What is Stopping You

What is stopping you from achieving what you REALLY want to achieve in your life?

Stop whatever you are doing, including reading any further yet, and focus on this totally.  Focus on it as if your life depended on it.  In a way, it does!  If you can identify this properly you will make a massive positive change in your life.

If you are reading this paragraph you should already have identified a number of obstacles that are preventing you from realizing your dream.  No?  Then stop reading, and focus again.  Don't come back until you have listed those obstacles.

The list you have created is, I can almost guarantee, neither accurate nor complete, but it is at least a start.  What you now need to do is work on it to increase the accuracy and to expand the list.  I will give you a few ideas here of ways to do both, but don't limit yourself to what I am saying.  This project is absolutely unique and personal to you.  Nobody else can tell you what should be on your list.  Others, like me, can give you pointers, but only you can produce it.

Once you have a good, accurate list of the obstacles it is far easier to find ways to remove those obstacles, one by one.  You may not remove them all.  And you may only partially remove some, but every step you take is a step closer to realizing your dream, to having an infinitely more fulfilling and more enjoyable life.

One big obstacle that almost everyone faces is an inner blindness.  A failure to recognize when the right door has opened for you.  I am a firm believer in the power of the Law of Attraction.  What you really focus on will come to be.  The way the Universe helps you achieve this is by opening the right doors for you.  It doesn't push you through the doorway though.  It opens the door and now it is totally down to you firstly to see that open door and secondly to take action and walk through it.  Unfortunately all of us miss so many of those open doors.  The Universe does not give up on us.  When we miss one open door it opens another.  Sometimes there will be many open doors and if we step through any one of them we will be that much closer to our dream.

Often, you will find the open door is an offer from someone to provide you with something you need in order to get where you need to be.  Sometimes the offer will be completely without any cost or obligation, and sometimes it will be, perhaps, a business opportunity that does require some investment or commitment.  Be prepared to recognize and take advantage of both.

One difficulty many of us face is being able to distinguish between fake and genuine offers.  We can be held back by the phrase "if it is too good to be true, it probably isn't true".  There are very many cases where that truism most certainly applies.  If someone offers you $1 Million just for providing a means for the money to be spirited out of their country into yours I can guarantee the offer IS too good to be true!  But don't allow the preponderance of so many such fake offers to hide from you those offers that aren't too good to be true.  Usually you can rely on your intuition and common sense to decide which are false and which are true.

For example, you may find someone is offering you free access to some information or help that will take you closer to your goal, and when you review what is on offer you can see it is probably being done in order to attract you to something that you WILL have to pay for if you want to take advantage of it.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with this.  There is a vast pool of really genuine and helpful information out there that you can take advantage of for free if you wish.  Don't hold back, cynically assuming it cannot be worth anything if it is being offered for free.  Recognize that it has real value.  The reason it is being offered free is because the business or person offering it believes the cost of doing so is a worthwhile marketing expense to have the chance to put something else in front of you that is NOT free.  If you have been reading my blogs for sometime, and especially if you are one of my e-mail subscribers, you will know I do this all the time!  Most of what I suggest my subscribers and blog readers look at is completely free.  I have already checked out the people behind the offers and know that they are genuine, and therefore am happy to risk my personal reputation by passing on those offers.  If you have taken advantage of any of them you will know that there is genuine good information and help there that can bring you so much closer to your goals, and that although what is then being offered for sale may get you to them quicker you do not necessarily need to take advantage of it unless you genuinely believe it is the right thing to do.  Very many of my subscribers take advantage of the free offers but never then feel obliged to spend any money.

So drop that cynical "it can't be true" attitude and see any such genuine offers for what they are.  The cynics will avoid them all, congratulating themselves that they have not been caught by some scam or other.  But in doing so they have thrown the baby away with the bath water.  Yes, be vigilant - recognize and avoid scams.  But be ready to take advantage of any genuine free offers that can take you closer to your goals.  I personally do this all the time and do not regret doing so in any instance.

Offers of this kind are, of course, by no means the only open doors.  Take off your blinkers and look for all those other open doors.  Genuine offers of help from friends, for example.  The right person being there for you at exactly the right time.  Don't assume there must be something wrong if there is an open door to help you get you where you need to be.  The Universe has opened that door for you, so step through it!

Another obstacle you may identify is lack of financial resources.  In other words, money!  We all have this obstacle to achieving at least some of our dreams.  Note it down, but don't allow it to depress you.  Be open to ways the Universe may help you get the financial resources you need.  Also, be aware that sometimes we don't actually need money to get where we want to be even though when we first look at it we think we do need money.  Be open to other ways of achieving the dream.  Again, this comes down to looking for the doors the Universe is opening for us.  Everything comes back to those open doors.

Finally, I promised to remind you how to increase the accuracy of your list of obstacles.  To a degree I have already done this if you follow everything I have said above.  But what you also need to do is meditate on your goals.  I have said this before and make no apology for saying it again.  Meditating on the goal will help you determine whether it is a genuine goal, but it will also help you find ways of achieving it.  Ways that would otherwise never have occurred to you.  Ways to avoid what you thought were obstacles preventing you from getting there but are really just figments of your imagination.

What is stopping you from achieving your goals?  Probably the biggest obstacle is YOU!  Focus on those goals, make sure they are genuine, and then simply be determined to achieve them.  Do this and you WILL get there!

Follow Your Dream

What is your dream?  What do you really want to happen, in your life, in the lives of those around you, and in the world in general?

Think about your answer to this very carefully.  This is probably one of the most important questions you have ever asked yourself, or ever will.

Set no limits here.  I haven't asked you "what difference can you make", even though that is a very important question too.  It is important to focus on making a difference, but when phrased that way it automatically assumes limits.  It invites you to exclude anything that you think is too difficult to achieve or that is simply not something "little old you" can achieve in this world.  So by all means dream of making a difference, but don't include the word "can" which also implies a whole area of "cannot".

