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May 12, 2008

MNCT 608 - The Source of Wellbeing

Filed under: MNCT — alcinoo @ 2:20 pm

A few months back my best friend and his wife had a baby named
Kai.  When we went to visit baby Kai in the hospital, I was
struck as I often am when in the presence of extremely young
children at how peaceful and almost blissed out he seemed to be.
In fact, it was difficult to look at him without falling into a
state of wellbeing myself.

Judging by the goofy looks on all the grownup faces in the room,
I realized I was not alone in having this experience.  Since I
make a large part of my living by assisting people in accessing
their own happiness and wellbeing in the pursuit of their goals
and in the midst of challenging situations, I began to wonder
how it is that that state of wellbeing we were all born into
seems to fade over time and become more and more difficult to
access.

Here’s where I’ve got to with it so far…

The way most people think about life is that their experience is
a continuum ranging from misery to joy.  The game of life is
figuring out which things take you towards joy (and doing more
of them) and which things take you away from misery (and do less
of them).

At one level of consciousness, the path towards joy seems to be
marked by having the right stuff - plenty of money, a good job,
a great relationship and a nice home.

But we all recognize that there are plenty of people who have
all those things on paper but are still pretty miserable in
themselves.  So we begin to look deeper and see that it’s not
your stuff but your *actions* that make you happy or unhappy.
Do the right thing and you feel good about yourself; do the
wrong thing and your conscience will haunt you until the end of
time.

The problem with this theory is that we all know that as often
as not, good things happen to bad people and bad things happen
to good people. And though we may think that “doing the right
thing” should be its own reward, life viewed from this level
doesn’t seem remotely fair.

It’s thoughts like this that lead many people into a more
internal-direction in their pursuit of happiness and wellbeing,
and we quickly see that it’s not what happens but what we think
about what happens that determines our experience.  So we begin
experimenting with things like affirmations and positive
thinking, sure that if we could just control the flow of
thoughts through our own brains, we would have the key to
life-long happiness.

A lot of people get stuck at this level of understanding because
of one simple, innocent mistake - they attribute their
inability to think only positive thoughts to a lack of skill or
effort on their part instead of recognizing that the theory
itself is based on an incorrect premise - the idea that you can
actually control which thoughts come into your head.

When you really stop to think about it, you realize that you can
only choose which thoughts to dwell upon and make important -
not which ones pop into your head in any given moment.

At this point, people come to what seems like an real sticking
point.  As one of my clients once put it, “if happiness doesn’t
come from what I have or what I do, and I can’t choose my
thoughts, doesn’t that leave me kind of screwed?”

And that’s certainly the conclusion some people come to.  They
decide that happiness is completely outside of their control,
and they give up on the pursuit.  Often times, they actually
begin to feel better when they stop trying so hard to be happy,
leading them to another false conclusion - that happiness can
only be pursued indirectly.

The reason that’s a false conclusion is because it still makes
happiness into a “thing” - something which we can have or not
have, pursue directly or indirectly, successfully get or if
we’re not careful, lose.

Some people take their pursuit of connection and well-being, or
as we’re calling it “happiness”, and they decide that since we
can’t control which thoughts come into our heads, the thing to
do is to stop thinking altogether.

For reasons you’ll see in a few minutes, this seems to work,
leading people into a complex set of routines, prayer,
meditation practices, and a variety of other disciplines all
designed to at least temporarily stop thought.

Since peace and well-being often follow these practices, the
practices themselves appear to be the means to a happy end.  But
again, the problem with all of these practices is that they
take practice - and while that may seem a small price to pay for
such a precious jewel, there is still another level of
understanding beyond this one.

What if, like the baby Kai, we are born at peace - in tune with
the infinite, in touch with our bliss, resting in the well of
our being.  But even as babies, our very human needs from time
to time interfere with our connection with this innate
well-being.  We experience physical discomfort.  Because we do
not yet understand the source of our discomfort, we do the best
we know how to do - we scream bloody murder!

