Thinking Magically™ | Your Personal “Bring-It-On” Bad News Tookit
He who laughs has not yet heard the bad news.
– Bertolt Brecht
At some time or another, we all have to cope and contend with bad news. Whether of our own or another’s making, bad news can leave us in pain, feeling lousy, and with a sense of hopelessness. And then there’s the anxiety, frustration, and anger that orbits such news. Being insanely practical, I am not about to suggest that you remain unrealistically cheerful when receiving bad news. However, there are some miraculous “Bad News” management techniques that you can instantly and strategically deploy to keep you from being devoured by the unspeakable.
Without further ado, let’s get started with your new “Bring It On” Bad News Toolkit -
THE “BRING-IT-ON” BAD NEWS TOOLKIT
STEP ONE. Own What’s Real. Most bad news is not really bad news. I’ve always loved the quote from Terry Goodkind: “People are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to it to be true, or they’re afraid it’s true.” (Wizard’s First Rule, 1995, Tor Fantasy) When discovering or receiving bad news, then, the first step is to ask yourself, “Is this real?” and “Is something else really going on?” When you detect that you might not be getting the full or precise story, you have a healthier and more productive state-of-mind and the bad news can be seen in a new light.
STEP TWO. Own Your Bad News, Not Other’s. Many people have substantial misery-boundary challenges; they can’t distinguish their difficulties from the troubles someone else might have. Truly bad news that is YOUR bad news, requires your full attention, energy, and solution creation abilities. You can certainly understand someone else’s bad news but you are not going to help them by entering into and staying in the drama and their feelings to the point where you cease to be a good support system for them. Go ahead and express your sympathy and concern. But don’t let the commiseration last to the point where you can’t help sustain your friend or family member. When it’s your bad news to bear, seek the company of those who will do for you what you would do for others in your situation; namely, surround yourself with those who will help you to reduce your stress, concern, and worry.
STEP THREE. Own Your Emotions. Truly bad news – whether it is romance-, health-, or finance-based is crushing. Keeping your emotions to yourself and securely hidden inside isn’t going to serve you very well. There will be a time for courage later on. Right now, find someone you can talk to or, failing that, start journaling. It’s purifying and liberating to admit that you’re scared or sad. And crying is good for you. Talk or write through your hopes, dreams, obsessions, and fears. Then …
STEP FOUR. Own The Positive Side of Things. It’s been said that, no matter how thin you slice the bread, there’s always two sides. Owning your negative emotions is a necessary part of destroying the effect of bad news. Wallowing in those emotions is not. Take 10 minutes and write out all of the positive things that might come out of the bad news you have received. I know this might be challenging. But, there are always affirmations and advantages to be found … even if you have received crushing news. You are not the bad news. The bad news is something that you are going through. The one thing that can’t ever be taken away from you is your control over your thinking. If you wan’t some real inspiration to get you going for Step Four, take a look at the following:
Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Steve Jobs on Death – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lR6-elnwBmM
Tim McGraw’s Live Like You Were Dying – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiOcW_YR1G8
And then do yourself a real favor and visit Richard Machowicz’s website – Not Dead Can’t Quit – at http://ndcq.com/.
STEP FIVE. Own the Options. Get with the professionals. Get with your knowledgeable friends. Get in touch with those who have been through or are going through the same bad news as you. Use their experiences, understanding, and wisdom to find out what is really going on and what can be done to fix the situation or get peace of mind if a solution is truly out of reach. Taking back your choices rather than giving in to someone’s or something’s dictates is what life is all about. Participate in your own success in fixing the problem. At the very least, participate in how the bad news is going to be dealt with. Remember, “you don’t drown by falling in water; you drown by staying there.” (Edwin Louis Cole)
STEP SIX. Own Your Support System. I wrote earlier about finding someone to talk to and with. Step Six is about taking this aid to the next level. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. You never have been. Now is the time to find those family and friends who will help you with the challenge you are facing and provide you with the proactive support you need to get through your obstacle.
Bad news is never easy to receive and can be tough to deal with. I want to leave you with a couple of quotes to get you moving into massive action designed to change the way you receive, handle, and walk away from bad news:
“In life, things happen around us, things happen to us but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.” – Source unknown
“And remember, it’s also very funny, because side by side with grief lies joy.” – Fran Drescher
If you enjoyed this, I’d be grateful if you go ahead and help spread this information by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Thank you!