There are so many ways to tackle the question "what is my dream?".  Try them out for size.  Explore them.  Apply them.

Many people answer the question confusing the "means" with the "end".  They may say their dream is to have a million dollars in the bank.  I am not criticizing this as a desire.  Despite what many may tell you there is nothing wrong with wanting a lot of money.  But think about WHY you want all that money.  Knowing the reason you WANT a lot of money will make it much more likely you will get it.  Money of itself is nothing.  It is what having it allows you to achieve that has real meaining.  And although I again say there is nothing wrong with money, sometimes when you focus on exactly what it is you want to achieve when you have the money you may find ways of achieving it without needing a million in your bank account!

Some people find their answer to this question by imagining they have been given a limited time to live and then focus on what is really important to them, what they want to do in that limited remaining time.  This is a good exercise.  Especially because actually it is very true.  You DO have a limited time to live!  There are not many guarantees in this life, but that is one thing I can absolutely guarantee!  You probably don't know when you are going to die, in fact I hope you don't.  But you do know that one day you ARE going to die.  So in the meantime, why live your life like a zombie, just doing the things you always do because you always do them?  Instead, live your life to fulfil your dreams!  Make a difference!

So, ask yourself that question.  What is my dream?  Or rather, what are my dreams?  Don't limit yourself to just one dream, unless you find it is so powerful and all-consuming that there is no room for anything else, and that by committing yourself to that dream you will become the happiest and, even more important, most fulfilled person you could ever be.

Ask the question, and then take steps to change your life so you are moving in the direction of that dream or those dreams.  Every step you take in that direction is a powerful, positive step.  One which should make you happier.  One which should make you more fulfilled.  Perhaps not the happiest person in the world, yet.  Maybe not the most fulfilled.  But happier, and more fulfilled, and that is the key thing.

And don't fall into the trap of confusing the means with the end.  Yes, some of what we do to fulfill our dreams will not create immediate results.  In fact, that applies to a lot of what we do.  But there will always be some steps you can take which WILL make a difference, even though it may be a small difference.  It is important to take those steps, as none of us knows when we are going to breathe our last breath, so make every day, every hour count.

Once you realize just how much of a difference moving towards your dream can make to you, to those around you, and to the world itself you will never want to stop that journey!  So get on board right now!  Your dream is beckoning to you!  Don't ignore it - follow it!

Abracadabra

When you were a small child you probably read stories, or had them read to you, in which a magician used magic words to perform powerful acts of magic.  Perhaps the word "Abracadabra".  Or "Open Sesame" (as in the story of Ali Baba).

The word "Abracadabra" is particularly interesting.  There are a number of conflicting stories about its origin, but one version says it comes from the Aramaic phrase avra kehdabra, which means “I will create as I speak”.  In other words, this "magic" word itself refers to the magical, creative power of words.

The Christian Bible also refers to the power of words.  Right at the start of the Gospel of John we have the phrase "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  It goes on to say that everything that was created was created by the Word.

I began this article by talking about fairy tales.  Most adults don't believe in fairy tales.  In fact they may even refer to anything that they believe to be untrue as a "fairy tale".

Well, I DO believe in fairy tales!  Not literally, of course, but as ways to pass on inner truths.

The power of the word is such an inner truth.  Words create.  Use the right words in the right way and you can create opportunities.  You can create situations that will turn your dreams into reality.  Use words in the wrong way and they can destroy opportunities.  They can create situations that will turn your nightmares into reality.  Words are very powerful.  Far more powerful than you probably ever realized.

Very recently I wrote a blog about the ways most people "self-sabotage" themselves.  They say something like "I am no good at ...." and this creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.  This is the power of words used wrongly.  This is also true about the way people use words to hurt or help others, usually unintentionally.  I hope you are not one of the very many parents in the world who have said to one of their children something like "you will never amount to anything!".  This is so destructive!  This is like a wizard saying a magic spell that will cause harm to another.  It is just as powerful as such a magic spell in one of the fairy tales you read as a child.

Equally, saying to someone "you are so beautiful!", not as a pickup line but because you recognize the beauty within them, is like a magic spell turning an ugly frog into a handsome prince.  Not as quickly as happened in Grimm's tale of the Frog Prince, but just as surely anyway.

With the power of your words you can choose to create love, beauty, harmony and success all around you.  Or you can choose to create discord, ugliness and failure.  Which would you prefer to surround you?  It is entirely your choice - you can use the magic spell (i.e. the right words spoken at the right time) to create whichever you prefer.  I hope like me you will choose the former, not the latter.

Hurdles and Obstacles

What obstacles have you identified which are preventing you from achieving what you want to achieve in life?  Are there any such obstacles?

I assume there are, as otherwise you would have achieved your dreams wouldn't you?

Some people may answer this by saying "I don't really have any dreams".  If this is you, then you are kidding yourself.  Somewhere within you, maybe deep within, there is a dream waiting to be released, waiting for you to see it and fill it with emotion.  The obstacle in this case is your failure to recognize you even have a dream.

Many will say something like "dreams are only for dreamers, and I am no dreamer!"  They say this with pride.  As though the rest of us who do have dreams are to be pitied or are perhaps idlers and fantasists.  I say the same to these people - deep within you there is a dream waiting to be released, waiting for you to see it and fill it with emotion.  The obstacle in this case is your failure to recognize you even have a dream.  Probably because you are too frightened to admit that you might have one.  You are afraid if you admit this to yourself you will only fail to achieve your dream and then this will make you unhappy.  Does that sound familiar?

And most of the rest do have dreams they want to achieve, but have pulled up at the first obstacle.  That is a bit like a hurdler running along the straight and then pulling up at the first hurdle and saying "I cannot go any further because there is a hurdle in the way!"  Yes, there is!  And the idea is to jump over that hurdle, not simply stand there looking at it and wishing it wasn't there.  Wishing it wasn't there won't make it go away!  So if you just stand there miserably looking at the hurdle you will never make any progress towards the finish line for your dream!