Then, to our delight and amazement, someone comes (this is in a
functional household) and “makes it better” - they feed our
hunger, dry our bottom, entertain our nascent brains with funny
noises and rollercoaster type movements, and before we know it,
we are back in touch with our innate well-being.

Over time, it would be the most natural thing in the world for
us to connect/attribute that return to well-being to the people
or activities that seem to be causing it - we are OK because
Mommy loves us, we are OK because Daddy protects us, we are OK
because the people around us, for the most part, appear to have
our well-being at heart.

And then one day we do something in our joy that mommy or daddy
doesn’t like - we splash colors on a wall, or cry when daddy’s
tired, and suddenly the ocean of love we are used to swimming
in is filled with sharks and other monsters.

Before long, we have bought in to the myth of love and
well-being outside us.

But well-being - happiness, connection, love, peace, spirit - is
your nature.  And the reason you can never consistently hang on
to it when you pursue it from the outside in is that it’s
already inside you.  It would be like looking for your keys in
the street when you had left them in the house - no matter how
long and hard you look, you can never find what’s not there.

Sitting in the hospital that day, watching the baby Kai as he
slept off the rigors of his birth, it became clear to me that
the source of well-being comes from deep inside us.  It is not
the fruit of something we do; it is the essence of who we are.
And all our attempts to find wellbeing from outside ourselves,
no matter how well intended and practically followed, are
doomed to fail.  Not because happiness and wellbeing are
unattainable, but simply because it is impossible to find what
has never been lost.

Have fun, learn heaps, and  take some time this week to hang out
in your own good feelings.  Worst case, you get to feel good;
best case, they may lead you all the way back to the source.

With love,
Michael

PS - If you’d like to explore these ideas further and London
seems a bit far to travel, why not join me and Oprah’s happiness
guru Dr. Robert Holden for an evening talk in New York City on
June 20th?

For more information and to book, visit:

HOW TO THINK LIKE A CREATOR

Filed under: Hay House Radio — alcinoo @ 2:18 pm

New show this week on ‘YOU CAN HAVE WHAT YOU WANT’
(Live internet radio at hayhouseradio.com)

Thursday, May 15th at Noon pacific/3pm eastern/8pm UK

***** HOW TO THINK LIKE A CREATOR *****

Whether you’re an employee, entrepreneur, artist, or investor,
how far you go in life has more to do with your thinking than
you might think!

Listen live and learn how thinking like a creator will help to
create the life you most want to live.

To speak with me during the show, phone these numbers:

Inside the US (Toll free)
1-866-254-1579

From the UK/Outside the US
001-760-918-4300

You can listen to the show live this and every Thursday - simply
go to hayhouseradio.com at Noon pacific/8pm UK and
click on the button marked ‘Listen Now’.

MISSED AN EPISODE?  FIND IT HERE!

If you missed last weeks show on “The Three Obstacles to
Wealth”,
you can listen to it now (and any of our past shows) by visiting
the archives at hayhouseradio.com.

Simply download it to your iPod or stream it live on
your computer!

May 8, 2008

Come see Michael Neill and Dr. Robert Holden in NYC

Filed under: Conference — alcinoo @ 12:46 pm

I’ m very excited to be sharing a stage for the first time with Dr. Robert Holden.  For those of you who don’t yet know Robert, he has recently become famous as Oprah’s “happiness guru”.  However, I first came across his work many years ago in a BBC documentary called “How to Be Happy”.  I’ve been lucky enough to get to know and become friends with Robert, and he is truly one of the good guys in the world of personal development.

I hope you’ll be able to join us in NYC for this one-off event, and I look forward to the possibility of seeing you there!

