Saturday, December 30, 2006

Dr. Robert Anthony's Teleseminar Recordings: Know How To Be Rich

Dr. Robert Anthony is no stranger within self-development circles. An author of 15 bestsellers, his message is you will experience in your life what you cause yourself, or others, to experience. Not only that, but whatever you cause yourself or others to experience will come back to you multiplied and increased.

Tellman Knudson interviews Dr. Robert Anthony on how you can "re-tune your trance" to change your life. It is important that you listen to this. Points covered include:

* The Law Of Attraction
* The Law Of Cause And Effect
* Flip Switching
* The Power Of Now
* Consciousness
* Your Power To Choose
* The Value Of Certainty
* Discovering Your Purpose
* The Law Of Vibration
* Manifestation

Watch The Secret too. Do yourself a favor. Pay-per-view is only $4.95. Couple this with Dr. Anthony's interview and you already know how the world works.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

How to live more purposefully?

This is a Q&A extract taken from The Straits Times, December 27th, 2006.

Question: I am 32, an advertising executive and single. I used to make new year resolutions, like exercise more, work harder, be nicer to my parents, get a girlfriend. But year after year, my resolve starts to weaken by February. By the end of the year, I would be filled with regrets and guilt. It becomes harder and harder for me to make any new year resolution, and for me to believe that I will actually keep them.

I would really like 2007 to be different. Life is not really bad. I have a good job, and am not bad-looking. I would like to achieve my dreams and goals in 2007. Can you tell me how I do that?

Answer: Many people make new year resolutions without first thinking deeply of what really matters to them and the purpose of their aspirations. In addition, your ability to stick to your resolution starts to weaken because of the various interferences in your life. Some of these interferences are not visible to the naked eye.

Every year, I so time aside during the last two weeks of the year to reflect on the passing year, and imagine what the next one can be. I would also facilitate a few processes with my team so they would also reflect, declare and imagine.

I suggest that you give yourself some time during the last week of this year or the first week of 2007 to do this.

The first step is to acknowledge yourself for the moments in 2006 that you felt happy with or proud of. Thank the people in your lives for their support. You can do this acknowledgement by writing them down, drawing pictures or symbols, or talking about them to a friend. You need only about 30 minutes to do this.

This step helps you to realise that you already have strengths and abilities and blessings in your life. With this affirmation, you can look at your future with optimism.

The second step is to acknowledge the regrets, guilt, anger and fears you faced in 2006. Write them down. For example, I am angry that XYZ is greedy and selfish, I am afraid that I will not be promoted, I regret being lazy about my exercise, I am guilty that I spend too little time with my loved ones...Spend only 10 minutes on this.

When I do this part, a part of me starts to say, "This fear is irrational, I will do something about this regret..." This step is not meant for you to beat yourself up. On the contrary, this step is important because it helps you acknowledge what you need to let go. Many people allow their past baggage to drag them down in the present and the future.

Once you are done writing, you tear the paper up and throw the bits away. This symbolises your willingness to let your past regrets and other negative experiences go. You have acknowledged their existence, and you are making a choice to be detached, not be haunted by them.

The third step is to see your future. Every year, I ask myself, "If this new year is my last year on earth, what would I want to create with my life?" Thus, you can ask yourself, "What if 2007 is my last year...?"

This is not about being morbid. Like my 11-year-old son said once, "Every day, we are closer to the day we die." We just don't know when.

Thus, it is about living your life purposefully and compassionately every year, every month, week, day and moment, like it counts.

When you look at 2007 with, urgency, you will start to see what is truly meaningful to you. Most people realise that the people they are in relationships with are important. So they set goals to connect more with family and friends. Health, work and community service take on new meaning too.

In this third step, write or draw out how 2007 will be like for you. When you can see your goals dearly on one piece of paper, you will be more certain to take actions that get you closer to them.

These three steps are the beginning steps to make 2007 more fulfilling.

Then it will require discipline, determination, love and wisdom to get you to complete your own Journey of 2007.