How can you jump over the hurdles that are bound to be there on the road towards your dream?  How can you pass around the obstacles you are bound to confront?

The answers are actually in the questions.  Jump over the hurdles.  Pass around the obstacles.  Really, it is as simple as that!  When you start to do this you will find many of the hurdles are really not very high.  They just look it because they react to your initial fear or despair by appearing to grow to an impossible size.

Your obstacle, your hurdle, is Oscar Zoroaster.  Who is that? you probably ask.  Oscar Zoroaster, the conman from Omaha, Nebraska who took the name "Oz" and ruled the kingdom of Oz by pretending he was far more powerful than he really was.

Be like Dorothy and her friends and challenge your obstacle, your hurdle, your Wizard of Oz.  Challenge it and usually, just like the Wizard in that immortal story, it will shrink away and you can continue on the the yellow brick road to reach your dream!

I Have a Dream

On 28th August 1963 Dr Martin Luther King delivered his famous "I have a dream" speech.  Just as a quick reminder, here is a brief extract:

"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!"

Dr King had a powerful dream.  One that in his day must have looked impossible to achieve.  We have nowhere near achieved it even today, but we are a lot closer, thanks in no small way to the fact that Dr King had that dream in the first place.

I have no doubt that well-meaning friends told Dr King he was foolish to have such a dream, that the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners would never sit down together as brothers.  Certainly not in Georgia!  I have no doubt they said Mississippi would never become an oasis of freedom and justice.  But Dr King ignored their comments.  He refused to accept their apathy.  Although he knew it was unlikely his dream would be achieved in his lifetime he also knew it would never be achieved unless he and others like him believed it was possible.  And so he worked to achieve his dream, and changed his society radically and forever.

What is your dream?

Do you even have a dream?  If not, why not?  Is it because you do not believe it can be achieved?

Did you perhaps have a dream when you were younger, but through the years found so much cold water was thrown on your dream that there is no longer even a spark there to be ignited into a powerful flame of desire again?

Imagine it is your last day on earth and you know that in just a few hours you will have passed away.  What would you want to be able to feel you have achieved?  What would you want to look back to and be proud and happy that you achieved it?  What dreams would you want to see turned into reality?  What other dreams would you want to see that had still not been fully achieved but were well on the way to becoming reality?

Think about this carefully.  One day, that day will come for you.  Maybe you will have time to reflect on what you have achieved and maybe not.  But that day will most certainly come.  And you can either pass from this life without having achieved anything of value, or you can pass from this life knowing that the world is a better place simply because you lived in it for a short time.

You should have at least one big dream.  Perhaps more than one.  Perhaps many.  Some may be completely altruistic.  Some may be of benefit just to your family and close friends.  Some may even be mainly about you, and what you want to enjoy in this life.  Don't shut out any of those dreams.  There is room for them all.

Dr Martin Luther King did not allow anyone to throw cold water on his dream, and the world is a better place as a result.  It is by no means a perfect world, but it is a better world simply because he had a dream and he lived his life doing everything he could to turn that dream into reality.

What is your dream?

Someone Is Holding You Back

If I were to tell you the biggest reason of all that you are not achieving what you want to achieve is because there is someone out there stopping you, who might that person be?

Think about it for a moment.  Is it perhaps your partner?  Maybe it is your boss - especially if what you want to achieve is an increase in your regular income!  Or could it be someone else?  Think about it for a moment.  Then list the people who come to your mind, and who you think may be holding you back.

Unless you are a very unusual person, or have not thought deeply about this, there should be several people on your list.  If there are not, take another moment out and think hard.  Add some names to that list.

The reality is most of us can identify some people out there who are holding us back.  The first step in dealing with this issue is to find out who they are.  Then you should look at the ways in which they are holding you back and what you might do to reduce or even prevent this.

If you have put your partner or spouse on the list, which will be the case for many people, you certainly have a challenge ahead of you, although it may not be as big a challenge as you think.  It is quite normal for your partner or spouse to expect you to be doing something different if you have changed what you want to achieve since you first met them - and as all of us are evolving all the time, you should expect what you want to achieve to have changed.  When you have an intimate relationship it is important to share your deep desires with your partner.  Not just your intimate desires, but also everything that makes you who you are now, which is at least a little different from who you were last month, last year, or ten years ago.  Share it and talk it through.  Be sensitive to the fact that just as it is natural for you to have changed, so it is also for your partner.  In any relationship there must be some give and take.  If there is something you are really passionate about achieving it is vital you share this with your partner and get them on board.  But don't be selfish about it.  Recognize the need for give and take.  And also use the opportunity to find out, if you don't already know, how your partner has evolved and what he or she is now passionate about that perhaps was not the case when you first got together.  It could be the case that you have both evolved so far in completely different directions that you really no longer belong together.  I really hope not.  But it is possible.  Certainly, though, do not assume that to be the case just because you have indeed both evolved in different directions.  What is important is to re-establish proper communication - because if this has happened and neither of you has spotted it then certainly there is a problem with communication and you should both look to creating more opportunities to share your innermost thoughts and feelings with each other.

If you have put friends on the list, and again this will be the case for many people if they are honest about it, the solution for each of those friends is really very similar to the one I have just shared regarding your partner.  The difference is that where you have gone in different directions, then now may be the time for you both to recognize this and go your different ways.  What is very important is that you not keep close to you anyone who keeps being negative about your goals.  They are YOUR goals, not anybody else's, so don't let anybody else draw you away from them.  You may not have to dump such a person completely as a friend, but try not to spend too much time with them if they persist in being negative.  You can choose your friends, so choose them wisely.