With love,

michael

An Evening With Robert Holden & Michael Neill
June 20th, 7:00pm-10:00pm - New York, NY

Discover the “How of Happiness” and Start Living Your Best Life NOW! A Life-Enhancing Evening Guaranteed to Boost Your Joy Quotient!
Are you as happy as you’d like to be?
Do you feel on track with your life?
Are your relationships thriving?
Are you enjoying the work you do?

REGISTER NOW!
 Join two of the world’s top happiness experts–Robert Holden, Ph.D., and Michael Neill for a life-changing evening of inspiration, empowerment, and practical advice on creating the happy and successful life you want to live.

Date: June 20th | 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Sponsored by: Hay House
Location: Jacob Javits Convention Center
New York, NY

“There is a world of difference between the pursuit of happiness and following your joy,” says Dr. Robert Holden. Holden is the creator of the most famously tested happiness course in the world–an 8-week program called “Happiness NOW!”. In his talk, he will share personal insights, proven methods, and inspiring stories that are the heart of his work in the field of well-being and happiness. With great insight and compassion, humor and hope, Dr. Holden will reveal practical tools for true self-acceptance, everyday abundance, love, inner success, and more happiness now.
You’ll also meet internationally renowned success coach Michael Neill, who will reveal the immensely practical benefits of cultivating happiness and well-being on an ongoing basis. You will learn to put the power of happiness to work for you using Neill’s specific, proven techniques for eliminating stress, overcoming anxiety, moving beyond depression and reaping the rewards of feeling happy in spite of it all.
Finally, you’ll get the chance to dialogue with these two expert “happiness consultants” as they share the stage and answer your questions about living a happy life. Throughout the evening, you’ll be taking a close and empowering look at your own happiness–where it comes from and why we want and need it to enrich our lives. Along the way, you’ll learn how to be:

More Clear–on what true happiness is for you, and what it means to “follow your joy.”
More Successful–by being more authentic, inner-directed and true to yourself.
More Creative–by giving yourself genuine permission to enjoy your life NOW.
More Abundant–by removing the myths and blocks that keep you from being happy.
More Open–to the happiness that surrounds you in every moment.
Don’t miss this life-changing opportunity to experience “happiness coaching” with two of today’s foremost experts: Dr. Robert Holden and Michael Neill! Say “yes” to happiness–and learn how the power of true joy can attract greater abundance in your life, work and relationships! Seats are limited–so reserve your place now.
REGISTER NOW!
 

May 5, 2008

MNCT 607 - The Three Obstacles to Wealth, part three

Filed under: MNCT — alcinoo @ 4:20 pm

Over the last few weeks, I’ve shared how the desire for approval
and the illusion of need serve as obstacles to creating and
having the wealth you desire in your life.  (If you missed parts
one and two, you can read them at
geniuscatalyst.com/geniusblog)

Today, let’s take a bit of time overcoming the final obstacle to
wealth:

————————
Obstacle number three:
Understanding Scarcity
————————

Economics is a vast and complex field, but in some ways it can
be reduced down to one simple principle:

*The scarcer the resource, the more people are willing to give
up in order to get it; the more common the resource, the less
people are willing to give up in order to get it

That means that on the one hand, a plot of land in the heart of
the city will nearly always fetch more than the same size plot
of land in the country; on the other, no one would ever bribe
the Maitre D to get into a McDonalds.

Recent estimates place the wealth of the world at over 44
trillion dollars - that’s well over six million dollars per
person if we ever just divided it up amongst ourselves. Yet the
fundamental mistake that nearly everyone makes when it comes to
wealth is to think of money as a scarce resource.

Why do we put up with boorish behavior and ignorant decision
making from the people above us in our company?  Why is the
customer “always right”?

Because in both cases, they’re the ones with the money, and we
are seeing ourselves as a common resource in pursuit of a scarce
one.

In order to turn that equation around, there are only two things
you need to do:

1. See the abundance of money which surrounds you

Years ago I was at a seminar about raising money for film
production.  When the producer up in front of the room was asked
where she intended to get the money for her next film, she said
simply “from wherever it is now”.

