All Faith Needs Feet

A subscriber recently wrote to me: 

A friend of mine is on a fixed income and has maxed out his credit cards (nearing $10,000). He has started a new business, but currently has no customers or prospects. 

He is affirming that he is already successful and debt-free. What is the best way for him? Should he write checks to pay his bills as they arrive, even though the money may not be in his account at the moment? Wouldn't these concrete actions demonstrate his faith?

My Answer: 

Faith is a wonderful thing - and very necessary. There are, however, approaches that may look like faith but lead us in risky directions.

Please tell your friend that he needs to pay close attention to "real" actions and concentrate on learning to provide a service to other people that they want. (Note the emphasis is on what "they" want.) 

Paying bills with rubber checks isn't an act of faith. It's desperate gambling. I know from hard experience that it's nearly impossible to get the right mindset for real faith or confidence when you're circling the drain. 

Your friend needs to get his feet firmly under himself with real money -- even if he has to go tend bar or wash dishes for the extra income for a bit. Honest, it's no disgrace (unless he stays there).

Remember that all faith needs feet. If you're in an airplane on its way down in a power dive, you put on your parachute first. And THEN you do affirmations. 

The old biblical phrase "faith without works is dead" means just that - belief needs to be connected organically with action. Productive action. If it's not, then it's not true belief, it's only an attempt to con yourself and the gods.

Too many people hope that they can do affirmations or pray or ASSERT, and this will save them from having to make a decision and take action. But that's not the way it works. Action and affirmations must be bonded together as a single unit and support each other like two legs. Neither faith nor action can stand alone.<

So you might want to tell your friend that positive thinking is good (and absolutely necessary), but positive actionis also an essential ingredient. 

Simply put, he'll never pray himself up a hill. 

When he's willing to take action, with all the stops out, his faith will bring the lucky breaks, the synchronicities, and the chance meetings with just the right people at the right times to help move him forward. But it's the action that anchors all that potentiality into reality. ACTION. 

Otherwise, it's all vapor. 

"Willing to take action with all the stops out" ... some folks call that enthusiasm, others call it commitment. But it sure boosts the octane.

It's often hard to get people to see that taking a detour on the way to their goals is not a "wrong turn." It's just another way of getting where they're going. Whatever it takes. 

Just remember that you don't have to give up on your dreams and goals when some little thing comes along (or not so little). The goal is what's important, not every little step it takes to get there (as long as we remember to TAKE the steps). 

I'd guess that the old gremlin of impatience has killed more dreams than any other single influence. It's so common to think, "If I'm not getting there RIGHT NOW, then that's it; I'll never make it." 

It might help to think of your vision of your future as a very penetrating stare. It penetrates anything that may seem to block your path. As long as you keep seeing what's in your future, you won't become stalled by the stuff that crops up in front of you today. 

This may all sound trite, but it's true, every bit of it. And I learned it all the absolutely hardest way. I lived through it over and over and over and...

But eventually, even a super-dense guy like me can learn, proving that anybody on earth can do it. 

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Hold on to your Dreams

How many times have you abandoned an idea, project or dream
because someone made a disparaging remark or rolled their
eyes when you told them about it?

Relinquishing your dreams

All too frequently we allow others to dictate what is good,
right or possible. We allow them to steal our dreams. Notice
I use the word "allow." No one can put you down, stomp on
your dream, or kill an idea of yours unless you allow them
to.

Consider that:

The movie Star Wars was rejected by every movie studio in
Hollywood before 20th Century Fox finally produced it. It
went on to be one of the largest-grossing movies in film
history.

As a child, Sylvester Stallone was frequently beaten by
his father and told he had no brains. He grew up an unhappy
loner. He floated in and out of schools. An advisor at
Drexel University told him that based on his aptitude tests
he should pursue a career as an elevator repair person. It's
not a bad profession but it's certainly not where "Rocky"
ended up!

Einstein was criticized for not wearing socks or cutting
his hair. He didn't speak until he was four, and didn't read
until he was seven. One observer noted, "He could be
mentally retarded".

An expert said of Vince Lombardi:"He possesses minimal
football knowledge. Lacks motivation. . .

Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred 

playing his own compositions instead of improving his
technique. His teacher proclaimed him hopeless as a
composer.

