Week 4 – Random Thoughts and Neurons Firing

Have you ever noticed that when re-experiencing a familiar book or video that you pick up something entirely new or unexpected? It happens to me from time to time and it happened again while watching the video during this week’s webcast. For the first time, I was able to see the forest and not just the trees. I could see the overall game plan – repetition, habits, shapes, colours, linkages, and feeling. How to expedite the conversation with subby.

And I get Mark’s comment about how this week is the gamechanger – you’ll either leave or commit to being all in. For me, this means forgetting about ‘checking the box’ actions and actively participating because I truly want to and to act with enthusiasm. If I catch myself with less than optimal feeling then I know that I have the responsibility and the capability to change that feeling (ie ‘Do It Now, and I can Be what I will to Be’ are particularly helpful with this).

Some Random Thoughts

I participated in a business/abundance workshop this week and discovered some interesting things about my money mindset and its relationship to abundance in my life. I am the first person in my family (and in generations) that has broken away from being an employee to run my own business. But I’ve ‘inherited’ some ideas about money: it doesn’t grow on trees, it’s scarce, and most worryingly – if it’s a gift (ie I didn’t earn it) then I don’t deserve it. What a way to stuff up abundance and the law of attraction.

Some ways I’m trying to correct this (and I’m happy to accept suggestions!):

• reading the Law of Giving and Receiving daily
• keeping a daily abundance log where I record the gifts that I receive, regardless of size and source
• asking myself – How Can I be of Service Today?

Have a great week!

Week 3 Discovering Fear (and aiming for Courage)

I have been updating and reading my DMP for about 3 years now and it wasn’t until this week’s webinar that I realized how much I’ve been sabotaging myself. Over the last couple of years I had removed all references to explicit amounts of income that I want to enjoy – a pretty major omission when one of my needs is liberty. It took about a microsecond to understand why – fear. Fear of failure, or not meeting that goal. And using past experience to set the goalposts of my future. So I had very firmly planted my head in the sand (and blocked my subconscious from helping me!)

I’ve just completed re-writing my DMP with numbers and dates and it is unsettling. Pit of the stomach discomfort. So how do I overcome fear and develop the self-confidence that I need to move forward? The only first step that I know requires me to guard my thoughts and focus on the positive. I know that the inner voice that constantly tries to undermine me is a liar and I’m working to shut it down and develop the focus to embrace the creativity that will provide me with the ‘how’ to my ‘what’.

The journey begins ….

Week 2 Beginner’s Mind

As I noted in my previous post, this isn’t my first rodeo with MasterKeys and while some things are easier this time around (already have some established good habits), there is one obstacle that keeps cropping up. And that is a lack of humility, of thinking that I know it all – ‘all’ being what the scrolls, readings mean, etc. And this it holding me back. I need to embrace a beginner’s mind and look at everything with freshness and with excitement that I still have a lot to learn and a lot to implement in order to create the life that I want.

This week, I’ve been focusing on building a better gate between my conscious and subconscious mind – trying to keep out the negativity and focus on bringing more light into my life. Being more conscious of my role as guardian.

I tend to be a visual learner and had trouble understanding the relationships between the universal, conscious and subconscious. Here’s my latest attempt at putting it all together.

Have a great week!

Week 1 Getting Started Again

I have completed the MasterKeys program twice before and both times made huge strides forward in reaching my goals through changing my mindset and developing more self-confidence. I am no longer looking at the world with a ‘glass half full’ mindset. I am happier. But I need a re-tweak. The last year has been challenging. I need to regain the belief – the utter certainty – that whatever goal I set will be met. To start a project knowing that I will succeed. I miss the feeling of joyful anticipation when I wake up in the morning that today will be the best day of my life.

So, I’m starting the program again – playing full out, all in – because that’s the only way.

Have a great day!

Week 23 (2020) and some thoughts on distractions

Last week I decided to do one of the suggested exercises — the one where we remove all distractions and disengage to listen to our own thoughts.  I had planned on doing this at a later, more convenient, time but I had just experienced a week of overwhelm and I needed some clarity.   So, last Sunday, with some unease about how I was going to get through the next several hours , I started my day of disengagement.  I began with a 3-hour walk – training for an upcoming half-marathon.  And that part was easy – just walking, observing, thinking – and totally enjoyable.  A great start.

