I was thumbing through my Google Reader this morning, trying to sort through the stuff I’m terribly behind on reading. I’m behind on everything at the moment, it seems. So I was looking through the entries for TED (“TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader.”)

So I see this entry for “Stroke of Insight: Jill Bolte Taylor “, a neuroanatomist — she studies and maps the brain and its functions. Here’s an excerpt from the TED page:

One morning, a blood vessel in Jill Bolte Taylor’s brain exploded. As a brain scientist, she realized she had a ringside seat to her own stroke. She watched as her brain functions shut down one by one: motion, speech, memory, self-awareness …

Amazed to find herself alive, Taylor spent eight years recovering her ability to think, walk and talk. She has become a spokesperson for stroke recovery and for the possibility of coming back from brain injury stronger than before. In her case, although the stroke damaged the left side of her brain, her recovery unleashed a torrent of creative energy from her right. From her home base in Indiana, she now travels the country on behalf of the Harvard Brain Bank as the “Singin’ Scientist.”

Watch how a scientist describes what happened to herself. If you’re not intrigued by what she has to say and the enormous possibility it implies, then IMHO you ought to check your pulse…

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Following is the contents of Chapter 17 of The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace D. Wattles. Through the course of the book, Wattles develops and amplifies on these statements and considers them to be the essential points that anyone practicing the art of conscious creation must master. Without further ado:

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.

Man can form things in his thought, and by impressing his thought upon formless substance can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.

In order to do this, man must pass from the competitive to the creative mind; otherwise he cannot be in harmony with the Formless Intelligence, which is always creative and never competitive in spirit.

Man may come into full harmony with the Formless Substance by entertaining a lively and sincere gratitude for the blessings it bestows upon him. Gratitude unifies the mind of man with the intelligence of Substance, so that man’s thoughts are received by the Formless. Man can remain upon the creative plane only by uniting himself with the Formless Intelligence through a deep and continuous feeling of gratitude.

Man must form a clear and definite mental image of the things he wishes to have, to do, or to become; and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts, while being deeply grateful to the Supreme that all his desires are granted to him. The man who wishes to get rich must spend his leisure hours in contemplating his Vision, and in earnest thanksgiving that the reality is being given to him. Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance of frequent contemplation of the mental image, coupled with unwavering faith and devout gratitude. This is the process by which the impression is given to the Formless, and the creative forces set in motion.

The creative energy works through the established channels of natural growth, and of the industrial and social order. All that is included in his mental image will surely be brought to the man who follows the instructions given above, and whose faith does not waver. What he wants will come to him through the ways of established trade and commerce.

In order to receive his own when it shall come to him, man must be active; and this activity can only consist in more than filling his present place. He must keep in mind the Purpose to get rich through the realization of his mental image. And he must do, every day, all that can be done that day, taking care to do each act in a successful manner. He must give to every man a use value in excess of the cash value he receives, so that each transaction makes for more life; and he must so hold the Advancing Thought that the impression of increase will be communicated to all with whom he comes in contact.

The men and women who practice the foregoing instructions will certainly get rich; and the riches they receive will be in exact proportion to the definiteness of their vision, the fixity of their purpose, the steadiness of their faith, and the depth of their gratitude.

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On earth, I mean. What’s your reason for being here? What is your purpose?

Do you even care?

I mean, let’s face it: for most of us, life is a series of events that happen to us, strung out over a period of years. We’re born, we struggle, we die. What’s my purpose for the day? To get through until tomorrow. One day at a time, one day to the next. Some high points, more than a few low points, but mostly just . . . surviving.

If that resembles you, and you’re tired of it, here’s a book that can help: Life on Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life, by Dr. Brad Swift.

As I read the book, something that I’d heard Neale Walsch say in the movie The Secret kept popping in my mind. He said people look around for the big blackboard in the sky, upon which is written their purpose in life. If they can just find the blackboard, everything will be all right. But, he says, the blackboard doesn’t exist. So, your purpose is what you say it is.

And you have a purpose, whether you realize it or pay attention to it or not. Your purpose, the meaning of your life, is what you say it is, every morning when you get up. It’s what guides you through the day.

Is your purpose a meaningful one? What if you could change your perception of your life, revise your focus, make changes in the way you think, feel, and act, and do it in a step-by-step methodical way? What if you had a roadmap to guide you? What if you had someone sitting there in the passenger seat as a guide, showing you the way, teaching you how to slow down and actually live for something? Dr. Brad is just that–a coach that can help you rediscover your reason for being, if you want to.

Dr. Swift not only shows you how to clarify your purpose in life–the step-by-step roadmap–but also gives the “why” of what you’re doing. When you understand why something works, you can adapt and reapply that same concept in other areas of your life, in other situations. Instead of just memorizing a step, you’ve learned a technique.

