quote:

Originally posted by CaptJack:
Phil,

Can you elaborate having peaceful feeling and joyful feelings? Is one better to have then the other or will getting to a peaceful state be equal to getting to a joyful state?

I guess it’s easier for me to feel peaceful than joyful.

CaptJack,

I’ve been thinking about your question. I think it just matters that one just keeps getting better at feeling better, whether it’s peaceful, joyful, confident, relaxed, feeling safe, feeling worthy of good things, feeling deserving, feeling loving, kind and loved, optimistic, etc.

This partially means becoming more aware of your thought patterns or beliefs that conflict with good feelings. For example, it means noticing the ‘feeling’ difference between discussing some matter, and arguing about it, and how your thinking determines which way a conversation will go. Or, the difference between judging someone, or being discerning about their behavior, and how judging and discerning feel very different from each other.

I’m guessing you’ve experienced the feeling difference between a discussion about something and an argument over the same thing. You’ve probably experienced the different outcomes of either a discussion, or an argument. Can you see how paying attention to your feelings can help you create more of the outcomes you really want?

Can you also see how it’s one’s perspective or beliefs that determine whether two or more people talking about something is a discussion or an argument? (Circumstances don’t determine how we feel.)

Recently, in the book ‘Get Out Of Your Own Way’, I came across a wonderful idea, that I didn’t even realize I had been doing, until I read about. It involve mentally, in your imagination, playing with situations that have been ‘problematic’ and figuring out how to deal with them more peacefully, more lovingly, more relaxed, more wisely, in better feeling ways. If you do this you become better prepared, rather than just taking things only as they come.

Consider this: Professionals in virtually every area of life practice MUCH MORE than they perform, whether it’s doctors, athletes, artists, lawyers, speakers, musicians, etc. And it’s easy to see the results of all those countless hours of diligent practice, as we watch the Kobe Bryants, or observe how skillfully some doctors treat wounds or illnesses, or how effortlessly some musicians play or sing, etc.

The thing to realize is, this same kind of ‘practicing’ can be applied to the repetitive experiences of ordinary life. Constructive mental imagining, planning, rehearsing and practice can help us better handle situations that repeatedly come up, so that we experience better outcomes for all concerned.

For example, mentally rehearsing how you’re going to handle your kids the next time you all go shopping. Or the next time you talk with your wife.

I think it’s just important to understand that it actually makes a difference when you can come to feel better, calmer, more relaxed or peaceful, whether it’s about your finances, work life, how you spend your leisure or free time, or how you think and relate to yourself, others, how you are in any of your relationships, etc. Feeling better will simply put you into a flow where things begin to work out better, more and more easily and effortlessly.

Therefore, I believe it’s worth putting conscious deliberate effort into feeling better.

Here’s something else I think worth considering.

You may not need any very good reason to feel good, in order to get the results of feeling good. Let me explain.

Do you know of the actress, Michelle Rodriguez? (She was a critical hit in the movie ‘Girlfight.’ Most recently co-starred in Avatar.) She said that, as a child she knew she would be famous.

When I heard that I wondered,… how did she know? How COULD she know?

And what I concluded is, maybe you don’t really have to know. I think, sometimes, people just say they ‘know’ when they really mean they had a feeling or an intuition about something. It seems you just need to decide somehow, or allow yourself to play with some wonderful idea, so that, when you talk to yourself you get a feeling like, “I know,…”

I read something similar from Oprah. She said, as a little child, watching her grandmother hand wash clothes in a big kettle, she knew she was going to have a life better than this. How did she know? How could she know? She has said, she just knew, and even that she didn’t know how she knew, but that she just knew. She just knew her life was going to be better than that.

