Thirty Days to Change Your Life

7/28/2019 Thirty Days to Change Your Life

1/70

Thirty Days to Change Your Life

Michael Miles

effortlessabundance.com
http://effortlessabundance.com/http://effortlessabundance.com/


2/70


Our life is what our thoughts make it.Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil.

Marcus Aurelius

effortlessabundance.com2


3/70


Legal Stuff

This publication is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicableinternational, federal, state and local laws, and all rights are reserved: you are not allowed to give

or sell this Guide to anyone else. If you received this publication from anyone other thaneffortlessabundance.com, you've received a pirated copy. Please contact us via e-mail at info@

effortlessabundance.com and notify us of the situation.

Please note that much of this publication is based on personal experience and anecdotalevidence. Although the author has made every reasonable attempt to achieve complete accuracy

of the content in this Guide, they assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Also, youshould use this information as you see fit, and at your own risk. Your particular situation may notbe exactly suited to the examples illustrated here; in fact, it's likely that they won't be the same,

and you should adjust your use of the information and recommendations accordingly.

Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be theproperty of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied

endorsement if we use one of these terms.

Finally, use your head. Nothing in this Guide is intended to replace common sense, legal, medicalor other professional advice, and is meant to inform and entertain the reader. So have fun with

the 10 Quick Steps, and get your stuff done.

Copyright 2008 effortlessabundance.com. All rights reserved worldwide.

effortlessabundance.com 3


4/70


How to Use this Book

Why?

The essence of life is change. Change is the only constant. It seemssurprising that we tend to resist change, but I believe that we shouldembrace it. It is going to happen to us in one form or another, so why nottake control of it and proactively shape ourselves? We are always moving

either in the direction of growth or the direction of decay. So why notdecide to grow and become better than we are? I do not suggest that weberate ourselves for not being perfect a healthy self esteem is essentialfor proper growth. In fact, the less perfect we are, the more exciting andinteresting the journey, and the more we will be glad when we see howmuch we have achieved.

How?

There is only one way to change your life, and reading a book (howevergood it is!) will not do it. Only you can do it. A book can help you; it cangive you ideas and support you; it can send you off down new avenues.But it can only help if you are ready and willing to change.

This book contains thirty short chapters. You can read the whole book fromcover to cover, just as you would a novel, but this isnt the best way to

approach it. The best thing is to read one chapter per day for a month. Youcan read the chapters in any order, but the first five days form a sequenceso I suggest you read these first. Dont be tempted to go onto the nextchapter. Read slowly and let the message sink in. You might like to make ashort summary of each chapter as you go. The more interactive you canmake the experience of reading, the better.

I have always subscribed to the dripping tap approach to self-improvement. Just a little each day and, in a surprisingly short time, youwill have changed a great deal. As Charlie Brown so wisely said, Nothingseems to change much from day to day, but pretty soon everythingsdifferent. Many drips fill a bucket.

Finally, I came across a notice recently. It seemed to capture the essenceof what self improvement is all about. It simply said, In a year from now,you may wish that you had started today.

So why not start today? Its the only day you have.



5/70


Day One: Who are you?

There is a story I never tire of telling. Or of reading, for that matter. I firstfound it quite by accident in a bookshop in Birmingham, England. It wasmany years ago and I was browsing through the shelves when I came

acrossAwareness by Anthony de Mello. The book struck a chord in meand I loved what I was reading so much that I bought it there and then andread it from cover to cover sitting in the city center. The first page tells thestory; here it is (paraphrased by me).

An eagle lays an egg but somehow the egg finds its way into achicken coup. A chicken incubates the egg with all her othersand when it hatches, she rears the eaglet as if it were one ofher own chicks. It learns to peck the dust for food, to flap itswings and to strut around the farmyard. One day, an eagle

flies by overhead. The little eagle looks up and sees this, andsays to himself, I wish I were an eagle how majestic, howfree, how beautiful to be like that and have such a life. Theeagle lived like a chicken and died like a chicken, becausethats hat he thought he was.

Eckhart Tolle tells a similar story in The Power of Now. It goes somethinglike this:

Theres a beggar sitting on an old wooden box, and hes been

sitting there for years he sits on it on the street and begs formoney. One day someone walks past and tells the old beggarthat he has nothing to give except a piece of information. Thestranger tells the old man that his wooden box is full of moneyand treasure. The old man laughs and soon forgets what thestranger told him. He dies without ever opening the box.

The American write Henry David Thoreau said most men live lives of quietdesperation, and the above stories are supposed to shock you intorealizing thatyou are not what people have brainwashed you into believingyou are. You are more wonderful than anything in the universe, spirituallywhole and abundant by nature. Just as a drop of water contains all theproperties of the ocean, so you contain all the spiritual properties of theuniverse, of God. You dont need to live a cowering, servile life, scrimpingand scratching around for a pittance, doing a job you hate, cow-towing to aboss you dislike.



6/70


Before you realize this, you cannot amount to anything. You can try all thetechniques, all the programs, go to seminars and buy self-help books,meditate and visualize, say affirmations, set goals. These are not badthings, but without a clear and basic understanding that you are the eagle,that you have the treasure inside you, you will be building a house on the

sand, and the edifice will fall apart when the wind blows or when the tidecomes in.

You can have a wonderful house, a mansion! You can have it all. But yourfoundation needs to be solid. Abraham Lincoln said If I had six hours tochop down a tree, I'd spend the first four hours sharpening the axe, sowhy not spend some time getting to know who you really are?



7/70


Day Two: Why are you here?

Henry David Thorea said that most men lead lives of quiet desperation,and Miguel Torga, the great Portuguese writer, said that life has themeaning we give it -- our richness, our enthusiasm, our pride -- or our

cowardice.

Once we have seen that we can change our own life and construct ourown experience, we are able to orchestrate things so that we experiencegreater meaning. But what gives meaning to our lives? Is it money,property, a successful career, a big car, an attractive spouse or partner?Im sure most people would agree that these things in themselves do notadd lasting and profound meaning to us.

Albert Einstein said that only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile, and

I believe that a life of service to others is what truly brings meaning. I preferto use the term adding value, since this describes what I mean moreaccurately.

The term service suggests that we have to give up our jobs and money togo help the poor and destitute. I know several people who have done justthis, and they have certainly found happiness and peace in their choice oflifestyle. But a life of adding value does not mean abandoning your ownneeds and desires. It is not the same as sacrifice. Far from it when wetruly add value to the lives of others, we cannot help but receive value

ourselves.

Examples of this kind of synergy abound in nature. For example, tree rootsare often surrounded by fungal growths that take nutrients from the trees.Having no chloroplasts of their own, the fungi cannot synthesize theprecursors of respiration, and so they piggyback on the trees ability to dothis. In return, the tree gets to use the fungis vast subterranean network,extending its own reach and sucking in more nutrients from the soil. Thesoil, of course, gets this all back and more when the tree dies.

Adding value is the only real way to live a meaningful life. But the questionremains, how can we add value? I believe the answer to this is surprisinglysimple.

In a commencement speech delivered in 2005, Steve Jobs said that yourwork is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be trulysatisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to dogreat work is to love what you do. If you havent found it yet, keep looking.

http://effortlessabundance.com/mmiracle.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/mmiracle.htm


8/70


9/70


Day Three: You are pulling the strings

Austrian psychiatrist and survivor of the holocaust Victor Frankl tells us inMans Search for Meaningthat between stimulus and response there is agap, and in that gap lies the whole of our experience. Unlike Pavlovs

dogs, we are free to choose our responses to the things that come ourway. Many perhaps most people go through life on autopilot, reactingin the same habituated ways they have learned over the course of theirlife, often rehearsing the scripts they developed as children.