If you have put your boss on the list, then you may need to think again.  It is, of course, possible that your boss is negative in the same way as some of those friends you have either dropped as friends or at least are now keeping at a greater distance.  If so, then the solution is similar to the above solution, with the difference that you need to be sensitive to the power relationship.  For as long as you are relying on the income your job gives you it is not too sensible to tell your boss to leave you alone!  But if the reason you have put your boss on your list is because you believe he or she is holding you back from earning more money, then I want you to think about this more carefully.  You are responsible for the income you receive, not your boss.  Ultimately you get paid for the value you create.  If you are not being paid enough, then maybe you are not creating enough value.  If you are creating far more value than you believe you are being paid for, then you are probably working for the wrong people.  Don't just throw it all away, though.  Explore ways to get them to recognize your worth.  But ultimately, look for a good back door so you can leave when you are ready and receive a better income.  Also, recognize that you can (and indeed should) have multiple streams of income.  Your full-time job probably creates by far the biggest stream of income, but it should not be the only stream.  Work on creating those multiple streams of income so that you become less and less reliant on your job.

Now let me tell you who is the person who is most stopping you achieving what you want to achieve.  You!

Yes, that's right!  It is you!

So many people who claim to have a big "dream" simply haven't thought it through properly.  The first thing you must always do is to make sure your dream is what, deep down inside, you really want to achieve.  If it is not, or even worse if it is actually more or less the opposite of your true inner desires, it will be very difficult for you to achieve it.  In the latter case it will, in fact, be almost impossible.  You may think it ridiculous that you could have a dream that is the opposite of what you really want, but actually this is very common.  Our minds are very good at hiding desires they think are not the right thing.

Once you know for certain that you are pursuing the right dreams, the next thing you must do is stop your mind from giving you all the reasons why you cannot achieve it.  Your mind will almost certainly find lots of reasons for this, and they may sound very logical.  But the truth is that you can always be as big as your dreams, no matter how big those dreams may be.  Don't let your mind tell you otherwise.

The whole concept of the way our minds stop us from achieving our dreams is a massive topic.  There are many books and courses devoted to just this one topic.  The first step is to recognize that this is happening.  You won't correct it overnight, but recognizing the problem is the first step on the long journey to solving it.  Once you have done that, use the techniques I have given you here but also be open to reading some of those books and following some of those courses.  There is no quick fix here, but just an ongoing journey which, if you travel in the right direction, will step by step bring you closer and closer to achieving whatever it is you really want to achieve.

Do You Dream?

Do you dream?  I certainly hope so, for several reasons.  If not, you are missing out - again for several reasons.

What do I mean by dreaming?

There are at least two very different types, and possibly three depending on how wide you define them.

Most people who are asked the question "do you dream?" immediately think about what happens when they are asleep.  Dreaming while you sleep performs an important function.  According to Dr Rosalind Carter, the founder of the Sleep Disorder Service and Research Centre in Chicago, dreams "help us process new, emotionally important information and add it to our conceptual memory system.  As I pointed out in an earlier article, scientists have discovered that most mammals (and perhaps all) use this process while they sleep to experiment and sort out which strategies should work and which probably won't.  We are no exception to this principle.  Dreams are a safe "sandbox" we can use to try out different things, to see how we might react emotionally to changed circumstances, to condition ourselves to and be ready to accept change.

If you believe you do not dream while asleep you are probably wrong.  There have been a number of scientific studies of the "non-dreaming" phenomenon, and most have reached the conclusion that those who claim not to dream simply do not remember their dreams when they wake up.  You probably still gain the benefits of your dreams, as your subconscious will have integrated the experience whether or not you remember it.

One way to begin recalling your dreams is to have a pen and paper by your bedside and to write down anything you can remember about your dreams the moment you wake up.  I can hear your objection loud and clear - how can I write down anything about my dreams if I don't remember them?  Humour me and try it anyway.  Many people still have a memory of their dreams when they first wake, but within just a few seconds completely forget they even had any dreams.  Those people adamantly state that they never dream, but if they try recording their dreams the moment they wake they find they really did dream.

Dreams don't just occur when we are sleeping though.  We also daydream.  You can think of a daydream as being very similar to a dream while you are asleep, and it can fulfil the same function.  As long as it is done appropriately this is a very good thing.  Clearly you should not daydream when driving a car or operating heavy machinery!  It may also not be appropriate to daydream when you are being paid to work or in the middle of a school lesson, or a college or university lecture!  On the other hand, sometimes in such cases a daydream can be very creative and help you do a better job or get a better grip on the subject you are studying.  Just don't expect your boss, teacher or lecturer to agree unless they are very open minded!

If you don't already daydream I encourage you to do so.  Choose an appropriate time to do this, ideally when you are on your own and will not be disturbed.  As with the technique to recall night dreams, have a pen and paper by you so that immediately after your daydream session you can note down anything that appeals, or any insights you may have had.

There is another meaning of "dream", of course.  Your hopes and wishes for the future.  To some people this is akin to daydreaming, and they believe it is enjoying an esperience they will never have in the "real" world.  This is a very shortsighted view.  The distinction between the imaginary and real worlds is nowhere near as great as you may believe.  When you dream in the "imaginary" world you are actually starting to bring those dreams closer to what most people define as "reality".

This meaning of "dream" is very important.  We should all have dreams.  We should all have something we truly wish to achieve, and the start of the journey that ends in achievement is a dream.

In 1963 a great American stated "I have a dream!"  The dream he had has not yet fully come to pass, but the America of today is certainly very much closer to Martin Luther King's dream just over 50 years ago.  Some may argue that this would have happened even if King had not had that dream.  Probably that is true, but only because the same dream would have passed through another person equally empassioned by it.  I truly believe the world is a better place as a direct result of that dream.

So I hope you DO dream!  I hope you dream for a better future for yourself but also for all around you.  If you do, then the world will be a better place simply because you chose to dream!

Manifesting

What is "Manifesting" all about?