Walt Disney was fired from his job as a newspaper editor
for lack of ideas. He also went bankrupt several times
before he created Disneyland.

Henry Ford failed and went broke 5 times before he finally
succeeded.

Louisa May Alcott, the author of Little Women, was
encouraged to find work as a servant or seamstress. She
would certainly never be a writer.

In 1944, the director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency
told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker (Marilyn Monroe),
"You'd better learn secretarial work, or else get married."

It Takes Courage

So what are your ideas? Your thoughts? Your dreams? Your
plans?

It doesn't matter if anyone supports what you want to do.
The important thing is for YOU to believe. For YOU to ignore
the people who say you can't do it - and DO IT ANYWAY! It
takes courage. It takes persistence. It takes believing in
the "voice inside" when no one else does. Ideas, dreams and
visions are planted within you because you have the ability
to make them happen. You'll learn, grow, scramble, fail, and
get back up again! The important thing is to simply never
give up. The people I mentioned earlier never gave up - and
they made great things happen!

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Hypnosis and NLP in the Management of Pain

Pain can be defined quite simply as a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder, an affliction or an emotional distress. Mild pain can be treated in many ways ... over the counter drugs andbalms. But what if the pain is chronic and unbearable? Well we get prescription drugs. Most of the drugs work well, but for some people with severe or chronic pain, NLP and hypnosis works wonders.

What is NLP? It is neuro-linguistic programming. NLP uses a set of models and principles to describe the relationship between mind and language. Though initially dubious about the treatment of pain with hypnosis, the medical community are now of the opinion that hypnosis does indeed help in controlling pain.

Acute pain lasts for a short while chronic pain lasts for a long time, usually more than a month. Even mild low - level pain can be debilitating. Pain comes in many forms, jabbing, throbbing stabbing, nagging etc. Pain is also influenced by various factors like memory, emotions and physical condition of each individual. Another perplexing complication is that sometimes pain has no organic cause at all.

Pain has sometimes been described as past remembered pain, present pain experience and also anticipated pain in the future. The combination of these three often gives us the meaning of pain and this is one of the reasons why chronic pain is almost always so debilitating. What increases the pain is the expectation that the pain will be there the next day, and the day after and the day after and so on.

A few of the techniques that help us deal with pain are given below

Trance and Relaxation are the easiest things that one can dorelax. The way to relax is simple. All you have to do is tell yourself in a deep and gentle tone take a deep breathe and relax. With each breath you must relax further. Tell yourself that as you count down from 5 to1 you will relax still further till you are in a trance.

Synesthesia is a technique that is best done in a light trance. In this technique you explore the pain as a sensation. What exactly is the pain? Where is it, is it a slow or a fast moving pain? Does it have any color and texture? How does it move? This might seem difficult but don't worry. The important thing is to try and put some meaning to your pain, give it shape so that it makes some sense to your unconscious mind. What you have to do next is to think that the pain is outside your body where it is easier to observe. Try and examine it a little away from you say at a distance of about two meters. Now what you can do is to change the quality of pain. Make it smaller or bigger or change the color and the sound. Change the way it moves. Now observe what happens when you cause changes in the pain. When you are finally satisfied with the changes that you have made in your pain you can send the whole pain to a far away place or you can even put it back into your own body but in a different location where the pain can be more manageable. Or even better, you can just turn your pain up side down and put it back in the same place so that it cancels out the original pain.


Increasing Your Energy

Pain can be very debilitating and saps us of our energy. But we can overcome this by practicing some very simplevisualization exercises. Bring yourself to a point of total relaxation and focus on breathing. Imagine golden ball of light all around your body,
which you can hear, as well as feel vibrating. Then imagine that when you breathe in you are taking in energy. The golden light now becomes brighter and brighter, the harmonies get louder and the vibrations become stronger and stronger. As you breathe out imagine that all the tension and pain are expelled from your body. Now the vibrations and harmonies become a tool to help you relax further and you can feel the sensations massaging your body. With the help of the techniques mentioned above you can help yourself in taking control of your pain. But remember that they are not hypnosis or NLP techniques.

Love and good wishes, 

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Don't argue - Ask questions

As the saying goes "It takes two to tango." Well, it also takes two to argue. It is impossible to have an argument with someone if they don't participate. If your goal is to reach a solution and create a win/win outcome, arguing isn't the route to take. Instead the best way to reach a collaborative conclusion is to ask questions.

