Asking the Right Questions

Some more very wise words from Steve Pavlina

By Steve Pavlina

Tony Robbins says that thinking is a process of asking and answering questions.  He stresses the importance of asking the right questions to get the right answers and therefore the right results.  I agree with him.  Most people ask lousy questions that cripple their results.  Lousy questions turn your focus away from what you want and towards more of what you don’t want.  And since we ask and answer mental questions every day, our questions wield great power over our results.

Here are some examples of weak questions vs. strong questions:

Upon waking up early

Weak:  Can I fall back asleep again?  Should I go back to bed?

Strong:  What would be the best way to start my day?  How can I energize myself?  Where can I find something inspirational or motivational to read right now?

When contemplating exercise (and feeling unmotivated)

Weak:  Is it too hot/cold to exercise?  Can I skip it for today?  What difference will it make if I just skip a day?  Don’t I deserve a day off?

Strong:  Won’t it feel great hitting the showers afterwards?  What should I listen to while I workout?  Won’t it be wonderful to achieve my fitness goals?  How can I make this session more fun?

When considering a dietary improvement

Weak:  What foods am I going to have to give up?  How am I going to deal with the deprivation?  Am I going to have to eat like this forever?

Strong:  What foods that I like will I get to eat more of?  What new foods can I experiment with?  Won’t it be great when I reach my goal weight?  Won’t it be wonderful to finally master this area of my life once and for all?  Once I succeed at this, who else can I help?

Nearing the end of the workday

Weak:  Have I done enough that I can justify quitting for the day?  Is this a good time to stop?  Can I finish this tomorrow?

Strong:  What’s next?  How can I complete one more task?  How much more can I get done today?

When spending time with the kids

Weak:  Why do I have to do so much childcare?  How can I keep the kids from draining my energy this evening?  What’s the bare minimum I can do to keep them out of my hair?  How early can I put them to bed?

Strong:  What can I do with the kids that will leave me feeling energized?  What do I appreciate most about my kids?  What would I enjoy doing with them this evening?  What would happen if I let my kids direct how we spend our time together?

When facing an unfamiliar social situation

Weak:  How can I avoid looking like an idiot?  What should I talk about?  How can I keep from being too nervous or shy?  How did I get myself into this situation?  Can I get out of going?

Strong:  Won’t it be fun to meet some interesting new people?  If I see someone there who’s a bit shy, what can I do to make him/her feel more comfortable?  What can I expect others at this event to have in common with me?

When feeling depressed, anxious, or otherwise negative

Weak:  Why do I feel so down?  Why can’t I be happy?  How come I never get any time to myself?

Strong:  What can I do to energize myself?  Who can I talk to that would help cheer me up?  What can I read or listen to that would inspire me?  Are these feelings trying to tell me something — should I go journal about them?  How long can I hold a fake smile before it forces me to start feeling good again?

What’s the difference?

Weak questions are disempowering.  They keep your focused on your own ego, your problems, and your shortcomings.  Weak questions keep you focused on what’s wrong… on what isn’t working.  That might seem like a good idea, but all it does is further reinforce the situation you’d like to change.  Weak questions will lead your brain to come up with answers that are useless, circular, or even destructive.

Yet weak questions are addictive.  At first glance they may even seem helpful, and that’s why they’re so insidious.  You might think that if you’re depressed, the best thing you can do is to ask, “Why am I so depressed?”  Perhaps if you could diagnose the problem, you could cure it.  But it doesn’t work that way.  When you’re in a negative state or situation, you aren’t thinking clearly to begin with.  You’re in no position to accurately diagnose yourself.  Effectively you’re blind.  So the answers you get back will be worthless.  At best you’ll merely come up with a temporary solution, but the underlying condition will remain, and the problem will simply submerge and crop up again later, sometimes in a different form.  Asking why you’re depressed merely feeds your depression.  In answering the why question, now you’ve added a story on top of your depression.  That goes way beyond acknowledging your depression and trying to do something about it.

Strong questions are empowering.  They keep you focused on solutions, on what you can control.  When you focus on what you can do, you avoid falling into analysis paralysis.  Ultimately the way out of any negative situation is right thinking.  Wrong thinking leads you in circles.  Right thinking leads to action.

Going back to the depression example, the first thing you need to do is to get yourself to a more positive emotional state.  And with practice that can be done in a matter of minutes — even seconds if you’ve studied NLP.  Strong questions will help you shift your focus away from depression and the thoughts that reinforce it and towards action.  When you focus too much thought on what you can’t control and don’t like, depression is a natural consequence.  When you ask different questions to focus on what you can control and what you like, depression will lift.

Mediocre results largely come about from asking mediocre questions.  Great results come from asking great questions.  If you don’t like the results you’re getting, try asking completely different questions from the ones you’re used to asking.  Ask questions that turn your focus towards your goals instead of away from them.  Ask questions that allow you to enhance the pleasure in your life instead of creating greater pain.

http://www.stevepavlina.com

BBC Theory

By: James Kyle

I invite you to read understand and implement the awesome practice encompassed by BBC theory. The inevitable outcome of following this theory is a fully self-actualised individual. This is achieved as the individual learns to practice full self-acceptance and self-responsibility and to reconcile and align conflicting subpersonalities (desires, emotions, personas) by using awareness of personal inner truths as guiding principles.. The approach is called the BBC theory in honour of my master teacher who indeed serves as the definitive example of this way of life by epitomizing the key qualities of this integrated paradigm.

My master teacher is a wise philosopher, with a legendary sense of poise no matter how tough the going gets, and a sense of humour second to none. I am, of course, referring to Bugs Bunny. And I now present to you the Bugs Bunny Consciousness theory.

I invite you to consider a typical story extract to fully appreciate his great power as a master teacher. We will begin with Bugs being pursued once more by his nemesis Elmer Fudd, shotgun in hand, ready to shoot that pesky rabbit. Bugs however has other plans. He runs down an alleyway, finds a door to dive into and disappears into the convenient back entrance. Elmer quickly follows - but, of course, not quickly enough. By the time he catches up with Bugs, our rabbit hero has found himself a waiter’s outfit, and with menu in one hand and napkin in another quickly ushers Elmer to the nearest table, recommending the vegetarian quiche, accompanied by a glass of the restaurant’s finest Bordeaux wine. Does Elmer shrug this off and shoot that pesky rabbit? Of course not. He surrenders to Bugs’ redefintion of reality and meekly sits down perusing the menu!

So what can we learn from this? Consider Bugs masterful understanding of the concept of an inner locus of control - he knows in any situation he can choose to react in a way that is most effective for him by defining his own reality. Bugs is also fully aware of the power of subpersonalites - he quickly slips in and out of appropriate subpersonalities that best serve him in whatever circumstance he finds himself. Moreover being a cartoon character is also such an advantage when it comes to acceptance - the whole concept of right and wrong never exists in a cartoon world - behaviour is simply either effective or it isn’t. And when it comes to connection and alignment, Bugs, of course, knows that his life is destined to be one of uninterrupted happiness - and lots of carrots certainly - and he pursues this with a single minded determination that a thousand Elmers would never disrupt.


So there we have it, Bugs the master teacher who shows us that:

• We all have a responsibility to choose an inner locus of control as our frame of reference - we are not life’s victims - like Bugs we can choose our own reality.


• We all have a responsibility for being aware of the parts and roles we play in life. Not being as enlightened as Bugs we will find some of our subpersonalities conflict - our goal however is to have all of them serve us at all times.


• We all have a responsibility for choosing a paradigm of effective/not effective rather than right/wrong - like Bugs we should avoid living in a world where judgement leads to denial which distorts our knowledge of who we really are.


• We all have a responsibility for contemplation, and attunement with our own individual truths and life goals. (The pursuit of all the carrots we can eat is entirely optional, being a matter of individual taste).


