Tag Archives: Goals

Reading for Pleasure

So you’re sitting there, reading this, wondering how you got here. You may be wondering whether or not you can find this useful, or you may be wondering if you will find this interesting. I know the feeling. You start to do this, and wonder how much you are going to get out of it. Sometimes you find benefit, sometimes you don’t. It can be a metaphor for life, if you think about it. You wonder exactly what it is you’re doing, and if you can really find this useful. Many others that regularly read this blog, like you, have been able to find really cool stuff here. Like book reviews.

I have a friend who works at a bookstore. He doesn’t really make that much money. In fact it makes barely above minimum wage. Despite the less than stellar pay, he is able to find it really interesting. He just loves to read. He finds it fascinating looking through all the books, arranging them on the shelves, picking up the ones people leave on the table when they are sitting around drinking coffee. (I love doing that.) He says just picking up the books and reading the backs as he is returning them to the shelves is the second best part of the job. He has this cart that he wheels around, and he takes his time, so he can read this and that. And he finds some really fascinating things that he didn’t even know existed. Cookbooks, exercise books, photography books. It’s absolutely incredible the amount of information you can find in a book store. And like I said, that’s not even the best part.

I actually met him a few weeks ago after he finished working. We met in the cafe section, and there happened to be a Toastmasters group that was meeting. And this guy gave a speech about goals. He was talking about setting goals, and how you need to make sure you know what is really important when choosing the things that you want to make come true in life. He said that it starts by thinking of something, now, that you want to achieve in life. Something really nice that you want to achieve. And when you think of that, you can ask yourself, what’s important about that? What is really important about having that thing that you want to achieve? And when you really start to imagine what is important about that, you can really begin to imagine how nice it will be when achieve that. And as you read this, you  might be able to do that yourself. I don’t know if you are able think of that now while you read this, but you can really find value in this, because doing this can help you achieve many things in life.

So after the guy finished his speech, my friend told me the absolute best part of working at a bookstore. He gets to talk to all kinds of different people each day. Especially when they come in to his shop, but they aren’t sure exactly what they want. He can help them make a decision, find something that they can really enjoy. And then he takes them and guides them to where the book is, and shows them how to choose from many options, so they can be sure that this is what they really want, and they can be really happy that they’ve chosen this. And since my friend is single, and half of the customers are females, well, you get the idea.

Which is what many people find when they read this blog on a regular basis. Because I like to write on so many different subjects, you can find many things here to read and enjoy. And reading things that you can enjoy is one of the greatest pleasures in life.

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Tap the Wisdom of Your Mind with the Ancient Secrets of the Pendulum

You’ve received a stunning job offer. It has everything you want. Money, perks, the corner office with a window. Three secretaries. Only one problem, it is halfway across the country.

What do you do?

You have a job you truly enjoy that offers incredible personal satisfaction, and you know you are really making a difference, but you only earn minimum wage. You receive a letter in the mail saying you’ve been accepted in that MBA program you applied for only half seriously a few months ago. Do you give up your rewarding minimum wage job in the pursuit of financial success? Or do you stay in your low paying job, content in the knowledge that making a difference is what truly matters?

What do you do?

It’s Friday night. You’ve decided to order a pizza. You are not sure if you want pepperoni, or anchovies. You love them both. But if you eat them at the same time, they will mix and create a gastric disaster.

What do you do?

There are two ways to make a decision. Rational, logical, like Mr. Spock, or the other way. The old fashioned way. The way that the Samurai’s of ancient Japan referred to when they said that “every life changing decision must be made within seven breaths.” Trust your instinct. Your intuition. Your gut.

But how do you know? Unless your gut talks to you, (and if you think it does, maybe you should see a doctor,) how do you know exactly what your gut is telling you?

There are two ways to look at this. According to the laws of known science, and according to the esoteric laws of metaphysics.

According to the laws of metaphysics, your intuition can be thought of as a connection to ‘infinite knowledge, or infinite intelligence.” Many have spoken about this. Brian Tracy, Napoleon Hill, Wallace Wattles. According to these sages, who incidentally based their information on the sages that came generations before them, say that there is some ‘source’ of information that everyone can access. This ‘source’ has infinite knowledge of all that is, all that was, and all that will ever be. We might not have the capacity to understand all of this knowledge, but you can get general advice if you quiet your mind enough, so that you can listen carefully.

According to the rules, or understandings of science, biology and neurophysiology, the brain is an incredibly powerful computer. Able to take in literally billions of bits of information at time, sort and categorize, and then decide which to make consciously available, and which to store unconsciously, for later use. According to this model, when you ask yourself a life changing question, the brain sorts through all of your life experiences, compares them to the experience you are contemplating, and then comes up with an answer. Sounds wonderful and helpful, until you realize that this ‘answer’ usually comes in the form of a vague feeling. If we could only get our brains to make us feel hungry for yes, or thirsty for no, it might be easier.