In adult life, many of these scripts are maladaptive and only serve toimpoverish our experience and damage us and those we love. When wereact defensively to a criticism, when we start to get angry because we arestuck in a traffic jam, when we keep on smoking despite knowing how badit is, we are ignoring the gap and abdicating our freedom.

But the truth is that we are free we are not robots, we are not like dogssalivating when a bell rings. We are pulling our own strings and when thestimulus comes we can take control, change our response and hencechange our life.

Of course, the power of our habits is strong and keeps pulling us back, butthe gap is always there, even after a long lifetime of unconscious behavior,and over time we can expand the gap and become more free. In TheSeven Habits of Highly Successful People, Steven Covey calls this being

proactive, the first step towards a life of meaning. In truth, we have alwaysbeen in control, but we need to realize this before can move on.

http://effortlessabundance.com/ppc.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/ppc.htm


10/70


Day four: Everything is created in the mind first

Steven R. Covey, in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, tells usthat all things are created twice, once in the mind, and once in the world.

Although this idea that thoughts become things (to use Earl Nightingales

expression) has been widely disseminated by self-development books andmovies such as The Secret in recent months and years, most people dothis without any conscious awareness of the process. It is happening allthe time, but most of us simply create our experience by default throughreactive and habitual thought patterns that we have picked up fromparents, friends and society at large.

Successful people are conscious of this process and use it moredeliberately, but there is another, vital aspect to our ability to orchestrateour own experience, and it is this life is all about flow. We need to give

and we need to receive, and Covey tells us that paying attention to thedevelopment of self in the greater perspective of improving ones ability toserve, to produce, to contribute in meaningful ways will enable us tocreate in a sustainable way. To ignore this give and take is to causestagnation and decay, like a pool with no outlet stagnates and dies. I amreminded here of the story of the goose who laid the golden eggs. Thefarmer focused too much on the eggs and, in his greed, killed the goose.We need the eggs (what we create) but we also need to keep the engineof creation going, and we do this by honoring the fact that all life is aboutgiving and receiving.

Bringing these two basic truths together that we create twice, and thatwe must work with the flow of life brings us to the point where we mustthink deeply about what we want and where we are going in life. If we failto engage at this point, we will continue to drift along, either experiencingby default (as most people do) or creating our life in a way which ultimatelyleads to stagnation and decay.

http://effortlessabundance.com/mind.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/mind.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/mind.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/mind.htm


11/70


Day five: You can only change form the inside

You can have anything. You can do anything. You can be anything. Butyou cant do it. At least your conscious, thinking mind cant. You cant do it

through effort and control and work. In truth, The subconscious mind doeseverything. It creates your whole world. Through its interaction with theconscious, thinking mind on one side and the vast universal intelligencewhich pervades the universe on the other, it orchestrates our experience oflife. Where we are now is a result of the activity of our subconscious mind.Viktor Frankl, the Austrian psychiatrist and holocaust survivor, recounts aninteresting story. We know a case in which a violinist always tried to playas consciously as possible. From putting his violin in place on his shoulderto the most trifling technical detail, he wanted to do everything consciously,to perform in full self-reflection. This led to a complete artistic

breakdown. Treatment had to give back to the patient his trust in theunconscious, by having him realize how much more musical hisunconscious was than his conscious.

Know who is in control

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In thatspace is our power to choose our response. In our responselies our growth and our freedom.Viktor Frankl

First, we must realize that we are in the driving seat. Unlike Pavlovs dogsor other animals who respond only by instinct, we humans have the powerof choice. The Austrian psychiatrist and survivor of the holocaust ViktorFrankl wrote that between stimulus and response there is a gap, andinside that gap lies all of our experience. When we realize that this gapexists and that we can use it, we have tremendous power.

Most people have given that power away. They go straight from stimulus toresponse without a thought, reacting in the old, habitual way over and overagain. It amazes me that people go through life running the same script for

year after year, decade after decade, never seeming to realize that theyhave a choice. But this is the reality you have free will, you areresponsible for how you react, and you have the power to change I mustinto I choose.



12/70


It all starts in the mind

Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but onething: the last of human freedoms to choose ones attitude inany given set of circumstances, to choose ones own way.

Viktor Frankl

The most important area in which we operate our freedom is our ownmind. We are free to control our thoughts and change our own perceptionof things. This is a revelation to many people, who believe that thoughtshappen to them. In reality, you generate your own thoughts all day longand you can be the master of them. Changing our beliefs is notinstantaneous, but our beliefs do change throughout our lives and we canbe active in controlling this process.

The way we act, of course, depends on what we believe. It makes sensethat changing what we believe will alter the way we behave. Rich peopletend naturally to think about money and abundance and so they tend toattract more money by naturally acting in accordance with their beliefs.Poor people often tend to think about lack, and so they attract thisexperience.

The inside-out

We create our own reality in two ways. One is our self-talk. We talk toourselves all day long. You can often catch the moment shortly after youwake up when the script kicks in for a short while after you wake up, yourmind is blank; youre not thinking anything in particular. But suddenly youwill remember what happened to you yesterday or last week (good or bad)and your internal talk will begin. If youre not very conscious about it, thisscript will just run in the background all day and you will react to situationsin your usual conditioned manner. But if you can become aware that this ishappening, you can start to replace to old script with a self-talk based onconscious choice.

The other is ourvisualization. We see ourselves in certain scenarios in our

minds eye. Again, if you are conscious, you can replace the defaultvisualizations (of being a victim, being poor etc.) with new ones aboutabundance, happiness, confidence and control. Start visualizing what youwant to achieve, how you want to feel and what sort of person you want tobe.

http://effortlessabundance.com/visualize.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/visualize.htm


13/70


The subconscious ensures that our images are translated into reality. Achange in our mind will work its way out. Our subconscious mind believeswhat it is told by the thinking, self-talking, visualizing mind and does notrecognize any difference between a real experience and an imaginary one.So we need to be careful what we think about and talk to ourselves about,

and what we see in our minds eye. These words and images will beturned into reality as sure as day follows night. In the end, we see theworld as we are.



14/70


Day six: Making money

Being rich is a state of mind. Your mind is like a garden which containsrich, fertile soil, and it will bring forth whatever you sow in it. You can sow amentality of lack and poverty or a mentality of abundance. The harvest will

be a life of poverty and struggle or one of ease and comfort. Which onewould you prefer? The answer is obvious, but it is surprising how manypeople choose the former. The rich have sown an abundance mentality,and here are ten ways you can start to tend your own garden of riches.

Think more about money. Our experience of the world starts in our mind,and what we focus on will expand and push its way out into the physicalworld. If we focus on lack and poverty, this is what we will experience, butif we concentrate on wealth, it will start to appear in our lives. I havenoticed that the rich spend a lot of time talking about money. So do the

poor, in fact, except that they are talking about the lack of it.

Admire people who have money and associate with the wealthy. Howdo you feel when you see someone who you know is rich? Whether it be amovie star, the boss at work or a guy who lives down the road, if you are

jealous about the success and wealth of others, you are never going toattract it into your own life. You need to admire these kind of people andask yourself what can I learn from them? The best way to learn from thewealthy, of course, is to be around them, so you should try to associateyourself with successful and wealthy people.

Be comfortable carrying money around. What do youy find when youopen your wallet? I used to withdraw money from the ATM only when Ineeded it and I was habitually running short of money. The message anempty wallet sends to your subconscious is got no money. So sureenough, this will play out in your life. Maybe you say to yourself I cantcarry money around or else Ill spend it! Well, if you cant trust yourselfwith cash on the hip, youre never going to be rich.

Get used to spending money and buying nice things. If you have apoverty mentality, as soon as you get some money you will spend it.

