, the not-yet, and sometimes the not-at-all.

They have let the heroism of their soul which bravely chose another incarnation fall to waste.

They are lonely for their own greatness.

They are frustrated with life and getting what they don’t deserve.

They are not able to reach for that inner something that pulls at them.

They do not wage battle against the stupidity that keeps them locked into insignificance.

Yet the world they desire can be won.

It is authentic.

It is probable.

It is their own.

When we feel the world inside, then we will find the way to heal the world outside.

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How To Have How To Have the Best Possible Job Without Lifting One Extra Finger

Sally was in the office, bored out of her mind. Her boss had gone home two hours earlier and there had been no work since. She was also nearly in tears.

As the personal assistant over the years to the General Manager of Ace Shipping Services, her job duties had expanded over the years.

This was mainly due to the rapid turnover in the company.

Somebody had to fill in the gap—make sure the phones are answered, the letters to clients written, the customer service complaints handled, and sometimes even the service of the company pitched to another business.

Once in a while, she even had to make personal delivery.

Today, her boss, Steven Allen had yelled at her. Not really yelled, just raised his voice slightly.

Yelling was what he did to the others. Still, she was perturbed.

Yes, she did understand what was going on. The company had just lost another major contract because it had not delivered on time. Again, they had been short on help. Filipe, the new guy, had not shown up after his third day at work.

Yes, she had made some embarrassing mistakes in spelling and dispatched the apology letter off to the client in haste—thus confirming to the world at large the incompetence of Ace.

She sighed…some days, she wished she had a better job.

A delivery man came in with a letter and asked her to sign for it.

She was about to just put it on Steve’s desk when she noticed it was addressed to her.

Intrigued, especially since nobody ever wrote to her, she immediately tore it open.

Dear Sally:

I'm writing to offer you the best possible job. You can apply for this job without lifting one extra finger.

You may not have been aware of this opportunity before because you’ve probably been looking in the wrong place.

You’ve probably been looking at the place you go to do something that will give you enough money to pay your bills.

That’s your job in the country you live in. It’s your job in this world.

But you’re not just a citizen of a small part of the planet.

You’re a citizen of the universe.

And I'd like to offer you a job that we offer to all our citizens.

It's a job that is really exciting and pays the big money and offers all the perks.

Your job in the universe is to ASK for what you want.

You do this asking through thoughts and words. And if you really want to escalate things, you can do it through actions, too.

Our universal fulfillment house then directly drop-ships your order to your address.

Now, if you’re one of these people who like to go the extra mile, there is another aspect of your job, too.

When you get your order shipped, give thanks and be joyful.

That’s part of your job, too.

It’s a little tougher to do, no doubt. But somebody has to do it, right? And it might as well be you.

At your service,

Universal Services, Inc.

P.S. We’re looking forward to your next order.


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WARNING! Don't Even Think About Watching TV This Evening Until You've Read This!

He sat in front of the television watching his favorite soap opera.

The telephone rang.

“Hello,” he said, “Matt here.”

“Hello, Matt, how has your day been?” said a pleasant voice.

“It’s been the usual mess. I just got home. I got paid today. It’s not even enough to pay for my rent. I’m not sure what to do. And Maggie has decided to break up with me despite my taking her to Disney World for her birthday.”

“Anything else going on?”

“Well, remember that ulcer I was telling you about, Ted…”

“This isn’t Ted. It’s God.”

“Ha ha! Funny guy. I saw the movie, too. Remember?”

“Do you need a miracle?”

“Sure. Whatever.”

“Then be sure to watch the next commercial. It’s due in the next two minutes.” A click followed.

“Goofball!” said Matt, almost amused, and took another sip of his beer.

Two minutes later…Matt spilled his beer all over the carpet when Ted, his best friend since High School, showed up on a commercial.

“You’re powerful! Matt!” said Ted. “Very powerful!”

“You get what you set your mind on having. And you will be what you decide.

“Do you need proof?

“Look around you.

“You are exactly where you are now with what you have now because of your power.

“You made choices and you held certain thoughts, and now as you look around you, you see the evidence.

“You even took action to bring these things into your experience.

“If it’s not what you want, if you feel you deserve better, then you have enough power to make that happen, too.

“You’re constantly making choices. You’re constantly having visions. And what you have is a result of all of that.