But unlike our successful producer, most of us think that our
personal sources of income are limited to our jobs, or the
government, or the beneficence of a wealthy relative. We fail to
see the opportunities for wealth which surround us every minute
of every day.

Here’s the simple rule of thumb:

Anywhere there is a positive difference to be made, there is
money to be made.  If you can’t (or won’t) make any difference,
you’re unlikely to make very much money.

2. Create yourself as a ’scarce resource’

My first wealth mentor was the British author and lecturer
Stuart Wilde.  He would regale us for hours with stories of gas
station operators who would attract customers from miles around
with their five star hotel quality rest rooms, or purveyors of
knick-knacks who made hundreds of thousands of dollars from
people who wanted to “take home a little piece of the store”.

His point was always to begin your quest for wealth by working
on yourself - your energy, your skills, and your well-being.
“As you become more and more skilled in what you do and happier
and happier in yourself,” Stuart would say, “people will be
drawn to you.  They will want to spend time hanging out in your
energy.  And when they show up - bill ‘em!”

The point is this:

As long as you see money as a scarce resource, you will
continually inconvenience yourself in order to get it.  As soon
as you have created yourself as the scarce resource, the money
will inconvenience itself to get you.

Have fun, learn heaps, and live well!

With love,
Michael

PS - Are you a woman who wants to write?

My friend and bestselling author Jen Louden is leading another
of her famous writer’s retreats for women with Suzanne
Falter-Barnes in Taos, New Mexico this July, and they are
offering $200 off the regular price until the 15th of May.

For more info and to sign up, visit:
http://www.comfortqueen.com/spa/writerspa.htm

THE THREE OBSTACLES TO WEALTH

Filed under: Hay House Radio — alcinoo @ 4:19 pm

New show this week on ‘YOU CAN HAVE WHAT YOU WANT’
(Live internet radio at hayhouseradio.com)

Thursday, May 8th at Noon pacific/3pm eastern/8pm UK

***** THE THREE OBSTACLES TO WEALTH *****

Do you ever wonder why some people are able to welcome wealth
into their lives while others struggle just to get by?  If you’d
like to have more money with less effort and struggle than ever
before, join me as I share the three key obstacles to wealth
and how to overcome them!

To speak with me during the show, phone these numbers:

Inside the US (Toll free)
1-866-254-1579

From the UK/Outside the US
001-760-918-4300

You can listen to the show live this and every Thursday - simply
go to hayhouseradio.com at Noon pacific/8pm UK and
click on the button marked ‘Listen Now’.

MISSED AN EPISODE?  FIND IT HERE!

If you didn’t hear last weeks show on “Getting What You Want”,
you missed an application of the NLP fast phobia cure to PTSD as
I worked with a woman who had been hurt in an accident with a
drunk driver.  You can listen to it now (and any of our past
shows) by visiting the archives at
http://www.hayhouseradio.com.

Simply download it to your iPod or stream it live on
your computer!

May 1, 2008

MNCT 606- THE THREE OBSTACLES TO WEALTH, part two

Filed under: MNCT — alcinoo @ 1:49 pm

In last week’s tip, I talked about how the desire for approval
can get in the way of almost every aspect of wealth creation,
from asking for what we want to enjoying the fruits of our
labors.  (If you missed part one, you can read it at
http://www.geniuscatalyst.com/geniusblog)

This week, let’s explore the second (and to many most
controversial) obstacle:

———————-
Obstacle number two:
Needing the Money
———————-

It was one of my mentors, the fabulous author Steve Chandler,
who first pointed out that the biggest obstacle to my own wealth
was my belief that I “needed” the money.  We reviewed a number
of my business dealings over the years, and one by one he
pointed out how I settled for less than I wanted because I
thought I had to take whatever was on offer.  To my surprise, we
also noticed several situations where I had blown it because my
desperate sense of need was driving me to try and squeeze every
last penny out of every deal.