• We all have a responsibility for using this personal inner truth as a guideline for resolving inner conflicts - to become as one dimensional as any self respecting cartoon character - that is, totally aligned behind our individual self expression in the world in each and every moment.

And always remember, of course, if you ever need a reminder of these great lessons - just switch on to a convenient cartoon channel, sit back, and watch my master teacher, Bugs Bunny, in action.

Wise words

By James Kyle

There is a Stepehn Covey quote "Begin with the end in mind" that seems appropriate to begin this blog post. Because in fact the following is basically the final handout that I give out as part of one of my workshops that is structured entirely around a series of quotes and words of wisdom. This handout is a summary of the most significant quotes and the corresponding key points to be underlined. I offer it here as a foretaste of some of the themes of blog posts to come. If there is anything in particular that you would like me to make a point of covering earlier rather than later feel free to leave a comment to that effect.

Self Responsibility

“I love mankind, it's people I can't stand.” 

Charles M. Schulz (1922 – 2000) American cartoonist.
Appreciate different people have different views of reality. This is crucial to negotiating agreements in life and in the workplace.

“Don't get mad get even.”  (in the nicest possible way of course)
Ivana Trump.
Take responsibility for your own actions and your response to other people’s actions – avoid an external locus of control viewpoint – don’t allow yourself to be a victim. By projecting yourself assertively and confidently this will create your own reality.

Awareness and Change

The map is not the territory

“Awareness per se - by and of itself - can be curative.” 
Fritz Perls (1893 - 1970) German-born psychiatrist and psychotherapist.
Simple awareness can initiate change.

“An unexamined life is not worth living.” 
Socrates c. 469 BC–399 BC, classical Greek Athenian philosopher
Question all your internal maps of reality constantly – bad maps lead to ineffective behaviour. In particular your concept of you is more flexible than you currently believe. By taking responsibility for changing the mental map of who you are, you can become more effective in your dealings with life – in the workplace and in general.

“My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.”
Michel Eyquem De Montaigne (French Renaissance Philosopher and Writer. 1533-1592)
Whether your problems are real or imagined, awareness is difficult if you are emotionally fragmented / not centred.

“Give me the child until he is seven and I’ll give you the man.” 
St. Francis Xavier (1506 – 1552) Roman Catholic missionary and co-founder of the Society of Jesus
Set yourself an objective to be aware of what rules are driving your current behaviour and where they are derived from. Similarly be aware of your triggers. Recall our shared insanity as described by RET.

“Whether you think you can or can’t, you are right.” 
Henry Ford (1863 –1947) prominent American industrialist
Be constantly aware of your self talk.

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
Thomas Edison (1847 –1931) American inventor, scientist, and businessman
See the limiting safety of your usual self as an addiction. To deal with an addiction you need perseverance.

“Be yourself. No one can say you're doing it wrong.”
Snoopy: Charles M. Schulz (1922 – 2000) American cartoonist
Realize that as an adult you no longer need other people’s permission. Additionally there is no rule that says you must be consistent – and in fact this works against experimenting with different behaviour.

“to see ourselves as others see us.”
Robert Burns (1759 –1796)
See life as a mirror – see upsetting incidents as learning opportunities. Crucially, and a key skill in life and in the workplace, focus on actively looking for feedback.

“Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” 
Shakespeare (1564, 1616) English playwright and poet
Avoid thinking in terms of right/wrong rather evaluate as effective/ineffective. Avoid going into emotional upset due to judgment.

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.” Aleister Crowley 
(St. Augustine of Hippo: Love, and do what thou wilt : 354 – 430 a Christian theologian, rhetor, North African bishop)
If effective and the right thing to do – go for it. You do not need anyone else’s permission.

Life as a learning adventure

What is the worst that can happen?
Who is going to stop me?

“How you deal with the issue is the issue.” Anon
Stay centred. Consider that on each and every occasion we all do the best we can at the time. Approach life with a solicitor persona – deal calmly and rationally with the issue, whether personal or work related.

“No use crying over spilt milk.” Anon
Don’t constantly recycle the emotional upset of the past.

“If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.”
Anthony Robbins (b. 1960) American self-help author and motivational speaker
Take risks – make a habit of moving outside your comfort zone. And remember: “A winner loses more often than losers.”

Set SMARTER goals
Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic, Time-bound, Energized, Recorded.

“The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph!”
Marvin Phillips
Like with any objective, self change should be approached with an attitude of High intensity – Low attachment.


And, of course,

“If you can't, you must. If you must, you can.” 
Anthony Robbins (b. 1960) American self-help author and motivational speaker
Approach all of life as a learning experience all of the time. it's playtime!

What did William Wallace say Part III

By James Kyle


So I started this series of articles with a before picture of my personal life that was about surviving and getting by, and an extreme lack of self confidence and where I was existing, not living. See part 1, here, and part 2 here. The after picture is one where I constantly push myself though limiting beliefs and have the personal strength to approach all of life’s challenges in the certain knowledge that I will do my best, will probably succeed in attaining the goals in front of me, and if not, will be accepting and non-judgmental about the outcome, simply learning from the experience and moving on. In summary, I have moved from a negative mindset to a positive mindset with regards to how I approach life.

I say this to give testimony to the fact that there is great value in devoting time to personal development and in particular the right seminar can provide key insights which bring about a more effective, productive and happier life. I have always found it strange that people will naturally sign up for courses on computer skills, car mechanics, or even flower arranging, but baulk at the idea of signing up for a course where they learn how to lead their lives more effectively. What, you would have to admit that there is something to learn, that your current way of thinking and interacting with the world is not absolutely perfect already? And in case you are still thinking this is all a bit too abstract I should point out that in terms of my working career, the changes I have brought about have given me the confidence to take on ever more demanding posts with the very practical result of significantly increased income.

A good seminar will provide tools, ways of thinking about the world, that shifts your world view. With this new world view leading to a more powerful approach to life. During the course of future articles I will look at different aspects of the shifts that occurred for myself personally. But to return to the genesis of this article series, one huge lesson for me was the Tony Robbins saying “if you can’t, you must.”

Along the way, as per the series title, we have talked about “freedom!” One of the best ways I know to bring increased freedom into your life is to be willing to constantly stretch outside your comfort zone, And to do this to the extent that “if you can’t, you must” becomes a central guiding principle in your life.

In the past for me a stretch was where I would feel the fear and do it anyway. Increasingly a stretch has become a case of looking at the fear and seeing it melt in front of my eyes as I commit to taking the stretch. In other words over time I began to master the art of taking stretches to the extent that contemplating taking a stretch is no longer a stretch! Consider the freedom and choices this brings into your life.

I have connected with an inner voice which basically invites me to choose expansion or contraction as life’s challenges comes up. This voice reminds me I have a choice and that the sensible option is expansion. I have learned to constantly choose expansion remembering that it is not the issue but the way that I relate to the issue that counts.

Some of the many examples of the results of these shift are: I have jumped into the pilot’s seat on a trial flight and flown a light plane over downtown LA; I have strapped on a parachute to go parasailing in baja California; I have been on stage in London in several plays; I have flown and landed a glider; I have been scuba diving in the Caribbean where I had the magical experience of being enveloped  and becoming an integral part of a surrounding shoal of fish. This all despite extreme ill health at times and without fear and trepidation, but rather with excitement and enthusiasm. Compare this to the above picture above and recognise that real life shifts are possible.

And how did I do this? I just took the first step of taking that first stretch. Something to think about?

What did William Wallace say Part II

by James Kyle

Starting from Anthony Robbins' famous phrase, “If you can’t you must” this article is a continuation of the previous one on Personal Development seminars ...