One really cool way to tap your unconscious is to use a pendulum. Any pendulum will do, a chain with a weight on the end, like a necklace. Or a piece of string with a paper clip, anything that can swing back and forth.

What you need to do first is to calibrate it. Get a flat surface to swing your pendulum over, something that you can write on. A piece of paper on a table or desk will work fine. It’s important to keep the paper from moving, you’ll understand why in a second.

Hold the pendulum so that it hangs over the center of the paper. Now ask yourself a question where you know the answer will be yes. For example “Am I male (or female)?” Then just relax, and watch which way the pendulum swings. Ask another “yes” question. Watch the pendulum swing. Wherever the pendulum swings most over the paper for your ‘yes’ questions, is your yes ‘quadrant’ of your paper. After you have determined your ‘yes quadrant,’ make sure your don’t turn the paper. That will mess up your results. I usually tape it on the table or desk before I begin.

Next, you do the same thing, only this time use several ‘no’ questions. Questions you know that you’ll get a ‘no’ answer to. This will determine your ‘no quadrant.’

Now you need to ask your real question, phrased in a yes or no question. (Just like the magic eight ball.)  If you are getting fuzzy results, that is, if the answers are neither clearly yes or no, keep rephrasing the question. Pretty soon you should get a clear answer. You’ll be amazed at how well this works, and how well you can use this to unlock the wisdom of your own subconscious mind to help you get what you want out of life.

One thing to keep in mind, is that you will have to re-calibrate every time you do this. You’ll need to check and see where the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ quadrants are, because they will change based on your mood, tiredness, hunger, emotional state and other factors. It only takes a few minutes, and this can be a valuable tool that you can use in your quest to make decisions that support your goals in life.

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Turn Wishes into Reality

If you happened across a magic lamp, complete with a genie begging to be allowed to satisfy the requisite three wishes, what would you wish for? World peace? A bazillion dollars?  A new car? A raise at work? That cute girl or guy to notice you? These are pretty common wishes, and most all people have wishes that would make them feel very happy if they came true. Unfortunately, most people don’t know how easy it is to make wishes come true. The reason is because when people have a wish, we usually think of it as something outside of us, or beyond us, and some magical force is needed to allow us to get it.   After you read this, that will change. Because you are going to learn the first step into turning wishes into something that you can easily achieve.

The first step is to turn the wish into a goal. Now for most people, a goal is simply a wish that they wish about a lot. Or maybe they might have started a few steps in the right direction, but in reality, it is still a wish. Not you. After you read this, you will be far ahead of everyone else.

You have to create what is called a well formed goal. Let’s take the wish of losing weight. Say 15 lbs. The first thing to do, is write down your goal. You can either do this as you read this, or after you understand this simple process, you can do it later. Lets start.

“I want to lose 15 lbs.”

The first step, is to state it in the positive. So instead of saying what you want to get rid of, express it in terms of what you want to be like after you’ve gotten rid of it. That changes the above goal to

“I want to weigh 160 lbs.” (If now I weight 175 lbs.) See how that works? Other examples:

“I want to quit smoking” becomes “I am smoke free.”
“I want to quit playing video games 5 hours a day” becomes “I want to spend my free time outside.”

The second step is to make sure your goal is totally in your control. If you need to depend on somebody else to make it happen, change your goal around so it only requires your action. 

The third step is to imagine all the benefits you’ll enjoy when your goal is true. I will fit into my pants better. I’ll feel healthier. I’ll be able to participate in sports more easily. You should really give yourself time on this one, because the more good reasons you think of, the easier it will become.

The fourth step, and perhaps the most difficult, is to make sure you keep the positive aspects of your current condition.  It can be sometimes hard to pin this down, because it’s difficult to understand how one can get benefit from something you don’t like all that much. The good part is, once you figure this part out, being able to achieve your goal will be a snap.  In my example above, I want to weigh 160 lbs, I have to discover the hidden reason why I’m stuck at 175 lbs.  One reason might be that I really enjoy eating ice cream every night after work. In that case, I’d have to find some other activity that I enjoy as much or more, and doesn’t give me all those calories. Another reason might be that if I lost weight I’d wouldn’t have an excuse not to be more social. In that case, I need to figure out how to work on those issues. If you have trouble figuring this part out, don’t worry. I’ll be writing plenty more articles that can help you easily resolve these issues, so make sure you check back often.

The fifth step is to make sure that your goal really is your goal. A lot of times we want to achieve things, but deep down we really want to achieve them to please other people. Parents, friends, spouses. Ask yourself this question: “If I achieved this goal, and NOBODY else knew, would I still want it?”

It might take some time, but when you work at it and run your wishes through these five steps, they will naturally turn into easily achievable results. And the more wishes you run through this simple five step process, the more you’ll be able to achieve in your life.  

And please be sure to tell others about this, so they can, like you, naturally and easily achieve dreams.

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