The first step is to take the first step . . . and the first step is to read Dr. Swift’s book, and act upon what you read. The rest will unfold. . .

This is Stop #6 on the Book Blog Tour, a special event highlighting Dr. Brad Swift’s new book, Life on Purpose: Six Passages to an Inspired Life.

This post was not a paid review. I was furnished a complimentary copy of Dr. Swift’s book for the purpose of review.

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Ed Mills’ blog post, Perception Becomes Reality struck a chord with me. He says:

The more I explore the Law of Attraction the more I come to see that what I call reality is nothing more than my perception of what is happening around me.

The Wachowski brothers, in their movie The Matrix, have Morpheus answer Neo’s question, “Is this real?” in this way:

What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about your senses, what you feel, taste, smell, or see, then all you’re talking about are electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

Your reality is what you say it is, what you believe it to be. People use the phrase “get real” to goad you into accepting their version of reality–of what is possible and what isn’t. But we know that anything is possible.

Don’t we?

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In talking with people, I’m bombarded by variations of ‘how bad it is’. The economy sucks, the job sucks, the wife sucks ^oops, life sucks. Everything sucks.

I have to admit that it’s easy to get pulled down into that pit. Thankfully, I am beginning to recognize my whereabouts and change my view of the world.

When you change your focus, your attention, opportunities seem to materialize out of thin air where none had been before. But were they really not there? Or were they just hidden from view because of the direction you were looking?

My focus changed recently. I made the decision to become more aware of financial opportunity, because in the past that has been one of my problem areas. I am exposed to an idea or opportunity and immediately go over to the dark side. I dissect. I think of all of the reasons why it, whatever it is, won’t work. About the temporary difficulties it may entail.

One example: in the early 90′s, I was the store manager of one of a growing chain of auto parts stores. The decision was made to take the company public, and members of management that had been with the company a certain period of time had the opportunity to purchase a block of stock prior to the IPO. I had passed the time requirement the week before, so I was eligible. The only kicker was that I would have to borrow the $5,000 from a credit card because I had no cash.

I decided not to. Think of the interest on a credit card for a $5,000 cash advance! Besides, I really didn’t like the company. Yes, they were growing and took care of customers well, but treated management like dirt, at least at the store level. So, no thanks.

Now, 16 years later, the stock that I could have purchased for $5,000 is worth over $250,000.

What has happened in the couple of short weeks that I have changed my attention from lack to opportunity?

• I had, and followed up on, the inspiration to launch another website focused on weight loss, health and wellness, and anti-aging. A crowded arena, to be sure, but I have chosen not to compete, but to create. It is taking shape, and my goal is to launch before the end of May.
• I decided that I wanted my main source of income, Sawtooth Internet Development, to be more productive. I want to take a more active approach to business-building, networking, etc. Within a few days of making that decision, more opportunities for business made their way to me. My specialty is turning to problem-solving for existing sites, and I’m seeing more chances to do that. It is a fit for my analytical mind.
• My wife and a friend of hers had begun a business a few years ago that languished because of a lack of focus. They’ve decided to revive the business and it has started to take off. They’ve participated in trade shows, made new acquaintances and revived old ones that are already beginning to show signs of promise.
• My wife’s activities caused me to reconnect with an old and dear friend. I had, because of my level of thought, let our relationship languish over the past few months. Through her,…
• …I have been offered the opportunity to become part of a research group for the ongoing development of a personal development course to be offered nationwide in the near future. The close association with people of this caliber has already inspired me.
• I was offered the opportunity to partner with a small group of people developing some fantastic concepts in the areas of real estate, mortgage and commercial lending, and financial management. The outlook for this is mind-boggling.

What is especially mind-boggling is that every one of those opportunities, and more, have been right in front of me for a long time. Years, in fact. They’re nothing new. They’ve been right out in front of me, waiting to be seen.

How much is right in front of you if you’d only change your focus a little?

Are you closing the door when opportunity knocks?

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Risk. The very word implies the possibility of failure, of injury, loss, even disaster. It also implies the possibility of gain, of growth, of advancement, or achievement.

When you see or hear the word ‘risk’, does it excite or intimidate you? Does it cause salivation or dry-mouth? Do you look for ways to run toward it or from it?

Risk is the spice of life, I think. Without it, the day is bland and boring. It may be a beautiful day, with much to be grateful and rejoice for, but how many of those quiet beautiful days can you endure before going stir-crazy?

Faith is the quality we have available to enable ourselves to risk, to cause ourselves to take actions that could result in discomfort, failure or loss. Faith that we can truly control and influence the direction of our lives; faith that ultimately our lives will improve when we stretch and move out of our comfort zones.