The mirror concept does not stop there. Something that can become very apparent in the seminar room is how much love and beauty there is in other people. To be intimate with someone else does not require a physical relationship. In several seminars I have had the privilege of being in the presence of someone who is communicating with me from a position of inner alignment and authenticity, and found in myself the freedom to respond in like manner. This experience can only be described as one of true intimacy. In day to day life, outside of a seminar environment, this can often be missing from our lives. Of course it can be tempting to rely on going back to the seminar room every time I want to experience this depth of connection. However another valuable lesson I have taken to heart is that the real point of working on myself in these seminars is to take experiences like these and to manifest them in my everyday life. I now look on a seminar room as an experimental laboratory where I can see if new attitudes and behaviours add value to my life, and, if so, I then ensure I integrate them into my day to day life.

This level of intimacy of course is a two way process. I now know that when I look at someone else and see how loveable and how beautiful they are, that this is telling me something about myself. Yes - remember the mirror concept. Someone who is not resonating to their own inner love and beauty cannot truly appreciate these qualities in another. An example may help to clarify this. I know that when I am experiencing my life as negative and being despondent then this is reflected in the way I perceive my surroundings, and I really cannot see the beauty of the world around me. On the other hand, if I choose to be positive in my approach to life, the very same experiences can be transformed as I open up to appreciate the beauty that surrounds me. Similarly, in a very real sense, the beauty and love that I see in others is reflecting my state of being - the fact that I am in touch with the beauty and love inside me. A seminar room that is full of loving people can help us to truly realise that when we love others, we are loving ourselves.

Another of the joys of an effective seminar is the opportunity to celebrate the richness and diversity of the talents of our fellow participants. Some  of my most treasured memories are when someone has utilised the support and loving that can  be evident when people are being open with each other, to step forward and fully express their creative ability. It is even more magical when it is obvious that the individual may have not have dreamt before that they were capable of such depth of expression, or indeed, that they would have the courage to share this with an audience.  It can be a revelation to realise how talented all of us are, and how much we have to offer if we can only give ourselves permission to be more spontaneous. A good seminar will encourage playfulness and fun and laughter. Personal growth does not necessarily need to be accompanied by blood, sweat and tears. Laughter can be the best medicine.

Some of you may have come across the work of Dr Patch Adams. Dr  Adams, part time clown, firmly believes that laughter is a potent weapon to combat ill-health, and refers to studies which demonstrate that laughter reinforces the bodies’ own immune system by releasing endorphins, the body's natural pain killers. He also believes that a major contributing factor towards illness in Western society is a lack of connection with other people, otherwise known as loneliness. My personal experience would support these beliefs. I have had long running health problems and I have come to realise that, in the past, a failure to open myself up to people and to cultivate close relationships has played a significant part in this. I would also add that a lack of purpose and meaning in my life also contributed to past feelings of depression and hopelessness. This negativity has had a profound effect on my physical well being.

There are, from time to time, stories of physical symptoms being alleviated and illnesses cured by transformational experiences in a seminar room. I have witnessed this myself in other people. It should not come as a surprise when we realise that a seminar can offer laughter, and connection with fellow participants, and encourages us to focus on all that is positive. We also have an opportunity to carefully consider who we truly are, and what we want out of life, both in terms of what we want to contribute and what we want to receive. If we really embrace these opportunities then the experience can be transformational. The love and energy from our fellow participants can create an environment which enables us to heal ourselves. We can use this as an opportunity to get more in touch with the love we have for ourselves, and this renewed care we demonstrate for ourselves can be manifested in an  improvement in our physical well being - sometimes dramatically so.

My personal experience is that I have had the opportunity to redefine my attitude to my illness. I have become more accepting. And I do not see this acceptance as something negative. I still work to alleviate my symptoms as much as possible. However I am choosing not to waste my energy in resisting what is. I am choosing to focus on what I can do about my situation and not to spend my time feeling sorry for myself, seeing myself as a victim. I accept the fact that my illness exists, but I see this as yet another opportunity for growth and expansion. I choose to be positive and maximise life's possibilities by pushing the boundaries of what I can do, in spite of the illness I have. As my attitude has changed I have been amazed to find out to what extent it was my beliefs about my illness that were  imposing limitations on what I could achieve, rather than the illness itself.

We started with freedom and that is a good place to end. I personally have found freedom from several self-imposed limitations through participating on various self development seminars. I am now 'nice' to people when appropriate, and because I chose to be so, and not because of social conditioning that taught me to always put other's desires and needs above my own. An attitude that contributed to my own ill health over many years. Today my health and energy levels are better than they have ever been since my illness began twenty years ago. Nowadays, I do not impose limits on myself in terms of what I believe I can achieve. I am more spontaneous and I acknowledge my own creativity and talents. I have experienced many moments on seminars where I broke through limitations and on arriving at the other side found how much fun and joy I could experience from something I previously thought of as threatening. With a renewed sense of purpose and direction in my life I have  more energy in my life and a focus that helps me achieve results. I have begun to really appreciate  the lesson of being authentic in relationships and opening up myself to others, and the power of  being open to giving and receiving love.


TO BE CONTINUED

What did William Wallace say???

by James Kyle


“If you can’t you must” is a renowned statement made by Anthony Robbins. As per this previous post he is certainly someone who can provide key insights. In my own case, these five words alone have had a profound effect on my life. My upbringing and conditioning combined with life-long chronic illness had resulted in an approach to life that was about surviving and getting by, with an introverted personality and an extreme lack of self confidence. I was existing not living. And there you have the before picture.

The changes I my life started when I attended a personal development seminar in London called Insight. And as I sat considering how to structure this article I realised that I really need to tell you about my experiences on that seminar and ones that followed. I subsequently recalled that many years ago I wrote a magazine piece that summarised exactly that. So, thanks to the modern technological miracle of OCR,  this single article suddenly transmuted into a series of articles where I will first be sharing extracts from that magazine piece and subsequently be returning to the “If you can’t you must” theme at a later point. 

And so, this first Insight seminar in London led to me attending several more and eventually, over 15 years ago now, I found myself in a seminar room in Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles …


"What did William Wallace say?" "Sorry?" I replied. I was asked once more by the American facilitator "What did William Wallace say?" I hadn't expected that when I flew over to California for this particular seminar I was going to be quizzed on Scottish history. I looked confused - maybe he would put it down to my jet-lag. A battle-cry of "Freedom!!!" came back as the answer. At least it was the answer as documented by 'Braveheart'. We were sitting in a seminar room just a short drive from Hollywood after all. 'Freedom' - an appropriate goal for a country and, of course, for an individual. The lesson was to develop over the rest of this seminar and to be embodied in the phrase "The truth shall set you free." 

It's a phrase that has become increasingly important to me, as I developed more and more awareness of myself over the past three years, participating on personal development seminars in this country and abroad. What I have realised is how often I moulded my behaviour to be acceptable to other people, rather than risk acting on what was true for me; how often I used to look back on an interaction with someone else and realise that I had just not been honest, and not stood up for my inner truth. On some occasions my fear of rejection meant I would let someone else's ego override my own boundaries. On other occasions I held back my love and caring, letting people walk out of my life because I felt inadequate inside. The transformation in my life began when I finally summoned the courage to open up to others and let them really see me - as I am. It seems such a simple thing, yet although it is indeed simple, it certainly hasn't been easy, and what has helped me immeasurably on my journey is the courses and seminars I have taken part in. 

After years of reading self-help books, I found that there was something about a seminar no book could ever give me - other people! Other people with whom I could practice what I was learning, take risks, experiment - rather than just page after page of dry theory. I have also found in my co-participants the greatest support, encouragement and friendship I could have wished for - providing a safe and nourishing environment in which I could grow and learn about the real me. And, if I want to be true to myself, then this does imply that I need to find out exactly who is the real me. 