Each time I argued that I really did “need” the money, he would
calmly ask me some variation on the question “what would happen
if you didn’t get it?”  No matter how urgent or important each
financial opportunity felt at the time, I would eventually
realize that there was always another way forward and that no
one opportunity was the be all and end all of my financial
success.

One of the first questions I ask my own clients is “how many
days forward could you go without earning any money before you
would be out on the street?”, the answer is generally measured
in months or years, not days.  (Actually, the most common answer
is “I would never be out on the street, because my
family/friends/community would make sure I always had a place to
stay until I got back on my feet”.)

I remember one client who had been arguing for their “need” for
money sheepishly admitting that he could go ten years without
working before running out of money.  Based on this, we created
an experiment.  For the next three years, he would proceed in
business from the assumption that he didn’t need the money.  All
of his choices and decisions over that time period were to be
taken based on inspiration and true, heartfelt desire.  In other
words, he was going to begin to do what he wanted to do, not
what he thought he “should do” or “needed to do.”  (We figured
that would still give him 7 years to go back to doing things out
of desperation before he ran out of money!)

Although he struggled with it for several months, before the
first year was out he had made over ten times as much money as
he had the year before and was doing work that he really loved
and wanted to do.

So how is it that by letting go of neediness he was able to
create so much more wealth in his life?  And more importantly,
why would someone who clearly didn’t need the money continue to
act for all the world as if he did?

Let’s take a look at each of these questions in turn:

1. Why do you make more money when you stop needing it?

There are essentially three motivations for anything and
everything we do - desperation, rationalization, and
inspiration.  In linguistic terms, these usually are expressed
in terms of:

*I’m doing it because I have to (desperation)
*I’m doing it because I should (rationalization)
*I’m doing it because I want to (inspiration)

When you act out of a sense of desperation (i.e. neediness), you
have to settle for whatever’s on offer.  There’s generally a
sense of urgency which shifts the balance in any negotiation in
the other person’s favor.  Worse than any of that, you feel so
uncomfortable in your own skin that you put your worst foot
forward, trying too hard to please or shifting to the other side
and putting on a front of anger or bravado to cover up your
fear.

However, when you act like you don’t need the money (because
almost invariably, no matter what your fear has been telling
you, you don’t), you move forward with a sense of ease and
wellbeing.  It’s easy to stick to your bottom line because you
always have another alternative - getting on with your wonderful
life and offering your creativity and skills at value creation
to any of the hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of
people who would benefit.

You enter negotiations without fear, because whether or not you
reach agreement, you know at an absolutely fundamental level
that you’re wellbeing is not dependent on making a deal.  And
when you’re willing for the other person to say “no”, you can
ask for anything you want.

2. If I don’t need the money, why do I feel so needy?

When it comes to money, nearly all of us have learned to protect
and motivate ourselves by creating a feelings of worry, fear,
and even desperation. “If I can just stay scared enough,” this
internal logic tells us, “I’ll be safe and I’ll keep moving
forward.”  The problem with this point of view is that fear is
one of the least effective states to move forward in - it
impairs your reasoning, limits your vision, destroys your
health, and gives off a horrible stench that puts people off
doing business with you - the sickly smell of desperation.

(Think about it for a moment - who would you rather have working
with you on a project?  Someone who is inspired to make things
happen or someone who’s desperate not to mess things up?)

It is at this point in the discussion where someone inevitably
asks me “That’s alright for all your wealthy clients, but what
if I really *do* need the money?”

Listen - if your children are starving or you’re going to lose
your apartment or house at the end of the month because you’re
six months in arrears on the rent or mortgage, do what you need
to do to take care of yourself and your family.  But when I
push them on it, nearly everyone who seems in dire straits could
in reality go on for another three to six months by making a
few adjustments in their lifestyle.  And three to six months is
more than enough time to put your creativity and inspiration to
work on creating value, making a difference, and exchanging
that value and difference making for money.