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© 2013 by Scott Grossberg. All Rights Reserved. thinkingmagically.com
(Source: scottgrossberg.wordpress.com)
Thinking Magically™ | Fix The Gap
Your problem is to bridge the gap which exists between where you are now and the goal you intend to reach.
– Earl Nightingale
There is a strain that naturally takes place within us; that faithful pushmi-pullyu type of intrinsic tension that is created when you realize where you are is not where you want to be. (A storyteller note: the pushmi-pullyu is an animal from the Doctor Doolittle series of books. It has two heads on opposite ends of its body and when it tries to move, its heads go in different directions.) You have read before that I am more than happy to keep you restless and craving more in life. The challenge occurs when the gap you are experiencing brings you to a standstill – a sort of impasse with your own dreams. That type of deadend is not to be tolerated!
By the way, you’ve heard the phrase, “Bridge the gap.” That is NOT what I am talking about. Bridging a gap is a temporary fix. Bridging a gap doesn’t fix the gap, it just crosses over it. The gap still remains. Today, let’s talk about fixing, filling, and flooding the gap so that it is banished forever.
So let’s start with an initial secret: fixing a gap in your life requires that you become insanely realistic. You must determine what or who is holding you back. You must figure out whom or what you are waiting for. You must ascertain whom or what is missing that would otherwise make you complete. Only when you get incredibly down-to-earth with this self-appraisal can you ever hope to soar into the life that is waiting for you. Anything less than such a real assessment dooms you to failure.
The next secret to fixing the gap in your life is: make a massive, written action plan. That’s right. Create a blueprint for your new road through life. Write it out! Get it out of your head and onto paper or a computer screen. You see, by putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, you are clearing out your head to be even more creative. If you keep all those grand designs in your head, part of your thinking is bemused by just wondering if you’ll remember everything you keep trying to store up and in there. Write it out and you can work it out!
Our third secret is easily the one spot where those who are intent on neglecting their dreams flounder: get moving. Taking the steps outlined in your massive, written action plan MUST happen. That’s right – you MUST TAKE ACTION! Others have said it and it’s worth repeating: If you continue to say someday, someday will eventually turn into never. Everyday must be a new day of putting one foot in front of the other in furtherance of the roadmap you have devised for yourself. One step at a time, my friends. You don’t have to accomplish everything in one afternoon. But, you do have to end each day by revisiting what went on earlier and be able to congratulate yourself on having moved down that path a little more.
Finally, the one secret that all monumental successes know: you must create a habit of success. You want success that is reproducible at a moment’s notice and triumph that is self-sustaining. Those results only happen when you have an established custom and practice of creating victory (or at least creating a victorious mindset).
Now I must warn you, implementing these four secrets fiercely and with determination is not for everyone. In fact, you are going to find that there are habits in your past – traditions of dealing with people and events and things and places – that you will not want to abandon. If you want to live your dreams, the time will quickly come when you have to put aside those people, places, things, and events that do not serve you well. We all have those people and things – those that make you ineffective, reactive, and complacent. While it may be challenging to move beyond them and leave them to their own negative devices, that is the choice you will need to make if you want more.
With that in mind, let me leave you with this thought from Colin Powell: “Never make someone a priority when you are only an option for them. If you are going to achieve excellence in big things,you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.”
If you enjoyed this, I’d be grateful if you go ahead and help spread this information by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Thank you!
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© 2013 by Scott Grossberg. All Rights Reserved. thinkingmagically.com
(Source: scottgrossberg.wordpress.com)
Thinking Magically™ | The Most Complicated Secret
Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to cut all sources of retreat. Only by doing so can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win – essential to success.
– Napoleon Hill
I do a fair amount of life and success coaching. As you might imagine, most of the time we create someone’s definite major purpose. From there, it becomes relatively easy to help people then move forward with getting what they want most in life because the magic is poised to happen once someone’s intent is fixed in place. What happens, however, once you reach your goal (or any level of major success for that matter)? How do you maintain balance so that your experience of success continues to advance and encourage you onward to even more prosperity? The fact is that teaching someone insanely powerful life strategies for achieving a desired outcome does not necessarily keep them seduced by victory once that victory is attained. A vicious cycle results and we then have to come up with a new definite major purpose all over again.