“I was raised on a farm with my grandmother for the first six years of my life -- I knew somehow that my life would be different and it would be better. I never had a clear cut vision of what it was that I would be doing. I remember absolutely physically feeling it at around four years old. I remember standing on the back porch -- it was a screened-in porch -- and my grandmother was boiling clothes because, you know, at that time, we didn't have washing machines, and so people would, you know, physically boil clothes in a great big iron pot. She was boiling clothes and poking them down. And I was watching her from the back porch, and I was four years old and I remember thinking, "My life won't be like this. My life won't be like this, it will be better." [Elsewhere she said, it wasn’t with these exact words, but was more of just a feeling, but it was a very clear feeling.] And it wasn't from a place of arrogance, it was just a place of knowing that things could be different for me somehow. I don't know what made me think that.” Oprah Winfrey, from:
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/win0int-1

Michael Dell, of Dell computers said something similar. He said he didn’t know how he was going to make his idea for a computer company work. He just had the vision of it, and knew it was possible. He said he had the vision of it, and just worked backwards from that vision.

I think Neville describes the essence of this process here:

"First, have a dream, and by a dream I mean a day dream, a glorious, wonderful day dream. Then ask yourself, 'What would it be like if it were true that I am now the man I am dreaming I would like to be. What would it be like?' Then catch the mood of the wish fulfilled and drench yourself with that feeling. Then for all your tomorrows try to the best of your ability to walk faithful to that assumption, and I am telling you from my own experience, in a way that no one knows, it will come and it will come suddenly." - From "Immortal Man" by Neville.

I hope this helps.

Phil

Phil your posts are always help. I am getting better at changing my feelings or least feeling nothing.

I also have been looking at what I really want and reworking my CMI. I have an income level in mind and a few years ago I had talked to 2 people about me buying there business. I sent both of them another email and both are willing to sell but there seems to be problems with both of them. First guy owes money on his which would have to be paid off first which wouldn’t allow me to get a profit margin and the other guy wants too much money and financing may be a issue.

Is my CMI not clear enough? I mean I felt inspired to take the action to email them and then the thing that is my CMI is there for me but all the strings make it not feasible.

I can change my feelings during the day but in the morning I wake and I feel fear almost terrified. It’s not specific it’s general. My personal situation and my business situation, I am short every month.

I guess its not enough time either. I am in a transitional house till I can find another place.

quote:

Originally posted by CaptJack: I had talked to 2 people about me buying there business.

CaptJack,

I’m curious. Play this out for me in your imagination, if you don’t mind.

Let’s say somehow you suddenly got a few million dollars, tax free, to do with as you please.

Would you still pursue either of these businesses?

Would you even stay in the business you’re currently in?

Phil

CaptJack,

Read the following quote:

“If you were listening to the hypnotic voice of your Source, you'd be constantly hearing the drum beating that says, "You are loved, and you are worthy, and you are valued and life is supposed to be good for you. You are worthy, you are valued, you are loved and life is supposed to be good for you.” Abraham-Hicks

Do you believe it’s true? If so, do you see how some of your thoughts, beliefs and feelings are out of sync with it?

From what I can tell, we are the only ones holding us back or holding back the better conditions or experiences we want. And we do this by holding on to thoughts, beliefs and feelings that aren't in sync with what we really want.

Phil

Phil,

I was just thinking of this the other day. If I recieved a few millions dollars tax free I would still keep my current job. I would take more time off but I would still do what I do.

I want to hear that hypnotic voice of my source but I dont hear that.

I am working on chosing better conditions and experiences.

quote:

Originally posted by CaptJack:
Phil,

I was just thinking of this the other day. If I recieved a few millions dollars tax free I would still keep my current job. I would take more time off but I would still do what I do.

I want to hear that hypnotic voice of my source but I dont hear that.

I am working on chosing better conditions and experiences.

I’m wondering, if there were a business that you would do, even if you had millions, and another that you wouldn’t do, would you be more likely to make one successful more than the other?

I’m not suggesting you should start hearing voices. I’m asking you, do you believe, “You are loved, and you are worthy, and you are valued and life is supposed to be good for you?”

Phil

p.s. Have you read the book, ‘The Four Hour Work Week’? If you already have a business that you love, it might be a good fit.