May you have the courage, wisdom and compassion to make 2007 special for yourself and others. - Wendy Chua K. Wand

The writer is the founder of Wand Inspiration and author of "All Kids R Gifted" and "Break to Dawn".

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Don't protect your children from poverty, and they'll know...

...just as you don't protect them from touching a steaming kettle. Yes. it's true. It helps to accumulate their own personal experiences in pushing the limits of what they can do and not do. That is one major mark of an entrepreneurial mindset. The following text is a chapter from Dr. Russell Herman Conwell’s "Acres Of Diamonds". Similar to my previous post about an excerpt from "The Millionaire Next Door", this one packs an emotional punch. Enjoy reading!

"Chapter 17: Pity The Rich Man's Son"

The moment a young man or woman gets more money than he or she has grown to by practical experience, that moment he has gotten a curse. It is no help to a young man or woman to inherit money. It is no help to your children to leave them money, but if you leave them education, if you leave them Christian and noble character, if you leave them a wide circle of friends, if you leave them an honorable name, it is far better than that they should have money. It would be worse for them, worse for the nation, that they should have any money at all. Oh, young man, if you have inherited money, don’t regard it as a help. It will curse you through your years, and deprive you of the very best things of human life. There is no class of people to be pitied so much as the inexperienced sons and daughters of the rich of our generation. I pity the rich man’s son. He can never know the best things in life.

One of the best things in our life is when a young man has earned his own living, and when he becomes engaged to some lovely young woman, and makes up his mind to have a home of his own. Then with that same love comes also that divine inspiration toward better things, and he begins to save his money. He begins to leave off his bad habits and put money in the bank. When he has a few hundred dollars he goes out in the suburbs to look for a home. He goes to the savings bank, perhaps, for half of the value, and then goes for his wife, and when he takes his bride over the threshold of that door for the first time he says in words of eloquence my voice can never touch, "I have earned this home myself. It is all mine, and I divide with thee." That is the grandest moment a human heart may ever know.

But a rich man’s son can never know that. He takes his bride into a finer mansion, it may be, but he is obliged to go all the way through it and say to his wife, "My mother gave me this, my mother gave me that, and my mother gave me this," until his wife wishes she had married his mother. I pity the rich man’s son.

The statistics of Massachusetts showed that not one rich man’s son out of seventeen ever dies rich. I pity the rich man’s sons unless they have the good sense of the elder Vanderbilt, which sometimes happens. He went to his father and said, "Did you earn all your money?"

"I did, my son. I began to work on a ferry boat for twenty-five cents a day."

"Then," said his son, "I will have none of your money," and he, too, tried to get employment on a ferry boat that Saturday night. He could not get one there, but he did get a place for three dollars a week. Of course, if a rich man’s son will do that, he will get the discipline of a poor boy that is worth more than a university education to any man. He would then be able to take care of the millions of his father. But as a rule the rich men will not let their sons do the very thing that made them great. As a rule, the rich man will not allow his son to work—and his mother! Why, she would think it was a social disgrace if her poor, weak, little lily-fingered, sissy sort of a boy had to earn his living with honest toil. I have no pity for such rich men’s sons.

Don't short-change your kids by giving them too much.

The more dollars adult children receive, the fewer dollars they accumulate, while those who are given fewer dollars accumulate more. This is a statistically proven relationship. Yet many parents still think that their wealth can automatically transform their children into economically productive adults.

They are wrong.

Discipline and initiative can't be purchased like cars or clothing off a rack.

A case in point: A wealthy couple was determined to give their daughter, Ms. BPF, every advantage. So when she expressed some interest in starting a business, they put up all the money for her.

She put up nothing of her own. She never even applied for a loan. Her parents give her $60,000 every year. Her business is not really a success. It is heavily subsidized.

Actually, she has been short-changed by her parents. She may never knowif she could nake it on her own.

The most successful business owners are the ones who put much of their own resources behind their ventures. Many succeed because they have to succeed. It's their money, their product, their reputation. They have no safety net.

