Do you know yourself? (Photo taken at Maharishi University during Visitor's Weekend in April 2009)

I bet the title of today’s article threw you for a double loop, didn’t it?  Good.  That was intentional – not as an attention grabbing gimmick but something I’ve come to realize over the years.

This topic came up because I had to answer the following question on my graduate school application:

What are your personal and professional goals? (minimum 50 words)

Without knowing it, I had been using the power of my subconscious mind over the last several years, especially after college graduation in the early 80′s.

All those visualizations I did to become a pilot (as a teen I frequently drove my mother’s car down the middle of the highway, pretending to take off and land), to win sales trips while a stockbroker (I placed on the wall of my office photos of hotels where I’d be staying), to become a pilot (I envisioned myself being congratulated by the FAA examiner) and to become a national motivational speaker (I have a photo of a man speaking to an audience of thousands) have been the result of harnessing powerful universal laws.   I honestly had no idea how any of my dreams would manifest but I learned how to trust that I’d be led and I was.  Over time, I learned how to take inspired action after recognizing various hunches, intuitive impulses and urges along the way.

With each passing year, I’ve developed an insatiable hunger to find out more about how it is that I managed to manifest what everyone else said would be “impossible.”  That led me to become an arduous student of natural laws and its underlying connection to the subconscious mind.   It is one reason why I am applying to Maharishi University of Management.

While having goals more than helped me achieve my dreams (in fact, I became a certified “goalaholic”), I am now of the opinion that goals have the potential to impede rather than enhance the quality of life.  That’s because in order to achieve my goals, I became so focused on where I was going rather than living in the moment.  While blindly pursuing them, I probably missed out on opportunities that came knocking.  Whenever I did reach my goals, the inner joy I thought would be there was noticeably missing.   I found myself saying, “What’s next?”

Instead of drawing up detailed goals and plans, I now use what is popularly referred in self development circles a “vision board” to help me clarify my life’s purpose.  Just like Hollywood directors use storyboards to map out their blockbuster films, I have a vision board for my personal and professional dreams.

Having a vision board complete with images, words and phrases allows me to stay in the moment because they help me maintain a sense of direction and integrity while letting me wander and trust in the unknown.

My Old Vision Board

Whereas my old vision board included images of material possessions like a black BMW, a private Honda jet, fancy business clothes, a huge house by the lake and a photo of Oprah (my dream was to be on her show), I now have images of nature’s waterfall (connection with Mother Earth), a healthy man running through the park (physical fitness), a refrigerator stocked with fruits and vegetables (raw food diet) and words/phrases like “Shift of Consciousness,” “Wisdom,” “Love,” and “The Mind-Body Connection to the Next Level.”

When I first created my new vision board earlier this year (see second photo), I had no idea how I was going to make a shift of consciousness nor did I know how I would take the mind-body connection to the next level.  I just trusted that I would be led in the right direction and here I am, applying to Maharishi University, a consciousness-based institution!

New Vision Board Created Earlier this Year (2009)

On the professional front, while I expect to continue my role as a public speaker, I envision a complete makeover by becoming a “consciousness expert” with both Masters and Ph.D degrees under my belt.   Using rediscovered “self knowledge,” I aim to help co-create world peace by taking part of a future governmental Peace Department.  Finally but not least, I aspire to become a Transcendental Meditation teacher.

What a change of ambition in the quest to reinvent myself through a spiritual, transformational journey tinged with higher levels of consciousness!

NOTE:  The following was not on the application – it’s just for you……

What about you?  Have you thought about reinventing yourself and aiming for the highest good?  Let your inner child come out today, get a pair of scissors and a bunch of magazines and start cutting out photos, images, words and phrases that appeal to your inner self and make yourself a vision board.  Throw away your goals and put the vision board up in a prominent place where you can see it every day and watch miracles unfold!