“If you don’t like what you see, then you’ve been deceiving yourself about what you really want.

“Because if you really, truly wanted it, you’d get it.

“What you wanted in the past, you have now.

“What you want to get in the future, you have to decide on it today.

“If you want to be a millionaire, you’ll learn what millionaires do, try out a few things, and after stumbling and falling for a while, you’ll figure it out.

“Then, one day, you’ll be one.

“It’s not really about how to do it. It’s about who is going to do it for you. And that person, of course, is you.

“Similarly, you can find the love of your life, be a sports star, a genius, or simply watch TV for the rest of the evening.

“You can have whatever you want. And if you don’t think you can, you’ll get that too.

“You simply have to be sure of what you want. Because you’ll get it.

“The way may not be clear today but your intention will make it happen. It will put you on the path to where you want to go.

“It’s all about deciding. Then doing it. And learning how along the way.

“You’re powerful. Your only real question is what to do about it.”

“Oh my God!” said Matt and fell off the rocking chair.


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Kindness Is A Strategy For A Happy Life

All our thoughts and feelings as we go through our day are recorded for us by the universe and then played back to us as an experience on the screen of time-space.

Because we have long since forgotten what we thought or felt about anything, when the playback unrolls it takes us by surprise, and since we are more prone to negative views on things, as our urge to fix things is usually stronger than our urge to heal them, the playback usually sets us off on another cycle of gloom and doom.

Of course in our more sunny moods and times of awareness, we determine to set things up right the next time, but as our mind speeds up with the roll of urgent events, we fall back into unawareness and create more mishap.

In general, then, the better strategy is to assume an attitude of helpfulness, both to ourselves and others, a kindness and tolerance in our view, a forgiving and giving in our actions, and a sense of poise and ease in our delivery of any dialogue.

When Albert Schweitzer wanted people to understand this value of cooperation and harmony he would tell this story:

"A flock of wild geese had settled to rest on a pond. One of the flock had been captured by a gardener, who had clipped its wings before releasing it. When the geese started to resume their flight, this one tried frantically, but vainly, to lift itself into the air.

"The others, observing his struggles, flew about in obvious efforts to encourage him; but it was no use.
Thereupon, the entire flock settled back on the pond and waited, even though the urge to go on was strong within them. For several days they waited until the damaged feathers had grown sufficiently to permit the goose to fly.

"Meanwhile, the unethical gardener, having been converted by the ethical geese, gladly watched them as they finally rose together and all resumed their long flight."

We can learn much from this story, for it is not only about the ethics of kindness amongst the geese, but also how they were in relationship with the universe itself even when misfortune struck. The lesson was not for the geese but for the gardener.

Through our conduct, we can establish the same rapport with the universe that the geese enjoyed and that made them whole despite an unexpected adversity.

Our most important relationship, then, is with the universe for it gives us our reality, the unfolding movie of our lives. But this relationship is an indirect one for we are dealing with an invisible current that shapes our destiny from day to day by how we think and feel.

While at certain peak states of awareness we may be able to control our thoughts and feelings about things, the general tone of life is not conducive to such heightened perception, and a better general strategy for staying on good terms with the universe is by exercising the view held by the geese, a sense of love and tolerance, acceptance and patience.

Life is short but it is also a long flight and we enjoy it most when we are in the company of a universe that buoys our every effort with benediction, heals our wounds when we should fall, and leads us to higher and higher comprehension of the mystery of sentience; but to get to this place, we need to be the embodiment of benediction ourselves.

The purpose of all virtue is not to win accolades or fulfill some creed taught in some group—it is, more than anything else, a way for us to find rhythm, harmony, and peace as we walk towards the twilight of our days, preparing for journeys beyond the body; for everything, even life itself, is always a preparation for something greater.

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How Fred Perry Shut The Only Portal To Infinity Behind Him

He went up the escalator to the second floor, then turned right toward the bookstore.

After rummaging around the various aisles, looking low and high, opening and glancing at a few books now and then, he hastily left the place, much to the relief of the sales clerk who had silently followed him around and picked up and replaced his discarded books.

Then, catching the escalator to the third floor, he went into the movie house, glanced at the billboard, picked one at random, and purchased a ticket. The movie did not interest him much, so he switched between various movies playing on that day in the various theaters. Finally, he left.