We are taught to ask questions in coaching so the other person can hear in their own words the solutions. In fact it is said that coaches do not ask questions so they can hear the answer, but so the client can hear the answer. Questions allow the person to take ownership and responsibility for the solution. Although there are times, when coaching a client, that I already know the answer. It is more powerful to allow my client to come to it on their own in their own words. The same works in an argument. If all you want to do is argue, questioning isn't likely to be helpful. If you want to co-create a solution questioning can assist in creating a solution that will be agreeable to both parties.

As an adjunct faculty member at a local University, I find that it is useless to argue or try to reason with students when talking with them about their grades. The student always begins the conversation believing I am wrong and they are right . . . the foundation to arguments. By asking simple questions such as "What do you think your grade should be?" or "If you were the professor how would you grade the paper?" the student begins to see the problem from a different perspective. Most of the time the conversation ends with the student accepting the grade or at least understanding why they earned it. Questioning allows them to work through the problem and think about it in a different way


I find this process helpful anytime there is conflict. I found the process of asking questions to be extremely valuable when making a custom order at my local hardware store. I had followed the directions in the electrical department that advised me to take my custom order to the cashier and they would place the order, bill me and arrange for shipping. When I did that, the cashier was completely confused and called Gloria the head cashier over. Gloria proceeded to tell me that I was wrong and I would have to go to another department to place the order. I showed Gloria the instructions, but it was clear she wasn't interested. Instead of arguing with her, I started asking questions. I started with the most important one, "Gloria, how are we going to resolve this?" I stayed calm and focused on the goal to get the order placed. Gloria wasn't happy about helping me. However, in the end I got what I wanted without arguing about it. Questions helped Gloria and I stay focused without arguing.

Unless you just want to have a good argument, avoid defending your position and focus on asking questions. Questions take the heat out of the situation and allow both parties to view the problem from a different perspective. Even if you know the answer, the other person will be more open to the solution if they are allowed to discover it on her or his own. 

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In search of Confidence

What is the big deal with confidence. Why do some people have so much and others are struggling just to get their name out wondering why they missed out or something. Well we're all living in this box, and until we realize that we're not and then here we are... "obstacles are the things we see when we take our eyes off our goals"

Is it possible to teach confidence? Well, yes. Anything is possible!

Take drinking for example. Drinking is of course a way of releaving stress but really in turn most of the time creates more...much more...? who would tend to agreee with me? Like you had a long week or exams or life just isn't getting you places or your life is too hard and seems like there is no way out or how about Asia. Everybody is just so damn busy and has no time for families or friends so when they do get the chance they want to drink it away. Then once the drinking begins. The talk starts of changing lives and big hopes and money and next minute. Heads are huge if they weren't already before.

Guess what you wake up no closer to your dreams but have a nasty head ache and are probaby tired or else have wasted half of your day sleeping!Confidence you gain when your drinking isn't really yours. If you get layed or get a hot date well don't thank yourself but rather the poison sitting next to you or in your stomach. When the poison wears off you are still the same chicken that you were the night before. How long will this go on for?




So if you don't get your confidence from drinking where does it come from then? well 1st of all lets clear our heads and think straight here. hope you didn't drink last night! Well everybody has to discover their own confidence and some people may discover theirs quicker and some people may never quite find all of it. well just listen to your heart and block out the stuff that isn't bringing you in the right direction

I've grown up with my fair shair of love but know people who haven't and all I can say is that I belive in you even if you don't yet! Have you seen the "Conte of Monte Cristo"? Well God belives in you as well even if you don't believe or have faith in him! Change can be hard but the hardest thing I thing would be too look back on a life of regret or chances that we didn't take:

"The only real regrets we'll have when its all said and done is the chances that we didn't take"

"We'll never truly know what were capable of until we go to far" or "dreams are the limits of our success"

Never give up. It's never to late for anything!!! 

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Self Hypnosis - Tune Your Mind to Win

There is a saying that winning and losing are two sides of a coin. All of us would like to be a winner in all our endeavors, but unfortunately very few of us succeed. But there are some people who always turn out to winners. All of us know someone who always is a winner. 