I have found it far better, therefore, to create two compelling strategies for someone at the same time – one that brings you to attainment and one that encourages you to even more potent results after the initial conclusion is reached. This is all built around two mighty principles that employed at the same time: (1) stay restless and (2) stay hungry for success in all its forms.
Staying restless and hungry (far different than being displeased and aggravated) is an on-going mindset. It is expressed beautifully in the lyrics to the musical Kismet:
Why be content with an olive when you could have the tree ?
Why be content to be nothing, when there’s nothing you couldn’t be ?
Why be contented with one olive tree when you could have the whole olive grove ?
Why be content with a grove when you could have the world ?
Staying restless and hungry is about constantly wanting more from life. It is the outlook that will ultimately sustain and nourish you. But, keeping this type of mindset is one of the most complicated secrets to learn. Even John Lennon once wrote, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” There will be speed bumps you encounter on your path. Other people will impose their own agendas on your day. Twists and turns to your plans will arrive. Will they trap you? By planning ahead of time for post-success triumph, you guarantee that you are equipped with the frame of mind needed to keep you on persistent road to success. I don’t think transient success serves anyone well. Do you?
So, here are some ideas for you to consider and techniques for you to immediately put into use so that you feel awesome and experience success ALL THE TIME!
1. Uncover and celebrate the real reason you wanted your original goal in the first place. Was it to nurture your family? Or to have more free time? Whatever the reason, that reason still exists even though you have achieved what you originally thought was the goal. There is always something bigger that is inwardly driving you onward and upward.
2. Enjoy seeing results. Notice I did not say “a result.” While you were on the road to your original goal, you looked forward to the challenges and eventually celebrating reaching a desired outcome. Start looking at the desired outcome, however, just another point along a bigger road of success. You want to create a mental attitude that expects one success after another.
3. Stay flexible and embrace new stuff. As you experience success, things and people are going to necessarily change. Opportunities are going to come your way that you never envisioned before. Be open to reinventing yourself everyday. Be open to letting things and people go their own ways. Life is never boring. Don’t ever let yourself fall into that trap.
4. Get help, hope, and wisdom along the way. General George S. Patton once remarked, “Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans play to win all the time.” This type of winning mentality, however, is more easily retained and exploited when there are others cheering you on. I have mentors, consultants, and confidantes. So should you. Your best thinking got you to where you are. By collecting and calling upon people whose advice you respect, you are given their added ammunition and new perspectives to take your dreams beyond what you ever imagined. Go out, right now, and find a coach who can take you to the next level!
Developing and maintaining a success-after-success lifestyle can be ambitious and challenging. It is all about having a strategy. It is all about balance. Most importantly, it is all about staying committed to continually taking action. So, go ahead, and make yourself a promise that you will start looking at one awesome accomplishment – not as the only goal but – as an important component of enjoying life. Once you accomplish one thing, move on to the next major goal. It’s that simple!
If you enjoyed this, I’d be grateful if you click below to share this with others. That’s right, go ahead and help spread this information by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Thank you!
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© 2013 by Scott Grossberg. All Rights Reserved. thinkingmagically.com
(Source: scottgrossberg.wordpress.com)
Thinking Magically™ | May The Focus Be With You
You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
– Mark Twain
There’s an interesting malady that strikes those who delicately walk the fence between being madly creative and insanely practical.
You know the type … in fact, if you’re reading this, you likely have what is called a Renaissance mind! You’re the one who can be hard-nosed and pragmatic one moment and then you follow the deep emotional path of a poet the next. You’re the one who is never bored because there are so many options available for you to create. The challenge occurs when all of those so-called options become enticing all at the same time. It’s as if inspiration is flooding into you to the point where you are overwhelmed. You become concerned that choosing one alternative will result in the loss of another possibility. When this deluge of pleasures hits, you simply stop in place and your hesitation gets the better of you. In other words, you lose direction. Today, let’s get your focus back!
To begin, let’s understand that you are deceiving yourself with an insidious belief (that might have become a bad habit, as well); namely, you have reached a point where you are unable to triage the options that are available to you. Your brain has powerful executive functions that easily permit you to make up your own mind as to what’s more important than something else. The interesting thing is that these executive functions don’t simply vanish haphazardly. In fact, they don’t go away at all. Rather, for the Renaissance mind it is not a situation indicative of a disruption in the executive function force. You are just failing to get started in one direction or the other because you’re exhausting yourself with an hallucination … a misconception that by making one choice, something or someone more desirable will fade away. Or perhaps you have the ill-conceived notion that you have to make the perfect choice before making any choice at all. Alternatively, you have gotten yourself into a place where imagining all of the options available to you are equally pleasurable even though you know you are being totally unproductive.