Still on the third floor, he thought he might find it in the store that sold scented oils and soaps, but despite sniffing at a few sample bottles and disturbing the entire crew who were working the shift that morning by his frantic behavior and inane questions, he did not find it there.

Descending down the escalator, he paced the lower floor, peering anxiously in one window after another, but somehow nobody seemed to be selling it.

“What are you looking for, young man?” asked a pleasant stranger, incongruously dressed in the habits of a monk, a rough, dark brown piece of single cloth that descended from his neck down to his ankles.

“The answer!”

“Well, you won’t find it here, in this pavilion, it’s only for those who seek temporal and perishable goods. Come with me.”

After seizing the young man’s hand, the monk led him into a store for candles and incense sticks and as soon as they parted the curtain behind the counter that led to one of the back rooms, they stepped into a wormhole in time-space.

Transported to a bleak desertscape, red, sandy, and with a hot dry wind ruffling their hair, the monk showed him the mouth of a dark cave and urged him to follow inside.

Miles later, after crawling on their hands and knees for the most part, they spied an illumination. Initially, it was a faint glow, but the closer they got to it, the more the light managed to wind around the corners and shine on them.

When they came to the vast cavern, it appeared so suddenly that they almost tumbled out of their tunnel into it.

The rocks of the entire cavern reflected a pale blue tone that at once calmed and excited them. The light came from the depth of the placid pool in the middle of the magnificent chamber.

“You’ll find the answer there,” said the monk, pointing.

Walking over to the pool, the young man looked into it and because it was so clear, he saw that it was of infinite depth. He also immediately intuited that the answer to all his problems was reflected back at him. Seeing his own face and the lines of the years etched in them, he saw his image smile back at him.

“How can this be?” he asked, perplexed. “It appears that I AM THAT I AM.”

“Yes, it’s strange but true,” said the monk, “YOU are the answer!”

But before the young man could object, the alarm clock rang.

Fred Perry realized that he was late, jumped out of his dream and his bed, dressed up in the clothes that he had strewn at the foot of the bed the nigh before, and without even brushing his hair or his teeth, rushed out of the door.

At the factory, as soon as he had punched in the time clock, he sighed with relief, not realizing for a single moment throughout the rest of the day as he stood by the conveyer belt and placed the caps on the bottles that passed before him that he had shut the portal of infinity behind him.
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The Life Divine (a poem)

If you wish to live the life divine,
Pray without ceasing.
Make all your acts
One of devotion
To the unknown life force.

Ask constantly what is
That
Which ignites the possibility
In everything,
Large or small,
Near or far.

When you do this
You will understand
How all is within the compass
Of the incomprehensible.
All is without doubt
Whole
But pretends otherwise.

Can you be anything less
Than the force
That Molded you,
Weans you
And brings you
Suddenly
To this moment
Of infinity?

Seek constantly
For the reassurance
Of your own
Presence
In this vast scheme
Of dust, agony, and time.

~Saleem Rana

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You Can Completely Alter Your Life With “Profound Knowledge”

In the field of psychology, many people are aware of how trauma can ruin a person’s life, throwing it off-track, bringing misery and chaos in it’s wake.

But what most people are not aware of is that the opposite can happen. Something really good can happen to a person that elevates their lives to the level of greatness.

For lack of a better term, I am calling this experience “profound knowledge.”

This is something fascinating and worth exploring.

A 13-year-old-boy boy in Singapore went to an accelerated learning workshop called Super-Teen that used many of Tony Buzan’s ideas.

He went from the bottom of his class to the top of his school in academic performance in a year. He topped his “O” level examinations, scoring in the 1 percentile bracket. Then he did the same thing with his “A” level examinations and was admitted to the best university in the country. He also became a multimillionaire by the age of 26.

Today he is a leading educational and business figure in Singapore. Millions seek to learn from him how to shift their lives. His books have been on the best-seller lists.

Similarly, another boy, this one an American, went to a Summer Camp. He, too, was at the bottom of his class.

He was taking remedial learning classes in this camp, but, as usual, not doing well.

He spent his afternoons at the bottom of a swimming pool, practicing how to hold his breath.

Something remarkable happened.

This little game expanded his carotid artery, literally allowing his brain to take in more oxygen from his lungs. And he went from straight F’s to straight A’s to everyone’s amazement, including his own.