People who think like this cannot trust themselves with cash. Having anabundance mentality means spending money and enjoying it. It does notmean living above your means and getting into debt, but its also importantnot to scrimp and save. Your money is there to be enjoyed, and so long asyou are sensible, you can go out and treat yourself. Go to a nicerestaurant, get your hair done at an expensive salon, buy a designer suit orbag. These things will send out signals to your subconscious mind (and

http://effortlessabundance.com/autocash.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/autocash.htm


15/70


other people, and the universe) that you have an abundance mentality andthat you are comfortable with money.

Get into the habit of investing. Hoarding money and spending all yourmoney are signs of a poverty mentality. Both cause stagnation and an end

to wealth. But growing money is at the heart of an abundance mentality.Money is like a living thing it has to move and it to grow. If you win $100in a competition, what would you do with it? The rich would think abouthow to turn it into $1000. The poor would just spend it or bury it. Theres animportant difference.

Dont be too attached to money. Hoarding money is also symptom of apoverty mentality. Because everything in life is in flux, money as well asall other things cannot sit still. It cannot lie dormant. It has to move.Either you can move it or it will move of its own accord. If you try to hoard

it, it will find a way of moving on anyway an unexpected bill or otherexpense, a car or house repair that needs to be paid for so keep yourmoney flowing. Put it to work in investments, spend some of it on nicethings, be generous and, above all, enjoy it! Otherwise, whats the point?

Feel that you deserve to be rich. Dont feel guilty about it. Many peoplehave been deeply scripted in a mentality that equates money with guilt.How can the rich live with themselves when there are starving people inthe world? Why dont they give their money way to help others? These arethe things I used to say to myself, until I realized the truth: if all the moneyin the world were redistributed equally, in a matter of months, there wouldonce again be massive inequality. And this is because poverty is a diseaseof the mind. Of course we should support the needy, the homeless, thesick and the hungry, but giving a person with a poverty mentality a largesum of money will not make that person rich, because so long as thepoverty mentality is running, their subconscious autopilot will find a way ofbringing them back to poverty.

Associate money with a healthy, balanced life. Many people think thatmoney is tainted. They use phrases like filthy rich and associate makingmoney with dishonest practices and unsavory ways of living. But the reality

is that money is not bad: its just money. And theres no more or lessreason to acquire it than there is a reason to be happy, healthy orsuccessful. Money is good and necessary, since it can allow you toexperience more of life and to help other people.

Take responsibility. Dont blame anyone or anything for yoursituation. There are other people in that same situation who are making it!

http://effortlessabundance.com/doublingstocks.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/doublingstocks.htm


16/70


It is not your parents fault that you are poor. It is not the governmentsfault. Its not your age or education. None of these things have stoppedothers from getting rich. Many people just stay poor because its easier they dont have to face up to their part in creating their own reality. But ifyou truly want to be rich, stop making excuses and take responsibility.

When you have done this, it clears the way for amazing things to happen.

Believe that anything is possible. Henry Ford said, Whether you believeyou can or believe you cant, youre probably right. People have comefrom abject poverty and made billions. Others have started at the top andlost it all.Anything is possible in this world. So start believing it!

http://effortlessabundance.com/tsoal.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/tsoal.htm


17/70


Day seven: Why the rich get richer

For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will havean abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has

shall be taken away from himJesus of Nazareth (Matthew 13:12)

When I was a child, I used to look out at the world, watch the news, andthink to myself how unfair it is that some people are so rich and others sopoor. But now I have come to the conclusion that if all the money in theworld were divided equally between everyone, within a short time, the richwould be rich again, and the poor would be poor again. Why? Simply put money is a symptom or an effect. The cause of money is our attitude, ourthoughts, and our self-image.

We attract more of what we focus on. We create our own financialcondition. Being rich is the effect of our thoughts, not the cause. Mostpeople have got this the wrong way round. As in all spheres of life, whatwe sow is what we reap. Our thoughts create our reality and if we sowgood, positive thoughts, thoughts of abundance, these thoughts will yield aharvest of money and abundance. If we sow thoughts of poverty and lack,we will manifest that in our lives. Some peoples minds are like rich, fertilesoil where the crop can grow strong and healthy; others minds are morelike rocks and dust which will not support a good harvest.

Many people spend their lives building a money monster, made up of thenegative thoughts about money and wealth. Many of these thoughts camefrom parents, teachers and other influential figures which they wereexposed to when young, and those thoughts get built on and expandeduntil eventually they become a huge and terrifying monster which,eventually, turns around and devours them. Others, however, spend theirlife building a powerful and obedient genie, an unshakeable collection ofpositive thoughts and convictions which free you from worry and lack; thegenie does your bidding and you are always rich. We must realize thatmoney doesnt control us, we control it money is our servant, not our

master.

We must take responsibility for this. Where we are now is a result of whatwe have thought and how we have acted in the past. We must accept this.Either we are responsible or we are not which is it to be? Do you want tocarry on feeling that youre at the mercy of chance? Maybe you do maybe you get something out of that. But know this if you do not accept

http://effortlessabundance.com/selfmade.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/selfmade.htm


18/70


that you are responsible for your financial condition, you will always bepoor.

That more gathers more is true on every plane of existenceand that loss leads to greater loss is equally true.

Charles E. Haanel (1866-1949)

Many people have self-defeating beliefs about money (which I have writtenabout elsewhere). We cannot be wealthy if we think of money in a negativeway. Money is just a way to be free, and creating financial abundanceshould be top of our list of priorities. Clear out your old ideas about wealthand fill your mind with new and positive thoughts about money. Flauntingwealth is a sign of insecurity and tells of a poverty mentality, but to wishand strive for financial freedom is a good thing as someone once said,the more you know, the less you need to show. Know that whatever your

beliefs, the world will support them so think positive and abundantthoughts, and these will be played out in real life.

One of these self-defeating beliefs is that there is a shortage of money. Butin reality, there is not a limited supply of wealth and abundance if I go outin a boat and fill a few buckets with water, does that mean there is lesswater for everyone else? If I pump water from the sea night and day, doesthat mean the ocean will run dry? Hardly! There is so much of it that it cannever run out! Even the wealth of the richest person in the world is just,well, a drop in the ocean!

Another reason the ocean never runs dry is that water is constantly on themove. Water evaporates, it forms clouds, the clouds release water as rain,the rain falls into streams and rivers, and the rivers flow back into the sea.Just like water, money needs to flow. If you try to hoard money, it willstagnate, like a pool with no inlet or outlet. But if you keep moneycirculating, it will grow, just as a pool with a constant flow of fresh watersparkles and teems with life.

In fact, money flows whether we like it or not, since that is its nature. If youtry to hoard it, it will find a way of moving on a big tax bill, an unexpected

expense so keep things moving, keep your money flowing. That doesntmean give all your money away or keep buying and selling investments; itmeans dont let your money stagnate and die dont kill the goose thatlays the golden egg. Its also important that you dont try to control theprocess who knows through which wonderful channels money andwealth will come to you? Your subconscious mind is wiser than you canknow, and will orchestrate events in a marvelous and unexpected way to

http://effortlessabundance.com/secret.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/secret.htm


19/70


bring you what you desire. It is also important that you be ready to receive.Sometimes you dont get what you want you get something better. So beready and be open to all possibilities.

Making money is not hard work its easy when you do it right. Like all

things in life, see which way the wind is blowing and sail with the wind, notagainst it. Sailing against the wind is madness it will take all your energyand youll stand still (at best). So sail with the wind, go with the flow of life,and you can be effortlessly abundant.

http://effortlessabundance.com/ecm.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/ecm.htm


20/70


Day eight: The importance of your beliefs

Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only tryto realize the truth Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon thatbends, it is only yourself.