Whether caused by neglecting your own power of choice or by getting lost in the overstimulation of pleasurable imaginings, it’s time to stop grappling with your mental clutter and re-order your life! Ready to instantly make that change?
MAY THE
FOCUS
BE WITH
YOU
STEP ONE. Write out three priorities, in order of importance, that you want to accomplish. Within the next year. Within the next 6 months. Within the next few weeks. Today. Pick the time frame that is relevant to your situation. By writing out your priorities, you bring your attention and executive function back to the Big Idea that you want driving your decisions.
STEP TWO. Write out three tasks that you can accomplish today to further your three priorities; one task for each priority. This will help you to analyze your priorities and start assigning action plans to each one of them. Remember to home in on your priories and their attendant action plans in order of importance.
STEP THREE. Figure out what unimportant or less important things, people, and activities are capturing your attention away from your three priorities. If you want to change your life, change how and where you spend your time. If something or someone is not serving you well, it’s time to move on (at least temporarily). Now, relax … you don’t have to completely eliminate these hole-and-corner amusements. But, you can easily relegate them to times and places that are more appropriate for your power to produce massive results. For example, you can effortlessly schedule checking social media posts to either a specific time of the day or as a reward when you finish one of the tasks you designed in Step Two.
STEP FOUR. Set a time limit for completing your three tasks. One of the most powerful tactics you can put into play to get your focus back is to create tension that forces you into doing something. Set reasonable time limits on accomplishing or completing the three tasks from Step Two and watch your focus become laser sharp and potent. If you want to take this to the next level, put time boundaries on your three priorities from Step One, as well!
STEP FIVE. Always be ready to adapt your priorities and your tasks along the way. Getting your focus back is not about a blind adherence to a goal or action step that no longer serves you. If you need to alter your course, do so with a conscious decision that you are moving yourself in a more sustaining and compelling way.
Much of getting your focus back is about retraining yourself and adopting new habits. In today’s world, we are assailed constantly with emails, social media posts, phone calls, news reports, and on and on. Focus on the things you want to take precedence in your life rather than being the casualty of other people’s priorities.
If you enjoyed this, I’d be grateful if you help spread this information by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Thank you!
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© 2013 by Scott Grossberg. All Rights Reserved. thinkingmagically.com
Thinking Magically™ | Teaching Pack-Rats and Trash-It-Alls the Comfort Two-Step
At the end, all that’s left of you are your possessions. Perhaps that’s why I’ve never been able to throw anything away. Perhaps that’s why I hoarded the world: with the hope that when I died, the sum total of my things would suggest a life larger than the one I lived.
– Nicole Krauss (The History of Love)
Lately, most of my very successful and massively creative friends have admitted to a problem. They all have a compulsion and they don’t know how it happened. It turns out that they have developed a pattern of behavior that quite simply can be called nothing less than the extravagant possession of information, techniques, and wisdom. No … that’s not quite right. If we’re going to examine this condition precisely, then we must use precise descriptions. My friends don’t obsessively collect information, techniques, and wisdom. They obsessively collect the containers for such things. In other words, these warriors of commerce buy, gather, and download books and magazines and save emails and websites … BUT THEY DON’T READ OR USE THEM! There is almost some strange sense of other-worldly thought transference they believe will take place by simply having a book or magazine or email or website near at hand.
On the other end of the spectrum are the devil-may-care personalities – those friends who believe themselves to be the victims of information overload. Their mechanism of defense to their information burdens has become a trash-it-all mindset. You know the type … these are the ones who have relegated themselves to moving through life with just the knowledge and information they have already accumulated. They have closed down. They are not open to anything new and different. They are happy to stay right where they are in life.