There are the famous lines quoted by Nelson Mandela, "We ask ourselves - 'Who are we to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are we not to be?'" One of the advantages in working in groups is that as other people open up I see that I am not alone in having periods of self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy. I also have the opportunity to see many of these people rising above these limiting beliefs and presenting themselves to the world as powerful human beings who still strive to live life to the full. There have been two big lessons for me here. The first is the need for me to make allowances for the human condition. It is too easy to judge others, and ourselves, harshly. There is a saying along the lines of "Please go easy on me, God hasn't finished with me yet!" And whether or not you believe in a God perhaps you can empathise with the spirit of this statement. We are all "works in progress", and judgement can only serve to separate and put us out of alignment with ourselves and other people. The other lesson is a result of really coming to know and appreciate my fellow participants - I see how amazing they are, and how capable they are of rising above these self proclaimed inner doubts - providing me with wonderful role models! A person can have periods of self-doubt and still be socially confident and outgoing. And if they can do it - so can I. 

Another valuable concept I have come to embrace is that of others being a mirror of myself. There have been many times in a seminar room, and in life in general, when I have had a strong emotional reaction to someone else. Before doing this kind of work if I had an encounter where someone had 'upset me', I would have put it down to them being an objectionable person, and made it my policy to avoid them as much as possible. However by repeatedly doing this, I now realise that I am only weakening myself and restricting my life's choices. But, most important of all, I realised that as long as I gave the power over my emotions to another person - i.e. they did it to me, I was giving away my power to be master of my own life. 

I learned in these seminars that there is an alternative, that there is another, more effective way of responding to people who I find provocative - that is to see them as mirrors reflecting my issues back to me. It can be challenging at times! And often I find myself thinking, "Oh, no, not HIM! I'm nothing like him. I am sure the concept doesn't apply this time!" But if I persist, I can usually find the place where the other person is beautifully demonstrating just what I do in a different situation, or perhaps what they are doing externally .is what I do silently inside, or maybe what they're doing is holding back their gifts in the same way I hold mine back. If I really look, there is usually something. 

For example, there have been occasions where I have perceived someone as being very stubborn, and I have found myself getting angry at them. However remembering to pause for a moment to consider what is happening inside me, I look and realise that I am the one who is being really stubborn - but, of course, I really want to project the entire blame for the escalating disagreement on the other person. On such occasions, when I do remember to look inside, and realise that, yes, once more I can see this is the result of something inside me, I embrace this. I embrace this because what it means is that NOBODY is responsible for how I feel except me. And if this is originating from inside me I can change this! To really claim back responsibility for our emotional reactions is very powerful and liberating. It certainly beats feeling like one of life's victims! 

I now realise that I can look at these types of interaction as an opportunity to learn and grow, and redefine such situations to work for me rather than against me. I can choose to see my own emotional reactions as 'warning lights' that I need to do some reworking of my attitudes and responses when faced with that particular type of situation. And I can choose to do this without judging myself for being inadequate when faced with such challenges, but with respect for myself for owning MY issues, being wise enough to seize upon the opportunity for self growth, and for maximising life's opportunities by being open to all that life presents. There is something to be said for the maxim 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. So I choose to learn and grow from this type of experience by accepting responsibility and focusing on what I can change - my attitude; rather than what I can't - other people's behaviour. That one lesson alone has been a worthwhile return for the investment of my time in the seminars I have attended over the years. 

TO BE CONTINUED

8 Secrets of Success

An inspiring video from TED today that lives up to their mission of "ideas worth spreading." This video packs a lot into just 3 minutes.



 

Be Inspired by Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins is coming to London:

 "Unleash the Power Within", ExCeL London May 10, 2013 12:00 PM


Just in case you are one of the few who have not heard of him watch the first video below. Alternatively if you just want to be inspired once again go on and click anyway. This one runs for about 6 minutes.

Once you have watched the first one you may be willing to devote some more of your time to the second video. The second one is about 22 minutes long and includes Tony Robbins high-fiving Al Gore in the front row as Tony discusses the "invisible forces" that make us do what we do. (The references to Lance of course pre-date recent events).

For those of you who live near London, if you are now suitably motivated, you can find more information about the upcoming seminar here.

21 Characteristics Of A Millionaire Mindset

Author: Justin Verrengia

Your thoughts and the way you think attracts everything in your life including success. The most successful people of all time were interviewed to determine what it was that made them wealthy and these are the 21 characteristics of a millionaire mindset.

1. Have A Big Reason Why

Without a big reason why YOU are ROADKILL! There has to be something inside of you that continues to drive you everyday powerful enough to overcome all the distractions of life.

2. Pick A Few Personal Targets That Really Motivate You

A target is defined as a definite major purpose. Choose a few targets then focus on them throughout the day.

By doing so you will always have a target to hit. Without having a target is no different then a ship not having a course or even a map to see where they're going.

3. Have A Work Hard Mentality

Nothing truly great has ever been accomplished without hard work. Not until your willing to give it 100% will you ever see success.

4. Have An Action Mindset

Henry Ford is a great example of having a action mindset. Look what he accomplished? Action is the KEY ingredient to wealth and abundance and also what separates the rich from the poor.

5. Don't Just Take Action, Take Massive F.O.C.U.S. 'ed Action

Personal finance best selling author Robert Kiyosaki uses the acronym F.ollow O.ne C.ourse U.ntill S.uccessful.

Let's face it, life absorbs time away from us & it's so easy to get side tracked and that's why it's so important to stick to one path and channel all your energy with laser focus until successful. Only then should you take on another course.

6. Activity Is What Create Results, Not Positive Thinking

As great as positive thinking is to keep with positive emotion, without activity you cannot succeed. That's why positive thinking alone without action of activity is dead.

7. Have A Long-Term Perspective

The majority of people who set out for success fail because people simply quit on themselves.

Look, becoming a millionaire is not something that's going to be easy or happen overnight. It requires having a long term perspective. You must be willing to be in it for the long haul.

8. You Must Really Like Your Product Or Service

If you can't become passionate about your business how can you expect success out of it?

Find something you truly enjoy. If you hate selling health products but you love traveling, then choose a product or service in the travel industry so you can enjoy it.

9. Your Business Will Become How You Treat It

If you treat your business like a hobby then it's going to pay you like a hobby. On the other hand treat your business like a multi million dollar business and it will pay as accordingly.

10. Do Not Be Afraid Of Failure, Embrace It

Baseball LEGAND and hall of famer "Babe Ruth" was the home run king for decades and you know what?...

He also was notorious for striking out. It is through failing over and over again that makes you successful. Don't ever be afraid of failure but welcome it. You have nothing to fear but fear itself.

11. Own Reality- Most People Will Not Buy Or Consume What You Offer

Get this through your head right now because the sooner you understand this the better.

Reality is most people will never buy or consume what you offer, I don't care how AMAZING it is. The truth is most people just aren't looking to buy from you.

12. Be Teachable

"When your green your growing, when your ripe your rotten." A major part of having a millionaire mindset has to do with always being teachable.

Success is a journey and not a destination, don't ever think you know it all or you will rot from within.

13. Keep Your Pipeline Full At All Times

Without customers or prospects you cannot grow your business hence the reason why your pipeline must be filled at all times if your looking to experience momentum.

14. Ask, What Would It Take To Be The Best ______?" and "What One Thing Can I Do Today To Massively Build My Business?"

This is a very powerful technique you can apply everyday. I challenge you to stick to it for at least 1 solid month and I promise you once you hold yourself accountable to your commitment you will see success.

15. The Phone Is Your Best Friend

The poor allow fear to control their minds so naturally they become scared to call prospects or talk to certain people.

A Millionaire mindset has to overcome this fear and replace it with faith as the phone is one of the most effective tools to growing any business.

16. Don't Talk People Into What You Have

True marketers don't have to convince people to join their deal or become their customer.

A good marketer simply supplies a demand to the marketplace no different then the way Coca-Cola or McDonalds. Only BAD salesmen waste time trying to convince people.

17. Start Where You Are At Right Now

Most people wait for the perfect time to become successful and guess what folks? That time does not exist, the perfect time is none other than right NOW.