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It goes without saying that leaving comments at other blogs is one way to get your name out there but only if it is done correctly. The right way, in my opinion and something that other bloggers probably agree with, is to leave value-added comments. That means going beyond one liners like “Great article!” or “I disagree with you.” (Photo Credit: algo)

One-liners rarely foster authentic conversation because they aren’t really adding much of anything. if you liked the article, why did you like it? If you disagreed with it, what are your opinions? When you engage in the conversation fully, you are helping the blogger create a stimulating intellectual atmosphere for all kinds of people to partake in.

Blogs are perceived to be successful not necessarily by how many subscribers they have (although that is certainly one yardstick) but how active their comment sections are. In fact, I recently got an email from someone who mentioned that she thought Adversity University was successful. Curious to know why she thought so, I emailed her asking what criteria she was using to make that call. She wrote back and said it was because of the number of comments generated here. I thought that was particularly interesting.

Think about that for a moment……suppose you came across a blog that had only a couple of comments or none at all, what would be your first impression?

Here are 4 ways leaving comments at other blogs could benefit you:

Effective Self-Marketing Tool

The more you leave authentic comments at other blogs, the more your name will be seen by those who might not have otherwise known about you. If you left a particularly engaging comment, readers and bloggers who notice it are more than likely to want to find out more about you by clicking their way to your blog/website.

Here’s a quiz: Which comment would make you more curious about the person who left it?

• Great article!

OR

• I thought your article today was very interesting because for one thing, I could identify with the fear of taking a leap of faith into the unknown. I once had to face that toward the end of my career on Wall Street. One day, I had a spiritual awakening and made the decision to quit a lucrative six-figure career to pursue my dreams of becoming a motivational speaker, author and pilot. If it wasn’t for faith in God, I might not have taken that leap. Thanks for letting me share!
  

A Way to Make Money

I wish I could say that I made money every single time I left a comment at other blogs but it actually happened to me recently. Just think of the possibilities. If you have an opportunity to make it known what you do for a living and it’s appropriate, then by all means, put it in the comment!

One day, I came across an article entitled “The Movie Director’s Guide to Effective Teaching.” When I read it, I knew immediately this was a golden opportunity to mention that I was a professional speaker because as a speaker, I’m also a teacher!

Here’s an exact replica of the comment I left that eventually made me $2500:

Since I’m a speaker, I find that one of the most effective ways of teaching is by sharing personal stories. People remember stories, not dry facts. For each point I want them to learn, I tell a story.

As an example, one of my programs is the HEAR Principle (Have a passion, Entertain the possibilities, Authenticity (or take Action) and Remember who helped you. For each point I want people to learn, I tell a story behind each principle. It helps them remember.

Do you see what I did there? While there was nothing “earthshaking” about it, not only did I mention that I was a speaker/teacher but I also added value to the conversation by specifically explaining why I thought sharing stories was an effective way of teaching. I didn’t just say, “Hey, great techniques!”

While I certainly hoped that this would lead me to a speaking engagement, I did not expect it to happen so quickly.

Two days after that comment went live, a meeting planner from a very large trade organization based in Texas contacted me. She wanted to know if I was available for a keynote presentation later this summer for a conference to be located in Ohio that she was putting together. Two emails later, we booked the engagement with a check in my hand for $2500! Had I not left that comment, I would not have had that opportunity.

Imagine attracting ready-made clients simply by leaving genuine comments. You never know.

Foster Goodwill with the Blogger

If you are a person who is in business for yourself, sooner or later you are going to want to call in favors. Perhaps someday you’ll want some assistance from well established bloggers with the plugging of your new book or maybe you’ll need help with spreading the word about your products and services.

Who do you think would be more than likely to help you out when that time came? That’s right, bloggers who you’ve already developed relationships with. If you’ve gone out of your way to leave heartfelt comments at their blogs over a period of time, they are more than likely going to want to reach out to you in gratitude.

Running around and leaving a bunch of worthless comments at a slew of other blogs across the blogosphere isn’t going to cut it. Sooner or later, well read bloggers are going to notice your spammy behavior and by the time you leave a comment at their blogs, they’ll either ignore, mark them as spam or otherwise delete them.

Create goodwill by sticking with your favorite bloggers and become one of their genuine contributors. You will reap what you sow.

