Quotes from Recent Event

Here are the quotes I promised to share with those who attended the recent event. Enjoy!

M. Catherine Thomas:

“If you wish to feel the most penetrating power of the Spirit, try the experiment of giving thanks in the moment of disappointment, of tragedy, of the specter of ruin. When you are able to do it consistently, you will feel as though you have discovered and united with the mystery of life.”

William Hutchison Murray:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.

“All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:

‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!’”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

“There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.”

Wallace Wattles:

“There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe. A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by the thought. A person can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.”

Leslie Householder:

“Expecting Success: It’s not a feeling of entitlement, but it IS a knowing. It’s not demanding, but it is allowing. Not needing, but anticipating. Not boastful, but grateful.”

Boyd K. Packer:

“There are two kinds of faith. One of them functions ordinarily in the life of every soul. It is the kind of faith born by experience; it gives us certainty that a new day will dawn, that spring will come, that growth will take place. It is the kind of faith that relates us with confidence to that which is scheduled to happen. …

“There is another kind of faith, rare indeed. This is the kind of faith that causes things to happen. It is the kind of faith that is worthy and prepared and unyielding, and it calls forth things that otherwise would not be. It is the kind of faith that moves people. It is the kind of faith that sometimes moves things. …

“It comes by gradual growth. It is a marvelous, even a transcendent, power, a power as real and as invisible as electricity. Directed and channeled, it has great effect.” (Quote by Boyd K. Packer © By Intellectual Reserve, Inc., used with permission).

To learn more about the Mindset Mastery program, visit www.ProsperTheFamily.com

 

Thinking Counter-Intuitively in Hard Times

When times are tough, sometimes you have to think outside the box if you want to come out on top. For every conscious, principles-based response you give to each challenge, you dodge another bullet.

Here’s an example of one man who did just that, during the Great Depression:

My friend Glenn was visiting, and shared a story about his grandfather that is worth repeating. His grandfather was a banker in 1933, and in order to keep depositors from bankrupting the system by withdrawing all their money, Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a United States Bank Holiday from March 6 to March 10.

Banks were allowed to reopen when they could prove that the money in their reserves was greater than or equal to the money that had been deposited in. If the banks were unsound they would stay closed or could apply for a government loan in order to keep from declaring bankruptcy. (Wikipedia)

Glenn told me, according to his grandfather, that one out of three banks never re-opened.

Upon hearing the announcement that he was required to close his bank, and knowing the fallout that would probably happen from it, he chose to think outside of the box, and be a resourceful problem-solver, instead of shrinking into fear and victimhood. He knew that the declaration itself would create panic for many of his customers, and that when he reopened, there would likely be a run on the money.

The problem became his opportunity. He recognized a need: the people needed peace of mind, even more than they needed their money. So he contacted the top four leaders of women’s church organizations in the community, and asked them to organize a community barbecue to celebrate the holiday.

They were to get everything they needed to put on a feast, and that he would pay for the food if they would prepare and serve it.

It went off without a hitch, and when he opened his doors, nobody asked for their money back, and his bank thrived through the Great Depression.

No matter how bleak things appear to be, you can be resourceful. Look for a need in someone else’s life, and see what you can do to fill the need. Leave everyone you meet with an “impression of increase”. Leave them better than when you found them.

Fear will cause you to do things to perpetuate the problem. Thinking prosperously in the face of fear can inspire you to do things that solve the problem.

Read Portal to Genius (free!) to find out how.

Let me help you activate the Rare kind of Faith that causes things to happen in your life. Join us in the GUIDED Mindset Mastery class, starting soon! You’ll be guided through two experiments over fourteen weeks, so you can discover for yourself the power of your thoughts. For more information, visit: https://rarefaith.org/the-guided-mindset-mastery-program/

Choosing a Date for your Goal

So you want something to change. Maybe you need more money, want to reach a business goal, or just long for better health or relationships. Can you see yourself as though you’ve already achieved it? Can you feel how you expect to feel when it’s accomplished?

These are some of the first steps to powerful and effective goal-achievement, but one of the next steps is to set a date. While this step isn’t absolutely necessary, there are a few reasons why you might want to assign a date to your goal.

