Student: What is doubt?
Teacher: Doubt is dis-ease of the mind.

Doubt is a psychic illness; it’s not natural. Doubt comes from believing in oneself, but not having faith in oneself. There is a big difference between believing and having faith.

Children are ‘taught to believe in themselves’. It seems like a good idea. The problem with ‘believing’ is that it’s a head-mind trip; it’s an intellectual endeavor; it comes with repeating and memorizing positive affirmations.

“I am powerful, I am wealthy, I am talented.” Say this enough times, and you believe it. BUT if you don’t experience it – if you don’t get out in the world and make these ideals real – you still have doubt. This is why so many human beings grow up feeling disappointed with their lives. They are taught to believe in themselves, but they were not taught to take chances to prove their beliefs are true (which brings the feeling of self-faith).

When you believe, you have doubt.
When you have faith, you are doubtless!
A belief can be changed.
Faith is unchangeable; it’s immutable; it’s unmoveable.

If you have a choice of believing in yourself or having faith in yourself, take the action necessary to choose the latter.

With faith, there is no doubt, and the mind is at ease.

With even the strongest belief, there is a glimpse of doubt, and the mind is dis-eased.

I’ve believed in myself and still had doubt. How do I know? I was still indecisive; my future still felt unpredictable.

Student: What can I do about doubt?
Teacher: Stop believing in yourself.

Cardinal Rule: anytime you believe anything, doubt is hiding deep within the belief. The fear is there. The more you insist your belief is true, the deeper in hiding goes the doubt, but it is always waiting to strike!

 So, how do you get from believing to faith? You must go through the dark passage of doubt. And how do you do that? You must act on the idea that you want to believe is true about you; act on it, in spite of the 1,000 reasons why you don’t have time right now!

You must start that business that you plan to open, and sell your car to get the start-up funds, if necessary. How else are you to prove the doubts wrong! A thousand affirmations won’t do it. If you stick to taking action, it will be very worthwhile! A deep heart-felt sense of faith will overcome you.

A TIP: You cultivate beliefs in your mind.
You go deep within yourself to nourish faith.

Faith is always deep inside of you, like a fertile seed waiting to be nourished. You must take action, learn from your miss-takes, and re-take the action to nourish the seed of faith. If you act, and quit with your first mistake, the seed of faith lies dormant.

People who become great achievers move away from the crowd. They dare venture onto the unchartered sea, aspiring to reach a rich port that has not yet been mapped. How can they trust the universe to support them on their journey if they simply believe the port exists? They cannot. They must zig zag, zig zag, zig zag, their way to the port until they have faith that it exists and they have faith that they will reach it. NOW, ALL OF THE INTERACTIVE FORCES OF CREATION JUMP ALIVE TO HELP.

The heart-mind knows faith.
The head-mind knows intellectual beliefs.
This is why the heart-mind is essential to your growth and development.
You cannot intellectually think your way to higher levels of living.

Which shall you cultivate – your heart-mind or your head-mind?

When I went into the restaurant business, I did NOT believe that I had the expertise to succeed … BUT I had faith in myself …. I had faith that I would succeed. I could not come up with one good reason that would substantiate a belief that I’d succeed … BUT my faith brought me three very successful restaurants in three years.

When I wrote my first book, I BELIEVED it would be a best seller. I affirmed it would be a thousand times a day (head-mind work). I did not have faith in myself. It sold 28,000 copies so far. That is not enough to make the New York Times Bestseller list. The greatest of failures become dynamic when one looks at them with self-awareness!

Okay, so what do you think?

What did you learn from this?

Can you share a tale of when you were of great belief, but little faith, … and failed?

Can you share a tale of when you were of little belief, but great faith … and won?

 Thank you, and blessings

“Best Comment of the Week.” This weeks best comments come from Jimmy of My Life Architects and OluwaRotimi Adesina. Thank you both for your honest, heartfelt sharing. See their comments here.

Illustrations by nick

Thanks to all of you Boston Mind Adventurers’ and Mastermind Alliance Folks who stopped by the Boston Book Festival and picked up a limited edition, pre-publication version of our newest title: Marvelous Denials & Wonderful Obsessions. See some images of the ‘Marvelous’ weekend here.