From The Matrix

The story of the four-minute mile is one of those things that tells us aboutthe way the world works. For years, people tried and tried to run a mile inunder four minutes but just kept failing. However, as soon as RogerBanister did it in 1954, the floodgates opened and within two years, about350 others had done the same. When people really believe that somethingis possible, then it is. As Henry Ford famously said, Whether You BelieveYou Can, Or You Can't, You Are Right. I read recently that beliefs are

neither tight nor wrong. I disagree if you dont think that your beliefs areright, then I cant see how they can be called beliefs. This doesnt meanyou should arrogantly try to foist your beliefs on other people if youreright, then all well and good; let others find out in their own way, and by allmeans present and discuss your beliefs but beliefs should be heldstrongly and with power. They have the ability to empower you or limit you.

Examples ofthe empowering effect of beliefare found everywhere. Forexample, in her book Imagery for Getting Well, Deirdre Davis Brigham(W.W. Norton & Co. 1994) reports several instances of the mind appearing

to have amazing control over the body. She cites some cases of peoplewith multiple personality one personality has flu symptoms or evendiabetes; the other personality has no sign of illness. She also mentionsClove Backster, who found that skin from his patients actually reactedchemically when Backster simply thought of damaging the skin.Dr. Madeline Daniels has written about studies of the self fulfillingprophecy where, for example, different teachers were told that theirclasses consisted of under performers or bright students and, by year end,there was a significant difference in the quality of the classes work.Needless to say, the students ability was the same in all classes.

This study from researchers at Stanford University suggests that pain canbe controlled by thought. There are many documented instances ofindividuals appearing to defy nature because of belief people walkingover hot coals, people being buried for days and coming out alive and well,people not eating for weeks or even years and appearing to be in normalhealth. The examples are endless.

http://effortlessabundance.com/belief.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/belief.htm


21/70


I read somewhere recently that a belief is nothing but the generalization ofa past incident. This seems to ring true. When I was a child, I wasoutgoing and gregarious. Then something happened I was openlycriticized and, generalizing this experience, I started to see those aroundme as hostile and unwelcoming. And so I spent many, many years carrying

this belief, feeling insecure and threatened, terrified of public speaking. Ihad to recognize that I had been carrying this belief around with me allthose years and consciously decide to change it.

http://effortlessabundance.com/belief2.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/belief2.htm


22/70


Day nine: The importance of self-image

The image we have of ourselves is the most important thing in determiningwhat we experience in the world. We spend our days acting out the kind ofperson we think we are, and eventually, as Earl Nightingale observed, we

become what we think about. We experience what we are convinced istrue and so, in a very real sense, we have each created ourself from ourown mental image. And we can recreate ourselves from a new mentalimage if we choose. Whoever you are now, you have chosen it. And in ayear, five years, ten years from now, you can be the same person, or youcan choose again and become someone different.

Who we are

First, try to realize that we are spiritually whole. Just as a drop of water

contains all the properties of the ocean, so we contain all the spiritualproperties of the universe, of God.Since this is so, we should love ourselves with no strings attached.Whatever we have done or failed to do does not change what we are and what we are is perfect. Rejecting yourself or a part of yourself orhating yourself for something you have done is pointless.Self-acceptance is the first step and the most important part of choosingyour experience and being successful. You need to separate what youhave done, how much you earn, the things you own, and everything elseabout you, from who you are. When you see yourself for what you truly

are, you can experience your own magnificence right now and then youcan choose your life.

How to change

Many people think that the only way to do something worthwhile is bysheer hard work. But no amount of willpower can change us intosomething we think we are not. If I see myself as unfit, then no amount ofgoing to the gym and trying to eat well is going to change that image and,eventually, I will stop going to the gym and I will start eating the wrong kindof food again, and I will remain unfit.

If you want to change, you must start the process in your mind first. Whenyou see yourself as being fit and healthy, then going to the gym and eatingwell will be natural and easy. If you see yourself as a non-smoker, then notsmoking will be easy and natural. If you keep saying to yourself, Im goingto give up smoking, but your subconscious still sees you as a smoker,

http://effortlessabundance.com/secret.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/secret.htm


23/70


then youre going to fail because you always live up to your subconsciousexpectations.

Your growth will cause others pain.

You are in control, you are pulling the strings, and so you must takeresponsibility for your life. When you accept this and you take control ofyour life, this is bound to make some people unhappy. You are becomingmore powerful, and you seem to make some others shrink they dontunderstand why you are difference, they dont see themselves as being incontrol and they wonder what you have that they dont. When you decideto change your life, some people will have values which conflict with yours,and so they may feel threatened and try to attack you or control you or turnyou into something else. Isnt this whats behind some peoples attempts toconvert you to their religion?

Dont be afraid

You dont need permission from others to change your life. You can neverget the approval you seek from others, so just relax, love yourself anddecide who you want to become. The only authority you need is withinyourself.

Dont worry about whether youre perfect youre like a house underconstruction, and so is everyone else. Theres nothing wrong with this its

the way things are and people who criticize you are only throwing stones atthemselves.

Dont be afraid to expose a weakness and make yourself vulnerable. Thisis how you learn about yourself, its how to change and grow. If you knowthat you are spiritually perfect, you will not be threatened by the beliefs ofothers.

Dont fear or resent others for being wealthy or successful. Learn fromthem and admire them, support them in what they have and moreabundance will come to you.

The right kind of selfishness

Why is it wrong to have things just because others dont? Will it help thepoor if you are poor yourself? You are naturally and effortlessly abundant.You are powerfully orchestrating of your own experience. I believe thatnothing happens to us that we dont permit at a deep, subconscious level.

http://effortlessabundance.com/fear.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/fear.htm


24/70


What is happening within us is in deep alignment with our outsideexperiences. So delve inside, choose what you want to become, choosethe abundant, prosperous and successful life, hold on to that image ofyourself, and then you cannot help but become that person. And the bestpart of all it will happen effortlessly.



25/70


Day Ten: The Importance of a Mission statement

The image we have of ourselves is the most important thing in determiningwhat we experience in the world. We spend our days acting out the kind ofperson we think we are, and eventually, as Earl Nightingale observed, we

become what we think about.

Successful people have a clear direction, a sense of where they are goingand, as importantly, why they are going there. This sense of direction is acompass which keeps them on track, and it is often expressed in a missionstatement.

The most important step is to identify your values, those basic principleswhich are most important to you. In Mans Search for Meaning, ViktorFrankl suggests that we detect our meaning in life, so it is worth spending

some time seriously reflecting on what values we live by, what reallymoves us. Steven R. Covey, in The Seven Habits of Highly EffectivePeople, suggests that we imagine ourselves attending our own funeral andlisten as we hear the eulogies being reads out about us. Do we like whatwe are hearing? What do we want to hear? How have we beenremembered? We need to identify what is deeply important to us.

If these values can be distilled and concretized into a personal missionstatement (what you want to be and do, based on your personal values),then we can live out each day deliberately creating an experience which

leads to sustainable growth and happiness.

We need to decide where the focus of our life is located. People havemany focuses work, money, family, friends and so on but the trulycreative person has his or her core values at the center of life. Steven R.Covey identifies four features which flow from this center and which needto be in harmony in a truly creative and successful life.

First is security, our sense of worth and emotional anchorage. In an value-centered life, change should seen as an exciting adventure and anopportunity to learn and grow Secondly, guidance, our sense of direction.

Here, we should be detached from lifes changing landscape and guidedinternally by our core values. Thirdly, wisdom, or how we respond toevents. In a value-centered life, we do not respond reactively to thevicissitudes of life but proactively make decisions, not being acted on byothers but acting independently and skillfully in the world. Fourthly, power,our ability to achieve. Here, we should recognize that what we achieve is



26/70


our own responsibility and is not determined by the beliefs and behavior ofothers.