I am sure, as you are interested in becoming successful, you have come across the term "manifesting", or "manifestation".  But what exactly does it mean?

The Oxford Dictionary principal definition of "Manifestation" is "an event that embodies something abstract".  In other words, you take something that is not concrete, not "real" in the way most people understand this term, and transform it into reality.

The way it is meant in the "personal development and success" world is very similar to this.  You have a desire (which is not concrete, but abstract) and turn it into reality.

In the medical world, "manifestation" means the way in which an ailment expresses itself through detectable symptoms.  In other words, there is something there which is not visible in itself, but you then become aware of it because it creates something which shows it is there.

Again, this is close to what I believe about "manifestation" when considering success strategies.  My wish or desire for something is not visible in itself, but it then creates a result which is very clearly visible.

Notice that in both definitions there must first really be something there, something undetectable but still very definitely there, before the results can manifest.  This is certainly the case when considering "manifesting" or "manifestation" as part of a strategy to achieve a certain goal.  You cannot simply think it would be nice for something to happen and then assume you have done all that is necessary to manifest it!  The seed must be there in the first place if you want the plant to grow.

Actually, it is a jolly good thing this isn't the way "manifesting" works.  Imagine the chaos!  You have a brief thought that "it would be nice if ..." .  Fill in the gap with anything you like.  Whatever it is, it may be something you really want, something that is right for you, or it may not.

With most things in life we begin by deciding what we might like to happen.  We then think about it and decide whether this really is what we want.  If so, we start to make plans to make it happen.  And then we start taking actions by following that plan so it DOES happen.  At every stage of the way we have the option to change our mind.  Even once we have started taking actions we can usually reverse and start again in a different direction if we begin to feel this is not right for us after all.  Included in all this is our moral and ethical analysis.  Perhaps when we first think of something we would like to happen we don't consider the effect it might have on those around us.  I would like to think that I DO consider this first, or at least very early on in the process, but many people only consider this later on - perhaps when they start taking actions and realize that there are negative implications they had not considered earlier.  Some people may decide to proceed regardless.  Hopefully you are not one of those people!  When you recognize that, for example, the goal you wanted to achieve means people around you will suffer I hope you will reflect carefully and either find a different way which will not cause this suffering, or will change your goal entirely.

So it is important that there is time for a "reality" check, time for proper reflection on all the implications, before whatever it is we want materializes.  And this is exactly the way manifesting works.

First you have to examine your dream carefully.  You must make sure it properly reflects your inner values and that it is something you really want.  During this process you will consider not only what it will mean for you but also what it will mean for others.  You must spend as much time as necessary embedding your desire for this dream properly.  If you have done this properly you will feel an intense emotion when you focus on the dream.  That powerful emotion is the "something abstract" that manifestation is going to turn into a real event or series of events.

Having taken the trouble to ensure you are going after the right dream, you must begin to take the actions that will turn that dream into reality.  These actions will begin with preparing something physical that will constantly remind you of the dream and why it is so important to you.  You will begin turning the "something abstract" into something more physical by giving it a name and writing that down.  A name that truly encapsulates whatever it is you want.  You will write it down in a way that shows it already has moved from the abstract to a real event.  Express it positively in the present moment.  State your dream as a goal already achieved.  This process is what is often called creating a "vision board"  Now all that has to happen is for what you and everyone around you see as "reality" to catch up with true reality.

Do not, though, think that because you have done all this you no longer have to take any other actions.  It is most certainly true, as Sophocles said (in 409 BCE) that "heaven ne’er helps the men who will not act", or in the words of Euripedes (428 BCE) "for to the worker God himself lends aid".  Do not just sit back and wait for it to happen, but take whatever actions you would take to move towards your dream even if you did not believe in "manifestation".  Often, the way manifestation will work is by presenting you with great opportunities.  But if you are not doing anything to move towards you dream you will not notice those opportunities and will not take the actions nedded in order to benefit from them.

In this short article I have only touched on the surface of "manifesting", but you should find there is enough here for you to start building on this foundation.  Don't stop there though - study all you can on this very important subject and take advantage of all the opportunities that come your way to improve your manifesting techniques.

The Science of Dreams

Photo by Marcin Mycielski

If you have come here for a course in dream interpretation you will be disappointed.  I do believe dream interpretation is a valid and useful discipline, and I am sure I will write a blog on this some time, but that is not the purpose of this blog article.

I want to focus on the purpose of dreams.  Why do we have them?  What purpose do they serve?

Science now knows that dreams fulfil a very important purpose.  They are a way for your mind to experiment with many different scenarios in a no risk environment.  This goes right back to our primitive ancestry when we needed to find better ways to hunt for our food and at the same time to avoid becoming the food of our predators.  In a dream we could try out different techniques and see the likely effect of those techniques.  Our dream mechanism is very good at mimicking the environment we are testing and responding in ways that environment might respond in a real situation.  Our ancestors would test one set of techniques, recognize the weaknesses, and modify them to make them more effective and less risky.  All in the security of a dream world rather than the real world.

If you have a cat or dog you have probably noticed your pet dreaming.  Probably your cat is dreaming of chasing a bird or mouse, and your dog is dreaming of chasing a cat.  This is not simply play, or a memory of some "real" life experience, but your pet is testing different ways to chase its prey and seeing which ones are more effective.  This use of dreams as a kind of sandbox (to use a computer programming example) is not exclusively human but is common throughout the animal kingdom.

This continues to be the role of our dreams even today.  We face very different challenges from our ancestors, but can still use the same "sandbox" to test different responses to those challenges.  When we find what appears to be the best response, our subconscious notes this and then prompts us to use it in "real" life.  The challenges may, for example, be the best way to conduct a sales negotiation, or how best to convince our children to behave properly.  They may be how best to start that new business we have been considering starting over the past few months, how to convince that young lady or young man we fancy that they should go on a date with us, or how to achieve some other goal for which we have a burning desire.

