Tina Requires Perseverance and Help to Serve More People

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so. I know that I am!

How can we accomplish more than a billionaire . . . without a billion? It's easy. Enroll more people in doing good works, and help them become more effective. Let me explain how this can come about.

Yesterday, I decided to become better acquainted with Tina who makes coffee early in the morning at our hotel, the Ritz-Carlton in Lake Las Vegas, Nevada. I had become aware of Tina when one of the seminar members asked that Tina be invited into the meeting to receive our recognition because she had been so kind to everyone.

Earlier in the meeting, I overheard a number of people observing that our group was receiving much gourmet food . . . of which quite a lot had been left over. Many people expressed the hope that the food was being shared with the homeless.

While talking with Tina the prior day, Tina had shared with me that for the fall months each year she bakes lots of cookies and shares them with both homeless people and with military personnel. From the way she told the story, I assumed that she was using her own money to do this. I realized that if I could help her learn about creating 2,000 percent solutions she would be able to provide 20 times the benefits to those she wants to help with the same time, effort and money.

While we were chatting at 4:45 a.m. (she starts work at 4:30 a.m.), I asked her to tell me in more detail about what she does. I mentioned that I would like to help her to find ways to accomplish 20 times as much. She said that that would be great, and mentioned that she could bake more if someone helped her with the baking and if she had more money to buy the ingredients.

I mentioned that she needed to also recruit other volunteers to accomplish more. That would include someone to solicit donations of money and ingredients, and people to help her bake more food. She was interested in the idea of getting donations, but didn't know how to do that. I mentioned that many food stores, restaurants and food manufacturers regularly donate food and ingredients for these purposes. I also mentioned that there is Federal money to help the homeless get food that churches can apply for, but someone needs to know how to fill out the applications. Tina is involved with a lot of churches, so that's a real possibility.

I decided to ask other people at the Jack Canfield Success Principles seminar to share information on how to obtain this help with Tina. I approached one of the volunteers and she told me that she would arrange for me to share Tina's story at the end of the day. The end of the day came and that didn't happen. So I followed up, and told my story to more people. They said they would sleep on it and think about what to do to help Tina do good for the homeless people in the area.

Tina also wanted to learn more about the seminar. I told her that I had put some of the exercises in this blog. She doesn't have a computer, so she asked me to print out the pages for her. I told her that I would be glad to do so but that the business center didn't have any paper. So I went to a supervisor at the hotel and asked her if someone could print out the pages for Tina and let other people in the hotel know about the blog. The supervisor kindly said she would.

When Tina was before the group, a video was created and she was given a copy as a DVD. She showed it to me and said that she couldn't play it, and asked for my help. I took it to the Canfield people who tested it out and found that it was working. I asked what they had done with it, and no one knew. One man said that he thought that perhaps Tina had thought it was a CD rather than a DVD, so that they had now written DVD on it. But he didn't know if the DVD had been given back to Tina. I'll ask her this morning when I see her later.

My vision of Tina is that she can be a magnificent leader in helping homeless people by making them feel loved and supported. But those who know more than Tina does now about this need to help her learn what she doesn't know yet about how to do this. Tina's passion though will attract many people to these good works. She is a wonderful example for us all. May God bless Tina.

I'm delighted to see that the business center has paper this morning, so I'll print out an extra set of these blog entries for Tina now.

Perhaps if I persevere more people will notice this angel of mercy amongst us and help her to do God's will.

If Tina was the high point of the day, my book's title was clearly a close second. Jack Canfield had noted that he was particularly good at choosing book titles and shared with us the story of how "Chicken Soup for the Soul" was developed as a title. I decided to ask Jack about other ways that you can develop great book titles. He shared several with me and offered to send me information about how to contact someone who is very good in this area. Then, he stopped me and asked what my book was about. I gave him the title in response. He stared up at the ceiling for a minute and said, "That's a great book title. You don't need to change it." He went on to explain that books about millionaires are passe and that new books should focus on billionaires. He later told the group about my book title and mentioned that he liked it. I was walking on air for the next several hours!

Hale Dwoskin returned with his amazing laughter, and we were filled with joy. He told us more about his seven day retreat and explained how with seven days of focusing on removing problems we used to have many people find that many of those problems disappear during the retreat. An important lesson for many is to stop seeking . . . anything . . . including Enlightenment. It was a profound lesson.

We then did an exercise in which we first focused inside ourselves and then asked ourselves to simply be ourselves . . . to stop trying. We were to be open to whatever is heard in a given moment whether that's internal or external. We were asked to welcome the silence that allows that hearing to take place. Then the same was repeated for feelings and the space and emptiness around the feelings. Then the same was repeated for seeing and the nothingness that allows the contrast to see. Next, we were asked to remember the person we used to be and to let go the desire to change that person. In the process, we were asked to find something that we could accept about that person. From there, Hale asked us to picture the person we were becoming in three years and to welcome or embrace that person. He asked us to notice if anything is resisting creating that new person and to release that resistance. Next, he asked us to welcome the good things in life and to picture more good things being accomplished. He asked us to assume that those good things are already being accomplished. And then we came back into the room from within our minds. It was a nice experience.