In helping you to fashion a magical life strategy that continues to move you forward towards realization of your dreams, I urge you to consider the following: both of these types of people are reacting to fear. And, in running from this fear, both the pack-rat and trash-it-all individuals want the same thing – control. In other words, for the pack-rat mentality, amassing a collection of books and magazines and information (even if unread and unused) provides the comfort of being able to say, “I will have just what I need at hand when the time comes,” in an otherwise stress-laden world. And the trash-it-all type, in blindly discarding books, magazines, and information (that have yet to be read or used) obtains comfort by eliminating what they believe to be part of the unwanted deluge of information they receive on a daily basis.
My own research and experience indicate that both types are really just continually filling (the pack-rat) or trying to keep from overflowing (the trash-it-all) emotional holes created from insecurity, anxiety, and a sense of danger. There is a secret two-step short-cut, of course, to finding a middle ground so that you can easily stay open to new information and wisdom while also drawing boundaries over how much information and wisdom you can take on at any given moment.
FINDING A MIDDLE GROUND
STEP ONE. Take a real look at what either being a pack-rat or trash-it-all type is doing to you. What is truly motivating you? Is this mindset really serving you well or is it just a senseless reaction to the world around you? When you examine the authentic reasons for your mindset, an awakening immediately takes place and a new clear-headed vision is available to you.
STEP TWO. Start being discerning. Eliminate the prior strategy that no longer serves you. In its place, examine new bits of information and wisdom on a case-by-case basis. Instead of going through life with an irrational habit and always asking “what if I need this?” (the pack-rat) or always saying “I will never need this?” (the trash-it-all), become more realistic. You may, in fact, judge something to be useful for you in the future. And, you may evaluate something not to be too effective for you in the foreseeable future. The decision you make is not what’s important in changing your routine. The significant change comes when you realize you can bring a critical eye to each decision and be comfortable in doing so.
It is easy to now see that you are no longer a slave to either a pack-rat or trash-it-all mentality. Instead, you are now free to harvest information, experience, understanding, and wisdom on a case-by-case basis and delight in that state of affairs.
If you enjoyed this, I’d be grateful if you go ahead and help spread this information by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Thank you!
And make sure to sign up for my blog mailing list so you get all future postings delivered directly to your inbox.
© 2013 by Scott Grossberg. All Rights Reserved. thinkingmagically.com
Thinking Magically™ | Getting Your Glow Back
You have to defeat a great player’s aura more than his game.
- Pat Riley
Everyone has one or more characteristics that distinguish them from someone else. When those characteristics conspire to make someone so distinct that other people stand up and take notice, it is said that person has an aura about them. Some would call it an energy force. Others would say that it is a mystique or vibration about a person that makes them seem important!
A person with a strong mystique is usually described by others with terms like:
Imaginative
Fascinating
Unusual
Energetic
Incredible
Powerful
Passionate
Magnetic
Mysterious
Interesting
Special
When you get to those times when you feel that your inner glow has diminished, here are some tips and tricks to put into play to get your sense of heightened value back:
1. Pay Attention to Your Body Language. More often than not, a subtle shift in the way you use your body is all that is needed to get your aura back! Get a picture in your mind’s eye of what someone who exudes any of the traits listed above looks like and compare that imaginary image with how you are really asserting (or not asserting) yourself. Once you reassert your positive and confident body language, you will see that you will, once again, be able to get people to focus on you anytime you so desire.
2. Get Out There and Mingle. Commit yourself to not only being accessible but as someone who truly enjoys the company of and conversation with others. When you are in a funk that takes away the glow of your aura, forcing yourself to get out there and enjoy yourself can be ambitious. And … it is the perfect correction that must be made in order to put a shine on yourself, yet again.
3. Take Calculated Risks and Be Determined. You tend to lose your glow in direct proportion to how much you have lost your direction in life. When you get a sense that you have lost your way, that is the exact moment when you should sit down and write out new and demanding goals. In the business world, James Collins and Jerry Porras have called this creating a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. While Collins and Porras used this concept to empower companies to create and determine ambitious goals, the technique works equally well for individuals. In other words, to use the Collins and Porras principle, you want to create a vision of yourself or outline of your goals/dreams/aspirations that is “clear and compelling, serves as unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst” for your path forward. Your vision should also have a definitive finish point so that you know when your goal has been achieved.
4. Take No Prisoners. So you’re feeling a little lackluster and your aura seems muted. Get over it. You must be persistent in your personal obligation to be successful. This responsibility brings with it the essential component of never settling for anything. You understand that life is a series of choices and consequences from those choices. And you understand that making choices is one of the greatest gifts you can be given. It certainly beats the alternative of constantly being the victim of other people’s decisions. In your case, one of the quickest ways to get your glow back is to never settle for anything other than the best for yourself.