I have had pretty much one career all my life and that is insurance. I worked for a company that they owned the business and I went on my own in March of 06. If I had millions I would still own my agency. I wouldn’t work as much and I would pretty much have people run it for me. If I didn’t have anything to do it wouldn’t be satisfying to me. My CMI is to have a successful insurance agency generating several million in premium and having staff that handles the day to day stuff. I had inspired action to find producers to write business for me and have actually signed up over 70 people to do this. Great I see how those people came into my experience from studying SOGR. I even write business in 2 other states. I pay them on a commission basis on what they write and there renewals. Sounds great doesn’t it? Well I did a good job of finding these people but out of those 70 people I have maybe 5 or 6 that write any business and they usually only write 1 or 2 small policies a month. The business hasn’t been the best either which is causing me to reevaluate my whole program. I am grateful for those who write and who have written business with me. The potential for what I am offering is amazing but it just hasn’t taken off for some reason. I believe I was inspired by the formless with the idea of finding these producers and the manner in which I found some of them was beyond coin incidence. So they why the lack of production?

If I was a factory worker or manual labor I wouldn’t continue to work. There is nothing wrong with those professions but if I was financially secure I wouldn’t chose to continue working if I was in a profession like that.

I can’t say yet that I believe I am loved or worthy and life is easy. From my experience to date I just can’t say it’s totally true. Some days are better than other and I know other people have it a lot worse than I do. I am thinking often of what you are saying and seeing if I can make myself feel that way and I can think that and feel that sort of, but as far as totally believing it not sure yet.

Being away from my family and being alone every night I am trying to take this opportunity to really go inside and learn what I can. I know I cannot go back unit I learn to be happy where ever I am and get myself straight. In just the short time I have been out several opportunities have presented themselves with my business. I have a verbal agreement with a gentleman about making some investments that would almost be almost 80% of my annual income from last year. I can’t count on that till he signs on the dotted line though. I have the 2 opportunities to purchase a book of business but there are issues with financing.

CaptJack,

Can you imagine how it might be different to try and create a good life, but believe it’s not meant for you? And trying to create a good life, and believing “life was meant to be good for you”?

Can you imagine how it might be different to try and create a good life, but all the while you’re believing you’re not worthy? Or, trying to create a good life, while believing “You are loved, and you are worthy, and you are valued,…”?

How can you come to believe these things? First, consider the possibility that EVERYONE is worthy, loved and meant to have a good life. This way, you don’t have to think, “A good life is only for ‘special’ people.”

Next, do what professional advertisers do: Inundate yourself with the message. Take this quote and post it where you constantly will see and read it, on your computer, on your bathroom mirror, on your dash of your car. Then, when you read it, imagine how you’d feel IF you believed it was true.

“If you were listening to the hypnotic voice of your Source, you'd be constantly hearing the drum beating that says, "You are loved, and you are worthy, and you are valued and life is supposed to be good for you. You are worthy, you are valued, you are loved and life is supposed to be good for you.” Abraham-Hicks

Just like with TV, billboard and magazine ads, just the fact that you see a message over and over and over – in some positive, captivating way -- will cause you to eventually come to agree with it.

That’s how you create new beliefs. You now have the time and opportunity. Put it to good use.

"The Universe responds to how you feel." Esther Hicks

Consider this: One of the best things you can do for those you love is, be happy and appreciate and feel good about yourself. It sets a good example, don't you think?

Phil

quote:

Sounds great doesn’t it? Well I did a good job of finding these people but out of those 70 people I have maybe 5 or 6 that write any business and they usually only write 1 or 2 small policies a month. The business hasn’t been the best either which is causing me to reevaluate my whole program. I am grateful for those who write and who have written business with me. The potential for what I am offering is amazing but it just hasn’t taken off for some reason. I believe I was inspired by the formless with the idea of finding these producers and the manner in which I found some of them was beyond coin incidence. So they why the lack of production?

Well, CaptJack, I've got a personal story to tell you that might give you one place to start looking:

I've been asked about this in interviews that can be found on a number of websites (and there may even be one that mentions this still on the Update Page, but here's the short -- for me, anyway! -- version.

Telling this was, at first, embarrassing but now I just look at "that" me with understanding and love, as someone who was doing the best she knew how at the time. And I see that how it played out was really just right.

I was in a networking business with a partner when someone first gave me this book in very early 1998. I read it, so did my partner, and we began to notice our thoughts, feelings, actions and words and to shift them if they weren't in harmony with what we wanted to experience (our "clear mental images").

Oh boy, I just realized I don't know if there even IS a short version of this!

Well, we'd been in that business four years or more already and had some great initial success and then things kind of slumped in a major way. We used to get so frustrated because we had big ideas and we were good at all the various aspects of the biz, but somehow it just wasn't coming together the way we'd hoped.

It was a puzzlement.

But when we started reading SOGR -- and REreading! -- things started to change. Major things that led to everyone in our company suddenly hearing on the marketing voicemail system that we'd just "come out of nowhere" to have this spectacular success. (The company did it's first opening in another country -- our delightful neighbor to the north -- and my partner and I had created the biggest team during the opening month -- and then it grew.)

All that happened in just over a year and in so many unforeseen ways, lots of surprising twists and turns (which when I first learned how you have to let go of thinking your idea of how things SHOULD happen is the only or best way; just open up).

But before any of those outer, "physical," measurable things happened, we totally transformed what we were creating and attracting by those simple, seemingly small, in-the-moment CHOICES of how to look at whatever was going on.

See -- and this is the part that was so embarrassing -- I realized that all along I had been looking at the pretty good-sized number of people in our business who talked well or looked good but did NOT produce as LOSERS.

I would never have said it or treated them unkindly, but in my mind -- there it was. I didn't really believe they would ever do anything, I didn't believe they meant what they said, I didn't believe that they had it in them to change.

I didn't EXPECT anything good from them.

And since that's the seed I planted -- and NURTURED -- why should I have been at all frustrated or confused about what sprouted and grew and what the harvest of that was?

But when I became AWARE of that thinking and how it made me feel, I then had real power. Because THEN I could choose something different.

Takes some practice but it's not "hard." It's just that you've got to give it time to wear a new path, a new groove in your brain. (A new neural connection and pathway, actually.) If you just play at it or tell yourself it's silly or too much work or whatever, then that new groove won't happen and your wheels will just slip right back into the usual one.

So it occurs to me that the fact that I was like a sponge with SOGR and just kept re-reading it, looking for one more crumb of insight was exactly the reason the shift happened so powerfully.

Maybe it wasn't even the insights or new ideas I got directly from all that reading. Maybe it was just that continuously, serially reading the book 150 times before I stopped counting (I'm not kidding) reprogrammed my brain. My subconscious had a LOT of new beliefs to take the place of the old limiting ones -- simply from "hearing" Wally's message of personal POWER over and over again.

Either way, suddenly seeing that I could choose which thoughts to entertain, to keep giving my attention to, was a mindblowing breakthrough -- and it had huge results in the outer manifestation really, really fast.

I was right: There's no short version.

Now this sort of thing may or not be the case with you (although I'd be willing to bet that there is ALWAYS some of this kind of thinking going on in a set-up where other people are working for you or on your team or the like), but it looks like you're in an excellent position to begin to question your own thoughts about all sorts of things.

When we are not in the habit of self-inquiry like this, it's quite astonishing to see what's there.

Give it a shot if it makes sense to you.

CaptJack,

They say there are no coincidences. And that everything happens for a reason.

I just read Rebecca’s story and it sounded so similar to one I just heard yesterday that I’m going to share that story with you.

This story comes from Christy Whitman, someone who is now a successful ‘Law of Attraction’ teacher. Apparently, about a dozen or so years ago, she was one negative person,… overweight, broke, living a string of unhappy, unfulfilling relationships, etc. She said she was living in a rented room, as she couldn't afford to even share an apartment. But she believed there was more to life, and possibly a better way, so she went looking and found some prosperity teachers and studied.

She studied and started making noticeable progress, both with work and her health and also her relationships. But she also hit a ‘snag’ with someone who had been working for her for a little while. And she, like Rebecca, noticed – because of what she had been studying – that she had not been thinking the best thoughts about this person. So she decided to do one of the exercises a prosperity teacher shared with her. It was to take any person or circumstance that she didn’t like and write (not just think, but actually WRITE) everything that she APPRECIATED about the person or circumstance. And to keep at it until she had a good list. Her teacher had told her, everyone has a lot of good in them. You just need to start noticing and focusing on that. Because, you’re always going to get whatever you focus on.

She said at first she couldn’t think of anything,… and that was revealing to her in itself. All she could think of at first were his shortcomings,.. he’s been late to work. He talks too much. He doesn’t listen, he blah, blah, blah. But she stayed with it and then after awhile, positive ideas began to flow. She thought, “Well, he actually is a nice person. He’s easy to get along with and he’s a kind person. And he’s almost always in a good mood. And he usually does show up on time. And when he knows what to do he gets right to it and gets things done, etc., etc., etc.”

Before long she had a good long list of things she appreciated about him. And what she then noticed is, this made her FEEL better about him.

So, continuing this experiment, she applied it to others and to her circumstances (which she hadn’t been thinking were very great) and everything else she could think of. And she noticed she felt even better.

She said, it was only a few days of this, and changes started to happen. The man working for her suddenly just seemed to come up with great ideas and great solutions to what were ongoing problems. Work started to increase. She said she even started to lose more weight, even though she hadn’t changed her exercise routine, and had even missed a day.

This, she said, was all the evidence she needed. Now she knew what worked and how to make her life work. Since then she’s gone on to have great business success with her own consulting and coaching business. She has gone on to co-write a best selling book, meet and marry the man of her dreams and buy her dream house and dream car.

Here’s how she put it in a nutshell. She said, at any moment, with anything that you are paying attention to, notice if you’re APPRECIATING or DE-PRECIATING. Are you appreciating people, or depreciating people? Are you appreciating yourself or depreciating yourself? Are you appreciating what you have, or are you depreciating what you have? And this, she said, is a major key to it all.

Now also consider, at this point you can think that these stories are just ‘coincidentally’ coming to you. Or, maybe,… maybe you’re doing something right and you’re attracting them, as in ‘The Law of Attraction’?

“Throughout my lifetime, I’d learned over and over again that there are no accidents in the Universe,...” from p. 79 of Real Moments by Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D.

Phil

Like I said, maybe you should really consider the possibility that "life was meant to be good for you"?

CaptJack,

Did you try the exercise? Did you write down positive aspects, things you can appreciate or what is good about your 70 business associates? Did you do this so that you got to where, when you think of them you get a noticeably good feeling?

(And also, are you practicing so that you are better at feeling good about yourself?)

"The Universe responds to how we feel." Esther Hicks

By the way, Jack, if you go back thru this (and other) threads, you’ll see I’ve been saying the essence of this all along. You need to get your feelings (how you are ‘vibrating’ is how others put it) into alignment with all that you want.

Here’s how another has put it:

“The important thing is that you actively put yourself in the vibration you must for your desired outcome to be created.” - Multimillionaire businessman and teacher, John Assaraf, from p. 168 of his book ‘The Street Kid’s Guide To Having It All’

Who is John Assaraf? He’s someone who created a billion + real estate empire, amongst other things, and he says it’s due to studying SOGR as presented by Bob Proctor over twenty years ago now.

I also like Abraham-Hicks take on this. If you’ve got 10 minutes, watch this video:

Why Feel Good?

It will help clarify the power in and of ‘feeling good.’


Phil

I did do the exercise and I did it for all of them at once not each one. I will also do it again I didnt feel a huge differance a slight one but not huge so I will maye do it for like the the top 10 producers.

I am working on my feelings and its a process. I think in the past I did maintain the effort over long periods of time. I would do it for a week and then be looking for where is it, or feel uspest because I precieved not enough of a shift.

I woke again at 5am and felt that pain in my stomache like somethings wrong. I often have feelings of fear like what is the next bad thing gonna happen to me. When I feel those I do my best to change those feelings. At other times I feel like im on my way and im full of hope.

I know it will just take time for adjustments.

quote:

Originally posted by CaptJack:
I did do the exercise,... I didnt feel a huge differance,...

Capt,

I think a part of the reason you don’t get great ‘good feeling’ results is,… incentive.