We risk when we get married; the alternative is to stay single. We risk when we get into a car to travel somewhere. Life is full of risks. How we respond to them determines our direction and our accomplishments.

Faith moves mountains–lack of faith causes a molehill to be a major obstacle.

Years ago, I wrote down a quote that illustrates this perfectly:

“If, despite our gnawing doubts, we can muster faith enough to take a single step on the road to where we’re going, we are well on the way to creative achievement. Every triumph of the human spirit begins with one step taken in faith. The single step is the small handle to great matters.

“No man or woman ever won a worthy triumph without faith to keep on and on, always able to last at least five minutes longer.”

Unfortunately, I didn’t bother to write down where that came from (if anyone knows, please inform me).

The point of all this is simple: without faith, without belief, nothing happens. Nothing is ventured; we stagnate in our own little pools of doubt and uncertainty. Not a pretty picture, eh?

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“When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

 This is in my notable quotes (see the top of the page). Isn’t this the truth?

Keywords: resolute, boldly, timid.

Resolute–acting with determination, with the faith that the endeavor will be accomplished. Boldly going where you haven’t gone before because timidity is your normal habit (sorry, Star Trek).

Resolve, resolute, resolution. Very powerful words, yes?

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Fear. Fear of failure, fear of success. Fear of rejection, fear of embarrassment. Fear of poverty, fear of wealth.

Fear is insidious. It slips in early in life. It builds upon itself. Fear is a demon that grows stronger and larger every time he works his evil. He becomes more vibrant and hideous until he rules your entire life. Fear is a habit, a habit of thought. The more you exercise your ability to fear, the more it shows up. Pretty soon, fear is habitual behavior.

It starts with the best of intentions, mostly:

“Don’t ride too fast, you’ll fall and hurt yourself.”
“Be home before dark–the world is a dangerous place.”
“You stupid clod. Can’t you do anything right?”

Fear brings with it a host of related emotions: worry, hate, doubt, uncertainty, jealousy and more. All these are fear behind a different face.

Fear, in any form, will ruin your life. Stagnation, never moving on, never improving yourself, is rooted in fear. Closing your eyes to opportunity is rooted in fear. What you’re saying when you say this: “Why bother? It’ll never work for me.” is that “I’m afraid that it won’t work. I’ll get my hopes up and it won’t happen. So I’m not going to try.”

The worst thing about fear is that it draws toward you the very thing you fear. Have you ever noticed that many of the things you worried the most about, gave the majority of your attention to, finally came to pass? You have attracted the very thing you were afraid of. How? By paying attention to it with strong emotion. By focusing on what you fear, you put in motion events and circumstances that cause that fear to materialize. It’s the way things work.

Banish the demon

Don’t expect to kill off demon fear. He’ll always be around, and he can actually be useful–at times. But you can banish him away to the furthest recesses of your mind to be called upon only when needed. You can make him so small that his normal efforts will be inconsequential.

How? What is this force that can overcome fear?

Simply put, courage. Courage is the opposite emotion of fear. You can’t deny away fear, for then you are focusing on fear. You have to work on habituating the new, opposite emotion of courage. Don’t say, “I’m not afraid.” Say instead, “I am courageous.” Hold in your mind the image of the courageous person that you want to become. Whenever fear appears, replace it.

It won’t be easy, and it won’t be a task you can accomplish overnight but if you persist your habit of being fearful will become weak, and your habit of courageous behavior will become stronger.

You know that the mind can’t tell the difference between an actual event and a vividly imagined one. Denis Waitley showed us that with his work with Visual Motor Rehearsal techniques with Olympic athletes. So use that in your work to rid yourself of fear.

Vividly imagine yourself in situations that caused fear in the past. Change your behavior in your imagination to what a courageous person would do–what you would do if you were filled with courage, strength, and confidence. See yourself acting, speaking, walking, moving as you would if you were courageous and confident.

Use many different scenarios–as many as you can think of. What would you do if you weren’t afraid? Whenever you have a free moment in the day, take the time to diminish the effect of fear in your life. Make it a project. Make it an important project–one that your life depends upon.

Because your life does depend upon ridding yourself of fear. Your happiness, fulfillment, enjoyment, even playfulness, will increase many-fold when you get rid of your habit of being fearful.

So do your exercises. Strengthen the courage factor, the courage habit. You’ll find that, over a period of time, your thinking will switch from “I can’t” to “I can” just from the absence of fearful thoughts. After “I can” comes “I will”.