18. Be Honest And Avoid All Opportunities Based On Greed

If your business or opportunity isn't based upon integrity and honesty then run the other way as fast as YOU can. All things based upon greed will not be around for long so don't get caught up in it."

19. Have A Prospecting Mindset

Millionaires become millionaires because they always have their business hats on. A good marketer see's the world from a totally different perspective and uses that to his advantage.

Opportunity is all around us, everywhere that's why it is so important to always have a prospecting mindset.

20. Look To Infinite Intelligence For Help

Ask and you shall receive, this statement couldn't be any further from the truth. I don't care if it's God, Buddha, The Dao, Energy, or Universal Intelligence, call it what you want but fact is just ask and have faith in receiving and you will always get what you ask for.

21. As You Have Success, Be Grateful And Publicly Express That Gratitude

It is vitally important to always have an attitude of gratitude. Even before your successful this holds true and it isn't until your in a grateful state of mind that you can grow and become successful.

A special technique to remember is to always remind yourself what it is you have to be grateful for and express to others the same.


Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/motivational-articles/21-characteristics-of-a-millionaire-mindset-441938.html

About the Author
Learn how Justin Verrengia & his inner circle are helping thousands of people put $5,000, $10,000 into their pockets every week. visit: Funnel Of Wealth

Shut up, I can't hear myself think

By James Kyle

Several years ago I was living outside Fresno in the countryside, towards Yosemite in fact, which quickly became one of my favourite places on the planet. At the time I was attending the University of Santa Monica and we students had been directed to carry out an exercise in connecting more deeply with ourselves. In the first instance I thought I would fulfil this exercise by being more focused on sitting in silent meditation on a more regular basis. I thought this should be reasonably easy to accomplish as I was living in the middle of the countryside on 30 acres of land. My universe quickly gave me feedback that this was not the way forward, as my first few attempts at silent meditation on the balcony were interrupted by construction noises of a new neighbouring farm home to one side of my house, and on moving to the other side of the house, being then faced with a loud radio being played by some other neighbours working in the fields. I took this as a sign that I was not on the right track and started to rethink how else I could meaningfully fulfil this exercise.

I then realized that a fruitful interpretation of this exercise which would be more meaningful to me personally would be to address the lack of silence in my mind - to address the mental chatter that goes on in my head for most of the day. So for the rest of the month I chose particular situations to practice a form of moving mediation in which my intention was to focus my entire awareness on whatever activity I was involved in at the time, and to use this as a means of seeing if I could quiet my overactive intellect. The three areas I chose specifically were listening to music, eating and jogging. All I can claim is that at that point I made a start on this challenging process. And I did find it very challenging. It was a powerful lesson to me to see just how easily my mind would take over again and again and that something as simple as focusing on a favourite song for all of three minutes or eating just one meal without accompanying mental chatter was so difficult. This in turn fed into my continuing resistance to the overall process. However I do think that this was a productive exercise for me to carry out, and that an important seed was planted - a deeper appreciation that focusing on this kind of moving meditation is an important way forward. This kind of process is such an important key to quieting the mind to facilitate more self awareness, by reducing the distraction of the all too obtrusive non-stop mental chatter.

There was a specific significant win for me shortly afterwards that indicated I was making at least some progress. I was driving in my car and had just came off a freeway around a long curving off ramp. Although I had been driving in the US for quite a while, I was not familiar with this particular exit off the Fresno freeway, and I mistakenly stopped at white line that was indicating a pedestrian crossing rather than a stop line. The next thing I heard was car brakes being slammed on behind me. The car did not hit me which was fortunate as irrespective of my error it was obviously going far too fast for that steeply curved exit ramp. At the next set of traffic lights the car drew up beside me and the woman driver started screaming and swearing and threatening me - it seems road rage had definitely arrived in Fresno. The significance of this interaction was that there was not one moment when I hooked into this woman’s emotion. I stayed calm and purposefully showed no reaction to what she was saying, knowing this would only inflame her further. I did not go into self recrimination. I did not move into outrage at her shouting at me. I did not buy into her definition of reality. My mind stayed peaceful and in that silence I just let her anger wash over me accepting that this was her reality but it did not have to be mine. This was a very significant personal experience of the power of a quiet mind. 

So I leave you with this thought. A quiet mind helps you to avoid buying into other people’s realities: the truth of your reality is always to be found inside you.

10 Reasons You Should Never Have a Religion (Part 2)

This article is the followup to the one posted on Thursday and covers reasons 6 to 10. I welcome your comments below.



By Steve Pavlina

6. Incest is best.

Religions frequently promote inbred social networks. You’re encouraged to spend more time with people who share the same belief system while disengaging from those with incompatible beliefs. Sometimes this is done subtly; other times it’s more obvious.

If you’re one of the saved, blessed, or otherwise enlightened individuals who stumbled upon the one true belief system, then supposedly everyone else remains in the dark. Certain religions are overtly intolerant of outsiders, but to one degree or another, all major religions cast non-subscribers in a negative light. This helps to discourage members from abandoning the religion while still enabling them to proselytize. The main idea is to maintain social structures that reward loyalty and punish freedom of thought.

This us-vs-them prejudice is totally incongruent with conscious living. It’s also downright moronic from a global perspective. But it remains a favored practice of those who pull the strings. When you’re taught to distrust other human beings, fear gets a foothold in your consciousness, and you become much easier to control.

When you join a religion, your fellow mind-slaves will help to keep you in line, socially rewarding your continued obedience while punishing your disloyalty. Why do they do this? It’s what they’ve been conditioned to do. Tell your religious friends that you’re abandoning their religion because you want to think for yourself for a while, and watch the sparks fly. Suddenly you’ve gone from best friend to evil demon. There’s no greater threat to religious people than to profess your desire to think for yourself.

There are better ways to enjoy a sense of community than joining a slavery club. Try making friends with conscious, free-thinking people for a change — people who are willing to connect with you regardless of how silly your beliefs are. You may find it intimidating at first, but it’s quite refreshing once you get used to it.

Since I get asked this question all the time, I might as well answer it publicly. Do I accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior? No more than I’d accept a credit card from Crapital One. Either way I’d be worried about the fine print. Does this mean we can’t be friends anymore? Please don’t hate me because I’m doomed.

7. Idiocy or hypocrisy – pick one.

When you subscribe to an established religion, you have only two options. You can become an idiot, or you can become a hypocrite. If you’ve already chosen the former, I’ll explain why, and I’ll use small words so that you’re sure to understand.

First, there’s the idiocy route. You can willingly swallow all of the contrived, man-made drivel that’s fed to you. Accept that the earth is only 10,000 years old. Believe stories about dead bodies coming back to life. Learn about various deities and such. Put your trust in someone who thinks they know what they’re talking about. Eat your dogma. Good boy!

Congratulations! You’re a moron believer. You’ll be saved, enlightened, and greeted with tremendous fanfare when you die… unless of course all the stuff you were taught turns out not to be true. Nah… if the guy in the robe says it’s true, it must be true. Ya gotta have faith, right?

Next, we have the hypocrisy option. In this case your neocortex is strong enough to identify various bits of utter nonsense in the religious teachings that others are trying to ram down your throat. You have a working B.S. detector, but it’s slightly damaged. You’re smart enough to realize that earth is probably a lot older than 10,000 years and that pre-marital (or non-marital) sex is a lot of fun, but some B.S. still gets through. You don’t swallow all the bull, but you still identify yourself as a follower of a particular religion, most likely because you were raised in it and never actually chose it to begin with.

To you it’s just a casual pursuit. You’re certainly not a die-hard fundamentalist, but you figure that if you drink the wine and chew the wafer now and then, it’s good enough to get you a free ride into a half-decent afterlife. You belong to the pro-God club. Surely there’s safety in numbers. Two people can’t be wrong… although 4-1/2 billion supposedly can.