Most individuals dont have a mission statement. They dont have a clearidea of where they are going in life. They dont know what they want to

achieve. They just drift along, year after year, decade after decade. Mostpeople live like that and they die like that. Napoleon Hill, in his famousbook Think and Grow Rich wrote that most people did not have a goal, didnot now where they were going. He also presented a six step plan bywhich anyone could achieve financial success. This plan does not involvea lot of effort, incidentally its essentially a method for clear about whatyou seek to achieve. If you want to find out about the plan, its presented inchapter 2 of the book, but the key element in the plan is clear statement ofpurpose, and a mission statement can be a powerful way of achieving this.

A mission statement cannot just be thrown together. It needs to becarefully crafted. Here are the elements of a good mission statement.

Your goals should be specific and clear What are your values? Whatdo you stand for? What are you going to achieve? What are you going tocontribute to the world? This isnt about what you want to achieve its nota wish list; its a definite statement of intent, its your order from the menuof the universe, its what is going to happen. When you start to get boggeddown in the details of daily life, think back to your mission statement itwill act as a compass to keep you on track; your decisions and actions willbe guided by it. In this sense, it provides you with a wide angle lensthrough which you can keep the bigger picture in view.

Your goals do not need to be (SHOULD not be) realistic orattainable weve all heard about SMART targets which have to bemeasurable, realistic etc., etc. The point here is that the universe can doanything, however unbelievable or unrealistic it is.

It should indicate how you are going to achieve your goals this does notcontradict the previous statement. You must not include a specific, detailedplan, but a statement about what you are going to offer in exchange for

meeting your goal. For example, your goal is to be the best sales person inyour company you will achieve this goal by giving outstanding service toevery customer. Theres nothing here about sales targets, how manyclients you need to see, how many sales you need to make etc. Once youhave written down the how in general terms, the universe will do the rest.



27/70


It should be short some organizations produce long rambling missionstatements which nobody ever reads! Napoleon Hill suggests you readthrough your mission statement every morning and evening; youre notgoing to do this if its going to take twenty minutes. And the ideas arentgoing to be as powerful if theyre not focused. So keep it short, focused

and powerful, like a laser beam.

It should make you feel good If you know where youre going, youlllive a life of eager anticipation and joy. Just as if you are sailingsomewhere on a ship you know youll get to your destination and in themeantime youre enjoying the view. This attitude of anticipating a futureyou have already chosen (you bought the ticket, you got on the ship, theships moving) whilst living in the present moment (youre looking out at awonderful sunrise, enjoying the view) is, to me, the only sensible way tolive.

Taking time to write and regularly review your mission statement is one ofthe most important things you can do in life. Next time you get boggeddown in the day-to-day detail of life, stop and think about your missionstatement. It will keep things in perspective; it will clarify your vision and itwill keep you moving on the right course. Your life is like a ship ofcourse, you need a crew, busily working away to keep afloat and keepmoving, but even more importantly, you need a map, you need a compassand you need a captain. Without them, your ship just wont get anywhere.

http://effortlessabundance.com/manifest.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/manifest.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/manifest.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/manifest.htm


28/70


Day eleven: Goals

Did you make any new years resolutions in January? How many of themare you still on track with?

We all have goals. And we all set them for ourselves all the time. Butusually we dont know it - were not being very conscious. In this article Iwant to discuss a few ideas which may help you to set goals moreconsciously and also introduce a practical way to actually get themachieved.

Create specific goals

I dont think Ive ever read a self-improvement book or anything on the law

of attraction that didnt emphasize in some way the importance of goalsetting. Actually, we all set goals all the time, its just that usually we do itunconsciously, and most of the goals people set are pretty odd. Im goingto be exhausted by the end of the week. This meeting is going to beboring, Im never going to get through all this work and so on.Why would anyone set these goals? Your goals dont have to be like thisso stop doing it!

You need to try to be more conscious about your goals, and to this end ithelps to write them down. Goals written down are like a compass thatguides you through the chaos of daily life. Written goals send out apowerful message to the universe. Its the first step in a process that willlead you wherever you want to go.

Start to achieve your goals right NOW!

The law of attraction works in the following way: thoughts lead to feelings,feelings lead to things. Most people think that events and circumstancesare reflected in your thoughts and feelings. In fact, its your thoughts andfeelings that draw events and circumstances into your life. So you need tostart acting as if you already have what you aim to achieve in order to draw

it into your life.

Weve been taught that we all good things come to those who wait andthat delayed gratification is better than having it all now. In some ways, thisis certainly right. The young couple that buys a house thats too expensivefor them and fills it with push furnishings and all mod cons is going to getinto desperate trouble with their credit line because they couldnt wait. The

http://effortlessabundance.com/goal.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/goal.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/goal.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/goal.htm


29/70


child (or the adult!) who stuffs his face with chocolate instead of waiting fordinner is going to suffer as a result. This kind of delayed gratification is anecessary and healthy thing. But what were taking about here is notputting off your goals any more were talking about getting themachieved.

You can have what you want immediately, but not in full perhaps onemight say that you can have the quality but not the quantity. What youhave has got to be real, but it just wont be the whole thing.

An example given by Raymond Aaron in his book Double Your IncomeDoing What You Love, is making a $1000 deposit into your savingsaccount each month. This is a goal. In order to achieve this goal you needto give the law of attraction something to work with. You need to startacting as if its already happening. So, decide on the date each month

when you will make the deposit and go right ahead but you dont have todeposit $1000: you can make it $25 or even $1 just get into the habit ofdoing it, and calling it a $1000 deposit. Telling people about it will alsohelp. But the main thing is to do it every month without fail, to build up ahabit and to keep thinking of it as a $1000 deposit.

As another example, maybe you want a chauffeur thats your goal butyou cant achieve that right now. So start by taking a taxi once a week, oras many times as you can. This is something I have done when I travel, Iusually get a driver to take me from the airport to wherever I am stayingand I take taxis to and from work. I rarely use public transport these daysand I do not drive.

Maybe you want an extravagantly expensive new home. So go lookingaround new places every month spend an afternoon looking at luxuryhomes and show flats, imagine that its yours. Keep on doing it, keepholding the thought and the universe will move to attract a wonderful newhome into your life.

Examples are endless, but the point is to start behaving as if your goal hasalready been achieved, as far as you can. What will happen is that the real

thing the full, unabridged version will start to appear in your life.Occasionally you will be able to make that $1000 deposit. Because youhave built up certain habits, before you know it, youll be living in a differentway. This is how the LOA works you need to give the universesomething to work with, so start behaving as if you already have what youwant and pretty soon it will be yours.



30/70


Small things can make all the difference

When you change your life in a small way and keep on doing things in thisdifferent way, after a surprisingly short time, your life will be different. Aboat that changes its rudder by one degree will soon enough be headed in

the opposite direction. Intentionally changing little things will be the start ofa process that will radically change your life. Whether its learning alanguage, writing a book, building a website, having a great marriage,building a career or getting rich, persistently acting in a small way is key - adripping tap soon fills the bucket!

This isnt just a mind trick. It is a game, as is all of life (in a sense). So goout there and start playing!



31/70


Day twelve: Wu Wei

Youve always been told that making no effort is bad, right? Perhaps atschool you got a grade for effort and were berated by teachers andparents for being lazy.

Youll never make anything of yourself if you dont put in more effort.

Theres no such thing as a free lunch.

Weve all heard things like this a million times.

But we should distinguish between effortlessness and doing nothing orbeing lazy. If you dont exercise because you cant be bothered, or if youeat junk food because its to much effort to cook something healthy, or if

you dont revise for your exam because its too much trouble, then ofcourse youre heading for an impoverished life.