Make a Difference by Sharing Your Experiences with Others

If you’re looking for a way to give back, this is a great way to do it. Subscribe to blogs that resonate with your heart and become a frequent participant. Nothing is more powerful than sharing your own life’s experiences with others. What a great way to inspire and uplift others by giving a piece of yourself! What you give away, you get back.

Food for thought: Share with us some of the experiences you had by leaving comments at other blogs. Did you make money (directly or indirectly)? Did it cause a ripple effect within that community? Did you make friends with the blogger? Did it lead to an off the wall experience or did it transform your life in unexpected ways?

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These feelings are hunches.  It’s something we can’t explain or prove – it’s just there.  I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t had a hunch at least once or twice.  They are often right, even if they make no sense.  These hunches often seem to come from the inside and are not based on anything we’ve learned.   It’s a direct knowing.  You just know the answer.  That’s it. 

Consider what happened at the barber shop where I was to get a haircut one day.  While flipping through magazines, waiting for my turn, I had a funny feeling something wasn’t quite right with the barber.  On the surface, I observed nothing out of the ordinary but my intuition was telling me to go elsewhere.  Unfortunately, my ego protested and I ended up paying the price as you saw with Adversity at the Barber Shop.  This is what is meant by the notion that we are given “free will.”  Your angels can provide you with guidance but it’s up to you to act on them.  If you don’t, well, then that’s your choice. 

Years ago while living in New York City, I was riding my bike, going downtown on 8th Avenue at a high rate of speed.  As I approached a certain intersection, something told me to stop.  Thankfully, I paid heed to that inner voice for when I came to a screeching halt, a car shot out like a speeding bullet, narrowly missing me.  

You learned from my “Confessions of a Motivational Speaker” post that I won first place at a humorous speech contest some years ago.  I distinctly remember sitting in the auditorium while they were announcing first, second and third place winners.  The moment they started to rattle off the names, beginning with the third place winner, I was suddenly overcome with a strange sensation.  It was like a special coating of warmth with a tingling sensation inside my head.  The words You won flashed in my mind.  It was startling to say at the least!

What made this even more incredible was that I was up against a formidable contestant, Julie Morgenstern (who I mentioned in the above mentioned article went on to appear on Oprah, becoming a best-selling author in the process).  Despite this “reality,” I knew I had beaten her.  I honestly did not think I did better than her nor did she falter, stumble or anything like that.  In fact, both of us gave great performances.     

You all know about the beach story when I woke up from a nap and received a strong impression that I was supposed to quit Wall Street and become a motivational speaker and writer.  You can see that at Trust that Bigger Things are in Store for You-The Beach.

The thing is, how in the world did I know all this stuff?  

From God and my guardian angels.  Angels are assigned to everyone for the remainder of his/her life, never interfering except for certain life threatening situations that happen “before it’s time to go home.”  They stand ready to serve and guide you.

The main thrust behind most of my writing and speeches is that we all have the capability of getting in touch with our inner spirits. Based on my own experiences, all of us have a direct line to God and the angels.  It is open 24/7, ready to serve as a conduit for guidance and inspiration.  But not everyone is aware of this nor do they know how to access it.

Doreen Virtue, best-selling author of Divine Guidance, says that everyone has the ability to tap into this inner well of wisdom.  According to her, there are five ways of receiving divine messages:

• Visions, images or mental pictures
• Sounds, voices, words
• Feelings and hunches
• Thoughts, ideas and inner certainty

How do you keep the divine hotline open?  The following is by no means a complete list of but they are among the most helpful to me:    