Reasons to Set a Date

  1. It makes you think more seriously about actually making it happen, putting it in “real time” instead of leaving it forever in “fantasy-mode”.
  2. It keeps you focused, and helps you avoid distractions that might derail you. After all, you have a deadline now, so you’d better get working on it.
  3. It increases your odds for accomplishing it, because a goal without a plan is just a wish.
  4. When your goal (and date) is set in a certain way, you receive unseen help with getting it done.

How to Choose a Date

Choosing a date for your goal can sometimes be one of the hardest parts of goal achievement. It forces you to think. It requires you to make a quality decision, to get serious about your objective, and to think it through with enough detail to determine an estimation of how long you believe it will take to complete it.

Or at least it should. Don’t bother setting a date if it’s not accompanied by a quality decision and firm intention to stay in believe-mode from now until (at least) that date. 100%. This intention piece matters more to the goal’s success than the date you choose.

All of these factors help you effectively achieve goals and your goals can be achieved without setting a date, but if setting a date makes you do all of these things, then maybe you can see why the practice comes so highly recommended.

What if you Get it Wrong?

  • What if you pick a date that’s too soon?
  • What if you set it too far out, but it doesn’t really need to take that long?
  • What if it doesn’t happen on the date you choose?

A goal date is like a due date. When a woman is pregnant, she (or her healthcare provider) checks the data and determines when the baby is due. It’s simply a best guess based on known factors. By the same token, when setting a goal, you simply pick a date based on the known factors: far enough away to be legitimately possible, but close enough that it creates an urgency to prepare for it.

Don’t get too worked up about choosing the right date, just give it your best guess and then firmly anchor your intentions to accomplishing the goal by that date. Remember, the real benefit is that the date keeps you on task. It keeps you from getting too distracted by competing interests.

How Long Should it Take?

The good news is that your goal, like a seed, has a finite gestation period. When planted properly and nourished adequately, goals and seeds both mature and bear fruit. There are natural laws that govern the growth and maturation of all things, including goals. Although science has completely catalogued the gestation periods for all seeds in nature, we don’t know the gestation period that corresponds with all the different goals, or idea-seeds. So when you set a date, you’re really just making a prediction of how long you expect it to take for the goal seed to mature.

On a side note, I believe in miracles. I believe that things can happen much more quickly by that rare kind of faith that I talk about so much, seemingly defying the more commonly understood laws of nature. These things happen within the structure of other natural laws that perhaps we just don’t yet understand. But I am convinced that nothing happens outside of governing laws. Since we don’t know or understand all of the laws by which God governs the Universe, we can do our best to understand and live by as much of the knowledge as we’ve received. And so the objective here is to simply do our part to make sure that we, at least, are not the limiting factor in what God can accomplish in our life.  Yes, He can do all things, but how much we get to participate in those wonderful things depends squarely on our application of the laws and principles we’ve been privileged enough to understand.

Getting it Wrong Doesn’t Change the Outcome

Okay, so you set a goal and put a date to it. Are you going to be wrong sometimes? Of course you will. How often do mothers deliver their babies exactly on their due date? Does it even matter if the doctor’s prediction was not accurate? Not at all. The baby still comes! Having a date in mind simply keeps the mother on task in her preparations. The outcome doesn’t change just because the anticipated bundle doesn’t arrive on the due date. She doesn’t lament, “I guess I’m not going to have a baby.”  NO, if she goes overdue, she becomes even more convinced that it will happen at any moment.

If you set a date for the completion of your goal, and it doesn’t happen by then, don’t think of the goal-setting process as a failure. It was working just fine. In fact, even in that moment it’s still working—the goal just happens to be overdue, according to your calculations. So you picked the wrong due date. So what? It doesn’t mean you aren’t still expecting!

A Critical Moment

It’s actually your choice of thoughts in that moment—when it didn’t happen—which are the thoughts that matter most. It’s in that moment, depending on your thoughts, that your goal will continue to develop like a Polaroid, or it will fade back into the nothingness where it began. As you continue to believe and work toward the goal, all that you need continues to gather toward you and develop until one day it’s finally achieved. To learn more about how this works, read Hidden Treasures: Heaven’s Astonishing Help with Your Money Matters (FREE).

So hold on to the dream especially when it doesn’t show up on time. Doing so keeps it coming, and if it was important enough to shoot for in the first place, it’s important enough to keep believing in it. In hindsight, after you’ve finally achieved it, you’ll realize that it truly was better late than never.