In this case you become an apologist for your own religion. You don’t want to be identified with the extreme fanatics, nor do you want to be associated with the non-believers. You figure you can straddle both sides. On earth you’ll basically live as a non-practitioner (or a very sloppy and inconsistent practitioner), but when you eventually die, you’ve still got the membership card to show God.

Do you realize how deluded you are?

Perhaps if you have to throw out so much of the nonsense to make your chosen belief system palatable, you shouldn’t be drinking the Kool Aid in the first place. Free yourself from the mental baggage, stop looking to others for permission to live, and start thinking on your own. If your God exists, he’s smart enough to see through your fake ID.

From time to time, some of my readers take a stab at converting me to their religion. Most of them come across as total loons, but I can at least respect their consistency. I’ve no idea why they bother to read my site (which is about raising, not lowering, consciousness). Perhaps some of them are getting ready to convert from fundamentalism to common sense.

You’d think I’d be quite a prize for any serious religion. With 2.4 million monthly readers, that’s a lot of people I could potentially enslave convert, not to mention how much I could fill the Church coffers by soliciting indulgences donations on their behalf. Henceforth I expect a much better conversion effort. If you won’t do it for the money, then do it for the souls. You can’t let so many of us go to hell without trying in earnest to save us, can you?

Just keep those conversion emails below 10,000 words if possible, with no more than 9,000 of them quoted from your favorite great book.

8. Inherited falsehood.

Please tell me you aren’t still practicing the religion you happened to be born into? Surely you’ve outgrown your baby clothes by now. Isn’t it time you also outgrew your baby religion?

What if you were born into a different culture? Would you have been conscious enough to find your way back to your current belief system? Or are your current beliefs merely a product of your environment and not the result of conscious choice?

Many religions are just a mish-mash of what came before. For example, Christianity is largely based on pagan rituals. If those pagan beliefs and rituals had been protected by copyright, Christianity wouldn’t even exist. If you take the time to dig into the roots of Christianity, you’ll encounter various theories that Christianity’s teachings were largely assembled from pre-Christian myths and that Jesus himself was merely a fictional character pieced together from earlier mythical figures. You go, Horus!

Many religious teachers (i.e. priests, rabbis, ministers, etc.) are just brainwashed slaves themselves. They don’t have any real authority and aren’t even aware of the agenda being set by their superiors. This makes them better minions because they actually believe the B.S. they’re spouting and don’t know the truth behind it. A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar, but that’s as far as they get. They may interact with the bartender, but they never get to know the guy who owns the bar. They suffer from inherited falsehood just like everyone else.

Is your religion based on the inspired word of God? No more than this article. Just because someone says their text is divinely inspired doesn’t mean it is. Anyone can claim divine inspiration. The top religions are decided by popularity, not by truth.

Even the central figures in major religions didn’t follow the religions that were spawned in their names. If they didn’t swallow the prevailing “wisdom” about gods and spiritual leaders and such, why should you? If you want to be more like the people you worship, then follow their lead by striking out on your own.

Move beyond your baby religion. Consider maturity as a reasonable alternative.

9. Compassion in chains.

Religious rules and laws invariably hamper the development of conscience. This causes all sorts of problems like pointless violence and warfare. Those who preach nonviolence as a rule or law tend to be the most violent of all. Such people cannot be trusted because they’ll violate their proclaimed values with the weakest of excuses.

When you externalize compassion into a set of rules and laws, what you’re left with isn’t compassion at all. True compassion is a matter of conscious choice, and that requires the absence of force-backed rules and laws.

The more religious a person becomes, the less compassionate s/he is. The illusion of compassion substitutes for the real thing. Religious people tend to be the most bigoted and non-accepting people on earth. They’re the least trustworthy and suffer from the grossest character defects. They pretend they’re doing good, but they’re really collaborators in a system designed to push people into unconscious slavery to a “higher” authority. They are slaves promoting slavery.

Historically speaking, religious people love to fight each other. Instead of unconditional love, they practice conditional loyalty. The only unconditional aspect is their thirst for blood. If you disagree with them, you’re a target… either for conversion or destruction (both of which are really the same thing).

If you value the ideal of unconditional love, you won’t find it in the practice of religion. Real compassion doesn’t arise from believing in God, from practicing various rituals, or from studying the concept of karma. Compassion can only result from conscious choice, and this requires the freedom to choose without the threat of punishment or the promise of reward. If you’re obedient to your faith, it’s a safe bet that compassion is absent from your life. You probably don’t even know what real compassion feels like.

The more we collectively abandon all religion, the better off this planet will be. This doesn’t mean we have to abandon all spiritual pursuits. It just means we must stop turning spirituality into something it isn’t.

10. Faith is fear.

Religion is the systematic marketing of fear.

Blessed are the poor (donate heavily). Blessed are the meek (obey). Blessed are the humble (don’t question authority). Blessed are the hungry (make us rich while you starve). Blessed are the merciful (if you catch us doing something wrong, let it go). Blessed are the pure of heart (switch off your brain). Blessed are the timid, the cowardly, the fearful. Blessed are those who give us their power and become our slaves. Muahahaha!

That’s the kind of nonsense religion pushes on people. They train you to turn your back on courage, strength, and conscious living. This is stupidity, not divinity.

Religion will teach you to fear being different, to fear standing up for yourself, and to fear being an independent thinker. It will erode your self-trust by explaining why you’re unable to successfully manage life on your own terms: You are unworthy. You’re a sinner. You’re unclean. You belong to a lesser caste. You are not enlightened. Of course the solution is always the same — submit to the will of an external authority. Believe that you’re inadequate. Give away your power. Follow their rules and procedures. Live in fear for the rest of your life, and hope it will all turn out okay in the end.

When you practice faith instead of conscious living, you live under a cloak of fear. Eventually that cloak becomes so habitual you forget it’s even there. It’s very sad when you reach the point where you can’t even remember what it feels like to wield creative freedom over your own life, independent of what you’ve been conditioned to believe.

Faith is the coward’s substitute for courage. It’s also really good marketing if you’re the one who controls the faith. If you’re afraid or unwilling to assume total responsibility for your life, you’re a perfect match for religion.

Fear in one part of your life invariably spreads to all other parts — you can’t compartmentalize it. If you find yourself frustrated because you’re too afraid to follow your dreams, to talk to members of the opposite sex, to speak up for yourself, etc., then a good place to start is to rid your life of all religious nonsense. Don’t let fear get a foothold in your consciousness.

Stop trying to comfort yourself by swallowing religious rubbish. If you really need something to believe in, then believe in your own potential. Put your trust in your own intellect. Stop giving away your power.

Dump the safety-in-numbers silliness. Just because a lot of people believe stupid stuff doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid. It just means that stupidity is popular on this planet. When people are in a state of fear, they’ll swallow just about anything to comfort themselves, including the bastion of stupidity known as religion.

***

Religion is spiritual immaturity.

It’s entirely possible to enjoy your life without spending so much of it bent over in submission. Pull your head out of your rear, and look around with your own two eyes. If you need something to worship, then feel grateful for your own conscious mind. Pull it out of the cobwebs, and boot it up.

Besides… if some popular religious version of God does exist, there’s a good chance he’s a complete and total idiot. He made us in his image, right? So perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to worship an entity so lacking in intelligence. We’re better off on our own.

God isn’t going to smite you for not formally worshipping him. If he didn’t smite me by now, it’s a safe bet you’ll slide beneath the radar as well. And if that doesn’t work, you can borrow my fake ID. I’ve been baptized and confirmed, and I’m the son of an altar boy and the nephew of a priest, so I’m sure I’ll be fine.

Praise Hestia!


http://www.stevepavlina.com

10 Reasons You Should Never Have a Religion

I have been thinking for a while that it would be a really good idea to have an article that would attract some comments. I think I may have found one, again courtesy of Steve Pavlina. Please add your comments ranging from "right on" to calling down retribution from your very own proprietary deity below. This article covers numbers 1 to 5. Part two of this article will be published on Saturday.