Next Stop: Miami International Book Fair Nov. 18 – 20

Thanks to all of you Boston Mind Adventurers’ and Mastermind Alliance Folks who stopped by the Boston Book Festival and picked up a limited edition, pre-publication version of our newest title: Marvelous Denials & Wonderful Obsessions. See some images of the ‘Marvelous’ weekend here.

Rejoicing at the Boston Book Festival

You’ve heard the statement, ‘rejoice in life’? The Boston Book Festival offers this opportunity; the opportunity to rejoice in the beauties of the fall season in New England, rejoice in the joyful music being played on stage at the fair, and most of all, rejoice in wonderful conversations with folks gathering to support the world of books.

I find when human beings gather to celebrate a worthwhile purpose, like the world of books, mundane conversation transforms into the sacred communication. I met several folks at the fair who were willing to share life-stories at a transformational level. The voice of transformation is far reaching; it’s found at every level of living.

Kerrie, a mother of three children, attended the book fair with her youngest son, Derek. Derek is a gifted poet, actor, and musician at the ripe age of fourteen. He carries a sense of humble certainty that is very apparent when you meet him. Imagine, and at such a young age.

I loved Derek’s attitude and I loved his mom’s enthusiasm. Kerrie said that Derek’s blossoming was his Wonderful Obsession, and she was dedicating her life to helping his unfoldment to be a ‘natural happening’. She held this in her heart as a unwavering point of understanding about her and Derek. All smallness and discord drops away when one looks at her (his) self-created mission with this kind of conviction.

It’s not a coincidence that she found the Mind Adventure Tent at the book fair. Right there, sitting on the table was a pre-publication edition of my new book, Marvelous Denials and Wonderful Obsessions. Kerrie purchased a couple of books so she and Derek could study it together, and better understand the incredible journey they were on.

We go beyond ourselves (our limited selves), through courageous self-facing; Kerrie understood this; she’d quit a secure job of twenty years in the Massachusetts State Court System, and moved to New York. She took this quantum leap for one reason: to allow her son to attend a school for gifted children. The breath of life renews whenever we act with this kind of conviction.

I met several people at the fair who are at a point where they are renouncing the foolishness in their lives. They’d recently realized that it was time to renounce all useless ideas that prove unfulfilling to their being. At the start, you need only start asking right questions.

I met  a man who I will call ‘Steve’, a very successful entrepreneur, who had sold his startup company for over four hundred and fifty million dollars, and had recently returned from a year traveling around the world with his wife and three children. He was supposed to be blissfully happy, right? After all, he had arrived! At least, that is what the world-voice taught him.

After returning home from his trip, Steve realized that if he was to live his life according to his own sense, he wasn’t finished; he hadn’t arrived; there are many more mountains to climb. In fact, he realized that at the age of forty, he’d only begun … but he was feeling anxious. He lost the feeling of being wonderfully obsessed, and he was concerned – could he bring that feeling of aliveness back to his attitude? It was time for a new venture.

Everyone can carry fool’s gold in his mind, thinking it is pure gold. Steve was renouncing the golden axiom: ‘once you’re successful and rich, you’ve got it made’. He could see that this was fool’s gold; there are higher callings that are more fulfilling and much richer feeling than selling a successful company for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Steve was feeling a dull ache deep inside. He knew it was time to listen to his inner-voice. This voice was saying, “connect with life at a deeper level with your next venture … it’s time to begin right now.” On this Saturday in October, as Steve stood at the entrance of the beautiful Boston Public Library, pondering what to do next with his life, he noticed the Mind Adventure tent, and felt compelled to come over and have a look.

Steve explained all of the above to me, and went on to say that he’d been flirting with an ‘educational services’ idea. He said that he wanted to bring great will and great effort to this new idea, as he did when he developed his prior idea that became a phenomenal success. BUT … Steve feared he might fail this time.

Those 60,000 NO’s that we hear from age two to six are always ready to pounce, no matter where we are in life. Steve had graduated from one of the finest colleges in the world, and had proven he can be a whopping success in business; yet he was feeling insecure. This was a wonderful wakeup moment for Steve.

Steve loved the title, Marvelous Denials and Wonderful Obsessions; he caught onto what it meant immediately, and he realized it was time for him to deny the lies that made him feel insecure about starting over again. He also realized that no one but ‘HE’ could generate a wonderful obsession about his incredible potential to develop his new idea.