1. Spend time walking in nature – if you do this often enough, you realize you’re not alone.  Somehow you feel a subtle sense of quiet strength in the forest, teeming with positive energy.  I often feel refreshed after such a walk, feeling as if my mind cleared up. 
2. Become consciously aware of unseen forces – this brings into your awareness that there is more to what meets the eye.  It trains you to be on the alert for so-called coincidences and messages just for you, to name a few.  You begin to see answers on billboards, car license plates, a phrase you overheard in someone else’s conversation or perhaps you saw an ad in the newspaper, giving you the answer you’ve been seeking.  By raising your awareness, you become super conscious that God and the angels are always trying to communicate with you and they do it in a number of different ways.    
3. Meditate – focus on your breathing and let all other thoughts pass through you.  This empties the mind to make way for more room for divine messages, in essence decluttering your mind.  See Todd Goldfarb’s suburb article as a guest writer at Zen Habits called ”Meditation for Beginners… “
4. Relax and know that your gut feeling is often correct despite lack of evidence.
5. Talk to God and the angels frequently as possible.  Have a conversation with them throughout your day.  I am always talking to them regardless of whether I’m in the shower, driving, walking in the woods or writing.  I’m always acknowledging their presence (silently or out loud if I’m alone) and thanking them for blessing me with gifts.  The more you talk to them, the more you’ll be able to receive their messages. 
6. Even better than all of the above tips, is the importance of “letting go” of the results.  Be open and not attached to what might happen.  If you try to force the answers to come from within, it’ll block the way.   

By the way, don’t forget to tell me how you would like to name the new interview series at Adversity University by leaving a comment here.   So far readers have responded with “Stephen Hopson’s Interviews,” “The Adversity University Guest Lecture Series” and “Scholarly Visits.”  Let’s see if you can come up with a couple more today and then you can all vote for the best name and win a PRIZE. 

Food for thought:  Have you ever experienced a hunch that you either followed or didn’t but it turned out to be right?  I’d LOVE to hear your stories.  I’m a huge sucker for divine miracles so please indulge me!

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Answer:  Surround yourself with people smarter, wealthier, more organized, more educated, more creative or even more resourceful than you.  And then learn from them!

How?

Answer:  By forming a mastermind group. 

Today’s article is a follow up to a post I previously wrote on this subject. 

Tony D. Clark wrote a very interesting and powerful article over at his Success from the Nest blog, “The Point of View May Be New to You.”  He expounds on how there might not be a whole lot of new things under the sun but that different people have different ways of expressing them, potentially reaching someone who might “get it” at the right time with the right words.  

Have you ever had an “Aha” moment where you banged the palm of your hand against your head like the actor in that V-8 TV commercial, “Wow, I could have had a V-8!”? 

Perhaps you’ve been told countless times something you needed to hear in order to go to the next level but for some reason you weren’t “getting it.”  Then one day you hear a motivational speaker, read something in a book, or overhear a conversation where someone mentions something and suddenly you have a light bulb moment.  Ever experienced that?  And then you wonder why you didn’t catch on earlier?

That’s because when the student (you) is ready, the teacher(s) will appear.

When you form a mastermind group, you are assembling a powerful team of potential teachers from different, diverse backgrounds, cultures and experiences.  When two or more people gather, your success quotient multiplies exponentially.  You are surrounding yourself with not only like-minded individuals but you are also affording yourself the chance to seize upon opportunities that you previously might have missed because someone in the group opened your eyes to the possibilities that hadn’t occurred to you before.

Borrowing from books like ”One Minute Millionaire,” “Success Principles” and many others, here’s how you can create one too…..

After choosing 3 to 4 people who are already where you want to be (income-wise, professionally, spiritually, etc.) as well as those who are heading in the same direction as you, make plans to meet on a regular basis (perhaps once a week) where you can: 

• Start the meeting by praying for spiritual guidance (summons the mighty universe to your aid).
• Share and then reinforce your dreams – everyone should have written down each other’s goals in a special masterminding notebook (reinforces the notion that everybody’s dream is important and reachable with support from the others).  
• Update the group on positive things that happened since the last meeting (keeps the energy level sky-high).  
• Speak for 10 or 15 minutes (no interruptions) while the others listen and brainstorm ideas for you (i.e. multiple streams of income, connections you need, etc.)
• Encourage others to stretch beyond any perceived limitations (helps with changing limiting belief systems).
• Hold one another accountable for previously stated goals, to-do tasks (keeps everyone motivated and on track).
• End each meeting with statements of gratitude (an attitude of gratitude expressed by two or more people is infinitely more powerful than one).