Whatever they do, anything they attempt, they meet with success. Be it business, playing a game of cards, finding a date or even if they were to enter the Olympics…hey presto! They are the winners. You know for sure that they'll win against the odds and find their pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Its like they just wouldn't accept anything but victory. All we do is admire them and wonder how they do it time after time. 

Have you ever wondered why winners always win and losers always lose? Perhaps you would like to be let into their little secret. Winners EXPECT only winning. That's the catch! Sounds pretty simple. Well it is.

Now pause and take a minute to think…. a winner foresees his success. He knows he's the one who'll win. He has tuned his mind to win. Most of you have run a race sometime or the other in your lives. What was your mindset before the race? Did you think you'd win before you ran the race or did you contemplate winning only when you were in the race? Perhaps you hadn't even thought positively and had already seen yourself as a loser.

Whether they are dealing in real estate or buying a car or just about anything, a winner EXPECTS to get exactly what he wants. Even for the Olympics, you bet they'd bag the gold hands down. And they do. And sometimes they do it against all odds. It is this EXPECTATION that makes one a winner, scoring over the rest. There are many athletes who have won against all odds. If we just look around us we can see people who win all the time
Do you also want to be a winner? What you have to do is…
Keep your eyes closed and imagine you have a particular aspiration in life. Relax and concentrate. Let your mind focus only on the fact you are going to achieve your aim.

Now, shut your eyes once more and EXPECT that YOU WILL achieve your target. Observe a subtle change. Do you not feel more confident? That's the difference between letting our mind ponder and waver too much about anything.

Perhaps you can win or lose. But the EXPECTATION has only one likelihood…. winning. You are almost there.

The answer now lies before you. So what do you do next? Apply your mind with full intensity, concentrate on your goal and EXPECT TO WIN. Before any venture, just take a deep breath, relax and pause…. to think and ….TO WIN. Think of the aura of success around you. Bask in that glory of success. Now that you have set your mind on winning, you are surely going to be a winner.

Everything you are going to do or say will spell triumph.
Now that you know the path to winning, the rest is easy. And the chances are you WILL win. One hundred percent. All you require is mindset to win. 

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Do I Need to Visualize to Manifest my Desires?

ou've heard me talk in previous articles about Deliberate attraction. The Law of Attraction is a powerful force that is operating in every moment, including this moment right now. Knowing that we all offer a vibration (vibe) in every moment, and that The Law of Attraction matches that vibration and brings us more of the same vibration (whether wanted, or unwanted), it is important for us to understand the significance of becoming deliberate about what it is that we are vibrationally offering. The more we learn to apply The Law of Attraction to our lives and tap into this powerful force, the more deliberate we learn to become as attractors. This speeds up the manifestation of our desires. And that brings us to the topic of this article. Is visualization needed to manifest our desires?

Let's begin by reviewing the 3-step formula for Deliberate Attraction:

1) I identify my desire (being as clear as I can). 
2) I raise my vibration (by giving my desire attention).

3) I allow (by reducing my resistance to receiving my desire).

Often, people will tell me they have already identified their desires and typically made a huge list of what those desires are. I am frequently asked, "Michael, how come the Law of Attraction didn't manifest my desire?" When I ask them where that list is right now, two answers I usually get are: "Oh I don't have it anymore." And, "It's tucked away somewhere."

It is important to remember that The Law of Attraction is a 3-step process and not a 1-step process. The Law of Attraction states, "Whatever I give my attention, energy and focus to, I'll attract more of it, whether wanted or unwanted." After we have determined our desires, we need to give attention to those desires. This is why most people who build a list, and then tuck it away, never see the desires on that list manifest.


I like to teach the deliberate use of The Law of Attraction through words because words are a common denominator that we all share. We speak, hum, sing, read, write, paint and process words in every moment of our day. All words carry a vibration for the person who says them or thinks them. There are, however, different ways to give attention to your desires. Some people like to use words, through writing, or talking with others about their desires. Other people like to visualize, or use art forms like making collages. It is true that all of these ways will give attention to your desires and help to raise your vibration. However, it is also true that not all of these methods or tools will feel good to everyone using them. So, how do YOU determine if a method is the right one for you to use? It's easy.

If it feels good, then use it. If it doesn't, then don't!