Steve is ready to ‘create something useful’ and ‘give back’ in a way that can make an incredible difference in the educational world … and yet, echoing NO’s from childhood years were beginning to interfere (in spite of the fact that he’d accomplished so much already). He was awakening to the fact that he was standing in his own way.

Wakefulness is a marvelous way of life. Wakefulness is an ongoing experience, not a one-time event. The Boston Book Fair was a wonderful opportunity for self-awakening for anyone who wanted it to be … including me, Nick (the artist and illustrator of Mind Adventure), Kerrie, Steve, and for many other folks who attended the fair. Every time we awaken a bit more, we see things from a higher perspective.

The mechanical thinker sleeps through life. He’s a robot-like machine who is compelled to hesitate and procrastinate. What compels him? The echoes of a thousand howling NO’s from the graveyard of his past. These folks don’t tend to go to book fairs.

The curious soul gets out there; he goes to events like book fairs; he watches, she listens, he reads, she is clear about wanting to awaken to more of her potential.

Student: How happy is he who is awake to his unrealized potential, and feels Wonderfully Obsessed about realizing more of it?

Teacher: He is very happy!

You are meant to be far more than a highly sophisticated machine. My book, Marvelous Denials and Wonderful Obsessions, helps you gain the knowledge you need to reject the lies that stop you from experiencing your unlimited side. It will be available soon. Right now, we are selling a pre-publication version at book fairs only.

I love mingling my mind with other’s minds that enjoy truth-discussions. Truth-discussions offer opportunities for self-transcendence because they help us get off a fixed position. When freed from a fixed position, we drop the false comfort of conforming to our beliefs … now we can see things from a new perspective. Book fairs offer this opportunity … I’m glad I decided to become an author.

Please leave a comment, sharing when you have enjoyed a truth-discussion with someone who was ready to renounce the foolishness in his or her life.

Perhaps you can share a personal story when you entered a truth-discussion and renounced the foolishness in your life?

Thank you & blessings

“Best Comment of the Week.” This weeks best comments come from Tanja of Crystal Clear Copy Writing and Patricia of Patricia’s Wisdom. Thank you both for your honest, heartfelt sharing. See their comments here.

Illustrations by nick

Thanks to all of you Boston Mind Adventurers’ and Mastermind Alliance Folks who stopped by the Boston Book Festival and picked up a limited edition, pre-publication edition of our newest title: Marvelous Denials & Wonderful Obsessions. See some images of the ‘Marvelous’ weekend here.

A special mention to JK Allen for taking last weeks blog about Atomic Action straight to his Heart-Mind and making it real in his life. See how he did it here.

What Makes a Charismatic Speaker?

This is a blog is about much more than being a charismatic speaker. What you learn about being a charismatic speaker can be applied in any part of your life.

I’ve done some fairly big speaking gigs, and I’ve been told that I am a charismatic speaker. I did one gig in front of 7,000 people in Las Vegas for Century 21’s Annual Convention, and I got a standing ovation. What stirs folks to stand and cheer?

What it takes to move others is exactly what it takes to move yourself. That certain something is found in your nuclear essence. You have what it takes to move others, and you have what it takes to move the world, because you have what it takes to move yourself. It all begins with you!

In order to deliver a message, on stage, that touches the souls of others, you must be willing to speak from your soul. You must be willing to verbally blossom from deep within, like a blossoming meadow flower on a warm, sunny day. Why do so few people trust they can do this?

When I stand in front of an audience, and speak from my soul, I can hear my words dancing on the atoms in the air, and I find myself singing alleluia to what I am hearing in a dozen different ways. What’s happening? I am giving everything of myself to the moment, and I feel fully alive!

So what do I do to get to this state of being? Here is the first thing I do: I detach from my ego-sense of self. I silence the inner critic by dropping my judgmental attitude about everything, When I do this, there is no feeling of doubt; there is no feeling of insecurity; there is no stage fright. Why? Because there is no fear … and you cannot experience doubt or insecurity in the absence of fear.

When I walk on stage to speak with a deep sense of egolessness, I am absolutely free of all concerns of looking good. I feel like I am a guest, like everyone else in the audience. I am a guest who’s listening to my intuitive-self as it expresses through me. Do you know what I love about my intuitive-self? It is infinitely intelligent!

When I allow my intuitive-self to use my voice box to speak, not only does the audience hear what it says for the first time … I do, too. I have no idea what it is going to say until it says it. WOW! This experience places me in the mysterious world of ONENESS.