But there is a certain way of doing things - or rather a certain way ofgetting things done - by which an excellent result is achieved with theexpenditure of very little energy. It sounds wrong, counterintuitive - but it

just means going with the flow. I remember my dad telling me how to sawa piece of wood: he said you had to follow the woods natural grain, ifpossible, and then let the saw do the work - dont push and pull too hard,

just hold loosely and let the saw be your guide, almost as if the saw is anextension of your arm. Its like water or electricity moving - it travels easily

and effortlessly, always finding the easiest route, the path of leastresistance - there is motion, there is action, but it is effortless motion, and itis powerful motion because energy is not being used to overcome.

The ancient Chinese philosophy ofWu Weiis the best description of thiskind of achievement without effort. An interesting and very accessibleintroduction to this idea, along with many others which will crop up timeand again in this blog, are contained in Benjaminn Hoffs excellent book,The Tao of Pooh.

Just How do you do it, Pooh?Do What? asked Pooh.Become so Effortless.

I dont do much of anything, he said.But all those things of yours get done.

They just sort of happen, he said



32/70


Day thirteen: Adding value to the world

Many of us have been brought up to think that there is only so much to goaround and we must grab what we can before other people get our share.Competition and selfishness pervade our world - we have been schooled

in the ethic of me first. But there is another paradigm which insists onhelping others, giving something of ourselves and helping out wherever wecan. This is called adding value. But why would anyone want to do this?Here are my top seven reasons.

1. When you add value, the whole that you produce is greater than thesum of the parts which produced it. Unlike the not enough pie to goround paradigm, the adding-value paradigm insists that when youenrich the life of someone else, the pie gets bigger and there is morefor us all.

2. If youre not adding value, youre taking it away. You cannot standstill you can grow or die; you can add value or you can take itaway. The doctor who learns no new skills is falling behind andbeing carried by her colleagues; the teacher who is unenthusiasticabout his classes is damaging the students education. Do you wantto grow, or do you want to die? you have to choose.

3. It makes the world a better place for all of us. When you helpsomeone, you add value to their life and you make the world a betterplace. Whether youre teacher who helps a student to pass an examor encourages him to apply for university, or an author who writes a

book that helps thousands of people, you make the world better forall of us, including yourself.4. Youre going to get a whole lot in return. This is not the reason for

doing it, of course, but its a fact when you give you receive.Maybe not in the way you think, but when you really try to add valuewith no expectation of reward, the rewards start rolling in. Life isstrange like that!

5. It makes you feel good. Steven Covey, in The 7 Habits of HighlyEffective People, speaks about an inner darkness which is createdwhen you live a life without integrity. Living a life of integrity andvalue is the only way to truly feel good about yourself.

6. It brings opportunity. If you become known as someone who alwayshelps, always tries to find a solution, youll win friends and influencepeople. There are two kinds of person, my friend (can you guess themovie?), problem people and solution people. Which are you seenas? You future success could depend on being in the right category.

7. Its the meaning of life. The bottom line is that adding value is thewhole point of being alive thats what were all here for; thats what

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743269519?ie=UTF8&tag=thelawofattwe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0743269519http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743269519?ie=UTF8&tag=thelawofattwe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0743269519http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743269519?ie=UTF8&tag=thelawofattwe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0743269519http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743269519?ie=UTF8&tag=thelawofattwe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0743269519


33/70


its all about. Adding value is what you were put on this earth to do.Ever wonder about the meaning of life? Adding value thats it!

The rewards that come from adding value are immense and unpredictable,tangible and intangible. Mostly, adding value is all about being creative in

situations and seeing how you can use your skills to make a difference.Now, here are seven ways of making sure you are adding value in everysituation as much as you can.

1. Make sure you know what you can do. What are your skills? Whatare you good at? These are the tools which will allow you to addvalue. Of course, the best way to do what youre good at is to

2. Do what you love. When you do the things you love, adding valuecomes naturally. Look at Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Madonna, or anynumber of rich and successful people: what do they have ion

common? They do what they love! And they are successful becausethey add value naturally.3. If youre not adding value, get out! If youre in a job where you dont

feel youre systematically adding something, wither you need tochange the way youre doing things, or its time to quit. You can dobetter.

4. Adding value will guide you to the right job or enterprise. If you havea choice of two or more paths, be they career paths or anything else,always choose the one that allows you to add the most value. Thiswill keep you in alignment with your true purpose in life and will,

ultimately, bring you greater happiness and greater reward.5. Keep on learning new things and expanding your comfort zone. Thisis how you learn more skills which will enable you to add more value.Go on a course, do a part time degree, put together a website, writea novel but do something new.

6. Dont be sacred to fail. When you do something new, youll do itbadly and you might even be afraid to do it at all. If and when you dofail, you might not want to go through the experience again. But ifyou push through that initial failure, pick yourself up and keep going,youll start to improve and eventually youll be good at what youredoing.

7. Encourage other people. Try to get the best out of people encourage them to be the best they can be. This will inspire them totake their own risks and add their own value to the world.



34/70


Day fourteen: Dont worry

Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do,but it gets you nowhere.

Glenn Turner

We live in a culture where everyone seems to worry. Turn on the news someone got shot, theres mercury in the fish we eat, the cows have gotBSE, a new super-flu is coming, terrorists are regrouping, On and on itgoes. If you take all of this stuff seriously, its likely that youll never go out,never eat, never travel, or never take any kind of risk at all.

But in fact, worry makes no sense at all. Here are some reasons why worryreally is a pointless and damaging activity, though I suspect we all know

this deep down.

Things never happen the way you imagine. When you worry, you arepredicting the future. You are saying I know that things will turn out badly.But this just isnt the case. You have no idea how the future is going to turnout, except to say that it will not be what you think it will be. So why worry?

Worry means you give away your power. Some people are soentrenched in worry that they cannot see any other way to live. But worryrobs you of your power to be proactive. The truth is that you are in controland you can choose how to react to situations, so why choose to give thatpower away so easily and so unconsciously?

Worrying is completely unproductive. Why waste your energy doingsomething that gets you nowhere. On a treadmill at least you get someexercise, but worry is a truly pointless activity. Spend your time and energyon something more useful.

Worry distorts reality. We live in an age where people live longer, havebetter access to health care, have more opportunity for personal andprofessional growth, more chance to travel, greater access to information

and lifelong education, and many other wonderful things. Yes, there arerisks and potential dangers, but worry magnifies these disproportionatelyand blinds us to the wonders of our age.

Worrying is bad for your health. Worry is not a normal state of mind, andit adversely affects your health, even your physical health. When youworry, physical changes are happening in your body which are very

http://effortlessabundance.com/amp.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/amp.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/amp.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/amp.htm


35/70


damaging. It increases stress which can increase blood pressure, causehigher levels of stomach acid, cause muscle tension and headaches,among many other things.

Worry is not natural. Do little children worry? Do animals worry? Do all

adults worry? There is nothing inherent in being human that means youhave to worry. Worry is a pathology, a distortion of our natural, healthystate.

Do you know the most frequent instruction given in the Bible? Surprisingly,it is not love one another or love God or anything like that. It is simple donot be afraid. I dont know how many times it appears, but Ive seenestimates between 100 and 366 times. You dont have to be religious torealize that this is good advice.

So how can we break out of this worry habit? Like all habits, it might not beeasy to do, but there are some clear, simple and effective steps you cantake to eliminate worry from your life.

Realize that you are in control. In The Seven Habits of Highly EffectivePeople, Steven Covey tells us that the first step to a better life is therealization that we are free to choose how to react to circumstances. Worryis a choice its inside our own head and, as such, it is within the sphereof our own influence.

Recognize that worry is a habit. Like all habits, there is a momentum toworry, and it might not be easy to break away from this, especially if youvebeen a worrier all your life. But its possible to change any habit.

Keep things in perspective. E. Joseph Crossman said, If you want totest your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year agotoday. Are you still worrying about those things? Will all this stuff matter in100 years from now?

Face your fears. When you face Nelson DeMille said that Somehow our

devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face.After you do something that scares you, youll probably find it wasnt asbad as you thought. With time, all your worry will dissipate.