When you form the right mastermind group, things can happen very fast.  Let me give you a couple of examples of what has developed already:

1. An idea of a product that will be used in back-of-the-room sales at speaking engagements has already been professionally drawn on paper and we are now in talks with a couple of manufacturers overseas.  Who would ever have thought we’d be in talks with a foreign manufacturer so soon?!?
2. I am in negotiations with another member of the group to act as a consultant for my speaking business – someone who will help me with things like marketing, booking of speaking engagements and everything else that an assistant does.  Prior to that, I was a one man operation at Obstacle Illusions (name of my business)!  Even though I was planning on getting an assistant (eventually), I had no idea where to find someone who was in a position to take on the commissioned based  position!  A contract is being drawn up and we expect to commence within the next few weeks! 

Here’s a recent photo of my masterminding group:    

Left to right:  Monica Taylor, Stephen Hopson, Shelley Kimberly and Myron Brown.  (Photo Credit:  Monica Taylor)

Food for thought:  Are you a part of a masterminding group dedicated to your enormous success?

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One way is through a lot of creative writing. People frequently ask how I have been able to come up with so many articles these days for my blog, website and other projects. It did not happen overnight – I’ve been writing in one form or another since the mid 90′s.

Here’s how to dig into the well of actionable ideas within you:

1. Start a private dairy and write everything that comes to mind without regard to spelling, grammar or sentence structure. Do this for a few minutes every day for a couple of months. Don’t worry whether or not your words make sense. They are not for public consumption anyway. Like building your muscles at the gym, you are exercising your creative juices. Starting a private diary will begin to weaken the mental blockages.

2. Sit at your computer with your eyes closed. Let your mind dictate what your fingers will do on the keyboard. Describe in words what you imagine yourself doing, saying, acting and thinking twenty years from now. Let your mind run amok and don’t worry about proper writing protocol. This will surely get your creative juices flowing even faster because you’ll have fun writing your future!

3. Purchase the book, “The Artist’s Way,” by Julia Cameron. It’s a great resource for getting in touch with your inner creativity. It is full of writing exercises that are designed for solo and/or group work. If you motor through the entire book, not only will you access the stairwell of your imagination but you will also learn how to trust yourself, further tearing down the mental “Berlin Wall.”

4. I also recommend you get “Simple Abundance” by Sara Ban Breathnach. It was from her book that I began to write, on a daily basis, at least 3 to 5 things I was grateful for that day. It helped me:

a. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude
b. Recognize more of the positives rather than the negatives of life
c. Attract more of what I was grateful for
d. Make way for creative ideas

5. Start composing short stories about your life’s experiences. This will force you to become more disciplined because you’re now paying more attention to spelling, sentence structure and so forth.

As you rewrite (and rewrite) to polish your first draft, you will learn how to make it flow better with less, rather than more words. The path to your inner pool of ideas is now becoming well worn by this point because you’re keeping at it on a frequent basis, preventing mental blockages from building back up.

Think of it this way. Ever been to a nature trail? If a lot of people walk the path, hardly any grass will grow there, right? If no one came for months for a hike, what would happen? Grass and weeds would obstruct the path. It’s the same concept here. The more you write, the more you clear away mental blockages because you’ve traveled down that way many times.

6. Look around the internet to test the strength of your short stories. Give sites like Heartwarmers.com and EzineArticles a try. They cost nothing and are moderated by human editors, which mean all submissions are individually reviewed before being accepted.

For almost a year, I used Heartwarmers to test the quality of my short stories because only one was selected for their daily newsletter, sent to 50,000 subscribers around the world. That meant if my story was accepted, than it must have been of good quality. Three of them that were previously accepted at the Heartwarmers site eventually found their way to best-selling books like “Chicken Soup for the College Soul,” “heartwarmers” and “Magical Souvenirs: Mystical Travel Stories from Around the World.” That says a lot about the quality of their stories. Go check them out!

7. Create a blog. Blogger.com is the easiest, in my opinion, for the non-techie. Having a blog will motivate you to write more because now you have a level of responsibility to your readers. I’ve written over 60 articles since creating this blog a couple months ago. You’d be surprised how much information you have inside you, dying to get out. The more you write, the more ideas will come bubbling to the surface.