Think of it this way: if it doesn’t arrive “on time”, then it probably just wasn’t done cooking. And that’s okay. You don’t want your goal to arrive half-baked anyway. Let it finish completely. When it misses your “due date”, get more excited, (not less), knowing that it’s even closer to being done than ever, and it’s only a matter of time. Keep preparing for its arrival. Be grateful, because when it does arrive, it will be even better than if it had arrived early.

So set some goals. Follow your dreams, and be patient with the process. Change takes time, but the time it takes is worth the wait. As my Dad taught me long ago, God doesn’t always deliver when you want Him to, but He’s never late.

To learn more about the fundamentals of goal achievement, click here. 

If you’re well versed in the fundamentals and ready to take the Mastery Challenge, join me now in the Mindset Mastery Program. See you on the inside!

Orig

inally published August 14, 2006

Angi Bair’s Graduation Spotlight

I’m pleased to announce Angi Bair as a new Mindset Mastery Honors Graduate!

Angi writes:

I am a Realtor and I love that job, but I am just starting a business of Dr. Bradley Nelson’s Emotion Code and Body Code emotional energy healing.  My facebook page is called Soul Me Up, but I don’t have a website yet.  I also have the goal of becoming a Bootcamp Facilitator to start helping more people change their mindsets and achieve their goals. I have 3 daughters, 2 son’s in law, and one adorable grand baby.  They are my whole world!

Total Points Earned: 303

Q. What was your Phase 1 Inconsequential Goal?

For my midterm experience I chose to visualize a picture I wanted to give my nephew as a wedding gift. Weeks before I had looked online and there were no pictures of the specific thing I wanted to give him. I was hoping to find one at the store down by the wedding. So when it came to deciding on my midterm experience I thought this would be the perfect thing. I had previously purchased a similar picture for my nieces wedding last summer. So I visualized the store and the picture hanging on the wall and the clerk lifting it down to me. I wrote in my goal I wanted a large beautiful picture of the specific place he was getting married and it was under $30. I thought about this for several days before the wedding. I couldn’t remember what my nieces picture looked like specifically, but I knew I wanted something similar to that. But I didn’t really picture in my mind the actual picture, rather that it was in the store hanging on the wall.

So when I arrived at the store I walked to the exact spot on the wall I had visualized the picture hanging. And there it was…. a somewhat large… somewhat beautiful…. picture of the specific building I was looking for and it was only $20. It was right where I had visualized it, and met every criteria. Except it wasn’t the size I wanted, not the color I wanted, and I didn’t like the picture. I wandered through the whole store and looked at every picture and nothing was what I wanted. So I ended up getting another wedding gift.

I knew I had successfully created the midterm experience, but I was not satisfied because I didn’t like the picture. I was a little disappointed. On the way to the wedding as we approached the building there were cars lined up all along the street. I realized the parking lot was full. I really didn’t want to park clear out on the street and walk a long way in the the cold winter conditions. I quickly had the thought to visualize a perfect front row parking spot. I saw the image in my mind of me pulling in the the perfect spot in the front. I was so grateful I didn’t have to walk a long way in the cold wearing a dress. Just as I pulled in the parking lot a car pulled out of the very best spot in the very front of the building. Success!! I felt really good about the parking space.

Later as I was thinking more on the picture situation I wasn’t satisfied. I then realized one of my biggest problems has been “vague thinking produces vague results”. I needed to be more clear. I knew exactly what size I wanted the picture to be in my mind, but I just said large. I knew what color scheme I wanted the picture to be, but I just said beautiful. I knew basically what I wanted the picture to look like, but I visualized a picture on the wall and the store clerk lifting it down, not the actual picture I wanted.

So really I was successful with what I created, I just didn’t create what I really wanted. This was the biggest lesson to me so far. In my life I have been successful and I have created a lot of things. But I haven’t created the life I want because I have been vague in my thinking. Now is the time for me to be more specific and really create what my heart desires!

Phase 1 Feedback

In just a few short weeks I can already feel a huge difference in my attitude and my life. I am manifesting small things to myself all the time. I think about things and they appear. I am really learning to find the lessons and analyze things when they don’t appear to be what I want. I am seeing when I am holding myself back. I am recognizing wrong thinking. I am able to consciously make choices to create the life I want.

I feel more inspiration and love from God. I am so grateful for the changes in myself and even in my family just from changing my thinking. I am excited for what else I get to learn.