——————–
Today’s Experiment:
——————–

1. Review your recent business dealings - contract negotiations,
proposals put forward, sales calls, or whatever else you do to
make money.  How much of your motivation was inspiration (doing
it because you want to), how much rationalization (doing it
because you should), and how much was desperation (doing it
because you thought you needed to).

2. Choose one business deal that you don’t mind losing.  If you
don’t have any, make one up - create a proposal that is so
outlandish that you would love it if it comes through but you
really don’t need it to because it’s so ‘out there’.  Notice the
difference in your own energy levels and creativity as you do
so.

3. Begin to say “no” to things you don’t want to do by asking
for more money.  If you really don’t want to do them, ask for
what seems to you to be a ridiculous amount of money.

This will begin to establish a new pattern in your brain of
asking for what you want without a sense of neediness.

Example:

I had the chance to work with the CEO of an international
corporation on her presentation skills.  While I wouldn’t have
hated the work, I also wasn’t terribly interested in it.  Rather
than turn the work down, I created a $100,000 coaching
proposal.  I was pretty sure they’d turn it down (that’s about 4
or 5 times the going rate), but if they’d said “yes” I would
have happily completed the job.

One word of warning - occasionally, people will say “yes” to
these outrageous proposals - don’t make them if you’re truly
unwilling to honor your end of the agreement!

Have fun, learn heaps, need less, and enjoy more!

With love,
Michael

PS - Join me for two very special trainings in London in May:

*Spiritual Coaching at Alternatives, St. James Church on the
24th May
http://www.alternatives.org.uk/Site/EventDescription.aspx?EventID=551

*The Happy Millionaire at the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival on the
25th May
http://www.mindbodyspirit.co.uk/presenter.asp?pid=85

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April 21, 2008

MNCT 605- THE THREE OBSTACLES TO WEALTH, part one

Filed under: MNCT — Tags: , , — alcinoo @ 6:12 am

One of the benefits people are often searching for when they
hire me is to create a significant increase in their level of
wealth - both the amount of income they are able to create and
the level of wellbeing they are able to sustain in creating and
maintaining it.

In order to assist them in this endeavor, there are three key
obstacles I have seen that seem to separate the haves from the
have-nots, or at least the “have mores” from the “have lesses”.
None of them are to do with where you were born or where you
live, your gender or race, or even what your current level of
education is.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to share each of the three
obstacles with you along with some strategies for moving beyond
them.  Why?  Because I believe, along with George Bernard Shaw,
that “The lack of money is the root of all evil.”

To explain that somewhat provocative quotation a bit more, let’s
spend this week exploring the first of our obstacles to
wealth:

————————–
Obstacle number one:
The Desire for Approval
————————–

“If I had a prayer, it would be this: ‘God, spare me from the
desire for love, approval, or appreciation. Amen.’”
-Byron Katie

In order to see how the desire for approval serves as an
obstacle to wealth, consider going up to 100 people and offering
them your services for sale. Now, 50 of these people already
know you very well - they are members of your family, friends,
and colleagues.  The other 50 are complete strangers and don’t
know anything about you.

Which group would you find it easier to approach?

In my experience, people are fairly split in their answers to
this, but less than 5 in a hundred people I ask it to would find
approaching both groups to sell their product or services an
effortless, fun endeavor.

The reason for this is because we don’t want to risk the
disapproval of others, not even of complete strangers.  But
imagine how much easier it would be for you to make money if
your sense of wellbeing was strong enough that you didn’t have
to worry about what other people thought of you in order to feel
safe, happy and well.