This world of ONENESS feels mysterious because there is no separation between me and the world, and everyone in the audience that is listening. It is a mysterious world because it is so rarely experienced by so many billions of people on this planet.

Great athletes live in the mysterious world of ONENESS when on top of their game while playing in front of thousands of screaming fans. There is no separation between them, the field upon which they are playing, the other players on the field, and the screaming fans. Many great athletes have spoken of this mysterious experience.

Great opera singers live in this mysterious world of ONENESS when performing at opera houses, and singing to stars in far away galaxies. Luciano Pavarotti described his finest singing experiences this way.

Everyone lives in this world of ONENESS occasionally … for example when totally involved in a game with a small child, there is no separation between you and the child. The child feels it. Do you? Or when playing fetch with your pet … or when making love with someone you love. Great scientists live in this world of ONENESS while in the laboratory, and e.e. cummings said he lived in it while writing (he said that he couldn’t distinguish where the words ended and he began).

The only way we live in the world of ONENESS is to participate in the moment. When on stage, participating in the moment, I develop an incredible inner efficiency that demonstrates in my stage presence. (L’est you think I am perfect … it doesn’t happen all of the time).

You’re intuitive-self understands what I am speaking of. Have you ever got involved in a spontaneous conversation with someone and you realize that you are hearing the words that you are speaking for the first time … and what’s better is that you love what you are hearing? You don’t know what you are going to say until it comes out, and you trust it will be right and perfect … and it is! Have you experienced that?

Spontaneous speaking is very different than a memorized speech or a parroting of what’s been spoken before. The right and perfect words flow through you, and you can feel it. OH, SO YOU ARE A CHARISMATIC SPEAKER! John F Kennedy did it regularly. Can you? YES, YOU CAN.

What you are reading can unlock the door to an incredible life, in all domains of your life. When you live in this world of ONENESS, while in a business conference, the right and perfect choices of action come quite naturally to you. That’s because there is nothing to hamper infinite intelligence from flowing through you. Oh, did I mention that your intuitive self is ONE with infinite intelligence?

This world of ONENESS is available in every part of your life. The feeling of ONENESS is the ultimate secret to succeeding, it awakens your superlatively creative side.

When I am speaking on stage, living in the world of ONENESS, and I walk from one end of the stage to the other, I watch myself walking across the stage, like it’s not me. It’s egoless watching.

When the ego gets involved in technique, I am not a charismatic speaker. I may do a good technical job of speaking, but it is not charismatic. Technique is irrelevant when living in the world of ONENESS. In fact, if you take time to consciously practice a technique, you will miss the ecstasy.

Here is the point: ‘Participating in the moment’ dissolves all sense of separateness. This is ultimate reality … ONENESS. ONENESS does not, not, not contribute to our need for ego gratification in any manner. Sweet liberty!

Here’s the secret: When you ‘participate in the moment’ (be it in relationships, business dealings, family matters, money matters, public speaking), you have an incredible personal experience – you disappear into nothingness … and when you disappear into nothingness, everything is available. The right and perfect answers are right there, as quickly as the next breath of air.

In the world of ONENESS you are not present as a separate ‘I AM’. You are egoless. This is why when fully realized beings are asked, “Who are you?” … they respond, “I am that I am.” There is no separation in this statement; no label, no definition. They stand in the exquisite beauty of nothingness, which has everything available to them. Watch out for miracles!

Here is the fact: When participating in the moment, there is complete silence in your mind. Egolessness is virgin peacefulness. The ego, with its large collection of beliefs and decisions, makes all the noise. This deep sense of peacefulness is undistracted by memories of howling NO’s from the past. Some call it ‘being in flow’.

I hope this blog helps you understand a bit better what you truly yearn to learn more about.

Please share a time when you participated in the moment.

Please share a dream of how you want to live in a world of ONENESS in some part of your life.

Please share a thought or idea that has come to you from reading this blog.

Thank you and blessings

“Best Comment of the Week.” This weeks best comments come from JK Allen of The Hustlers Notebook and OluwaRotimi Adesina. Thank you both for your honest, heartfelt sharing. See their comments here.

Illustrations by nick

NOTE: Please be sure to check out my guest post with JD Meier of the venerable Sources of Insight.