Stop trying to be in control of everything. You cannot control the wholeworld. Things happen that are truly outside our circle of influence, and so

http://effortlessabundance.com/ptc.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/ptc.htm


36/70


we need to relax and accept that sometimes things just happen as theywill. This is part of life, and worry will not change it one little bit.

Stop taking yourself so seriously. If you fail, so what? If you screw up, isit the end of the world? Are you really so important that the world will stop

turning if you get things wrong? Life is not that serious.

Worry is a dangerous and poisonous thing. You must not let it eat away atyou.

Finally, one of my favorite quotes from the master of quotes, Mark Twain. Iam an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of themnever happened.



37/70


Day fifteen: Never give up

Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, greator small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor andgood sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently

overwhelming might of the enemy.

Winston Churchill

Have you ever failed? Did you feel bad about it? We are usuallyconditioned to think of failure as a bad thing, something to be avoided,something to be embarrassed about or ashamed of. But if you look backover you life, when were the times you really learned? Which were thesituations through which you grew the most?

Like much of our conditioning, we have got this one all wrong. Not onlyshould we not fear failure, we should embrace it, because failure is thenecessary precursor of success. Failure teaches us how to succeed. Justlook at this list of famous failures.

The first Xerox copier was a flop. Now virtually every office in theworld has a machine.

An unknown Harvard dropout bought a piece of computertechnology from an unknown person for $50 and started abunsiness. His name is Bill Gates.

Isaac Newton was regarded as stupid by his teachers. His work ongravitation secured him a place as one of the greatest Scientists inhistory.

Thomas Edison was told by his teachers that he was too stupid tolearn anything. He failed 9000 times before successfully inventingthe light bulb.

Michael Jordan was cut from his school basketball team because oflack of skill.

Colonel Sanders talked to 1005 people before he could find oneperson willing to try his recipe.

A newspaper editor fired Walt Disney for having no good ideas Winston Churchill was a failure at school. He is widely regarded to

be one of the most important figures in modern world history. When Albert Einstein was young, his parents thought he was

mentally retarded. His grades in school were so bad that a teacherasked him to leave, writing, Einstein, you will never amount to



38/70


anything! Of course, Einstein was one of the greatest scientists whoever lived.

Henry Fords first two automobile companies failed. He became oneof the richest men in the world.

J K Rowlings first Harry Potter book was rejected by a publisher

who said theres no money in childrens books. Stephen King was so disillusioned with his first novel Carrie that he

threw it in the bin. His wife rescued it and sent it to a publisher.

We could go on (and on, and on, ) The absurdity of seeing failure as abad thing and taking other peoples opinions about us too seriously isclear. Take the advice of Samuel Becket:

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.



39/70


Day sixteen: Dont let other people run your life for you

Why you shouldnt care what other people think about you (and why youshouldnt expect anyone else to care about you)

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions,their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.Oscar Wilde

Who is in control of your life? Whos pulling your strings?

For the majority of us, its other people society, colleagues and friends,family, church or other religious community. We learned this way ofoperating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. Wediscovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice

experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make otherpeople like us. We didnt want to be singled out by the crowd for beingdifferent because this wasnt such a nice feeling. We learned this way ofbeing so well that, as adults, we continue mostly through mutual peerpressure to keep each other in check. Like sheep without any need for asheepdog, we keep each other in line.

It works both ways. First, we are afraid of disapproval. Am I dressed right?Will people laugh at my accent? Will I look stupid? Will I make a mistake?When we feel that others think badly of us, it makes us feel bad and so we

try to avoid this.

Second, we all want to feel important and so we crave the positiveattention of others. This is one of our basic needs, according to DaleCarnegie, author of the multi-million best seller, How to Win Friends andInfluence People. And so when people stroke our ego and tell us howwonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We crave this good feeling like adrug we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can.

We are so desperate for the approval of others that we live unhappy andlimited lives, denying huge swathes of ourselves and failing to do thethings we really want to do because were worried about what other peoplewill think. Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live impoverished lives tokeep getting their fix, so we impoverish our own existence to get our ownconstant fix of approval.

The drug is so addictive that most people will not give it up they will keeplooking for approval because the hit is so intense. But, just as with any



40/70


drug, there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom the freedom to be ourselves. Do you want your drug or do you want to befree? You cannot have both. If you want to pull your own strings, you needto stop giving away your power you need to genuinely stop caring whatother people think about you.

The truth is that its all an illusion anyway you cannot control what otherpeople think. People have their own agenda, they come with their ownbaggage and, in the end, theyre more interested in themselves than inyou; in fact, theyre thinking about themselves morning, noon and afterdinner, as Carnegie wrote.

If we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinkingsand. Everyone has a different way of thinking, and people change theiropinions all the time. The person who tries to please everyone will only end

up getting exhausted and probably pleasing no one in the process.

So how can we take back control? If we are truly ready to give up the drugof approval and importance (which most people are not), I think theresonly one way make a conscious decision to stop caring what otherpeople think.

This doesnt mean that you should start to treat people badly, step on themor use them. Why would it? I read somewhere recently that the worldwould be terrible if nobody cared what other people thought of them. But

why so? We all know whats right and wrong. I have written before aboutguiding your life by means of a set of values not values imposed from theoutside by others, but innate values which come from within. If we aredriven by these values and not by the changing opinions and valuesystems of others, we will live a more authentic, effective, purposeful andhappy life. We will be actualized and successful.

Only one question remains do you really want to be free?

http://effortlessabundance.com/free.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/free.htm


41/70


Day seventeen: Affirmations

I first came across the idea that our subconscious mind is the key tofulfilling our dreams when I was a teenager, and in the (many!) years since

then I have been an avid reader on the subject. I have read dozens ofbooks and read many accounts of how thing the subconscious mind hasled to untold benefits, as I believe it has done in my own life. I amabsolutely convinced that the subconscious is the key to everything - thestrangest, most powerful and most misunderstood thing in the universe.One of the best reads is Joseph Murphys classic book, The Power ofYour Subconscious Mind. In the book, Murphy sets out how, through thepower of your subconscious, you can (to use Murphys slightly oldfashioned language!)

Win riches and prosperity Regain former youthfulness and vigor Work real miracles in the lives of others Find new peace of mind

There are many ways to tap into the power of your subconscious mind, butI believe that there are three techniques which have more power and aremore effective than the rest. In a series of articles, I will be exploring thesethree techniques. The first technique is the proper use of affirmations.

What is an affirmation? When you affirm something, you are saying thatit is true or a fact. So an affirmation is simply a verbal statement whichyou regard to be true. Our view of the world (and of ourselves) springsfrom our subconscious. It is here that we keep a picture of the world; herelies our happiness, our confidence, our success; here lies all our truth whether we think the world is a caring and nurturing place or lonely andcruel it all comes from our subconscious mind.

Unless you have worked deliberately to change it, the picture of the worldyou have created came mainly from your childhood. It has been there for along time and you will believe that it is the truth. But the real truth is that

you are projecting your image of the world onto the world which is, largely,a neutral environment to be interpreted. For example, some people seemoney as a wonderful, beautiful thing, while others see it as filthy lucre.But money is just money inanimate, passive, neutral. Our views about itare entirely our own creation.

http://effortlessabundance.com/scultptor.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/scultptor.htm


42/70


If you make affirmations which are incongruent with the picture of the wordyou have created in your subconscious, you will experience someresistance and may feel foolish saying things to yourself which you do notbelieve to be true. But as you keep repeating positive affirmations, you willchip away at this resistance, and eventually your inner picture of yourself

and the world will change accordingly. Its a kind of consciousbrainwashing.