5. Focus. Focus. Focus. Your aura – your mystique – thrives on the concentration of attention – yours and others. If you have lost your glow, check to see if you haven’t simply become distracted and inattentive. Nothing diminishes an inner glow like neglect of oneself. And the fact remains that if you don’t care enough to be focused on what you do, why should anyone else? The fix for this situation is an easy one – direct both your attention and your intention to wanting, having, and being MORE!
6. Be Deliberately Mystifying. When people are attracted to you or notice you for an unknown reason (in other words, they really can’t put their fingers on what it is, they just know they want to be around you), you have mystique. Part of that mystique is fueled by being somewhat aloof (even though you are getting out there and mingling). Don’t be too transparent. Rather, only share that part of you that is essential and leave the drama at home.
In the end, whichever of the listed tools you choose to put into play, getting your glow back is all about getting out there and participating in life. It is all about attracting and delighting other people. It is all about others seeing, feeling, and finding the value in you that you know you have. So … make certain you spend that aura well.
If you enjoyed this, I’d be grateful if you help spread this information by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Thank you!
And make sure to sign up for my blog mailing list so you get all future postings delivered directly to your inbox.
© 2013 by Scott Grossberg. All Rights Reserved. thinkingmagically.com
Thinking Magically™ | Why You Should Stretch Your Wings
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
- Michelangelo
One of the magical techniques I develop with people is the ability to look at or talk with someone and create instant understanding and a feeling of sustained kinship. This is done with an internal scripting that you repeat to yourself as you interact with someone and it is as simple as saying “I Love You!” to the other person. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never met this person before or they used to be an enemy. It doesn’t matter if you are doing this remotely by phone or via web broadcast. Remember: this is an internal scripting – not something you say aloud. This inner dialogue, when used earnestly, manifests itself in your eyes, body language, and your voice. You can’t help but vibrate at a level that mandates trust and agreement.
Today, I want you to take this intrinsic “I Love You” technique to an even higher level of accomplishment and capability! Believe it or not, I want you to become an angel with protective and adopting wings! This ancient magic is so easy to carryout that you will find yourself wondering why everyone doesn’t do this …
SETTING YOUR ANGEL FREE
STEP ONE. Find a nice relaxing place to sit or lie; a location where you won’t be disturbed for a few moments. Make it a place where you are free to breathe easy and relish the inner peace that comes with knowing that, for these few moments, you don’t need to take care of anyone but yourself, no one needs you to do anything for a moment, and every breath just brings you more tranquility than the moment before.
STEP TWO. Only as quickly as you are ready to experience impressive power and benevolence, allow your eyes to close. Take one or two deep cleansing breaths as you center your attention on your heart. That’s right. Just go deeper and deeper inside yourself and relax.
STEP THREE. Now, bring your attention away from your heart and around to your back. Imagine feeling two wings starting to grow; small at first and then maturing out and back. And now imagine that your two wings have developed into their full height and width – the leading edges (the top of your wings) reach just above your head and the outer edge (the tip that is furthest from you) nearly touches the ground. Now, start to notice some things … What color are your wings? How do they feel when they move? Do you notice that your wings are as responsive and flexible as your other extremities? How do they make you feel? How do you make them feel?
STEP FOUR. Bow your head slowly into your chest. As you do so, fold your wings around your body so that you are wrapped completely in them. Notice the instant serenity and shelter that you feel – both physically and emotionally. Take a moment to truly experience this state of mind.
STEP FIVE. Now, unfold your wings and bring your head up proudly. Imagine your lordly wings extending fully out behind you. Stretch them out to their full extent and notice the power that pulses through them! Take a moment and truly experience this, as well.
STEP SIX. When you are ready, shrink and contract your wings back inside yourself knowing that you can expand them whenever you desire.
You are now equipped with a very mighty and compelling tool – your personal angel wings! Here’s how you are going to use them to increase your rapport with people:
STEP SEVEN. The next time you are with someone, imagine flexing your wings and then wrapping the other person fully in them. You want to hug them protectively and tightly! You can hold them as long as you deem appropriate. Let your intuition (and your wings) be your guide.