The desire for approval is, in my experience, best understood by
looking at how it all began.  Here’s an excerpt from a tip I
wrote about this a few years ago (Members of the Solutions
Café can find the full text by searching for “The Four Wants”
in the tip archives)…

“Imagine yourself inside a ‘motel womb’.  You’ve been there for
around nine months, so you’re feeling completely at home,
although lately things have been a bit cramped.  You’re relaxing
on your heated waterbed, snacking on placenta flavored potato
chips, minding your own business, when all of a sudden BOOM -
you feel an earthquake start to shake the bed and before you
know it, you’re being forced out through the door by an unseen
force with the intensity of a tornado.

You stumble out into the blinding light, get smacked on the butt
by a masked giant, and begin to scream.

It’s hardly surprising at this point that the desire for safety
might arise.  And feeling safe and well is a wonderful thing.
But that initial experience of danger is so profound that it
can continue to get triggered throughout our lives, and we begin
to crave ’security’ - the knowledge that not only are we safe
now, but we will always be safe.

Any time we feel unsafe, we seek to control our environment and
particularly the people around us in order to return to safety.
Now, some of these people will allow us to ‘control them’
through the intensity of our feelings, particularly if through
our anger or sadness or fear we are able to stimulate their own
insecurity and wanting to be safe.  But sooner or later we come
to the realization that we can’t control everyone.

However, even if we can’t control people, we soon work out that
we can still stay safe around them.

How?

Well, it turns out that if people approve of what we are doing,
they won’t hurt us (most of the time).  So we learn to be
‘nice’ and to do as we’re told so that ‘they’ will approve of us
and we get to stay safe - at least for as long as they keep
approving of us.”

In other words, the desire for approval is really the desire for
safety and wellbeing, and it can never be found if we continue
to look for it in the wrong place - outside of our innermost
selves.

There are therefore two things I will tend to work on with my
clients in order to overcome this obstacle:

1. Finding the source of wellbeing

All happiness, well-being and wisdom comes from within.  It is
not the fruit of something we do; it is the essence of who we
are.  All our attempts to find well-being from outside ourselves
are doomed to fail simply because it is impossible to find what
has never been lost.

This confusion as to the source and location of well-being is
innocent and understandable - almost everything in our culture
encourages us to look outside ourselves, telling us “you’ll be
happy when you get what you want (or at least when you get what
we tell you you should want”.  But reality is much kinder.  As
you connect with the good feelings which are always there
inside you, they will effortlessly carry you all the way back to
the source.

2. Making money a worthy goal

While finding the true source of wellbeing is perhaps the single
most important thing I assist my clients in doing, it’s the
very rare exception that someone goes all the way beyond the
desire for approval in one fell swoop.  In the meantime, it’s
useful to stop thinking about making money as something you are
going to be disapproved of for doing.

By exploring the very tangible ways that you will be able to
improve the quality of life of yourself and others by having
more resources available with which to do so, you will quickly
make your peace with making money.  Not as a “necessary evil”,
but as a “desired for good”.

Today’s experiment will help you to experience these two things
for yourself…

——————–
Today’s Experiment:
——————–

1. Take some time to day to feel good for no reason other than
that it feels good!  If you haven’t already, go out and buy a
copy of my book “Feel Happy Now!” and use one of the dozens of
strategies inside to access your own innate wellbeing.  (By the
way, do you disapprove of me using this tip to sell you
something?  Go on, be honest… :-)

2. Fill in the blanks in this sentence until you have
established a “worthy goal” for yourself around money:

My goal is to make ________ (amount of money) in ___________
(time frame) for the purpose of ___________.

Have fun, learn heaps, and join me next week as we tackle the
second challenge on this obstacle course to wealth!

With love,
Michael

PS - Want to become wealthy, inside and out?

Join me for two very special trainings in London in May:

*Spiritual Coaching at Alternatives, St. James Church on the
24th May


*The Happy Millionaire at the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival on the
25th May


WEIGHT LOSS MADE FUN

Filed under: Hay House Radio — Tags: , — alcinoo @ 6:11 am

This week on ‘You Can Have What You Want’
(Live internet radio at hayhouseradio.com)

Thursday, April 24th at Noon pacific/3pm eastern/8pm UK:

***** WEIGHT LOSS MADE FUN *****

Losing weight is not something most people think of as fun,
which might explain why so many people have so much trouble
doing it.