As with many things, growth happens in fits and starts. There can be aperiod of time when nothing seems to be happening. You might keeprepeating your affirmations with no apparent results, and many people willget discouraged and give up. But this period is like a plant growing underthe surface if the earth it takes time to grow, but eventually it erupts fromthe soil and, soon, there is a riot of color and growth. After a fallow time,the results of affirmations can be sudden and startling.

So what makes a good affirmation? There are two simple things toremember. First, affirmations must be positive. Dont say I am not sick.Say I am well. Instead of saying, I am not poor, say I am wealthy. Youget the idea. Second, affirmations must be in the present tense. Forexample, dont say I want to be happy or I am going to be happy. Say, Iam happy. With these two things in mind, go through the following simpleprocess to construct your own affirmations.

First, think about your life and write down the areas you would like toimprove. Think carefully about this and be honest with yourself. You donthave to share this or discuss it with anyone, but being candid with yourselfis important.

Second, for each area, write down several positive, affirming statements.Think about what you want your life in these areas to be like, and writedown positive, affirming, present tense descriptions of the picture whichemerges.

There are many ways to work with affirmations. You could, for example,work with subliminal affirmations. When you consciously re-script yourself

by using techniques such as this, you will experience abundance flowinginto your life in an effortless way.

You might like to try the Sculptor 3 Affirmation Program, which will teachyou more about affirmations and manifesting techniques.

http://effortlessabundance.com/subliminal.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/scultptor.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/scultptor.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/subliminal.htm


43/70


Day eighteen: The power of visualization

Imagine a lemon. Look at it the color, the dimples in the skin. Feel thewaxy texture, the smooth shape that tapers off at either end. Smell it take

in that faint lemon smell coming through the skin. Now imagine yourecutting it open. Use a knife and cut into the flesh. Bring it up to your noseand smell it again. Its a much stronger smell. Now bite into it. Bite deepinto the flesh of the lemon. Can you taste that?

By now, your mouth should be watering. And who said thoughts cantinfluence reality?

In order to change the world, we need to change ourselves first. Our mindhas been programmed over the years, usually without our being aware of

it, and our subconscious programming dictates our experience of life. Whatwe believe to be true at a deep, subconscious level shapes our reality.

For this reason, it is vital that we have the right belief systems operating atthis deep level, and affirmations are an excellent way to take control of thisprocess. Some of us (myself included) are verbal learners and werespond well to linguistic cues. But many people respond better to visualcues, and for this reason visualization is another important tool which canbe used to change our experience.

A visualization is simply a mental image of what we want to achieve. Weare constantly creating pictures in our head playing back things thathappened to use earlier in the day and imagining what things are going tobe like in the future. Even if, like me, you are not a very visual person, youare still visualizing all the time, so the process is not difficult or esoteric.There are, however, some important things to remember.

Its best to set aside a time for this. Even ten minutes is fine. Go to aquiet place, not too bright. Sit or lie comfortably, close your eyes andrelax.

Visualize the object or situation that you desire. This one might seemobvious, but only visualize what you really want. If you find yourmind wondering off into more mundane or negative images, bringyourself gently back to the object of your visualization. Dont berateyourself if you lose concentration just come back to your image.



44/70


Be as detailed as possible. Use every sense, not just sight. Smellthat new car interior. Hear the door close behind you. I even readsomewhere about imagining licking the leather upholstery. Strange,but it does get you to really be in the moment.

Put as much feeling as possible into your image. This is a keyingredient. Try to get really worked up about the experience.

Put yourself in the picture. Otherwise, what youre imagining mightcome true, but you wont be there!

Use soundtracks. You can download visualization MP3s and buyCDs with nice sound tracks. I personally use these because I alwaysthink my imagination is weak and I need a bit of help. Use them ifyou need to.

Finally, keep an open mind. Sometimes things dont happen exactly as weexpect and imagine, but youll be amazed at the results of this if youpractice regularly.

http://effortlessabundance.com/visualize.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/visualize.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/visualize.htmhttp://effortlessabundance.com/visualize.htm


45/70


Day nineteen: What death can teach us

Look at everythingas though you were seeing it either for the first or last time.then your time on earth

will be filled with glory.

Betty Smith, novelist (1896-1972)

Today as I was eating lunch, a shiver ran through my body. My motherused to say that when this happens, someone has walked over your grave.Not a pleasant thing to say, you might imagine, but it got me thinking(again) about death, something I havent done for a very long time.

Youre going to die. Of course you are. Everyone over the age of about ten

knows that. And today we are nearer to our own death than ever before.Last week we were further away. Yesterday we were further away. Buttoday is the closest we have ever been to that moment when life finallygets snuffed out.

We dont know when death will come to greet us. Its quite possible thattoday will be our last day on this Earth. Worldometers.com maintains ameter which clicks up how many people are dying all over the world Icant keep up with it: its more than one per second anyway. Only twothings re certain: one day well be one of those numbers, and we have noidea when that will be.

Whats your reaction to this? Is this morbid? Why dwell on death?Shouldnt we think about more happy and positive things? Part of ourreaction comes form the fact that our Western society tends to look atdeath as a negative thing, and we are largely insulated and protected fromit dead bodies are quickly swept away into mortuaries and funeral parlorsand encased in coffins. But keeping our mortality in mind can greatlyenrich our life.

Imagine today is your last day on Earth. In his wonderful bookAwareness,

Anthony de Mello suggests a meditation where you imagine you are lyingin your coffin or your grave. He even suggests imagining your bodydecaying and rotting away. He calls this a lovely. Lovely meditation, andsays that to think of it as anything less than lovely is a sign that you arehiding from reality. When youre ready to loose your life, he writes, youlive it.

http://www.worldometers.info/http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385249373?ie=UTF8&tag=thelawofattwe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0385249373http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385249373?ie=UTF8&tag=thelawofattwe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0385249373http://www.worldometers.info/


46/70


So what would your life look like if this were your last day on earth? Whatwould you do? How would you treat people? Would you take more risks?How would you see things? Wouldnt they be more vivid, clearer, moremeaningful? Wouldnt you be more grateful?

Strangely, thinking about death can make us more alive: it is, as JohnHegley writes in Dog, our reason for living!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0413755606?ie=UTF8&tag=thelawofattwe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0413755606http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0413755606?ie=UTF8&tag=thelawofattwe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0413755606


47/70


Day twenty: Why you shouldnt care what other people think aboutyou

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone elsesopinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

Oscar Wilde

Who is in control of your life? Whos pulling your strings?

For the majority of us, its other people society, colleagues and friends,family, church or other religious community. We learned this way ofoperating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. Wediscovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a niceexperience and so we learned to do everything we could to make otherpeople like us. We didnt want to be singled out by the crowd for being

different because this wasnt such a nice feeling. We learned this way ofbeing so well that, as adults, we continue mostly through mutual peerpressure to keep each other in check. Like sheep without any need for asheepdog, we keep each other in line.

It works both ways. First, we are afraid of disapproval. Am I dressed right?Will people laugh at my accent? Will I look stupid? Will I make a mistake?When we feel that others think badly of us, it makes us feel bad and so wetry to avoid this.

Second, we all want to feel important and so we crave the positiveattention of others. This is one of our basic needs, according to DaleCarnegie, author of the multi-million best seller, How to Win Friends andInfluence People. And so when people stroke our ego and tell us howwonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We crave this good feeling like adrug we are addicted to it and seek it out wherever we can.

We are so desperate for the approval of others that we live unhappy andlimited lives, denying huge swathes of ourselves and failing to do thethings we really want to do because were worried about what other peoplewill think. Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live impoverished lives to

keep getting their fix, so we impoverish our own existence to get our ownconstant fix of approval.

The drug is so addictive that most people will not give it up they will keeplooking for approval because the hit is so intense. But, just as with anydrug, there is a price to pay. The price of the appro

Documents

Thirty Days to Change Your Life