Back at home, things got a bit more difficult.  I can sit still and think/meditate for about an hour at a time.  Between times, I was a flurry of activity, getting a lot of household chores done.

So, this is what I learned:

• the reason for my lack of progress in my goals isn’t laziness, it’s how easily I’m distracted.   Which is valuable information because I can learn to limit my distractions.
• when not distracted, I want to do my chores/work/dharma.  Knowing this is fueling my engagement with my dharma and making it easier to eliminate distractions.
• that my clarity improved and, most importantly, I was able to recognize and appreciate the small miracles happening in my life daily
• my energy improved
• that I need to set aside regular times during my week to disengage, even if it’s only for a couple of hours at a time

I am so grateful for the challenge of this exercise!  Thank you.

Have a great week.

Week 18 (2020) … and some thoughts on Law of Attraction

Two things have been uppermost in my mind this week – one each inspired from our Hanel reading and the latest scroll.

I’ve been having trouble with the concept of living each day as if it were my last and making every minute count.  I’ve been flicking between being inspired to feelings of guilt and exhaustion.  Mostly the latter.  At the end of each day, I’ve been asking myself (while looking at the gal in the mirror) ‘have I done enough today?’  And the answer is, invariably, no.  Cue onset of guilt.  And promise to do better tomorrow.  But how much is enough if living each day as your last?

I brought it up with my mastermind partners (Gary and Kim – thank you, you’re great!) and we talked about living with intention.  And perhaps that’s the answer – set my intentions at the beginning of the day and work towards achieving them.  And instead of asking the gal in the mirror ‘have I done enough today?’, I need to ask ‘have you fulfilled your intentions today?’.  And maybe that’s enough.

My other thoughts this week were on Hanel’s chapter that considered the Law of Attraction, especially the part that stated that affluence within creates affluence without.  I know that I’ve been focusing on the affluence without part without giving as much consideration to the affluence within.  And that has been the topic of most of my sits this week.

How does one create affluence within?  Well, given what we’ve been learning over the past several weeks, it should be obvious – focus, creativity, gratitude, joy, service.  And then add in the rest of the makeover qualities.  And because I tend to be a visual person, I created a image to help keep me on track to create and develop my affluence within.

Have a great week!

Week 17 (2019 – 2020) … and some thoughts on engagement

I watched the webinar featuring Andrea Waltz on thriving with social media.  The big take-home for me was the emphasis on engagement (ie actually taking part in online conversations).  Her suggestion is that we should be spending 50% of our social media time on engaging with others.  On one hand, I was thrilled – means that I don’t need to spend so much time on content creation.  On the other hand, it means that I should be spending heaps more time engaging.  So how much engagement do I normally do?  Maybe 1- 2%, higher on a good day.  Which means I’m pretty good at promoting my expertise, less so on the other social niceties.  Next I wondered if this type of behaviour is limited to my social media activities.  And I realized, that no, my lack of engagement carries over onto other parts of my life as well.  This shows up in my marco polo activity, although I’m getting better (big shout-out to my mastermind partners Kim and Gary who make it so easy!)  So where is the fear coming from (and this is just another version of ‘what am I pretending not to know?’.  But at this stage, I no longer care about that – it’s time to change.  So small steps forward: new entry on my POA – 15mins/day on being engaging.

And now for something totally different ….

This week we were given the option of reading Hanel lessons of our choice.  I went back to lesson one;  I suspected that I missed some keys points while I adjusted to his language.

In lesson one, Hanel first describes our relationship with our subconscious mind, the Universal mind, the outside world and harmony.  During my sit after this reading, a thought entered my mind: I am not alone.  Actually, this thought wasn’t a whisper – it seemed like a shout. This wasn’t about being physically alone as I’m surrounded by family and friends.  It’s the sense of being alone that comes from not being able to share your essential self with another.  But, when I can connect with the Universal mind, in harmony, I’m not alone – I’m part of something so much greater!

I realize that my words are failing to explain this well.  All I know now is that I approach my ‘sits’ with so much more enthusiasm because it’s my time to belong and to share.