Listen live and learn how to lighten up, inside and out!

To speak with me during the show, phone these numbers:

Inside the US (Toll free)
1-866-254-1579

From the UK/Outside the US
001-760-918-4300

You can listen to the show live this and every Thursday - simply
go to hayhouseradio.com at Noon pacific/8pm UK and
click on the button marked ‘Listen Now’.

MISSED AN EPISODE?  FIND IT HERE!

If you missed any of our recent shows on topics ranging from
creating wealth to effortless time management to parenting from
the inside out, you can listen to them now (and any of our past
shows) by visiting the archives at
hayhouseradio.com

You’ll be able to download it to your iPod or stream it live on
your computer!

April 20, 2008

MNCT 604- To be opened in case of emergency

Filed under: MNCT — alcinoo @ 2:46 pm

Today’s tip is adapted from my book ‘Feel Happy Now!’, published
by Hay House and available at:
amazon

“There is chaos under the heavens and the situation is
excellent.”
-Chinese proverb

While it would be nice to believe that reading this book would
be enough to inoculate you against the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune, I live in the real world - a world where
nothing lasts, no one gets out alive and bad things happen to
good people. (In fairness, they happen to ‘bad’ people too in
roughly the same proportion, a fact that seems to elude most
observers.)

This impartial ‘karma’ isn’t noticed because from a very early
age we are taught to take things personally - that not only do
we have the power to make the people around us happy, but they
have the power to make us very unhappy indeed.

But what happens when we stop taking things personally? When we
let go of the story that God or the universe or the wheel of
karma has singled us out to be flung up to the heights or down
to the depths as punishment or reward for what we did or didn’t
do in this life or the last?

I remember finding great meaning in the words of Holocaust
survivor Viktor Frankl, describing a long march in the dead of
winter through the death camps of Auschwitz:

‘A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw
the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as
the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that love is
the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then
I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry
and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of
man is through love and in love.

I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world may
still know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the
contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation,
when a man cannot express himself in positive action, when his
only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the
right way - an honorable way - in such a position man can,
through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his
beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life, I
was able to understand the words, “The angels are lost in
perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.”‘

When I first read that, I figured that if people could find
moments of happiness in a concentration camp, then I could
probably find a few in the midst of paradise.

Here is just one of the dozens of key formulas, recipes,
experiments and techniques in the book that will help you to
feel happy and cared for even in the midst of the emergencies
and crises of your life:

—————–
The NOW Exercise
—————–

1. Count 10 breaths from 1 up to 10. A simple way to do this is
to silently say the word ‘in’ for each in-breath and ‘out’ for
each out-breath. Follow up each word with the number, for
example ‘in (1), out (1); in (2), out (2)’, etc.

2. If you lose count before you get to 10 (and yes, pretty much
everyone does the first few times they do this), simply begin
again at 1.

3. When you get to 10, smile down into your heart and enjoy the
precious present.

Have fun, learn heaps, and live well.

With love,
michael

April 14, 2008

CREATING BREAKTHROUGH GOALS

Filed under: Hay House Radio — alcinoo @ 9:58 pm

Thursday, April 17th at Noon pacific/3pm eastern/8pm UK:

***** CREATING BREAKTHROUGH GOALS *****

If you could pursue only one goal this year, the successful
achievement of which would make reaching all of your other goals
more likely, what would that goal be?

MISSED AN EPISODE?  FIND IT HERE!

If you missed any of our recent shows on topics ranging from
time management to parenting to stress-proofing your financial
future, you can listen to them now (and any of our past shows)
by visiting the archives at http://www.hayhouseradio.com.

You’ll be able to download it to your iPod or stream it live
on your computer!

   

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