All he did was accidentally learn how to breathe in a much deeper way!

Years later, when he was a leading educational figure in America, he recalls this incident as the turning point in his life.

Today he has a doctorate in education and is creating programs and systems that teach people how to think like a genius. In fact, in his own right, he is considered a genius.

I’ll give you one more true story.

Again, this is another American boy. He loved to play baseball but was hopeless at it. He could barely bat.

His father took him to see an educational expert (the same one mentioned earlier) and after a brief session of guided imagery, the boy had an unconscious perception of how to swing the bat and connect with the ball.

From that point on he began to play well, and in a short time started to star, until he ended up becoming an MVP, a Most Valued Player, in his school district.

Sometimes, this “profound knowledge” can affect a whole culture.

When Edward Deming went to help post-war Japan recover, his ideas so impacted his audience that it made Japan one of the world’s leading manufacturers of top quality products.

Usually, this is the cycle of the reception of “profound knowledge:”

There is an upset. This happens usually in childhood, when we are more open and vulnerable, more naïve about how the world works.

Then something happens, usually by accident, that completely changes our world-view overnight.

This is a piece of information that completely solves our major problem. Someone or something happens to give us “profound knowledge.”

We then embrace this experience, “take it to heart” and it transforms our world.

Now the most interesting thing about this “profound knowledge” is that it not only starts to work immediately, but increases in “profoundness” over time, until it reaches astonishing proportions.

It does happen in adulthood as well, but rarely. This is because adults are generally less open and impressionable.

Most cases occur in entrepreneurial businesses, where one day, someone is struggling, with barely enough to eat, and then, to everyone’s surprise, they connect with “profound knowledge” and go on to make millions.

Now that you have become aware of “profound knowledge” review your own life and see if you can find any incidents that could have lifted you to another level.

Once you find this incident, see if there is a way for you to revisit it and embrace it’s silent and invisible power.

You are looking for three things: (a) an upset; (b) a receptivity; (c) exposure to profound knowledge.

If you can find this incident in your past, it will be well worth your while to see if you can nurture it and bring it into your present experience.

It may have been a course you took or a book you read or something someone said to you. It may have been a person who helped and inspired you and made you realize your own special gifts. It may have been an insight you suddenly stumbled upon while doing something quite mundane but that made you stop in astonishment.

Once you find it, see if you can evoke the mood, and also note how you just missed embracing it. Now, in the present moment, see how you can amplify it; then, make it alive enough for you to transform it into “profound knowledge.”


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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
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How To Have The Best Day Of Your Life

One bright summer morning, Ivan Kroutikhin went quite mad.

He was a tiny, balding, elderly man, with hunched shoulders.

After a hasty breakfast, he patted the toast crumbs off his usual shabby suit and shuffled towards the door.

“Stop!” said his wife, Ira. “You forgot the garbage. It’s stinking up the whole apartment.”

“I’d prefer not to. It will make my suit smell.”

His robust, large, redheaded wife flew into a rage and slammed the door behind him.

“Don’t come back, you ingrate,” she shouted from the top story window. “I’ll do everything myself from now on!”

Walking to work, his only friend, Leo, approached him and asked for a small loan to tide him over for the weekend.

Ivan winced as the tall, heavy man breathed alcoholic fumes in his face.

“I’d prefer not to. It will mean I’ll have to do without lunch again.”

“See if I talk to you again, you selfish imp,” cursed Leo and stalked away.

At work, after he had perched behind his desk and began his book-keeping task, his boss, Alexander Korjev, a great big potato of a man with a voice like a fog-horn came in, swore at him for incompetence, and showed him how he had entered some figures in the ledger incorrectly the previous day.

“Fix this right now,” he shouted.

“I’d prefer not to,” said Ivan.

“What! What did you say to me? How DARE you speak to me like this…you, you…pipsqueak!”

“You heard me correctly,” said Ivan. “I said, I’d prefer not to. In fact, I’d prefer not to work for a man who treats me like a fool.”

Shuffling to his feet, Ivan walked toward the door, leaving the seething, red-faced man staring at his back.

On the bus, the burly man with the thick black coat and a pinched face like Lenin said, “Excuse me, sir. But for the last ten years I have never seen you smile before or even look up from your shoes, can you tell me why you are smiling like an idiot today?”

“It’s because I’m having the best day of my life.”