Maybe you just don’t believe it will make any significant difference. So, you don’t really focus on it. (It doesn’t require effort. It requires focus and intent.)

Consider this: What if there were a game show with a million dollar prize? And to win, you just have to demonstrate you’re actually feeling wonderful, peaceful, glad, etc. And imagine they have a machine they hook you up to that can actually measure your mood*, so you can’t just fake it, you actually have to experience these feelings. (*fyi, from what I understand, there are such machines; adapted from brain scanning machines, EEGs, ECGs, etc.)

Now, suppose they give you up to an hour to get to where you’re really feeling very measurably good. Do you think you could win in such a game show?

If so, then you know it’s possible to dramatically change how you feel. So, the question I have is, do you think it’s worth it?

Phil

I know I can change how I feel. Its not always a 10 on the scale but I can go from feeling bad to not so bad and at least up to even.

When I am aware of the not so good feelings I go to change them. It is just taking some time and effort to reprogram myself.

I know its worth it but like I said its a work in progress.

Thanks for spending alot of your time helping me finally get it.

Capt,

Here’s a little exercise that might help you accelerate your skill at determining how you feel. (And thereby, accelerate the good results you can experience in your life.)

Make a list of thoughts, that if you believed them, you would feel better, or feel good. Now, let me make clear, you don’t have to start out believing any idea you come up with. Just let your imagination come up with thoughts that **IF** you believed them you would feel better or feel more wonderful, more like you want to feel. Remember: These are not thoughts that you need to start out believing. They are just thoughts you come up with that IF you believe them you’d feel better. Examples:

 I trust the idea that the Universe is on my side and wants me to enjoy my life.
 I can feel peaceful and happy whenever I want to.
 Things always eventually work out for me, and everyone concerned.
 I realize I’m a wonderful, worthwhile person, deserving of a wonderful life.
 I believe we were all meant to have wonderful, fulfilling life experiences.
 I believe that the better I feel, the more I will get ideas and experiences that will better my life, not just for me but for everyone in my life, and everyone in the world.
 I believe I have more potential for good than I could ever even imagine.
 I believe everyone has more potential for good than they could ever imagine.
 I know how to happily and peacefully improve all my relationships.
 I believe the Universe is Infinite and there is unlimited good in the Universe.
 I feel so loved and appreciated.
 I feel the power to do good is increasing in me.
 I am really discovering the incredible joy inherent in every moment.
 I am as calm and relaxed as I want to be.
 I am really grasping my unlimited potential.
 I know that wonderful solutions exist for all of my concerns.
 I know that, more and more, I am tuning into wonderful solutions for everything that concerns me.

I suggest you set aside about ten or fifteen minutes a day to do this exercise. Maybe a time in your morning would be great.

I also suggest you try to do it in writing, because then you will engage more of your senses and the thoughts will have more opportunity to penetrate into every part of you. Also, writing the ideas will help you stay focused for these few minutes. And, my understanding is, even a few minutes a day focused on ideal thoughts will definitely have a good effect over time. They will actually change the way the Universe arranges itself in our lives.

I hope you try it even once. If you do, and you’ve done a few minutes of it, at the end of the ‘session’ notice if how you feel has improved.

This may just be one of the quickest, easiest ways to get attuned to abundance and everything working out in your life. And it will only take a few minutes, out of the 1,440 minutes you have each day. Try it. I think you’ll get a pleasant experience from it.

I’d love to hear if you gave it a go, and how you felt at the end of the exercise.

Phil

Thanks Phil! I tapped them in. And I feel light and happy.

quote:

Originally posted by azsunbeam:
Thanks Phil! I tapped them in. And I feel light and happy.

Dawn, that was a GREAT idea! I just did it too, and I feel deeply peaceful. Thanks for posting this Phil.

Dawn, that's a BRILLIANT idea - thank you!

You are very welcome. I tap in affirmations when I remember and it does feel very good. Write out your favorites that ring true with you and experience it every day. :-D

Yes, tapping is very powerful.

I realised today that the belief that would most help me is 'I can find a new job easily'.

I need to get tapping on that one. BTW, I use EFT all the time and I think it's terrific.