Ms. BPF told us she had 12 major fears, including a significant reduction in her standard of living, her business failing and not being wealthy enough to retire in comfort.

How is it possible that a person who is almost completely insulated from financial risk has 4 times more fears than the typical affluent business owner?

Because affluent business owners have overcomed most of their fears.

They have innoculated themselves from many fears by becoming completely self-sufficient.

People who are more confident and more able to deal with adversity are those brought up by parents who rewarded independent thought and behavior.

Excerpted from Dr. Thomas Stanley and Dr. William Danko's bestseller, "The Millionaire Next Door".

Thursday, December 14, 2006

The Last Great Talent Of Birds.

Just as a bird has to find the courage to let go of the branch in order to fly, so we also must let go of our branches if we are to know the exhilaration of soaring to the highest potential of our life. The branches we hold to are our inner attachments—our beliefs, ideas and memories. And then there are the outer attachments—people, possessions, positions and privileges to name a few. But as long as we hold on to them we will live in fear (of letting go and loss) and we will never be free. And just watch those birds, by letting go of one branch they are able to spend the rest of their life alighting on a million other branches, and they enjoy the view from each. Are you flying and soaring in your life, or are you stuck on one branch, cursing others as they fly past. Go on, try it ...let go!

The 3 boxes in your life.

When you are born, you are put in a baby crib.

When you move on from this world, again they put you in a box...the coffin.

In between these 2 instances, do you still want to box yourself in?? Please think outside the box.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Empty Your Cup!

The Learned Professor came to the house of the Zen Master to ask to learn Zen.

"You are most welcome," said the Master, inviting the Learned Professor in for tea.

They sat on cushions facing each other.

Preparing to make tea, the Master set a pot of water on the charcoal brazier on the floor in front of him, while the Learned Professor began to tell of all of the books he had read about Zen.

The water having boiled, the Master made tea while the Learned Professor told of all the insights about Zen he had gleaned from talking to other great scholars.

The tea made, the Master was about to pour tea into both their cups when the Learned Professor offered to help.

And he continued to talk about Zen, while pouring it. And the more he talked the more the Master nodded. And he nodded and nodded and nodded...while he poured...and poured...and poured, until tea started to spill over for an instance.

"Oops, I'm sorry I made a mess of the table." said the Learned Professor.

"Your mind is like the cup," said the Master. "How can you expect to learn unless you first empty your cup?"

Mastery by Stewart Emery

Mastery in one's career and consciousness growth simply requires that we constantly produce results beyond and out of the ordinary. Mastery is a product of consistently going beyond our limits. For most people, it starts with technical excellence in a chosen field and a commitment to that excellence. If you are willing to commit yourself to excellence, to surround yourself with things that represent this and miracles (when we speak of miracles, we speak of events or experiences in the real world which are beyond the ordinary), your life will change.

It's remarkable how much mediocrity we live with, surrounding ourselves with daily reminders that the average is acceptable. Our world suffers from terminal normality. Take a moment to assess all of the things around you that promote you being 'average'. These are the things that keep you powerless to go beyond a 'limit' you arbitarily set for yourself. The first step to Mastery is the removal of everything in your environment that represents mediocrity, removing those things that are limiting. One way is to surround yourself with friends who ask more of you than you do, e.g. your teachers, coaches, parents etc.

Another step on the path of Mastery is the removal of resentment towards Masters. Develop compassion for yourself so that you can be in the presence of Masters and grow from the experience. Rather than comparing yourself or resenting people who have Mastery, remain open and receptive, let the experience be like the planting of a seed within you that, with nourishment, will grow into your own individual Master.

You see, we are all ordinary. But a Master, rather than condemning himself for his 'ordinariness', will embrace it and use it as a foundation for building the extraordinary. Rather than using it as an excuse for inactivity, he will use it as a vehicle for correcting which is essential in the process of attaining Mastery. You must be able to correct yourself without invalidating or condemning yourself, to accept results and improve on them. Correct, don't protect. Correction is essential to power and Mastery.