“Rubbish,” said the man. “In these times, it’s not possible.”

“Listen,” said Ivan, a note of authority in his voice (which even surprised him):
“You, too, will have the best day of your life when you realize that the gift is yours, and it’s an amazing journey, and you alone are responsible for the quality of it.”

The bus pulled to a stop a few block before the Kremlin. The man got up, then suddenly turned to Ivan and pulled out a fistful of rubles from his big coat and started stuffing them into Ivan’s breast pocket.

“What are you doing,” cried Ivan, alarmed. “Have you gone quite mad?”

“Yes,” said the man, laughing. “I’m paying my obligation to you right now.”

“Wait! ” said Ivan suddenly as the man started walking away. Rising from his seat, he followed the stranger off the bus.

“How should we begin?” asked his new friend, wiping the tears of mirth from his eyes.

“I’m not sure,” said Ivan, wiping his own tears. “It’s such a large adventure.”

The best day of your life is the day you decide your life is your own.

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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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Dare You Come Alive And Live Your Life With Passion?

Nicholas Darvas, escaping his war-torn homeland, Hungary, sought refuge in Turkey in June 1943.

In Istanbul, however, he faced a new crisis.

Now, he had no friends, no money, no knowledge of Turkish, and no citizenship. He risked starvation. He also risked losing his sense of identity.

He didn’t want to be poor and hungry for the rest of his life. No, he had fonder hopes for himself. He wanted to thrive. He wanted to be an outrageous success.

After the penniless 23-year-old exile fought off immediate peril, he turned his mind back to dreams of glory.

He analyzed his situation by listing his talents. He dismissed numerous options. Only one talent really appealed to him. Only one sang to his soul. He loved to dance.

Yes, he finally decided, he would be a dancer.

Dancing fit his personality. In dancing, he had only to display the grace of his body in motion. He did not have to be witty or eloquent.

Although he was basically a shy person, he decided that he would be different, special, and unusual.

He would dance amazingly well. He would be the best. No, better still, he would be the best of the best.

He would dance in the finest theaters in the world. He would dance to packed audiences. He would flit, like a butterfly, across the stages of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities. He would be a firefly of the night- life.

People would talk about him long after he had left the stage. Newspapers would rave about his performances. Agents would compete for his attention.

Yes, people the world over would be willing to pay a high price for the joy of seeing him dance. Just by watching him, people would be enthralled. They would be inspired by his power, speed, grace, agility.

He would be famous. No, world-famous.

His life, he decided, would be one of splendid, dancing, uplifting motion.

Years passed...then...

One day, in New York, in his dressing room, he looked at himself in the mirror and smiled. A shiver ran up his spine. He was looking at the highest-paid dancer in the world.

My friend, you, too, have a splendid opportunity right now to be more alive...to find your dream...and follow your goal.

Imagine, just for one moment, if you chose to use the spark of your life to burn a brilliant blaze.

What would happen to your life if you learned how to make every atom of your being glow like a meteor, lighting up the night sky?

Your proper function is to live. It is not merely to exist. It is much more than to survive.

Do you spend most of your time just trying to get by, with very little of it devoted to bringing out your talents and your special qualities?

The proper function of a person is to live. Will you waste your days trying to prolong them--or will you burn like a shooting star?

Will you die an unlived life?

Or do you choose to inhabit your days and allow your living to open you up?

Can you allow yourself to be less afraid and more accessible?

Can you loosen up your heart?

Dare you live your life as if you had wings? Dare you make your life blaze like a torch to guide and assist the world? And dare you embody the promise of all your latent greatness?

Imagine what would happen if you choose to risk your significance, and to plant seeds, and to watch them blossom, and to allow them to become fruit?

Your greatness is awaiting you—will you accept it?

There is an old Cherokee saying that goes something like this: “When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.”

I think you catch my drift.


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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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You Have A Diamond In Your Pocket

People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains.

They gasp at the huge waves of the seas.

Here, locally, in Colorado, they jump on rubber boats to enjoy the long course of the rivers.

They are amazed at the vast compass of the ocean.

At nights, they pull out their telescope to marvel at the circular motion of the stars.

Yet the most amazing thing about them is that they pass by themselves without wondering.

The world is fascinating, but what can be more intriguing then being a soul in the world, caught up in yet another adventure?