That's all there is to it. To insist that someone needs to visualize in order to manifest their desires, when visualizing is a frustrating endeavour for that person, is opposing the purpose of using the tool in the first place! While that person is visualizing, their frustration would be creating a negative vibration instead of increasing their positive vibration even higher. The same goes for any of the methods or tools I've suggested in practicing the Law of Attraction. Use them only if they feel good to you.

To summarize, ask yourself this question when checking to see if visualization or any other method or tool is right for you. Do I feel good as I am using this method or tool? Is this method or tool helping me to offer a positive vibration? If the answer is yes then be assured that it is an effective tool for you to keep on using as you continue to manifest your desires. 

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It's a Habit

Do you sometimes have the feeling that you're running into the same obstacles over and over again? Many of my conflicts have the same feel to them, like "Hey, I think I've been here before," but I can't figure out how I wound up in the same place. The situation is different, but the conflict feels the same. 

I first read this poem in "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" by Sogyal Rinpoche. When I "Googled" it, I found fourteen pages of links. It's clearly a favorite with many people; I know it speaks volumes to me. 

"Autobiography in Five Chapters"
1) I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost . . . I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

2) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

3) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in . . . it's a habit
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

4) I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I walk around it

5) I walk down another street.

Does this feel familiar? I am ready to learn that lesson! I'm sure that I've changed. I can see that hole coming a mile away. This time it will be different. I still end up falling in. Tired, sad and angry, I drag myself up once again. What was I supposed to learn here? I thought I learned that the last time.

Some conflicts seem to take years to unravel, but if we stay tuned, and our purpose is to look with curiosity and awareness, we will find the moment when we can step around the hole.

As I write, thinking about a recent stumble of my own, I am smiling a bit. From a distance, I watch myself drop into the hole - one I know well - and it's kind of funny. And perhaps that is the way out - to laugh more often, to "love our mistakes," as my friend says. I've heard it said that eventually we will laugh at all our mistakes - the trick is to laugh sooner. When I can laugh as I climb out of the hole, I'm on my way to finding the route around it, or better yet, that alternate street. 

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MOTIVATION, THE HEART OF SELF IMPROVEMENT

Pain may sometimes be the reason why people change. Getting flunked grades make us realize that we need to study. Debts remind us of our inability to look for a source of income. Being humiliated gives us the 'push' to speak up and fight for ourselves to save our face from the next embarrassments. It may be a bitter experience, a friend's tragic story, a great movie, or an inspiring book that will help us get up and get just the right amount of motivation we need in order to improve ourselves. 

With the countless negativities the world brings about, how do we keep motivated? Try on the tips I prepared from A to Z…

A - Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

B - Believe in your self, and in what you can do.

C – Consider things on every angle and aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides.

D – Don't give up and don't give in. Thomas Edison failed once, twice, more than thrice before he came up with his invention and perfected the incandescent light bulb. Make motivation as your steering wheel.

E – Enjoy. Work as if you don't need money. Dance as if nobody'swatching. Love as if you never cried. Learn as if you'll liveforever. Motivation takes place when people are happy.

F – Family and Friends – are life's greatest 'F' treasures. Don't loosesight of them.

G – Give more than what is enough. Where does motivation andself improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you exert extra effort in doing things. 

H – Hang on to your dreams. They may dangle in there for a moment, but these little stars will be your driving force. 

I – Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don't let other people to get the best of you. Stay out of toxic people – the kind of friends who hates to hear about your success.

J – Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.

K – keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self improvement


L – Learn to love your self. Now isn't that easy?

M – Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.

N – Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game.

O – Open your eyes. People should learn the horse attitude and horse sense. They see things in 2 ways – how they want things to be, and how they should be.

P – Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation. It lets us learn repertoire and ways on how can we recover from our mistakes.

Q – Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate – are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?

R – Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We must hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and try to push us around. Remember, it wasn't raining when Noah build the ark.

S – Stop procrastinating.

T – Take control of your life. Discipline or self control jives synonymously with motivation. Both are key factors in self improvement.

U – Understand others. If you know very well how to talk, you should also learn how to listen. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood the second.

V – Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat on a dry land.

W – Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is rooted out from the roots of motivation and self improvement.

X – X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put on "extras" on your life like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.

Y – You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because you're just going to spend it once.

Z – Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!

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