Some notable scientific discoveries have arisen from this dream testing technique.  For example, the German organic chemist August Kekulé discovered the structure of benzene in a dream.  In that dream he saw a snake chasing its tail and suddenly realized the benzene molecule was ring shaped.  This might not seem an example of testing different structures in a dream, but I am quite sure that is what was actually happening below the surface.  All Kekulé remembered was the final answer, hidden within powerful imagery (which is often the way dreams give us the final answer to whatever we have been testing in them).  But there would have been plenty of other structures which he had tested in his dreams and which turned out not to be the correct answer.  As is very often the case with this very efficient system, the only dream he remembered was the one that gave him the right answer.

Is there any way we can use this knowledge of how dreams work in order to improve the system?  I believe there is.  Firstly, simply by being aware of it then it is more likely we will unconsciously send instructions into the dream world to test for what we really want to know or do.  Secondly, we can try to experience lucid dreaming, or being aware that we are dreaming, and then actively test out our concerns.

Linked very closely to the idea of lucid dreaming is the skill of astral travelling - experiencing something beyond the physical realm through out of body experiences.

The eminent American psychologist Dr Steve G Jones, who has extensively practised astral travel, has produced a fascinating 6 part free course on astral travel.  You can access it here:

Astral Projection

Goals and Dreams

Do you have any goals?  Not just dreams, but real goals?

You should actually have both.  As Napoleon Hill said, a goal is a dream with a deadline.  The starting point is therefore a dream.  You must always dream, or eventually you will run out of goals.

Some people feel that dreaming is a waste of time and energy.  The term "daydream" is used more often than not as a criticism.  But dreaming is most definitely NOT a waste of time and energy, it is something you must keep doing.  Not all the time, of course!  You don't want to spend all your time just dreaming, or you will never achieve anything.  But make sure you spend enough time dreaming to have a good supply of goals to achieve, or you will again never achieve anything.  You need to have the right balance between the two.

In my experience far too many people leave out this first step.  As a result they find they have no real goals, and wonder why life seems to have become more of a "grind" than a joyful experience.

Having dreams is a creative activity.  Turning those dreams into goals is a practical activity.  To use "Right Brain - Left Brain" terminology, the start of the process, having dreams, is a "Right Brain" activity and turning dreams into goals is a "Left Brain" activity.  You should be aware, though, that the concept of your right and left hemispheres of your brain having radically different functions is regarded by psychologists as a myth.  Psychologists say that both hemispheres work together to achieve most tasks. But perhaps another way of looking at that is the same as I am saying here - you NEED both hemispheres to be working together; you NEED both the creativity and practicality.

If you sometimes find life a bit boring I suggest you start by checking to see if you have forgotten to keep dreaming.  If you have, that is your problem.  Start creating those dreams again.  Don't worry about the fact that you cannot yet see how some of those dreams will be achieved.  Give the Universe more credit than that.  It has enormous power and that power can be harnessed to turn your dreams into reality - but only if you have those dreams in the first place!

Getting in touch with your inner child that wants to keep dreaming is therefore an extremely important step.  Don't allow the adult in your to squash that inner child!

Once you have made sure the flow of dreams is there you can move on to the next step - turning some of them into goals.  Notice I have said "some of them".  Do not try to turn them all into goals!  That is actually one way of eventually turning off the flow of dreams.  You will find many dreams cannot yet be turned into goals, and unless you watch what is happening carefully the "adult" in you will react by telling the "child" in you to stop producing dreams it cannot turn into reality.  The "child" will then follow those instructions, and the wonderful flow of dreams will diminish and eventually stop altogether.  But some of them MUST be turned into goals if you are ever going to achieve anything.  Turn them into goals by selecting the ones that most resonate with you and try to create some deadlines.  Those deadlines may be far in the future.  If they are, break down the dreams into smaller tasks which lead to achieving the ultimate dream, and apply deadlines for the first steps.

There is plenty of help online which you can tap into in order to follow both of these principles - dream more, and create more goals.  Make sure you DO tap into it, and your life will be far more exciting and far more productive.

Using a Vision Board to Keep Your New Year's Resolutions

Have you considered creating a vision board to help you with your New Year's resolutions this year? This can be a fantastic way to stay on track and actually make your resolution achievable. Plus you can use a vision board for any type of goal or dream that you want to achieve.

Not sure what a vision board is? It’s a collection of pictures and words pasted onto a board, either a physical board or a virtual one.  In my youth I thought of a vision board as a treasure map - with my goals being the treasure depicted on the map.

The images and pictures you use can be your own or can be ones that mean something to you in some way or other. For a modern day vision board you can use a site like Pinterest.

Pinterest allows you to set up boards on which you Pin images. For example if your resolution is to lose weight you can create a Weight Loss Board. Then Pin an image of how you look at the start of your weight loss journey along with pictures of things that hold meaning to you. This could be pictures of a smaller pair of jeans, or a super black dress or a bathing suit that you want to fit into.

If you prefer to do this at home then you can use a cork board set up in your home. Or you could just attach images to your fridge or bathroom mirror.

By far the best way though, in my opinion, is to combine images, words and sounds - especially music which reflects in some way the goals you want to reach.  Don't be put off by the apparent complexity of doing this, as it is a lot simpler than it sounds if you have the right tools.  There is a digital product which makes it as easy as falling off a log!  This is the "Digital Vision Board Creation Kit" by Mind Movies, the brainchild of my friend Natalie Ledwell.  You can get 6 completely free pre-made digital vision boards on attracting wealth, finding inner peace, having a great social life, becoming healthier, becoming more confident, and learning to love yourself.  Click on the image below to pick up your 6 free digital vision boards and to find out more about the Digital Vision Board Creation Kit you can use to create your own personalized digital vision boards.  When you get your 6 free pre-made Mind Movies, you'll also get instant access to this cool video series that tells you why and how Mind Movies work. The first video is with the legendary Law of Attraction Expert Bob Proctor and it's super interesting!