Q. What would you tell someone who is facing their fear right now?

To face it. What is the worst that can happen? What can I learn from this? What is standing in my way? Do some self reflection and pray for answers. I think considering all the scenarios and the worst thing that can happen is very empowering. Then I would say just take one baby step. Then just one more. I have found by doing this the monster turns into a mouse.

Q. What was your Phase 2 Short Term Goal, and on a scale of 1-10, how did you rank it in difficulty?

It was a 10.

I have just completed all the modules and my Phase 2 goal. Wow! I have learned so much I don’t even know where to begin! It has taken me a week since completing the module to gather my thoughts together and share in the group.

My goal was to take my daughter and her best friend to Greece this summer with my sister and her family. My first struggle with this goal was feeling like I shouldn’t “want material things.” I believed my mind should be set on more eternal principles or things that “meant something.” I felt like it wasn’t fair for me to want “a fancy trip” when some people just want to put food on the table or a roof over their heads. The more I worked through these issues the more I learned about myself.

I learned that when I listen and follow inspiration then it doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing or what anyone else thinks. I started to ask why did I want this goal? What was the purpose? Why was it important to me?….. I want to see the world, and I believe God wants us to experience the beauty in this world he has created. I love mythology and want to see and learn all about the beginnings of Greek mythology. I love spending time with my daughter and traveling….But the biggest reason and the most important WHY for the trip was my daughter’s best friend.

This young 15 year old girl lost her mother unexpectedly within 3 months of getting diagnosed with brain cancer. Her mother passed away in January. She is an only child and her parents are divorced. Her mother was her world. She and her mother traveled all over the world. Her mother was an International flight attendant. Traveling is what they loved to do together. When her mother passed away she told my daughter that now my daughter would have to go on trips with her, because it wasn’t always fun just going with her dad (dad’s just don’t love girl shopping).

So I decided I wanted to take her somewhere traveling with us. I wanted to go to Greece because my sister and her family where going and it would be the perfect trip for me to take my daughter and her friend. It would be safer than going alone, and I could hang out with my sister while the teenagers did their thing. We wanted to wait to invite the friend until things had settled with her mom’s passing. I didn’t want her to feel like we were trying to replace her mom.

Within a few days my daughter and her friend were talking and the friend randomly said “I want to go to Greece this summer, I’ve never been there and I have always wanted to go”…..That is when I knew there was so much more to this goal than just a fancy trip. This goal mattered and would likely be very important. It was a witness to me that I made the right decision. I could feel her mother thanking me for taking care of her daughter. I know this trip will give us a lifelong bond. She will know I love her and that my daughter and I will always be there for her.

It was at Genius Bootcamp when I really began to love and accept the idea that it was “okay” to have and want what appear to be “material things”. I visualized the girls giggling on the long plane ride, I saw them running on the beach, and shopping, and eating ice cream cones. I could feel the warm sun beating down on us and seeing the beautiful blue water. And I visualized their smiles and their excitement seeing all the neat sites. I visualized them taking selfies and posting on instagram. It filled my heart with utter joy and I KNEW this is part of God’s plan for me. This is a worthy goal.

So now that I had accepted the goal and knew I needed to go to Greece, I had to figure out how to pay for the trip.

So my phase 2 bite size goal was to register and make the first installment payment on the trip since that could be completed within a few weeks. I worked and re-worked the wording of the goal. I started with asking for the exact money I needed to accomplish the goal, but tips from Leslie and others led me to narrow the goal down even better. The ultimate goal is to go to Greece, not XX amount of dollars. The bite sized piece of the goal is to sign up for the trip and make the first installment.

So I wrote my goal that the first installment was completed and my other financial obligations for the month were met. No dollar amount or anything that complicated it. I wanted to make sure the payment didn’t come from sacrificing out of my regular monthly needs. Switching the goal from asking for a specific amount of money helped me really focus on what the end goal was, not on money. I read the goal over and over several times each day.

Some days I wouldn’t be excited when I read through it, but as I kept reading over and over usually by the 4th or 5th time I could actually feel the joy and excitement of accomplishing this part of the goal. I always made sure to keep reading it until I did feel joy and excitement.

My first obstacle came when I finally signed up for the trip. When I first had the idea to go there were 14 spots. By the time I signed up there were only 2 spots left and there were 3 of us. I actually laughed out loud….but I knew we were going and was excited for this first test. I asked for permission for 3 of us to go because we would all be sharing a room anyway. I continued to believe. It took a few weeks and they never got back to me and I had a few passing moments of doubt, but I continued on, knowing it had to work out.

