Scion of NLP

Archive for the ‘Metaphysics’ Category

Old tales and childhood stories often spoke about the idea that good things happen to good people … but I’ve learned over time how untrue that really is.

Recently I’ve been blessed to meet people who have taught me just how lucky I really am … in fact, in the last week 3 separate people have shared with me real tragedy that they have, are and will be facing in their lives … tragedy about family, loved ones, loss, grief and so much more. In the end I’m amazed at how many times in the last week I’ve stopped to be thankful for the *normal* things I have taken for granted over the last several years … including:

• my son is alive, healthy and part of my life,
• I have a home and people who love me,
• I may be behind on bills but I’m able to work, I have a job and I’m finding ways to make end meet,
• I have dreams and I’m healthy and strong enough to pursue those dreams,

One such set of people who I was contacted by email was a fellow metaphysician Dr. Debra Ford and her friend Jill Ethier. They recently finished a book called, My Baby Died: Grief without suffering and it had been brought to my attention that they have entered it in a competition for spiritual authors. I’ve learned that they need people to vote for the book if it’s going to go onto the second round so I wanted to let you know about it…

Here is their You Tube video about the book and below it is a link to the competition page where people can vote for it.

If you’d like to support these wonderful women in getting their message out to the world please feel encouraged to vote for their book here:

http://www.nexttopauthor.com/?aid=1946

I was shown this little video that was an awesome demonstration of mental filters and I thought I just needed to share…

The interesting thing is that from an NLP standpoint this goes a long way to explaining things like context frames and the impact of language frames as they apply to people in general. From the perspective of things like depression, anxiety, paranoia, and other similar psychological disorders, the only real difference is that the frame is set, not by an external source but, by an internal source — this is why I always explain depression to my coaching clients as a form of self-bullying.

Here’s the video … check it out:

… now imagine what how this applies to things like Law of Attraction! Anyone who wants to know why it works for a lot of people — it makes a huge shift in your mental filters. Research has shown that people who believe themselves lucky will see when money is left on the sidewalk, where unlucky people will usually step right over it! — it’s all filters people! If you’re depressed, anxious, or just unlucky, you’re gonna be doing a lot of internal thinking about problems in your life … but, when you’re mentally positive, and filtering for the good things in life, it’s much easier to see opportunities and success.

Hmmmm… something to think about — when you start your day are you filtering for the right things or are you setting a negative frame on your life?

It’s funny that I’ve recently begun re-reading the Tao of Pooh again. So many things we learn and commit to doing … well … it seems that we slowly begin to eventually stop doing them — until one day someone teaches us the old lesson again and we remember that we used to do it all the time … but then we stopped and can’t remember what happened that made us stop.

Almost seems funny when you think about it.

Taoism is about finding happiness in the moment, whatever may be happening (good or bad). That’s something that’s hard to do when filters of depression are shading everything you experience and your mind keeps focusing and dwelling on the crappy things in life.

However, in NLP we say there is no failure, only feedback. This too is sometimes hard to remember when you’re dealing with the crap poop life throws your way. I recently had a chance to sit and talk opening with my partner Jodie and she gave me a metaphor that really helped put things in perspective … and thinking about it has lead to a life lesson that I’m going to take from my recent war on depressing behaviors …

I used to have an NLP colleague who would always phrase everything as if the experience you were having had an intention — for example, if you’re having shoulder pain she’d ask what the pain was trying to tell you (or what your body was trying to teach you). Today I realized what the challenge is that I’m going to take away from the recent stumble my business has had –

Since I’m doing what I know I must in order to make my NLP business a success, the challenge if to maintain the systems, plans and procedures which I’ve established … I gotta keep doing them even through the tough times if I ever plan on making it to the big time.

Now, the only question which remains is …

Can I do it???

  yeah … Thanks … I know I can, too!

Once again I found elements of Law of Attraction and Intention Manifestation in my morning webcomics … and I had to share!

A key component of law of attraction is to be specific … BUT, the other thing is to be grateful for what you do get (Google ‘GratiDudes’ if you want to know more about being grateful with LoA) — so, how do you do that? Well, it’s called ‘Feedback’ — in NLP we say there is no failure, only feedback. What that means is the only way you can fail is by giving up, otherwise you’re simply making adjustments to your plan based upon new information coming in (i.e. Feedback).

This cartoon is the perfect example of that! — Set an intention and put it out to the universe … get feedback that the desired intent was not clear enough, so clarify and put the intention back out there!