The problem with New Year's resolutions is that they can be difficult to keep. The sad fact that is by the end of January almost 90% of resolution have been forgotten about or broken. Don't let this happen to you this year.

When it comes to keeping your resolution you will be more successful if you set up a plan of action. As well as writing down what your goal or resolution is try using pictures so that you can visualize your goal.

To be truly successful with your resolution your best bet is to only select one resolution to work on at a time. Write your resolution out as a statement and attach a date to end.

For example "I lost 50 pounds by December 31."

As you can see we wrote this goal out as though you have completed it. This helps to reinforce your commitment to reaching your goal. It doesn't hurt to repeat this to yourself every morning or whenever you feel your motivation lacking.   That verbalization gives your subconscious cues about what you want to happen.

If your resolution is one that you have used before it is important to forgive yourself for not reaching it before. Don't think about what you did to fail last year. Instead focus on how you will succeed, and using a vision board is a great way to do this.

You want to fill your vision board with all your hopes and dreams for things that you desire once your resolution is completed. This could be a picture of a new car, a new home, or a new wardrobe of clothes for your skinny body.

On your vision board you can create milestone sections. These could be 2 or 3 month markers. With a digital vision board you could create one for, say, the next couple of months, then update it, archiving the old board so you can look back at earlier targets.  Evaluate your progress when these dates arrive and make any changes if necessary. If you aren't on track then look back on your vision board to see where you were 3 months ago. You will be reminded that you have made progress and this can help re-motivate you.

Concentrate on what you have achieved so far and celebrate your success. No matter how small a step you have taken it is important that you acknowledge it.

A reminder again about the free Digital Vision Boards you can get from my friend Natalie Ledwell.  Here is the link:

http://www.mindmovies.com/mm4/bobproctor.php?25923

Be and Do What You Love!

I want you to take a few moments right now to daydream.  If you don't have the time right now, please don't read ahead but instead book some time in your diary when you will do this.  At least 5 or 10 minutes, or maybe a little more, when you know you will be uninterrupted and will not start worrying about something else you need to get ready to do.

Ok, are you ready?  Then let's begin.

What do you love doing the most?  Think carefully about this.  Don't just give a throwaway answer.  Don't give an answer you think someone else might want to hear.  You are safe!  Nobody else is listening.  Not your mother or father, not your spouse, not your priest, not your teacher or coach.  Nobody but you.  So be very honest here.  What do you really love doing?  Focus on it now.  Imagine you are doing it right now.  How does it make you feel?  Hold that feeling.

A different question.  If you could be anyone in the world, who would that be?  What is it about them that you would really love to have as a part of you?  Now expand on this.  Imagine you could create a completely new character by taking the very best from other role models.  Maybe people around you.  Maybe people you have read about or seen on TV or in films.  By "the very best", again I don't mean what you think you should regard as the best.  I mean aspects of that person you would really love if those aspects were a part of you.  Of your personality.  Of your mind.  Of your body.  And of your spirit.  Focus on this newly created being right now.  Imagine YOU are this lovely person.  How do you feel now?

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?  Why?  What is it that you really love about the idea of living there?  This doesn't have to be somewhere you have been.  It could be simply the kind of place you have imagined, whether or not it is a real place.  What is around you right now as you slip into this lovely place?  Try to visualize everything that is there, all the things that make it perfect for you, that make you so love being there.  Let the feeling of being there fill you with energy and fill you with love.

How about your perfect relationship?  How does that feel?  It may be your relationship with your current partner, but something about it has changed so that the love between you is magnified many times over.  Or perhaps it is a relationship with someone you have not yet met.  Let the love in that relationship fill your being.

Ok, you have finished your daydream.  For the moment.  But what I am now going to suggest is that this is a serious exercise, and not simply a daydream, which you should repeat often.  Do it when you wake in the morning.  Do it when you slip into bed at night.  Do it at odd moments during the day.  Why?  Because what you are doing is creating your dream reality.  A reality which you really can manifest and turn into a dream life that has come true for you.

What you have just learned how to do is perhaps the most difficult step of all in learning to manifest, in putting into action the Law of Attraction.  Everything you want to achieve, you really can achieve - but first you have to want it so much it becomes a burning desire.  You have to really love everything about what it is you are trying to achieve.  Do this and your dreams really can come true!

If you want to learn how to take this to the next stage, listen to this "Dream Builder" webinar:

http://lifemasteryinstitute.com/go/aff.php?p=arcoh&w=DBPWEBINAR

How to be successful

"Lord, I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" Mark 9:24

The other day one of my subscribers told me he had been trying to become successful but that it wasn't working, and he wanted to know what he should do about it.  Does this have a familiar ring?  This is probably something that, if we are truly honest, we have all suffered at one time or another.  So how do you ensure you can be successful?

Everything comes down, in the end, to state of mind.  Yes, circumstances can help or hinder.  Sometimes the circumstances in which we may find ourselves can be dire and it can seem impossible to succeed.  We look around and see nobody else in our circle is succeeding either.  It has to be the fault of our environment!  But although those circumstances may be placing apparently insurmountable obstacles in front of us, the real key is what is inside, not what is outside.  We see the obstacles and immediately something inside says "it's impossible - I will never succeed!"  And you know what?  As long as you allow that inner demon to go unchallenged it will be right.  This is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

That is the basic underlying principle of most success systems.  Change the voices within.  Change them properly, not just superficially.  Change them permanently, not just for a day or two while you are trying out a new system.  Focus them on achieving your goal and achieve it you will.

How can you change those voices?  How can you eliminate the defeatist, miserable voice that has been with you since early childhood telling you "it won't work", "you can't do it", "you aren't good enough"?  How can you turn it around so your inner, non-stop chatter is full of "that's great!", "you're getting there!", "you have what it takes!" instead?