I got an unexpected refund check on some insurance I over paid. That would help with the installment. Finally we got approved for 3 people in the same room and it was time for the first installment. I didn’t have the exact amount of money that was needed for the installment payment but I didn’t worry because my goal was that the installment would be completed and I knew I was going to Greece.

I called and told them what I could pay. I had a slight fear of how they would react, but kept firm in my belief. I was shocked, but they said, “Don’t worry, we will take this partial payment and then apply the balance to the future installments.” I did it! I had made the first installment payment. It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t exactly how I thought it would be, but it happened.

I still had a few weeks left in the modules, so I continued studying and set the next bite sized piece of the goal to have the second installment completed. I knew I had accomplished my first goal, but the money was short and so panic and fear crept in. The terror barrier came up….I doubted if this was going to work. I had to really work hard to hold on to my faith and belief in the goal even though I was still worried about how to pay for the whole trip. But I laser focused on just the next installment. I was expecting my tax return to pay a big portion of the trip, but surprise….my accountant did some cleaning up of my books etc and applied some extra income from one of my businesses to me personally this year, and that expected tax return became very small. I was devastated. Several other things in my life all fell apart at this same time and I really struggled….But I remembered how important this goal was. I visualized the girls with me on the trip. We were laughing and having a great time together. Then I was reminded that we just need to set the goal and work in faith. We can’t plan and expect where the necessary parts are going to come from. I was grateful for the small tax refund I got and was again reminded how important this trip was. I knew I could trust God to get me there. HE wants me to go and HE will help me get there. Not the IRS or myself or anyone else.

So the next installment came and I was again short. But I payed what I had and now was just having faith that the trip would be paid for and I was going.

Two days later I received all the money I needed for the entire trip completely unexpectedly from a source I never even thought of. I knew instantly that was God’s work and that I AM on the right path.

I gave sincere heartfelt thanks to God in that moment.

Q. What would you rank this goal now, if you were to tackle it again?

3-4. Now I worked through some hard stuff, but I still have a few “money” issues that scare me and limit me. I would have an easier time than the first time through, but I still have old programming and things I need to work on.  I am going to keep refining myself.

Phase 2 Feedback

Mindset Mastery has changed my life.

I have studied the Law of Attraction quite a bit and no matter how hard I tried it never seemed to work. I felt something was missing. I found it in this course! There are many laws that govern our success and our lives. This course was so helpful in teaching about all the ups and downs in life and in our goals. Finally someone who talks about how things aren’t always perfect! I needed to learn how to get through the downs and how to see more ups. I loved the idea of life’s ups and downs more like a staircase always leading you up.

I love that the course has actual assignments that make you think, practice, and study what you are learning. It makes you take ACTION. All the studying, reading, dreaming, and positive attitude are just a small portion of success. One of the biggest things I learned in this course is just to keep moving. One step at a time. I love the analogy that you can’t go anywhere with both feet firmly planted on the ground. We get where we are going one step at a time.

I loved breaking my goal down into bite sized pieces and action I could take. I learned how to navigate hard situations, and how to keep focused on my goal and my beliefs. I have learned to put faith in God, trust his plan for me, trust the laws, and just keep moving.

If someone wants to work with you, learn from you, or get help with Emotion Code, where can they learn more?

I’m just getting underway, but I can be found here: www.facebook.com/liftupmysoul/

Congratulations, Angi!

___________________

Now reader, what’s YOUR story going to be? I want to see YOU graduate, too!

Learn more about the Mindset Mastery program HERE.

___________________

The Mindset Mastery Program is not to be confused with the Mindset Fundamentals Ecourse.

The Fundamentals Ecourse is a powerful exploration of the principles that govern success, and takes an introductory approach for effective goal setting. It also fills the gaps to give you a basic but complete understanding of the principles, so that you have a solid foundation on which to develop true mastery. 

By contrast, the Mastery Program is focused on the *implementation* of the principles and the *achievement* of your goals. It is full of interesting assignments that take you step-by-step through two experimental goals, challenging your thought processes, helping you experience success, and setting up a pattern in your thinking that you will be able to utilize over and over for effectiveness with all of your future goals. I hope you’ll join me in one of these programs, to help you take your understanding and success to the next level in ALL the different areas of your life. Learn more HERE.