The trick is to be able to take feedback as it comes without fighting it — most people want to fight against the current rather than go with the flow; however, SunTzu in the Art of War said that you should only fight the battles you’ve already won … so, if you choose where you put your energy wisely, Law of Attraction will work much more easily and effortlessly.

  — Trust me, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way!

BTW, you can click on the cartoon strip to be taken directly to the original webcomic.

As most people know, a personal blog originated as a public journal kept on the internet … web + log = blog …

Now, with the availability of You Tube and such, people have begun doing vlogs, which are blogs in video format … video + blog = vlog …

Some people feel this turn of events is one more cheezy form of internet tackiness, however, as a person who is camera shy it’s been constantly brought to my attention that I need more ‘face time’ with my fans — the reason being, with the launch of my new book and high hopes of selling 100,000 copies I’m going to be needing to do promotion … which is going to involve radio and tv. This means I need to get over my fear of film … (*gulp*) … so, I have one of my first vlogs from my Verbal Self Defense website (www.VerbalDefenseTactics.com):

Curiously, one side note I’d like to mention is regarding something Dean Hunt said on his blog late last year …

‘The money is where the fear is.’

… and I really liked that quote. What Dean meant was that the people who get paid the most are the ones who do the things most people are afraid to do … like (in my case) public speaking. Teaching NLP certification courses is more than sharing information … it’s the confidence of putting one’s own ability on the line and stepping up … so here I go (again)!

  Oh yeah! That’s me beh-beh! (*little dance of joy*)

Hey y’all … I just came across a blog post from Viv Craske (the King of Confidence) about Richard Bandler’s Xmas Message — something everyone should see if they’ve had a less than excellent year.

For those of you who don’t know who Richard Bandler is … well … he’s not that easy to describe, but I can tell you he’s one of the founders of NLP and he’s a really, really, really amazing and smart guy! — so I highly recommend that you should take a listen to his best wishes video about 2010!

If you had a crappy 2009 and want to go into 2010 with a better attitude …

CLICK HERE

… and watch the video.

(Trust me — it’s worth your time)

In martial arts one of the key elements is timing. For example, without proper timing you can’t effectively block a strike — too soon and your opponent can compensate and get past it … too late and you simply get hit.

In the same way, timing is just as important to striking — in order to take advantage of an opening you must be able to catch it when it comes … and sometime, those opportunities can pass you by in an instant! For that reason, timing is only part of the equation in success — technique is the other. With proper technique your flexibility on timing becomes greater — you’re much faster with perfect technique and that gives you a larger time frame in which to seize your chance to strike!

All of this combined gives well trained martial artists a much keener sense of battle. Whenever you hear someone talk about how everything seemed to slow down and they could see everything happening in slow motion, all at once, it’s because they have the skills of timing and technique combined; however, that doesn’t necessarily guarantee success — even the best martial artists miss. (I mean, Babe Ruth struck out hundreds of times in order to make all those hits)

So, one might then ask: where does strategy come into play? Well, that’s a good question and it has to do with knowing your own strengths and weaknesses while also recognizing those of your opponent. When you know what moves your opponent favors and where they are lacking in skill, you can use that to your advantage. Bringing in the concept of chess and you suddenly have a situation where a fighter must think ahead … plan out what moves he/she will make and what they expect their opponent to do. When a martial artist can see multiple moves ahead and know how to react so that they create the pattern of strikes and blocks on both sides of the battle — that is a true master!

  Today I was once again made aware of how far I am from being a true master in business.

Over the last several hours I played out the pattern of moves that can be expected to come from a simple decision I made only a couple days ago … and I saw myself lose the perfect opportunity to strike out at huge success. The worst part? I even knew better. (don’t ya just hate that!! when you know that you know better but you do it anyway! geez!)

In NLP we say there is no failure, only feedback; however, that’s different than loss. Failure is an executed plan lacking the degree of success which was expected … on the other hand, loss is the removal of something in return for nothing. Failure happens when you stop moving towards a goal. Loss refers to the things which are given up or taken away.

Although I have not failed (the feedback I have received is to be more committed and cognizant of the purpose for my values in the future) because I will keep working towards wealth and success … I did have a huge loss — 3 years of work to be precise. And yes, some of that work can be salvaged, but it still takes an emotional toll on one’s hopes and dreams when we watch in slow motion the outcome of a decision turn our life down a different path than we had planned.

My father always taught me to never risk what I wasn’t willing to lose — so, I took the risk knowing that if it didn’t work I’d just need to pick myself back up and keep going … yet, I feel I’ll need a short time to grieve for my losses of effort. I mean, just because a millionaire can lose it all and be able to build their fortune back up, doesn’t mean they aren’t angry and upset about losing it in the first place.