STEP EIGHT. Now, slowly unwrap the other person from your wings’ hold; keeping your wings ready to embrace them again, as needed.
I want to underscore that this technique is for use with so-called enemies as well as friends. In fact, use this with competitors and perceived challenging people and watch some if not all of the tension dissipate.
This technique has many more applications. I encourage you to explore your new found dimension and learn how to make this ancient magic part of your everyday arsenal.
If you enjoyed this, I’d be grateful if you help spread this information by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Thank you!
And make sure to sign up for my blog mailing list so you get all future postings delivered directly to your inbox.
© 2013 by Scott Grossberg. All Rights Reserved. thinkingmagically.com
(Source: scottgrossberg.wordpress.com)
Thinking Magically™ | Everything I Need to Know I Learned From Dolphins
The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that to wonder at it.
– Jacques Yves Cousteau
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© 2013 by Scott Grossberg. All Rights Reserved. thinkingmagically.com
Thinking Magically™ | Have You Doomed Your Magic to Failure?
Is a faith without action a sincere faith?
– Jean Racine
What if I told you that there is a way to constantly conjure the circumstances for your success? Would that be useful for you? Would you be daring enough to actually give the technique a try?
Before I share this magical secret with you, here’s a little background on what we will be exploring together. You have heard me mention my Ancient Magic | Modern Tools™ system before. The notion is rather straightforward. It is based on the unshakeable conviction that everyone can use established magical techniques to supercharge and transform your practical activities in order to achieve very real, consistent and sustainable results in today’s world! An alchemical blend of your strong intention, steadfast beliefs, and impressive deeds, Ancient Magic | Modern Tools™ is as powerful as it is and so results-oriented simply because it applies your existing faith – your confidence in some one or some thing – to create and build real outcomes. Today, I want to open the door a little more on this orphic construct by exploring one of its core principles:
Thinking magically without effective action is doomed to failure.
Let’s stop deceiving ourselves right here and right now! Either the things you do in life are working for you or they aren’t. And, whether your actions are hard-hitting or powerless, there are usually evolved from habitual practices (actions) that could use some careful review and fine-tuning. If you want to end experiencing failed outcomes and start seeing prosperous results, you MUST develop systematic steps to success.
To put it another way, all successful people invariably know that faith, alone, is not enough to nourish them and provide the prosperity they desire. Wishing, alone, is not enough. You must exert useful action in furtherance of your goals in order to repeatedly achieve anything! It is not enough to simply accept magic as true or think grand thoughts or even fall to your knees in prayer; you must act as if magic was a tangible fact of life. This means looking for rationale correlations and systematic explanations between your intention, your deeds, and the results that follow and then focus in on what works and what doesn’t. You must take every opportunity to eliminate false beliefs and unfounded ideas from your life. Keep what works. Do away with what doesn’t.
George Bernard Shaw wrote: People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them. Today you are being given a mighty technique for discovering the circumstances you want!
MAGICALLY CREATING CIRCUMSTANCES
STEP 1. Write down one goal that you want to achieve and which, when obtained, will serve you well. In writing out your destination, bring all your imagination and senses into play. Be creative. Be desirous. Be exhaustive. You’ll know when you’ve written enough because you will be passionate and energized by the dream you have before you.
STEP 2. Take a moment and notice how you feel! How will it be for you when everything you have written on that paper is achieved?
STEP 3. Now, imagine that achieving the goal you have written down MUST happen; that you have no choice!
STEP 4. Start writing for 10 solid minutes all the actions you can take to make your goal a reality. You must write for 10 minutes without stopping. And when you think you can’t write any more … write some more. Some of your best ideas and action plans will come after you hit the proverbial block wall.
STEP 5. Look back over the list. Identify the top 2-3 action items that you think will be the most useful in making your dream come true.
STEP 6. Write out an action plan for yourself based on the 2-3 items identified in Step 5. This is the time to really elaborate and set forth specific deeds you must do.
STEP 7. Execute your action plan. Every day. In every way. Taking action is the real key to success!
Once you go through this exercise, you will have a powerful tool that can be used for any goal and at any time. I think you will be quite surprised to find how inventive and resourceful you truly are!
If you enjoyed this, I’d be grateful if you click below to share this with others. That’s right, go ahead and help spread this information by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Thank you!