By Steve Pavlina

While consciously pursuing your spiritual development is commendable, joining an established religion such as Christianity, Islam, or Hinduism is one of the worst ways to go about it. In this article I’ll share 10 reasons why you must eventually abandon the baggage of organized religion if you wish to pursue conscious living in earnest.

Since Christianity is currently the world’s most popular religion, I’ll slant this article towards Christianity’s ubiquitous failings. However, you’ll find that most of these points apply equally well to other major religions (yes, even Buddhism).

1. Spirituality for dummies.

If you have the awareness level of a snail, and your thinking is mired in shame and guilt (with perhaps a twist of drug abuse or suicidal thinking), then subscribing to a religion can help you climb to a higher level of awareness. Your mindset, however, still remains incredibly dysfunctional; you’ve merely swapped one form of erroneous thinking for another.

For reasonably intelligent people who aren’t suffering from major issues with low self-esteem, religion is ridiculously consciousness-lowering. While some religious beliefs can be empowering, on the whole the decision to formally participate in a religion will merely burden your mind with a hefty load of false notions.

When you subscribe to a religion, you substitute nebulous group-think for focused, independent thought. Instead of learning to discern truth on your own, you’re told what to believe. This doesn’t accelerate your spiritual growth; on the contrary it puts the brakes on your continued conscious development. Religion is the off-switch of the human mind.
Leave the mythology behind, and learn to think for yourself. Your intellect is a better instrument of spiritual growth than any religious teachings.

2. Loss of spiritual depth perception.

One of the worst mistakes you can make in life is to attach your identity to any particular religion or philosophy, such as by saying “I am a Christian” or “I am a Buddhist.” This forces your mind into a fixed perspective, robbing you of spiritual depth perception and savagely curtailing your ability to perceive reality accurately. If that sounds like a good idea to you, you’ll probably want to gouge out one of your eyeballs too. Surely you’ll be better off with a single, fixed perspective instead of having to consider two separate image streams… unless of course you’ve become attached to stereo vision.

Religious “truths” are inherently rooted in a fixed perspective, but real truth is perspective-independent. When you substitute religious teachings for truth, you mistake shadows for light sources. Consequently, you doom yourself to stumble around in the dark, utterly confused. Clarity remains forever elusive, and the best answer you get is that life is one giant mystery. Religious mysteries, however, arise not from what is truly unknowable; they arise from the limitations of trying to understand reality from a fixed frame of reference.

A more intelligent approach is to consider reality through a variety of different perspectives without trying to force your perceptions into an artificial religious framework.

3. Engineered obedience training.

Religions are authoritarian hierarchies designed to dominate your free will. They’re power structures that aim to convince you to give away your power for the benefit of those who enjoy dominating people. When you subscribe to a religion, you enroll in a mindless minion training program. Religions don’t market themselves as such, but this is essentially how they operate.

Religions are very effective at turning human beings into sheep. They’re among the most powerful instruments of social conditioning. They operate by eroding your trust in your own intellect, gradually convincing you to put your trust into some external entity, such as a deity, prominent figure, or great book. Of course these instruments are usually controlled by those who administrate the minion training program, but they don’t have to be. Simply by convincing you to give your power away to something outside yourself, religion will condition you to be weaker, more docile, and easier to control. Religions actively promote this weakening process as if it were beneficial, commonly branding it with the word faith. What they’re actually promoting is submission.

Religions strive to fill your head with so much nonsense that your only recourse is to bow your head in submission, often quite literally. Get used to spending a lot of time on your knees because acts of submission such as bowing and kneeling are frequently incorporated into religious practice. Canine obedience training uses similar tactics. Now say, “Yes, Master.”

Have you ever wondered why religious teachings are invariably mysterious, confusing, and internally incongruent? This is no accident by the way — it’s quite intentional.

By putting forth confusing and internally conflicting information, your logical mind (i.e. your neocortex) is overwhelmed. You try in vain to integrate such contradictory beliefs, but it can’t be done. The net effect is that your logical mind disengages because it can’t find a pattern of core truth beneath all the nonsense, so without the help of your neocortex, you devolve to a more primitive (i.e. limbic) mode of thinking. You’re taught that this faith-based approach is a more spiritual and conscious way to live, but in reality it’s precisely the opposite. Getting you to distrust your own cerebral cortex actually makes you dumber and easier to manipulate and control. Karl Marx was right when he said, “Religion is the opiate of the people.”

For example, the Old Testament and the New Testament in the Bible frequently contradict each other with various rules of conduct, yet both are quoted during mass. Church leaders also behave in direct violation of the Church’s teachings, such as by covering up criminal and immoral activities by their own priests. Those who try to mentally process such glaring contradictions as coherent truth invariably suffer for it. A highly conscious person would reject membership in such an organization as patently ridiculous. So-called divine mysteries are engineered to be incomprehensible. You aren’t meant to ever make sense of them since that would defeat the whole purpose. When you finally wake up and realize it’s all B.S., you’ve taken the first step towards freedom from this oppressive system.

The truth is that so-called religious authorities don’t know any more about spirituality than you do. However, they know how to manipulate your fear and uncertainty for their own benefit. How nice of you to let them.

Although the most popular religions are very old, L. Ron Hubbard proved the process can be replicated from scratch in modern times. As long as there are large numbers of people who fear the responsibility of their own power, religions will continue to dominate the landscape of human development.
If you want to talk to God, then communicate directly instead of using third-party intermediaries. Surely God has no need of an interpreter. Don’t fall into the trap of becoming a mindless minion. It’s a mistake to think that turning off your neocortex and practicing mindless “faith” will bring you closer to God. In truth it will only bring you closer to dog.

4. Toilet-bowl time management.

If you devote serious time to the practice of religion, it’s safe to say you practice toilet-bowl time management, flushing much of your precious life down the drain with little or nothing to show for it.
First, you’ll waste a lot of time filling your head with useless nonsense. This includes reading some of the worst fiction ever written. Then there are various rules, laws, and practices to learn.

Seriously, if you have insomnia, try reading religious texts before bedtime. You’ll be asleep faster than you can say Methuselah. Why do you think hotels put Bibles next to the bed? It’s the greatest sedative known to man. I have to give props to the Scientologists for at least incorporating space aliens into their stories. It’s a shame Gene Roddenberry didn’t formally invent his own religion; Stovokor sounds like a lot of fun.

Once you finally realize your head has been filled with utter nonsense, you must then purge such garbage from your mind if you want your brain to be functional again. That can take considerably longer, assuming you succeed at all. It’s like trying to uninstall AOL from your hard drive.
Next, you can expect to waste even more time on repetitive ritual and ceremony, such as attending mass, learning prayers, and practicing unproductive meditations.

If I add up the time I attended mass and Sunday school, studied religion in school as if it were a serious subject, and memorized various prayers, I count thousands of hours of my life I’d love to have back. I did, however, learn some important lessons, many of which are being shared in this article.
I especially remember listening to a lot of bad sermons; most priests are hideously poor speakers. Maybe it’s because they drink alcohol while on duty.

Now if you really go overboard and throw in learning a dead language for good measure, you can kiss years of your life goodbye.

The more time you devote to religious practice, the more you waste your life on pointless, dead-end pursuits… and the more you’ll want to delude yourself with a phony “Hehe, I meant to do that” attitude.

5. Support your local pedophile.

In addition to being a serious waste of time, religious practice can also be a huge waste of money.
For starters when you donate to a major religion, you support its expansion, which means you’re facilitating the enslavement of your fellow humans. That isn’t very nice, now is it? If you feel the urge to donate money, give it to a real and honorable cause, not a fabricated one. Better yet, go outside and do something that really helps people. If you can’t think of anything better, grab a can of paint and clean up some local graffiti.