The study of Zen Buddhism is often taught through stories and metaphors as a way to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying principles and ideas. One such story tells of a discussion between a teacher and his students:

A Zen teacher once presented a moral problem to his pupils, “If a man is hanging from a branch by only his teeth and a pretty young woman comes along asking for directions, does the man do the honorable thing of opening his mouth to answer her and end up falling to his death … or does he show the woman great disrespect by ignoring her in order to save his own life?” After several wrong answers one young disciple said, “The man must do whatever is the nature of that man.”

This small story demonstrates a key component of easy and effortless intention manifestation — utilization of personal beliefs and values. The way you perceive yourself and the world around you has a powerful influence over how effective you are in using the Law of Attraction.

Although one prime directive of the unconscious mind is to take actions which allow you to be a “highly moral person,” it is important to remember that the definition of morality is subjective. A criminal will perceive certain actions and behaviors as ethically acceptable, however you may disagree. The key here is to realize that each person is allowed their own perceptions on the level of “right” and “wrong.”

Even though a person acting in a way you consider to be immoral or unethical still accomplishes the desired outcome that you would achieve by choosing a different behavior, the Law of Attraction (LoA) still applies to both of you. The reason LoA applies in both cases lies within the “Higher Positive Intent” which guides the purpose of every person’s actions.

Behind every behavior you ever do in life the unconscious mind will perceive a higher positive intent. That highest positive intention is the purpose which puts direction to LoA, but each individual must make the choices which work best in their model of the world. In this way, two people acting in direct moral conflict with one another can still have the same highest positive intention. In comparison, two people attempting to accomplish the same behavior may find one person fails while the other person succeeds. In this case, LoA is still being directed by the highest positive intention — for the person who succeeded, the outcome was inline with their highest positive intent. For the person who fails it’s more likely that the way they structured their highest positive intention was not best served by achieving their current goal.

An extreme example of this is the basic instinctual need for safety and survival. In the case of a drug user who is “coming down” off a high, his or her mind and body will be experiencing significant forms of pain and anguish. These experiences will drive the person to do whatever is necessary to “survive.” Since they feel like they’re literally dying, flexibility of choice becomes wide open, which means their morals turn in to something equivalent to nothing more than suggested guidelines for decision making. Where one person might think of armed robbery as a good idea for getting more drugs, the other person might attend a hospital emergency room in hopes of finding assistance.

Both the people in this extreme example are making a choice they each believe will lead to survival; however, because we are not experiencing the same level of suffering, those of us outside the experience have the luxury of judging their choices as right or wrong. The universe has no such sense of good or evil and so, in regard to the LoA, the most important point to consider is how each person forms their highest positive intention. If both people are simply looking to “stop the pain” then it’s just as likely the person committing armed robbery may end up being arrested which the universe knows would eventually lead to a prison sentence where he could receive proper detoxification treatment, subsequently “ending his/her pain.”

Thus, by taking time to clearly determine what the higher positive intention is behind something you want you will open your awareness to potential choices you may not have originally perceived. As well, you may find that your higher intention may require some minor tweaking in order to be more inline with the outcome you desire. In either case, applying the principles of LoA to your higher positive intentions instead of simply focusing on manifesting your material desires will significantly increase your degree of success. For example, rather than seeking more money in order to feel more confident in life, it would be better to manifest a greater sense of confidence in the life you have. The end results of using LoA in that way is more likely help you see the choices which will ultimately allow you to make more money.

In the end, accepting that your inner thoughts and desires which are motivated by negative emotions such as hate and anger do actually have a higher intention will allow you to find peace. Thinking about stealing, hurting people, drinking your problems away, etc. all have a higher positive intention — figure out what that higher intention is and you can become aware of better choices to manifest it.

Many professionals consider metaphysics a form of philosophy because it mainly pertains to the study of personal beliefs around mankind, the universe and “God,” as well as how all these things are inter-connected. The most significant difference between metaphysical science and other forms of theological study is in the area of unexplained supernatural phenomena, such as the many writings about the Law of Attraction (LoA) and its role in shaping events in our lives. Interestingly this is also where the individual interpretations of metaphysical principles are most prevalent.

If it’s all about intentions, then why am I still suffering?

One point in contention among the many followers of “The Secret” revolves around how LoA is interpreted with regard to personal suffering such as spousal abuse, loss of mobility, blindness, personal tragedy, etc. With more and more people seeking to understand how these things relate to intention manifestation it is a common topic of discussion in LoA groups and forums.