8. Now you’re ready to carry around a notepad everywhere you go. Since you’ve cleared the way for ideas, they will start to come out of nowhere. Sometimes they come fast and furious. If you don’t have a way of recording them at a moment’s notice, they’ll be gone forever because they are by nature fleeting. Often they lead you to a certain course of action, opening the way for your dreams to come true.

And it all starts with creative writing!

Food for thought: Start a private diary or write 5 things you’re grateful everyday to get a head start on releasing mental blockages. The practice of creative writing is like unclogging a blocked artery, making way for a torrent of blood (ideas) to flow.

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Have you ever fantasized about being rich and famous? No? You’ve never thought of what it would be like to have all the millions in the bank and have the press stand by your door, ready to snap your photo?

Stay with me on this. No one knows you’re thinking about this secret little fantasy except yourself.

Now, let’s say you’ve been visualizing yourself as a movie star, best-selling author or perhaps a politician and you’re speaking all over the world, in great demand. Day after day you imagine yourself holding press conferences, watching your bank account overflow and getting invitations to the hottest parties in town.

Would you be able to handle the paparazzi following you everywhere, invading your privacy? How would you feel if you wanted to go skinny dipping in your own pool but couldn’t because you were afraid the tabloids would get a shot of you and sell the image for thousands? What about all these new people coming out of the woodwork, claiming to be your “friend?” Where were they before you became famous? Would you wonder if the people you’re now with have your best interest at heart?

Do you remember the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton scandal? She was lucky to have survived a brutal ordeal with the media. They had a field day and literally tore her apart. I read her autobiography and she wrote how it was her dream to be famous someday. By the time the Clinton/Lewisky scandal died down, she longed for anonymity. She wasn’t ready for it. It wasn’t what she thought it would be.

If you suddenly became famous, would you be able to handle the pressure of being a celebrity?

This is why the universe is very exact. Every step on the way to your dreams is thrown in your life for a reason – to prepare you for what’s to come. In one of my other posts, I wrote how we are “life’s perpetual trainee” – always preparing for the future (Tip #9).

Suppose you dream of winning the lottery. Almost everyone does that right? They think sudden wealth will solve all their problems. But what if they do not have a wealth consciousness? Contrary to what you might think, having more money, especially if it happens suddenly, has the potential of creating more stress and challenges.

You’d have to find a good accountant, something you might never have worried about before. Which one do you hire? Who can you trust? What about people who claim to have your interest at heart and ask that you lend them money or invest in a venture? Where were they before you won the lottery?

Yes, you will certainly be able to pay off your debts but are you consciously ready to handle this kind of money? Will you squander it or will you invest it wisely? Will you hoard it or will you share it? Lottery winners are known to win millions only to go broke a short time later because they weren’t prepared to deal with it. They didn’t have the right consciousness about money. They didn’t know how to handle it responsibly.

Trust that if your visualizations are not manifesting in the time frame that you want, all is in perfect divine order. Never force or hurry the process. Go with the flow – if it is meant to manifest, it will in due time.

Food for thought: Are you mentally, physically and spiritually ready to handle the manifestation of your dreams today?

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Here’s how I did it with the motivational speaker example from Part I:

1. The first step is to enhance the environment where I am doing the visualization. Since I can’t hear, turning on relaxing music isn’t exactly an option for me (but that’s something you can do if you are hearing). What I usually do is light a candle and/or turn on a lamp and set it on very low wattage (so that it’s not too bright nor too dim). Then I start off by asking God to be present throughout the process. I imagine angels in the room with me, guiding me along the way. You want to be doing this in a relaxed and not strenuous manner.

2. Then I get comfortable in my favorite sitting spot and close my eyes. From that point on, I imagine, in the most vivid color possible, myself standing on stage, in the spotlight, speaking to thousands. Not only do I see myself moving around on stage (or even mingling amongst the audience), gesturing, and using different voice inflections, but I also imagine a wave of emotion sweeping over the audience – they are laughing and crying throughout the presentation. For added excitement, I throw in “special effects” – their heads are following every move I make because their eyes and ears are hanging on to every word I say.