“I can and I will”, felt with enthusiasm and confidence, is one of the most powerful thoughts in the universe. “I can and I will” is first cousin to “I AM”. When you know you can, and you know you will, and you know you ARE the person who can and will, you are unstoppable. You’ll have gone from wishing that something was to expecting that something is.

That, dear readers, in case you didn’t catch it, is the Law of Attraction at work.

Get rid of fear and live your life the way it was meant to be lived–in joyous abundance.

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How do you master something so ethereal as the Law of Attraction?

I see this so often–it’s a common theme among LoA detractors–”That just doesn’t work. I’ve tried it. I thought of $10,000 and a Mercedes and it didn’t show up.”

You don’t master the Law of Attraction. You master yourself. The Law of Attraction is always working. It’s the way the universe works. You desire, you get your thoughts and actions right, and it happens somehow. You make it happen.

The key is in mastering yourself–becoming a student of your mind, then the master of your mind. Your mind is behind everything that comes your way. To think otherwise is to believe in fate, that you don’t have any control over your world, that things happen to you instead of you being in control of your life and destiny.

I don’t believe in ‘fate’.

I believe that I am master of my world, that I am in control of what happens in my life. Certainly, there is interaction with the other people in my life, and things don’t always go the way I think I want them to. But even then, I am in control of what those experiences mean to me, and what I do with that meaning.

Knowing that–that I determine the meaning of my life–is more than a little scary. But it also means that the better I get at consciously controlling the way my mind works, the more the magic happens.

I see the magic happening, and it drives me on to learn more, practice more, be more.

And, in the end, that’s all there is–to BE. To master the workings of your mind so that you sculpt consciously who you are.

But it doesn’t come from wishing.

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Why do you get up in the morning?

Is it just to get through this day, and the next, just trying to make it through to the weekend? Do you wake with a sense of futility—a sense that this day is going to be just like yesterday, and tomorrow just like today? You come home, eat a little dinner, drink a few pops, watch some tv, wander off to bed after you get on the kids for not finishing their homework.

On the weekend, maybe you’ll get out to play a little golf, or cut the grass, or plant some veggies in the garden. But all through those two days, in the back of your mind, like a nagging little shrew, is the thought that on Monday morning, it’ll start all over again. And, in another 30 or 35 years, you’ll get a gold watch as a reward for all your hard work. That oughta get you a few bucks at the pawn shop.

What if…?

Have you played that children’s game with yourself since you ‘grew up’? What if I could learn to fly like I’ve always wanted to? What if I really could have that car I’ve always wanted? What if I owned the company and could play golf in the middle of the week?Why don’t you take a few minutes and play ‘what if’ with yourself? Go ahead, write a few things down. Just play along with me here for a little bit. I’ll wait.

Wouldn’t it be nice…?

I want you to do a little exercise here. Take a look at what you just wrote. Now, instead of asking “What if?”, ask yourself, “Wouldn’t it be nice if …?” Go ahead, take your time. Really think about it. Wouldn’t it be nice to be sitting in that airplane seat, watching the propeller go around and around, feeling the vibrations, anticipating smoothly pushing the throttle in…picking up speed, feeling the expansion joints in the runway hit faster and faster…then, in an instant, you’re free from the confines of the ground, floating…flying.

Why have you given up on yourself?

Why is it that you’ve believed the people, including yourself, who’ve told you that what you want is impossible, that you should just ‘get real’? That’s what I want you to do, the next step. Get real. Get real in your mind what it’s like to do what you want. But you have to get real. Really, really, real. You have to feel the butterflies and excitement as you pull into the parking lot of the motel in Las Vegas, the thrill of knowing that the next morning you’ll be in the seat of a 200 mph race car as you go through the Richard Petty Driving Experience on the one and a half mile oval of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Do you know what it’s like to have 600 horsepower at your fingertips?

So take the time to get real with your dreams, your goals, your deepest desires. Do it every day. Don’t wish it. Be there. Be at the speaker’s podium of a blogger’s conference, talking to hundreds of your fellow bloggers that have paid lots of money to hear what you have to say. Be in the seat of the race car, watching the bleachers go flashing past at 150mph.Be there in your mind, and believe that it’s a foregone conclusion, and the doors will open for you. Because you’re attuned to it, you’ll see possibilities you’ve never seen before. You don’t know exactly how it will happen, but you know it will. And when the way is shown to you, jump on it. Do whatever is required. You may have to do some prep work first. You might have to actually learn to drive before you can drive a race car. But don’t worry about that, and don’t overly question the roadmap when you see it, because that really is exactly what you’re seeing now–a roadmap for you to follow to make your dreams a reality.You think maybe now there’s a better reason to get out of bed in the morning? Just a little?

That’s ok—it’s a start.

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