Week 16 (2020) and discovering more about my DMP

I had a bit of a breakthrough this past week when reading my DMP.  My listed goals are mostly short term and focus mostly on achieving financial liberty.  And there is nothing wrong with that, and I certainly have a burning desire to achieve those goals. But what happens next?

Some thoughts that have floating around in my mind for a long time finally crystallized. Education has always been an important part of my life and I’m eternally grateful that I was able to pursue a university degree without worrying about the cost – not because my family had the resources (we didn’t) but because, in those days, the only barriers were desire and ability.  And after three degrees, my total debt was $1000.  Sounds like a fairy tale now.  I want my nieces and nephews (and their children) to have the advantages that I had – the ability to pursue their dreams.  So my plan is to establish a family trust that will provide loans to cover education or business start up costs.  The trust will be named after my parents because of the love and values that they have bestowed on family (and continue to do so).

So, how am I going to fund this trust? At the moment, I have no idea.  But one of the most important things that I’ve learned over the past year is to focus on the what – the how will reveal itself eventually.

Part of this week’s lesson popped out at me this morning:

We can only see what already exists in the objective world, but what we visualize, already exists in the spiritual world, and this visualization is a substantial token of what will one day appear in the objective world, if we are faithful to our ideal.

I plan to be faithful.  And I know that I won’t be able to achieve this without the help of others – a mastermind.

Have a great week!

Week 15 (2020) and some thoughts on harmony …

A couple of weeks ago we were asked to think about harmony and it’s been on my mind since then.  I initially started thinking about the definition of harmony and examples.

My definition of harmony:

Two or more entities working together, through the same or different modalities, to achieve a common goal.

Lots of examples:

• singing in harmony
• team work on a project
• physiological systems in the body
• actually, any system (mechanical, electrical, electronic, ecological, etc)

But the one example that is foremost in my mind is the harmony in a true mastermind.  I’m a visual person and I use some concepts from my engineering studies to aid me.  When I think of harmony, I visualise a number of wave forms acting in phase.  Without going into a lot of detail that would make your eyes glaze over, when a number of wave forms act in phase the result is a much bigger wave form.

blue line is resulting waveform. Other lines are input.

And if the resulting wave form is the resonant frequent of the system, then the result is even bigger!

How great to see the directed energy of a true mastermind harnessed to achieve a mighty goal!

Have a great week!

Week 14 (2019) and comments on October Sky

It’s 1957 amidst the Cold War between the USA and the former Soviet Union.  America is surprised and dismayed by the successful launch of Sputnik, giving the Soviet Union the upper hand in the start of the space race.

Homer Hickman is attending high school in Coalwood, a town that exists only to mine coal.  There are few prospects and even fewer expectations of a better life.  Even the local high school principal sees his responsibility is to educate (male) students just enough for work in the mine.

Homer is inspired by Sputnik and dreams of living Deadwood, and designing rockets for NASA.  He has many obstacles – an unsupportive family, lackluster education, and no financial resources to attend university.  A teacher, hearing of his experiments in building his own rocket, encourages him to enter regional science fair with the hope of winning the national title and securing a scholarship.  He persuades his friends to raise their expectations for a better life and they join him in the design, manufacture, and trial of their rockets.  They meet each obstacle head on — solving each problem involving materials and manufacture by enlisting help from others in the town with the expertise.

Eventually, they have a successful design and win local and national science fairs to secure scholarships and a university education for all four of them.  Homer becomes and engineer and worked for NASA.

It’s a perfect story of success:  Homer’s goal of designing rockets and not working in a mine (DMP), meeting each obstacle as it rises and finding a solution (PMA), bringing possible solutions into reality (POA) and enlisting the help of others (his friends, other experts, and townspeople) to make it a reality (MMA).

Wonderfully inspiring (true) story!  And while I have seen this movie before, it was a real pleasure to see it again through the perspective of the four-part plan for success.

 

Note:  As I sit here writing this, the Auckland afternoon sky has become an eerie, glowing orange.  It’s the smoke blowing over the Tasman from the horrific bushfires in Australia.  My heart goes out to the thousands still in danger.