Then the “movie” pans over to the book signing table, where I am autographing books and greeting/hugging/shaking hands with everyone. People are coming up to me with gratitude written all over their faces, thanking me for making a difference. As I’m imagining this, I am usually overcome with a profound sense of love and gratitude as if I were actually at the speaking event! It’s amazingly inspiring and motivating because something mysterious happens to you on a cellular level while you’re doing this. Don’t ask me why – I’m not a scientist or a doctor. I just know it happens because I’ve done it.

3. After finishing, I say a prayer of thanks because it is considered a done deal without any doubt (important).

Would you like to get started? All you need is an idea of what you desire – be it a new car, a new job, a new relationship, money in the bank, a promotion, etc. Color your imagination as vividly as you can with sounds, emotions, feelings and thoughts. Incorporate the sense of smell. If you want a new car, imagine the smell of leather. If you want a new baby, imagine the baby smell. Hear it coo in your mind, see yourself rocking it to sleep. If you want a promotion, imagine yourself moving into the corner office with a great view of the city below you. Or if you’re into sports, imagine yourself shooting that hoop in the last few seconds of the game or making the finals in the swimming championships.

The important thing to understand is that results of your visualization will manifest on God’s time, not yours. Be open to what comes your way and take appropriate action when you receive an impression. If you do this consistently, watch out! Your dreams are bound to manifest!

Now, I have a third part coming – there’s more! In Part III, I will write about why visualizations manifest on God’s time, not yours. There’s a logical reason for this. Stay tuned……

Food for thought: Be patient and focused. Practice visualization with a sense of detachment and remain open to what comes your way.

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Today, instead of expounding on what it is and telling you that it works, I am going to offer you proof that it does. Then in the next article, I’ll talk about what it is and why it works.

1.
Dream: BECOME A PILOT
Visualization technique: As a teen, I drove my mother’s car down the middle of the highway and pretended to take off and land. Paid the price in terms of 4 speeding tickets! Used to go to the airport as a youngster and watch planes take off and land all day long. I also played with model airplanes and flew them over makeshift villages with plastic green roofs and white picket fences. Sat on my couch and visualized myself flying in all sorts of weather conditions. I imagined feeling the vibration of the engine and went through the motion of starting it up, rolling down the runway and taking off, etc. Finally, I bought a MS Flight simulator and hooked it up to my desktop computer and played with it for hours.
Result: Became a pilot May 2001. Two years later, became a commercial pilot. Three years after the commercial, became the world’s first deaf instrument pilot (fly in the clouds).

Need more proof? Visit the bio section of my website, scroll down the page and you’ll see a bunch of links to newspaper articles.

2.
Dream: BECOME A PUBLISHED AUTHOR
Visualization technique: In 1996, I cut out a section of the New York Times best-selling list and put it on my refrigerator. Crossed out the top-selling author’s name and wrote in mine. Every time I walk in the kitchen, I am reminded of my desire to be a “best-selling” author. Note: This piece of newspaper is now turning yellow and curling at the corners from age!
Result: Published 3 stories in 3 different best-selling books. Also written and published several articles online.

Need more proof? Visit your local bookstore and pick up a copy of “Chicken Soup for the College Soul“. Go to page 278. Order a copy of “heartwarmers” from Azriela Jaffe (it’s now out of print now but it was an Amazon best-seller when it first came out). She has some extras in her inventory – contact her at: azjaffe@optonline.net The “heartwarmer” story is on page 38. And finally, the third one was published in “Magical Souvenirs” on page 206. As for the articles, they can be seen here.

Note: I still have the dream of publishing my own book and having that become a best-seller. Stay tuned!

3.
Dream: MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER
Visualization technique: Played schoolteacher as a child in my bedroom. In later years, I would go to church, sit in the main lecture hall (with seating capacity of 2,000) and imagine myself on stage speaking to thousands. Then I carried out the vision by actually getting in front of several civic clubs (i.e. Kiwanis, Lion’s, Rotary, etc.).
Result: Spoken to thousands around the country and continue to build a reputation as a professional speaker.