The first step is to look at your resources and be realistic.  Many other Law of Attraction gurus may disagree with me here and tell you that whatever it is you want to achieve you CAN achieve it if you only focus on it, visualize your success properly, and truly believe it.

Well, yes, they are right.  It IS possible to achieve anything if you are able to do those three things:

1. have a clear, smart goal
2. visualize achieving it whilst basking in the positive emotions this creates
3. believe with every grain of your being that on another plane you have already achieved it and your only task now is to bring that already successful achievement down into this plane.

Read that paragraph again, as you will find it is the master key to success.  But look again at the very last essential component.  Believe.  If you do not have that solid, unshakeable belief then all the rest is just window dressing.  If your goal is unrealistic your subconscious will know this (even though many gurus will try to tell you otherwise) and it will resist your every attempt to believe.

Paradoxically, being realistic does not mean limiting yourself to far less than you really want to achieve.  I would view realism here as a recognition of the fourth dimension that currently constrains us all - time.

The enormously successful inventor, business magnate and philanthropist, Bill Gates, once said "most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years."  So do not set yourself a short term goal that you know in your heart of hearts you are unlikely to achieve in the time you have given yourself.  By all means set that seemingly unachievable desire as your long term goal, but then focus on what you can do NOW which is one step towards it and which does not seem completely impossible.

Once you are certain you have chosen that short term goal wisely, visualize how you will feel when you have achieved it.  Let that feeling permeate your whole being.  See how wonderful that feeling is!  Know that you HAVE achieved it, and bask in the feeling that generates within you.  Start noting down the differences it makes.  You HAVE achieved it, and now your role is simply to recognize this whilst at the same time taking the steps necessary to make it a reality in this plane as well as the plane above where it is already a reality.

If you tackle your dreams and goals in this way, drawing on the immense power of belief but not at the same time putting obstacles in the way of that belief (obstacles such as being completely unrealistic!) you WILL succeed.

Once you have taken this vital first step, look around for the tools that will help you reach your goal faster.  There are many such tools out there.  Some are great, some mediocre, and some don't really work at all.  Let me help you by sifting out the mediocre and useless.  Join me, if you haven't done so already, by going to www.beallican.com where you will get 4 e-books to help you on your way and will receive regular information from me on systems to help you achieve what you desire, many of which are completely free.

5 Simple Steps For Creating Powerful Affirmations

by

Natalie Ledwell

Do you know what the majority of the world's most successful people have in common? 

Well, besides being wealthy and sometimes famous, many of them actually use affirmations and visualization to bring their dreams and goals to reality! 

One really good example is the story of Jim Carrey. Jim used to go up every night to Mulholland Drive and sit on top of his car, look out at the city, stretch out his arms and say: "Everybody wants to work with me. I'm a really good actor. I have all kinds of great movie offers." 

He would repeat these affirmations over and over until he convinced himself that he had a couple of movies lined up. But he didn't stop there, he also wrote a check to himself for 10 million dollars, kept it in his wallet and then 6 months later he got this amount as a payment for his work on 'Dumb and Dumber'! Not bad, huh? 

As you can see, affirmations are extremely powerful and the reason is because they directly affect our conscious and subconscious mind. And by consistently repeating them with conviction and passion, they reprogram our thoughts allowing us to not only change our state of mind, but to also materialize our dreams and goals regardless of how big or crazy they may seem. 

So if you'd like to follow the footsteps of some of the most successful people in the world... 

Then follow these 5 simple tips to create powerful affirmations, and start manifesting your dreams right away! 

1. Start with the words, "I Am..." These two words are extremely powerful as your brain knows that you're referring to yourself. Starting your affirmations with these two words will give your subconscious mind clarity and belief that whatever comes after them, IS your reality.

2. Write in the present tense. When you say affirmations in present tense, you're reassuring yourself that you believe whatever is in your affirmation, is factual and real right now. 

Your mind can't tell the difference between past or future, fake or real, this is why when you imagine yourself drinking lemon juice, you start producing saliva. Also, when your words are in the present tense, your mind can visualize the image at the same time. 

3. Keep it positive. Avoid words with negative connotations like 'not to', 'don't, 'can't', 'fear', etc. Our minds focus more on these words instead of avoiding them. For example, if I asked you NOT TO think about a blue elephant, your mind will picture a blue elephant even though I asked you not to think about it. Instead of saying 'I am able to get rid of stage fright', say 'I am enjoying the excitement of speaking on stage'. 

4. Make it short and clear. Remember that the main purpose of an affirmation is for you to be able to picture it and ingrain it into your mind. So when creating an affirmation, make it direct and specific. 

5. Make it exciting. When creating affirmations, you want to create positive, self-affirming, self-empowering statements that uplift and inspire you. So make sure you add fun and exciting words like, 'I am ENJOYING making $100,000 a year.' 

Repeat your affirmations as many times a day as you can, even when you may feel you don't need to. Remember that consistency is key if you really want to make a positive and lasting change in your life. 

Now that you know one of the greatest secrets for creating wealth and success in your life, I want to share with you something that personally helped me achieve the financial success that I had always desired - which was figuring out (and removing) any mental traps that were lingering in my mind! 

To help you, I created a FREE, fun and powerful 30-second quiz. 

Take the quiz here right now << Click me! 

After just a few quick multiple choice questions, you'll get access to a free, revealing video report detailing what mental trap could be blocking you from the financial freedom and success you desire right now, PLUS how to remove it!

About the Author:

Natalie Ledwell is a Law of Attraction expert, bestselling author and speaker. She also hosts an online TV Show, The Inspiration Show, and is a co-founder of the personal development company, Mind Movies, which offers online courses and coaching programs. Natalie is passionate about helping others to achieve their greatest dreams and ambitions through personal transformation.

Find out more about Natalie and Mind Movies by visiting 

http://www.mindmovies.com/index.php?25923.