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© 2013 by Scott Grossberg. All Rights Reserved. thinkingmagically.com
Thinking Magically™ | Calling on Your 12 Sacred Guardians (Part 2)
I like to believe that I’ve got a lot of guardian warriors sittin’ on my shoulder …
– Patrick Swayze
Last week I wrote about an active imagination technique that guided you through the creation of powerful protectors for the 12 life themes we all share:
1. Travel/Adventure
2. Health
3. Personal Growth/Education
4. Love/Relationship with Others
5. Creativity/Self-Expression
6. Faith/Religion
7. Work/Career
8. Lifestyle/Possessions
9. Money
10. World Situation/Environment
11. Paranormal Abilities
12. Philosophy of Life
Today, I want to take this method to the next incredible level by showing you how to take your invisible champions and put them to work in a dynamic way so as to make your dreams come true. This will require you to consciously enter into a dreamworld and interact with your guardians.
You will recall that your 12 guardians require that you recognize, receive, and embrace them in order for them to be of service for you. This involves you creating a mental construct whereby you actually interact with your fanciful guardians (Note: I don’t want you to be delusional, but I do want you to be able to channel the real force inside you). This procedure is necessary so that you can easily bypass the critical part of your consciousness and start connecting with your subconscious in order to get powerful answers and direction.
PUTTING YOUR 12 GUARDIANS TO WORK
STEP 1. Give each of your 12 guardians a name or title – something that you can use to distinguish each of them from the other. Each of these guardians is a separate entity for your subconscious to interact with. For this next step in the process, you will still be primarily observing what happens while your imagination creates images that connect you with your personal needs, wants, goals, desires, and – as Carl Jung maintained – the collective unconscious.
STEP 2. Choose one of the 12 guardians. Close your eyes and visualize this guardian standing in front of their door (this is similar to what you did in last week’s exercise). Now approach the guardian, this time with a specific intent in mind. For example, if you are moving towards your Money Guardian, perhaps you have obtaining abundance in mind. Or, alternatively, you might have increasing my financial condition as your intention.
STEP 3. Speak directly to your chosen guardian BY NAME or BY TITLE. The use of your guardian’s true name (the one you have created) gives you a greater access to them. Now, observe what happens next.
STEP 4. Explain to your guardian what you would like them to help you achieve. So, using our earlier example, you might say, I wish to increase my financial condition and I would like you to help me do that. (Note: YOU ARE NOT MAKING A DEMAND.) Pay close attention to the reaction from your guardian to your wish. Are you asked to do something? Are you given anything? Are you asked to eat or drink anything? Does your guardian touch you in any way? Is anything said back to you? ALL OF THESE ARE IMPORTANT! YOU MUST FOLLOW YOUR GUARDIAN’S COUNSEL AND DIRECTION IN EVERY DETAIL.
STEP 5. Inquire of your guardian whether they have understood your wish and whether they will fulfill the request. Wait until you are given a sign of confirmation and agreement. If you are not given such a sign, ask what needs to happen or be said or be done for this confirmation to occur.
STEP 6. Now show your gratitude to your guardian in advance of their help! Without your stated appreciation, your guardian will not do as you ask.
STEP 7. Now say goodbye to your guardian. Again, pay attention to what happens during this farewell as there is often a message of protection, peace, or attainment that is given to you before you depart.
STEP 8. Open your eyes and let your guardian do their work in their own time and in their own way! Upon going to sleep each night, again upon waking, and periodically through the day you might feel the impulse to check in with your chosen guardian. Go ahead and do so, but not to badger or keep an eye on them. Your brief visit will simply be to reinforce and reward the bond you have now made with them. Trust that they are doing what they need to do for you every moment of the day and night. You are merely acknowledging them at this step.
STEP 9. Repeat with each of your other 11 guardians on an as-needed basis. At the very least, perform Step 1 and give each of your guardians a name or title.
The more you practice these steps, the better your imagination becomes in allowing you to interact with your 12 guardians. And, once you get to know your 12 guardians extremely well and on a personal level, they will do all that they can to award, increase, and integrate your desires into your reality.
Now … go out and let your fantasies appear …
If you enjoyed this, I’d be grateful if you share this with others. That’s right, go ahead and help spread this information by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. Thank you!
And make sure to sign up for my blog mailing list so you get all future postings delivered directly to your inbox.