Need proof? Visit my website and see testimonials from various audience members. The first time I spoke to 1,000 people was at a high school in Virginia in the late nineties. In the near future, my website will be undergoing a major facelift, which will include videos of speeches I’ve done.

4.
Dream: WIN SALES CONTEST AT MERRILL LYNCH
Visualization technique: Cut out a picture of the hotel of where winners would be staying. This was posted by the telephone in my office where I could see it every day. For months, I imagined myself wriggling my toes in the warm sand, swimming in the ocean and watching the sunset from the hotel balcony.
Result: Won sales contests three years in a row. Went on all expense paid trips to Bermuda, Mexico and Florida.

Need proof? You can see a YouTube video which contains a quick snippet of my interview on CNN while at Merrill Lynch.  Click here to see the video. 

Food for thought: The more you visualize, the more your dreams will come to pass and manifest for you!

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If I told you on one muggy summer’s night in late August 2005, a young lad from a university in London was lying on his bed with a notepad, brainstorming ideas on how to pay for his education and came up with an idea that eventually brought him over $1 million from people around the world, would you believe me?

What if I told you a guy traded one very red paperclip for a nice house, would you call me crazy? After an hour or two of scribbling ideas on paper, Alex Tew of London would create internet history by becoming the first person in the world to sell a million pixels on his website as advertising space. Lo and behold, he became an internet sensation and attracted attention all over the world, garnering well over a million dollars because he acted on his intuition! Check out his website by going to the million dollar homepage. It’s a fascinating and inspiring story.

Meanwhile, a guy named Kyle MacDonald of Canada got this idea of making a series of trades, starting with a red paper clip and ended up getting himself a nice house. Go to his blog.

What inspires me is if Alex and Kyle can come up with ingenious ideas and get themselves a million dollars and a house, well the sky’s the limit, wouldn’t you agree?

Food for thought: Entertaining the possibilities and acting on your intuition is the most valuable asset you’ll ever have. Ever.

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Whether or not we realize it, many of these topics are closely aligned with how we grow as spiritual beings having a human experience. When we learn how to harness universal principles, we are better able to deal with adversity that comes our way. We are in effect reprogramming our minds to think outside the box and creating the life we envision for ourselves. Some examples include my achievements in aviation, Wall Street as well as in professional speaking.

Today I wish to share with you an email I got from someone who I’ve been corresponding with over the last few years but have not yet met. Her name is Kathyrn Troutman, who specializes in creating powerful resumes for federal government employees and applicants. She is known as the “Federal Career Coach.” Here’s a synoposis of what she wrote to me:

That’s how I started. One workshop at the Justice Dept. on Federal Resume Writing. WE thought 30 people would come to the Great Hall of Justice for a noon-hour “brown bag lunch”. 650 people came! That was the day my government training career began.The reason this happened so easily and effortlessly for her is because she didn’t have any attachment to the outcome. Kathryn simply submitted a proposal, it was eventually accepted and then she went with the intention of providing for the highest good of all and look at the turn out! It was that simple!

I used to be one of those people who would put a “disclaimer” on my dreams saying things like “Well, I hope it will happen.” When someone makes a firm decision, it’s amazing how the universe just lines things up for you because making a decision as opposed to be “muddy” with your line of thinking clears the way for things to come your way. I’m starting to do this with my financial affairs and for the first time in my life, I actually feel like I am well on my way to becoming truly financially independent – it’s no joke. I will be writing about that too.

Consider this. I was browsing through a great “Personal Development for Smart People” blog the other day when I stumbled onto some writings by Steve Pavlina about the power of intention. Something just clicked in me and I feel like a changed person. It’s strange, I can’t explain it but I really felt an internal shift take place. All I know is when I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth, I was looking at myself in the mirror and suddenly saw the image of a millionaire. That has never happened before. It’s quite amazing, really. Stay tuned for that as well……

Food for thought: Think about the last time you made a firm declaration or decision and how ideas or opportunities flowed to you after that. Have you ever experienced this? That is the power of intention at work in your life!

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