Recently, the idea of “not having personal connection to the unidentified source of universal energies” (a.k.a. the “Vortex”) combined with “the effect of focusing on your own material separation and personal expectation” has put forth an enlightening explanation which can be described as Relational Manifestation — the concept being that anything you manifest is going to have its own unique way of fitting into the universal bigger picture. The interesting thing to note is that both these important aspects of intention manifestation are derived from the original foundational component of LoA — individual perceptions.

Basically it’s our own individual perceptions along with focusing on our material reality (and our deeper expectations of how things should happen in the world) which is believed to hold us back from accessing the universal energy used to manifest what we want. Combining these pieces with the idea of universal oneness we end up with a model which incorporates how our manifestations connect to other peoples’ manifestations and the ways they can complement one another.

Now, with so many different ways of experiencing personal suffering it’s easier to see how this model applies if we first generalize the idea of suffering in LoA using questions such as, “Why doesn’t LoA work for me?” or simply, “Why aren’t I rich yet?” The main thing to remember is that the perspective of how “we are all spiritually interconnected” is still a valid explanation at any level of suffering — personal or global. The key to understanding the many different forms of suffering in the world lies within the important caveat that accompanies this new idea of Relational Manifestation — “suffering may be part of the process.”

Are pain and suffering simply part of the journey?

The concept that pain and suffering is part of the process is different than the outdated ideas about “fate” and “destiny.” In the new perspective your individual process for personal development, which is fundamental to your abilities of intention manifestation, plays a key role in your intuitive guidance. Many people believe that when you “follow your gut” the universe will help guide you in making choices that will take you through the processes necessary to manifest your personal desires. This means that, when necessary, your intuition can guide you through any inner personal development needed to manifest your dreams.

However, it’s important to remember that one well-known side-effect of personal development is the sometimes painful process of change. A prime example of this is someone who suffers from depression. People with severe depression may be required to face a multitude of inner demons in order to release the blocks holding him/her back from manifesting the life they want. In following their intuition it’s possible they may be forced to endure the difficulty of feeling ashamed, asking for help, losing friends, the side-effects of trying different medications, getting counseling, learning new ways of thinking & doing things and ultimately changing their perceptions so their intuition can finally help them see the choices they need to make in order to manifest their true desires.

On top of that, we must also consider another element of the stipulation that pain and suffering may be part of the journey — your definition of “pain and suffering.” Sylvia Boorstein once said, “Life is painful, suffering is optional.” So, although it would be useful to know for certain that following your intuition in doing something emotionally or mentally difficult will bring you great success, it’s more valuable to consider “what makes those things difficult for you in the first place?”

Notice the question is about why YOU feel they’re difficult. This is because every person experiences pain differently — where one person might think something is wonderful, another person might feel the exact same experience is frightening. In the case of someone who constantly wishes to make more money but is too afraid to change jobs — they are choosing to suffer. Someone who feels unhappy at work and is willing to change jobs, move to a different city, or anything else necessary to manifest their happiness — they might be in pain, but it will be temporary. The difference is that for one person pain is part of the process as they change and grow to make their life better, but the other person will continue to suffer so long as they are unable to perceive new options and choices to change and grow.

Is pain and suffering a necessary part of LoA?

Each person’s situation is different so every person’s journey will be unique. Whether or not there will be pain and/or suffering involved in the process of manifesting your intentions is unpredictable. The most valuable thing to remember going into the process is the age old saying, “If there’s a will, there’s a way!” … and in LoA it’s possible that way may not always be pleasant or easy, but there is always a way, even when we can’t perceive it.

Have you ever noticed how people just hate to be wrong? It’s interesting to me that some people get something in their mind as “the absolute truth” about one thing or another in life and they just hate it when people challenge them on it.

When you choose to dream it is important to give yourself permission to go beyond other people’s Model of the World. Just because someone else thinks it can’t be done doesn’t mean you can’t do it. There was an old Zen proverb that said: The wise man said it couldn’t be done…and the fool came along and did it.

In that case, I like to play the fool. I like it when I accidentally mess with other people’s model of the world — I don’t make it a rule (although it is fun sometimes to do it with intention … but that’s something for NLPDarkArts.com) in the sense that I need people to say I can’t do something before I get the motivation to prove them wrong and do it. No, I think it’s best to just go do what you dream of doing and simple leave the limitations to others …

Original Source for the Cartoon:
http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=535