Student: How come some folks seem to get so much done, and still have plenty of time to play golf, travel to exotic ports, or go out on their yachts?
Teacher: It’s all about ‘Atomic Action.’
Student: What’s that?
Teacher: ‘Atomic Action’ is a complete and finished act that occurs in the moment; you feel absolutely free to choose your response for the next moment, and the next, and the next.

Thomas Edison experienced Atomic Action in his laboratory, Michelangelo experienced Atomic Action while painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Yelena Gadzhievna Isinbayeva experienced Atomic Action when she broke the world record pole vaulting. Marie Curie experienced Atomic Action with her pioneering research on radioactivity.

In what part of your life do you experience Atomic Action?
When are you absolutely in the grove?

I experience it when making chocolate chip cookies. I mix the batter, and shape the cookies, and toss them in the oven with a total feeling of completion with each action.

Don’t laugh – if you can do it with making chocolate chip cookies, you can do it with whatever you set your mind to. I took my Atomic Action to the restaurant business and had incredible success in a short period of time. Why do we settle for so little when we can experience so much more of ourselves?

Student: What stops Atomic Action?
Teacher: Feelings of incompletion that come from the past.

We are Whole Minded, and fresh and ready for the present moment when we let go of our failures and incompletions of the past. Atomic Action is a consequence of Whole Mindedness. Every level of the mind is focused on the action in the moment, and the result is incredible.

There is also Partial Mindedness. We’ve all experienced this … a lot! We are Partial Minded when we are stuck with memories of past failures. Part of the mind is on the present challenge at hand, and part of the mind is traipsing through the cemetery of memories from the dead past. The memories are of past failures. This can be a subconscious act, but you know when it is happening – you simply can’t seem to get anything done right.

When ‘memories of past failures’ (be they conscious or subconscious), fall upon the moment, your action is a swing and a miss. A Partial Mind cannot keep its eye on the ball because it is looking in two directions (in the present and in the past).

Unfortunately, when a memory of failure destroys a victory in the present moment, the present moment becomes another memory of failure. Now, it becomes part of the graveyard of past failures that contaminate the next moment. What a tangled web we weave!

SO, WHAT TO DO?

STEP ONE

• Commit to making this moment’s action Atomic.
• Commit to being in the moment with your Whole Mind (all levels of thinking).
• Commit to feeling fresh and fully awake to what you are up to right now.

STEP TWO

• Speak to your mind, aloud, “I am complete with my past. Now is a new moment and I will not destroy it by traipsing in the graveyard of past failure.”
• Speak to your mind, aloud, “I know you love to live with unfinished business of past failures, but I cannot afford this luxury any longer. We are finished with the past. Pay full attention to what I am doing right now.

STEP THREE

• Now fix your mind on what you are doing and begin! Do not vacillate, do not procrastinate, do not hesitate – BEGIN! Mean it!

Here’s a tip for the FIRST STEP: To commit requires seeing where ‘you have been your own problem’ in the past, and promising yourself not to repeat those patterns anymore. You will be pleasantly startled to find that you are remarkably creative when you allow your natural ability to flow through you.

Here’s a tip for the SECOND STEP: You are training your inward self-talk to communicate with all levels of your mind. You are taking control of your inner world talk show radio station. You can do that, and it will give you remarkable results. The mind is meant to serve you. Don’t let it control you.

Here’s a tip for the THIRD STEP: When you act with singleness of purpose and waiver not (which is what Whole Mindedness is about), the whole universe throws itself on your side, and you stand in awe when you see the results that you get.

Okay, so it is time to reclaim every level of your mind:

* subconscious level   * conscious level   * superconscious levels

Reclaim your right to the Atomic Energy found in the invisible atom found everywhere in the Universe. Reclaim this right so you can take Atomic Action. If you believe it, just as flowers absorb water from the earth, you will absorb Atomic Energy from the universe … and you will find yourself in absolute flow with your dreams and aspirations.

Do you want that?
Do you really, really want that?
Do you?

Please leave a comment.

Where have you experienced Atomic Action in your life?

Where do you stumble, stumble, stumble, or move like a snail?

Just sharing the truth about when you are in flow and when your mind screams ‘NO’ begins the process of being complete with your past failures, and soon you will be soaring.

blessings

“Best Comment of the Week.” This weeks best comments come from Deeone Higgs of Releasing Me Today and Lisa H. “Running Bear” of Getting to Zen Thank you both for your honest, heartfelt sharing. See their comments here.

Illustrations by nick