Your religious donations fund freeloaders who mooch off society but who generally provide little or no value in return. Sure there are some religious people who perform valuable public services, but for the most part, that isn’t their bailiwick. These freeloaders typically operate tax-free, meaning they’re effectively subsidized by taxpayers. That’s a great racket if you’re on the receiving side… not so great if you’re funding it though.

Religions offer a suite of special services to generate additional income. They’ll spout some gibberish while feeding you a crusty wafer, pronounce you bonded to a fellow human being, snip some of your excess skin, pour water on your head, proclaim your manhood, cast out your demons, pronounce your transgressions forgiven, and so on. When they can’t think of anything else, they make up some drivel like confirming you’re still loyal to them. The bill may read “suggested donation,” but it’s still a bill.
When you donate money to a religious organization, you’re doing much worse than throwing your money away. You’re actively funding evil. If you think that spending a billion dollars to defend pedophiles and rapists is a good use of your hard-earned cash, perhaps you should run for Pope. You could hardly do worse. At least Wall Street is honest about its greed and lust.

One of my Catholic high school teachers was later revealed to be a repeat child molester… written up in the newspaper and everything. I didn’t see any suspicious behavior at the time, and to be totally honest, I actually liked that teacher and was shocked to learn of his extracurricular activities. He was shuffled from one location to another by those who knew about his appetite for young flesh. I’m glad I wasn’t on the menu, but I feel sad for those who were. Methinks God should raise his standards… just a tad.

Why aren’t Catholic priests allowed to marry? This has nothing to do with what’s written in the Bible or with any benefits of celibacy. This rule was invented by the Church to prevent their priests from producing heirs. When the priests died, their property would go back to the Church, thereby enriching the rich even more. Apparently God needed more cash. It was a very effective policy, as the Church is now among the richest and most powerful organizations on earth. It’s hard to fail when you have a loyal force of lifetime indentured servants who work cheaply and then yield their life savings to you when they die.

Lay religious people (i.e. non-clergy), on the other hand, are encouraged to have lots of babies because that means more people are born into the religion, which means more money and a bigger power base. Condoms are a big no-no; they’re bad for business. Marriage is a big yes; it means more brainwashed babies will be made.

Would you seriously consider this sort of structure a “good cause” worthy of your hard-earned cash?
I have got to get me one of these…



http://www.stevepavlina.com

Tess' exposé exclusive!!! on little green men

I have soooo much to tell you. You know, life can be very strange. Really, who would have thought that my families’ Irish background would have changed the very course of history. Many of you will have realized that I live in England but my grandfather was all too Irish. So Irish, in fact, that he was descended from a leprechaun. He told me this himself many times. Usually after one of his many visits to the local pub to put away vast quantities of Guinness. This does actually explain why everybody in our family is soooo small. A familial connection with leprechauns, an attraction to the king of stouts and a love of his namesake St Patrick, my granddaddy’s blood really did run green. So many people say I take after him, although I must confess that personally I prefer a Piña Colada to a pint of Guinness - being under age however I do have to admit my sampling rate of either is decidedly low from a statistical point of view. But what the hey, maybe that just means my genes’ cocktail [see what I just did there :) ] is more varied than I thought. Thinking about it, that would also explain why I always wanted to be a pirate as I was growing up. But anyhow, I need to stop pissing bout here and tell you about the literally earth-shattering discovery I made – reaalllly!!! You see, being Irish, for St Patrick’s day I went a couple of weeks ago to the spiritual home of the emerald Isle itself – the New York city parade.

So, before the march started I decided to have a cup of tea to pass the time. Little did I suspect that this would turn out to be the most momentous cup of tea in recorded human history. Momentous? Too bloody right. The fate of our entire world was about to be decided by the fact that I indulged in my national drink. You see, if I had been American I would have had a cup of coffee in that chain shop. And then, of course, nothing could have saved us other than the starship Enterprise mysteriously, accidently falling thorough a time rift warp thingy to coincidentally come back to save our bacon yet one more time. And what would be the odds on that actually happening yet again, again?

Just think about it for a moment. Did you ever wonder why the chain is called “starbucks”? Did you ever consider that there are so many of these stores that they cannot conceivably all be making a profit? Did any of you ever realize that by the law of averages at least one conspiracy theory would turn out to be true? And most important, did you not know, deep inside, that only the presence of sinister unnatural forces could possibly explain the existence of all those strange sounding convoluted hybrid coffee drinks?

So there I was sitting in the corner of Starbucks store number 971024 quietly reading my parade line of march with growing excitement. It was a riveting read. But fortunately for womankind, and  mankind of course, I was having problems focusing that day. I glanced up. At first sight this guy looked like any other customer. But then I noticed the disheveled look, the staring eyes and the nervous tension. This local crudely pushed the previous customer out of the way as he banged down his money onto the counter. “A Mocha Amaretto Frappuccino - and make it a quadruple grande!”, he almost screamed. I am telling you, there was naked undisguised need in his voice. My eyes were drawn to the unfolding scene. And it was then I saw it as the order was being confirmed - the fleeting smile on the server’s face - a cold, evil and soooo INHUMAN smile.

There really was soooo something not right here. I quickly fired up my free wifi and as I browsed their product descriptions page I just knew I was on the right track.

Brazil Ipanema Bourbon tm: Mellow and soft, with hints of cocoa. $10.95 per pound

Colombia Nariño Supremo: Full-bodied with satisfying walnut flavors. Also $10.95 per pound

LightNote Blend ®: Smooth and delicate with a clean finish. (available in whole bean only) $9.95 per pound

The latter, of course, should not be confused with Decaf LightNote Blend ®:  which is, I am sure you are aware, smooth and delicate with a crisp finish.

But most sinister of all, there it was: Mocha Amaretto frappuccino,
“The thing is, you take a sip and think - Mocha. But then a split second later it hits you - this indescribably tasty taste. A taste so good, it makes you want to keep taking sip after sip, trying to figure it out. We call it Mocha Amaretto. You'll just call it yummy”. 

Just read the above and I soooo know you will agree with me that no rational HUMAN being could have come up with such bizarre marketing material. There was obviously some dark devious manipulation going on. But why? I sat, stumped staring at my smartphone - and it was then that I noticed the logo. The small strange shaped body. The surrounding energy field. The face with the large staring eyes. I had seen a similar image before somewhere. And then it hit me … Roswell, Area 51, project blue book. STARbucks. The organization was just soooo obviously the front for a devious alien invasion!!!! UFO sightings and alien abductions just made all too much sense now. And as I sat there and took all this in, it was then I made the big breakthrough - the fact that people had been abducted for sexual experimentation was an ingenious smokescreen. Because of course, after the sex they had all been offered cigarettes and coffee. None of the abductees had mentioned this of course. As intended, they all just talked ad nauseum about the sexual experimentation. But all the time these aliens had really been working out how to enslave the human race - by addicting them to genetically tailored brands of specialty coffee!!!

Now that I knew what I was looking for I quickly skyped my nerdy friend back in the UK and convinced him to hack into Starbuck’s manufacturing control files. He is soooo good with computers and things. He even managed to remove the bloatware from my Huawei Ascend - and if he can do that he can do anything!!! It only took him five minutes to confirm that, as suspected, all the coffee product formulas contained psychotropic mind altering substances. I have to admit he did roll his eyes as he told me this but I know he did that just to fool any eavesdropping alien interceptions. He is soooo smart that way.

So here’s the thing. From now on- whatever you do – do not drink any more cups of coffee. And don’t worry - I have a cunning plan to deal with this alien subterfuge that soooo can’t fail. Now that I know that the Queen and James Bond are buddies I will write a letter to her majesty to get 007 on the case and as we all know he ALWAYS manages to save the world EVERY time. So be assured, everything is going to be all right!!!

In the meantime, if you want my advice, just drink Piña Coladas instead. :)