There is so much to learn about ourselves.

Just by journaling, you can see the pattern of your life. You can learn the lessons of your experiences. And you can learn to focus on your strengths and overcome your weaknesses.

And if you could just grasp this simple discipline, then many of your difficulties would fall away.

Because the lessons are not noticed, they are not reflected upon.
And the same painful cycles of grief repeat themselves over and over.

Why is that?

Why are people so impatient with themselves? Why are they so indifferent to themselves? Why do they value themselves so little?

Is it the fear that if they liked themselves a little more it would be narcissistic? Yet vanity is not self-appreciation. Vanity is a mere shell to hide one’s insecurity. Self-appreciation is a way to empowerment of self and others.

There is so much potential in each and every person. There is so much latent ability. If people tapped into it, they could open up whole realms of happiness and satisfaction.

Yet few pay attention to their own value.

But--

The human soul is more wondrous than the height of the mountains.

It is more delightful than the huge waves of the seas.

It is more enjoyable than the long course of the rivers.

It is more amazing than the vast compass of the ocean.

And it is more marvelous than the circular motion of the stars.

Yet people disrespect their own souls. And because they don’t appreciate themselves, they don’t appreciate others either.

They understand very little and reflect even less about who they are and how they can contribute to life.

It’s almost tragic how people miss the most fascinating thing in all of creation: their own inner beauty and that of others.

Why would anyone with a diamond in their pocket, go around bemoaning their wretched condition?


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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 To Pick The Right Business To Get Rich

Many people are in the wrong business. They’re with the wrong people. They’re doing the wrong things. They’re miserable. And they’re barely making any money.

You can see right away they’re faking it. Somehow--they’re hoping to make it work out.

They are in the wrong business because they looked around for the best possible job. Instead they should have looked within to what they were naturally good at doing.

When you look within, you notice your strengths. When you look without, you’re busy compensating for your weaknesses.

In school, we’re trained to make up for our weaknesses, to fix what’s wrong and to take our strengths for granted.

In life, especially in business, it’s a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately, it’s such a common recipe that most people don’t even realize that they’re doing it. How can it be wrong, they reason, if every one else, as far as they can see, is doing it too?

It’s wrong because they’re poor and miserable and the best part of their day is when it’s over. And by following their example, you’re probably in the same boat.

Is this a sensible way to live a rich and fulfilling life?

Ironically, it’s easy to pick the right business. Look within. Then, and only then, look around you and see where that kind of work is being done. If it isn’t, you may have to start your own business right away.

When you go about something in the wrong way, it’s not reasonable to expect the right result.

When you pick the right business, it is the one that will eventually make you money, too.

Here’s why:

You’ll gladly do the work, study its nuances, associate with like-minded people, overcome obstacles, communicate better--and the result will be more money.

But finding it all starts when you look within.

You might as well do work that you enjoy because that’s where you’ll be spending most of your time. And time…you may have noticed…is life.

Business is a game. It has its strategies, rules, and players. There are many types of businesses to be in. Pick the right business to be in if you hope to win. This is the business that matches your natural strengths.

It’s all about picking the right game to play in.

Pick the wrong game and you’ll lose, outmatched by those with a natural skill for it. You’ll be outmatched and exhausted just trying to keep up.

But if you pick the right game, your natural skills will come into play. Now it’s your competitors who will be outmatched.

If you play and win the right game, you’ll be wealthy.

By picking the wrong business to be in, you’re forcing yourself to struggle.

Unfortunately, people pick the wrong business to be in all the time.

They focus on the money and the rewards. They study courses that bore them to tears. They work with people who are different from them. Sooner or later, they drop out, overwhelmed.

What’s more, pick the wrong business and you’ll struggle for insignificant rewards—more money, more prestige, and learning more boring details about something you really couldn’t care less about.

The wrong business will end up feeling like a life sentence in a community prison.

The right business is rewarding just to be in it. Money, prestige, and other things come as a matter of course. The best part is that you’ll be working with others in a common cause. You’ll enjoy camaraderie, adventure, and exciting learning.

In choosing work, if you change the rules of the game to favor your strengths and your passions, they can make you rich.

When you favor your strengths, you get a competitive advantage.

Your strengths are your natural talents.

The bulk of your life experience, education and skills have been around that strength.

You have been preparing your whole life for the moment when you can use 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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