Hale went on to explain that the Sedona Method works by clearing out the energy pathways in our bodies of their remembered trauma. When that happens, we experience our natural state of current happiness.

Hale next explained that our desire to control is based on a feeling of being out of control. But when we give up on being in control, we find outselves actually feeling more in control. It's a fascinating paradox. Here's a process you can use:

"Is there something that you want to control?"

"Can you let go of controlling it?"

"Could you just set that free?"

"Could you accept the possibility that God doesn't need your help?"

"Can you focus on a person you've wanted to control and consider how much they have enjoyed it?"

"Could you accept the possibility that God can help them without you?"

"Just for now, could you let go of wanting control?"

Hale pointed out that we can still our inner critic, too. Here's the sequence of questions for doing that:

"Could you simply let go of resisting the conversation in your head?"

Can you accept letting the space between your thoughts to get larger?"

Repeat that sequence until the feeling goes away.

Hale then shared an amazing story from last year's seminar with Jack Canfield. A woman who couldn't walk used the Sedona Method for a few hours. At the end, she got up on stage and danced. It's on the DVD he gave us of last year's seminar.

As Hale leaves us, one woman rises to ask Hale if he would record five minutes of his laughter and send it to us. He laughs and says that sounds like a good idea. I will carry his bubbling bliss with me wherever I go.

From there, Jack Canfield takes us through a series of exercises to help us appreciate that what we focus on is what we notice. The reticular activating system in our minds is constantly screening out 98% of the information we process. The most vivid example is a video we watch of two teams passing basketballs. We are asked to notice how many times the white team passes the ball. About 1/3 of the people get the right answer. Then Jack asks if anyone noticed anything else going on. About 1/5 of the people did. During the session, a person in a gorilla suit walked across the scene. I noticed that there was an extra body on the screen, but didn't notice that it was a person in a gorilla suit until I watched the scene a second time. I am humbled to realize that I got the wrong answer on the passes . . . and missed the man in the gorilla suit.

We spend time creating affirmations (positive statements) about achieving our goals. Here are the rules for affirmations:

1. They start with "I am . . . ."

2. They are positive. (The subconscious doesn't notice "not" so you need to avoid it . . . or you will attract the opposite of what you want)

3. They are stated in the present tense.

4. They are brief.

5. They are specific.

6. They include words ending in "ing" to create an action verb.

7. They have a feeling wod in them (thrilled)

8. They are about yourself.

Here's an example: I am calmly and effectively teaching Johnny about keeping his room clean.

You should create affirmations for your most important goals and repeat them 3 times a day. That will focus our attention on what we want.

We also do a wonderful exercise where we are to ask everyone in the room for what we want. Each person is told to say "no" to the first nine requests and to say "yes" to the tenth . . . and then start all over again. It's amazing how much more confident we become about asking . . . despite all the no's we receive. I find that it becomes easier to ask for bigger things . . . because rejection feels more comfortable.

Another high point of the day is being asked to close our eyes and laugh aloud for three minutes. When the time is up, we can't stop. The bliss is infinite!

Our final exercise is to grope around with our eyes closed doing whatever we enjoy without speaking. The sounds of laughter, humming and dancing soon fill the room.

It's been a full day, and I hope that some of these observations are of value to you!

The only way to know is to try some of the exercises. You'll find it works better to do these with at least one other person. It's fun to share what you experienced with someone. Then, give them a hug!

I also suggest that if you know Tina, you help her with her mission to help homeless people and military personnel. If you don't know Tina, find another angel of mercy and help her or him instead.

Tomorrow, I'll continue my series of key success insights based on the Jack Canfield Success Principles seminar today.

Sunday, I'll reflect on the spiritual meaning of this experience in taking the seminar.

Monday, I'll write more about how you can gain from this seminar . . . without having attended.

Tuesday, I will address the question of how you can be an Amazon.com top reviewer with integrity. Many thanks to kev for suggesting this topic.

Wednesday, I'll talk about how you can enjoy your ideal weight without spending much more money on food.

Thursday, I will share some ideas for improving your nutrition to feel better and operate more effectively.

Next Friday, I'll tell you about more mansions and estates that you can visit that will bring you great joy.

Next Saturday, I'll give you an update on how to enjoy the football season better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day.

Please feel free to let me know what else you would like to learn, and I'll do my best to help in future blog entries.

If you are new to this blog, be sure to check out the updated table of contents entry that was posted on August10. It will help you find earlier entries that may be of interest. I'll update this table of contents every week or so for your convenience.

August 4 was the most frequently read blog entry to date. Be sure to check it out!

Thanks so much for your support of this blog. I'm delighted that so many thousands of people have made this blog part of their regular reading habit!

If you like this blog, please let others know who might also enjoy it.

Thank you to my many friends, students, clients and blog readers who are spreading the good word about this blog.

If you are visiting today because one of them invited you, I'm delighted to meet you! Let's stay in touch.

May God bless you.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell