Anchoring in Happiness to Overcome Fear

The Power of Anchoring in Happiness to Overcome Fear

After having completed a week of studying the chapter called “Self-Confidence” in Napoleon Hill’s 1925 edition of The Law of Success, I wanted to present a powerful tool for overcoming fear that was popularized in the latter part of the 20th Century. This tool is one anyone who can touch their body in any way can use. If you make diligent use of this simple little technique you will be able to overcome your fear of success or of failure. The result being that you will be able to achieve your goals.

First Step Is Complex Visualization

I’m sure you have heard of the importance of visualizing your goal to fix them firmly in your mind. Because the of the word “visualization,” people think they only need to form an image. Most don’t realize that fixing your goal firmly in mind also requires the incorporation of all your senses. For instance, if your goal is to have a loving relationship, form a scene in your mind of what that loving relationship would not only look like, but also the sounds, tastes, smells and touches involved. The most powerful addition to your image is your own personal feelings. Be sure and feel the emotions of love, acceptance, joy, desire in this relationship you want.

If your visualization is about money, form an image of all the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, emotions and physical sensations of what having money is to you. If being wealthy involves good food and drink, smell the aromas, taste the savory or sweetness of what you put in your mouth, hear the background sounds of wherever you want to be enjoying this meal, feel the texture of the money in your hand, see your bank statement, experience the feelings of security that come with your money.

Second Step is Color

As you can tell, forming your visualization can take some time and, if done with full activation of all your senses, can be rather complex. You gather your total experience and link it to a color. What color represents for you the scene you so completely formed? If you are color blind and can only see shades of grey, choose a part of your image, say a wine glass, tree or twenty dollar bill that can bring to mind the entire scene. See this color or image overlay the deep sensory image you have developed.

Third Step is Anchoring in the Scene

You want a very quick action that anchors in your complex visualization. Your body is an information transmitter. Put information in your body and it will hold it there for you. This is a type of cellular memory. Make use of this power of your body by anchoring in your complex and complete sensory scene you developed. Touch your body while the scene in your mind is at its height with the color or single image you have selected to represent the whole. Bringing your thumb and forefinger together of one hand is what most people use. If you experience paralysis that prevents you from moving your fingers, press your lips together firmly, move your tongue in a particular way or even squeeze your eyes shut. Once you combine the physical anchor with the color or symbolic representation and anchor this into your body with some sort of physical touch, you have what you need to eliminate fear.

Forth Step Is Using the Positive to Extinguish the Fear

Now you are set for a very simple process that, when used regularly, will assist you in get rid of your fear. Note I wrote “simple.” I did not say this is easy. The simple process takes dedication and commitment.

Be sure you are not touching you body using your physical anchor. Now bring to mind your fear. Experience your feelings of fear. Now use your physical anchor, such as bringing your thumb and forefinger together. See the color or symbol you developed to represent your complex scene. Get in touch with all the sensory information of the scene that is positive for you. When the fear is gone, or at a very low level, release your physical anchor and repeat the process.

You can do this if you will make the time and effort to do so.

Self-Confidence Is a Skill You Can Develop

Self-Confidence Is a Skill You Can Develop

People have the mistaken notion that someone either has or doesn’t have self-confidence. They believe you were either born with it or you had parents who instilled it within you by their encouragement and affirmation. Few people realize that self-confidence is also a skill you can develop if you have the determination to work at it. You can develop self-confidence if you will only begin a few simple strategies.

Begin with What You Can Do

I am reminded of my high school chemistry teacher. It was time for mid-term exams and, being the scared 17-year old students we were, we were terrified of failing our exams. After all, we knew that chemistry was difficult. We also knew that our teacher demanded excellence from us. What we didn’t realize was how much he wanted us to succeed and how much he wanted us to know we could succeed. No, he didn’t give us an easy exam anyone could pass. What he did was start us off with a question that any of use should know. I still remember it. “How many centimeters to an inch?” (The answer, by the way, is 2.54.) You could feel the self-confidence rising in the room as each person read and answered that question.

We asked him later why he started the test with such a simple question. He told us how he’d learned that starting off an exam with a question everyone should know broke through the fear that could prevent the student from accessing the knowledge locked up in their head. When we realized we could answer these first questions we would relax. The fear would dissolve, self-confidence would rise and he would learn what we really knew rather than discover what our fear would prevent us from recalling.

If you don’t think you have self-confidence, you need to realize that self-confidence is a matter of the mind. It has little to do with what your actual skills are. Every person knows at least someone who believes s/he is great at something but is actually mediocre. You can’t convince that person of their actual lack of ability because they believe with all their being they are good at what they do.

Practice What You Can Do and Add Affirmations and Emotion to Your Actions

Let’s say you play the guitar and would like to have the self-confidence to play it publicly, but your fears of people deriding you keep you from taking the risk. While you’re practicing your guitar, notice how your fingers easily make the chords. Each time you make an easy transition congratulate yourself. If you say to yourself, “Anyone could do that,” know that you are not telling the truth. If you walked down the street and asked the first hundred people if they knew how to play the guitar, how many would say “Yes”? You can do something only a small percentage of the people in the world can do. Affirm yourself every time you succeed while you are practicing.

Your next step is to play in front of a few people, family or friends. You might already to this. They might even tell you that you are good. What do you do with what they say? If you don’t have self-confidence, you most likely don’t believe them. Take a risk and believe them. Make their positive comments an affirmation for you that you repeat to yourself. Get in touch with your feelings of joy and delight as you play. Get in touch with what an emotional rush it would be to hear people hooting and hollering their delight when you play.

You may not play the guitar. Pick something you do well. It doesn’t matter what it is. Perhaps you’re one of the top scorers in a particular video game. Break down the skills and dexterity it takes to play video games. Tell yourself how good you are at each skill. Notice how that particular skill can be used in other areas of your life as well.

You will become self-confident when you notice and affirm what it is you do well. You simply need to want self-confidence more than you want to stay mired in self-doubt.

Everything You Need to Succeed Is Within You

Everything You Need to Succeed Is Within You

People come to see me because they feel stuck and need some help. They may be attracted by the tools I use such as The BodyTalk System, PSYCH-K, Soul Healing and other tools. They are powerful tools, but they are all devised to bring the person recognize the only one who can really help them… and it’s not me.

My job is to assist the client in looking within and finding the power that is already there. By the time the individual comes for assistance, he or she has experienced many incidents of what is interpreted as failure by themselves or others. Some of this supposed failure is in the realm of accomplishment in school and jobs. Other failures, which are the most debilitating, revolve around not being the person he or she wants to be. Everyone, if honest with him or herself, has had these times. When this happens there is a great reluctance to look at oneself in the mirror.

Are you one of those people struggling to get beyond a history of personal failures? Are you one of those who is afraid or ashamed to look yourself in the eye and tell the truth about yourself?

Personal Truth is Not What You Think

When people talk about being honest with themselves, they are usually referring to admitting their faults and character defects. It is important to acknowledge where you have been in your life and what, within you, has put you where you are. Once you accept your personal accountability, you then need to move away from your failures and do a different inventory of yourself. You must, and I do mean must, look deep within and find the gifts and talents you have. The abilities you have within you are what will move you from where you are to what you want to be.

Napoleon Hill, in the 1925 version of The Law of Success, tells the true story of a man who went from homelessness to being the president of a multinational company simply by accepting that his power was within him – and then gathering that power to move him forward to where he wanted to go. If you wish to succeed, you must look yourself squarely in the eye and accept your total responsibility for what has happened in your life. If you blame your current situation on forces outside of yourself, no matter what difficulties or horrors have happened in your life, then you will never move forward in life. If, however, you accept the responsibility for your responses to what has happened to you, you then know that you have the ability to respond to life’s situations in a different manner. When you respond differently then you will be in a different place.

Your Personal Inventory of Strengths

Take out a piece of paper and write down something you do well. It doesn’t matter how mundane you believe that “something” is. It could be your ability to cross the street safely. Now list at least 10 characteristics within you that assist you in performing that action. For instance, if you choose crossing the street safely, you could list: being aware of my environment, the desire to stay alive, evaluation of the speed of vehicles, knowing how fast I move, the ability to judge distances. What are other characteristics that assist you in walking across the street safely?

Do this little exercise on several different activities you do. Notice the characteristics which show up more than once. These are the characteristics you have within you which, when activated consciously, will move you from where you are now to a place of success.

There is no one who can turn you into a success. You can have ten different coaches, but if you don’t accept responsibility and take action, you will never move to where you desire to be.

The Mastery of Fear

The Mastery of Fear

The Mastery of Fear can be a wonderful emotion that keeps you alive. It is fear which has you react quickly and without thought when there is an on-coming car. Your instincts take over and, without thought or analysis, you move quickly out of the way of danger. As much as fear can keep you alive, it can also freeze you into inaction. You can become so terrified you will be hurt in some way that you refuse to take risks and try new things. In this situation fear is simply False Evidence Appearing Real.

False Evidence

When your mind runs wild with the danger of taking a particular action, you are convincing yourself of something you have no evidence will actually happen. Let’s say you’re interested in mountain climbing but you’re terrified you’ll fall and either die or be severely hurt. True, this has happened to many people, but not to as many as you might think. The news takes great relish in furiously reporting death and destruction. It rarely reports life and excitement, unless it’s involving a national or college sports team.

How many people do you know who have successfully climbed the 55 fourteeners (14,000+ foot high peaks) in Colorado? I have no idea, but I did a quick internet search using the keywords, “climbing the 14000 foot mountains of Colorado.” There were 774,000 results with the top ones containing a tremendous amount of information of the 14ers, the moniker used by one web site. If you have a desire to climb, are you going to be paralyzed by the negative of what might happen or by the positive accomplishments of tens of thousands of people who regularly climb?

By researching you can learn the definite danger spots of climbing mountains, or any other endeavor for that matter, and form a plan to overcome them. All you need is education, a plan of action, the right equipment or tools, and the desire to move forward.

Appearing Real

When your self-talk is negative, you are training your brain to be afraid. You’ve heard the saying, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” (This came from the movie “The Fly” with Jeff Goldbloom.) Although, the actual intent of the slogan was humorous, your negative self-talk is training your mind to be in a state of fear. You would protect yourself more by being wary of what you can do to yourself through your thoughts and beliefs than fearing whatever effect an action you take can have. When you combine the power of your emotions with thoughts, you form a chemical bond which imprints upon your brain. Your thoughts plus emotion can form a loop which is difficult to break out of. Use positive feelings with positive thoughts and you will move further in life in one year than you have ever done before.

Your brain and your mental abilities are amazing. Science is just beginning to seriously study the power of the combination of your thoughts plus your emotions. We are learning that the thought plus emotion combo fools your brain into believing that what you are thinking of is real. When you combine emotions of fear with thoughts of “I can’t do this or something bad will happen,” your brain believes it is real. You’ve just created for yourselfFalse Evidence Appearing Real.

Napoleon Hill in “The Law of Success” talks about how the enemy of progress is fear. It can immobilize you if you let it. It can prevent you from accessing the power residing within you to fulfill your dreams. It will quench the passion which fuels your action.

The promise in the power you have within you if you only allow it to bloom, is that by controlling what you think and feel, and that includes fear and thoughts of fear, you can accomplish more than you ever dreamed possible.

Three Questions to Ask When Establishing Your Definite Purpose

Three Questions to Ask When Establishing Your Definite Purpose I’m sure you know by now that setting specific goals in life is crucial to achieving success. Did you know that there is something you should do before you set those goals? The critical task before establishing your goals is to analyze your desires and motivations and write out what Napoleon Hill in “The Law of Success” calls your Definite Purpose.

In the language of Steven Covey and others in the motivational and success field, Definite Purpose is also known as your Mission Statement. Since I’m studying Napoleon Hill’s “The Law of Success,” I’m going to stick to what he calls Definite Purpose. If you are more familiar and comfortable with the term “Mission Statement,” you can apply what you learn here to what you know about your Mission Statement.

When Napoleon Hill interviewed the successful people of his time, as well as another 15,000 people, he discovered that those who were successful each had a Definite Purpose for their life. Unfortunately, only 5% of the people he interviewed were successful, and of those 5% of those who were successful, 100% of them had a Definite Purpose which guided their lives. This Definite Purpose was in writing where they could see it when they awakened in the morning and before they went to sleep at night. If you want to be successful, then do what successful people do.

There are three questions to ask yourself when establishing your Definite Purpose.

1. Is it constructive?

2. Will it bring hardship or trouble to anyone?

3. Will it bring you peace and prosperity?

Let’s look more closely at these three questions.

Is it constructive could be asked in a few other ways. Does your Definite Purpose contribute in a positive way to the world? Is it something you would be proud to share with anyone you meet? If you believe in an afterlife, would you be excited to share it with those who greet you after you leave your body?

Will it bring hardship or trouble is not talking about simple difficulties in life. Will your Definite Purpose be supportive of others in their lives? You may have as your goal to make millions or billions of dollars, but if you do it in with a ponzi scheme in which people will lose their life savings you have caused hardship and brought suffering to those who trusted you.

Will it bring you peace and prosperity is an internal measure. Being a drug dealer of either street or prescription drugs will not bring you peace. It might bring you money, but prosperity is much more than having money. It is the feeling that every area of your life is full and fulfilled. If you are continually on edge because someone might turn you in to the police, or you will be found out and sent to prison, there is no peace.

Once you set your Definite Purpose and know it satisfies the three questions above, then you can establish goals to move you forward to the fulfillment of what people now call your mission statement. This is your passion and you will be able to keep your desire burning brightly and your motivation alive until it is accomplished.

The Trait of the 95% of the Population Who Fails

The Trait of the 95% of the Population Who Fails

Napoleon Hill, in “The Law of Success,” states that the population in the United States fails at the endeavors of life. Not that you need assistance in subtracting, but that means that only 5% of the population succeeds. Now this was in the early 20th Century, but I fear the percentages are no better now in the early 21st Century. What is lacking in individuals that results in 95% of the people being unhappy, as unhappiness is the result of failure? Do you know?

According to Napoleon Hill, the primary reason people fail is that they have no definite purpose to their lives. What is known as existential psychology would say that people do not have meaning in their lives. If you have no definite purpose you are like a sailing vessel roaming the vastness of the ocean without a rudder. You use your vast store of energy only to move in circles.

Once you establish your definite purpose in life, you now know your direction in life. You have a destination in life that acts as a beacon guiding you on your way. You need three additional items in addition to your definite purpose to move you towards success.

Definite Plans will take you from point “A” to point “B.” If you decide to go on a journey you need more than a rough idea of where you are going. For example, traveling from Houston, Texas to Omaha, Nebraska by car is pretty much due North. The problem is that going due North will not get you to your destination the easiest and most efficient way. You need a definite plan, also known as a roadmap, to get you where you want to go.

Power, according to Napoleon Hill, involves gathering together a group of people who have the knowledge, wisdom and skill to assist you in getting to your destination. Having access to these accomplished people is only a small part of the equation. You have to utilize what they know and act upon it. Having people available is only potential power unless you ignite it with your action.

Proficiency in the skills are needed for what you have chosen to do. You can have all the knowledge in the world at your fingertips, which you do through libraries and the internet, but if you do not learn those skills and then practice them, they are useless to you. There are many people who believe they are an expert because they have read a book or received a college degree. It is only when you have mastered the information you have learned through action that you can achieve your definite purpose.

Today, it seems that most people want to achieve the status of great wealth or accomplishment without having to go through the necessary learning process. Book learning is not enough. You have to train your mind and your body in how to implement what you have learned. Consider this question, would you fly solo in a jet after having only read all the books available on how to take off, fly and land a jet? You might be willing to take the controls when someone else has you in the air, but wouldn’t you give them back when it came time to land? If you don’t, you have a very slim chance of making it through your flight alive.

This is true with your definite purpose. Learn the necessary knowledge, gather your support team and then put your plan in action after you practice or have worked with a mentor.

The Power of Internal Motivation

The Power of Internal Motivation

Setting goals is considered one of the most powerful, if not most powerful technique to assist you in moving forward in your life. Goals provide focus and direction. You are the one who has to find the motivation to move from where you are to your destination.

If you want to move towards a goal you need a reason why. This is called motivation. The ease with which you reach your goal depends upon where your motivation comes from and your attitude regarding that motivation. Let’s talk about two different types of motivation, that which comes from within you and that which is a force from outside of you.

Motivation from Within

When you have an internal drive for accomplishment, you don’t need a force from outside of yourself to move you forward. This passion is the fuel of your movement. It could be a deeply held desire you’ve had for sometime, the love of family, your desire to prove yourself to yourself, or a reason based upon mystical or spiritual experiences. Internal motivation, when it is present, is a force of great strength which can propel you past the difficulties that arise when you move forward in the accomplishment of your goal.

Motivation from Outside

Fear is also a great motivator. Although fear comes from within you, its source comes from outside of you. If you didn’t have the external reason moving you into action, you would no longer be afraid. With the fear gone, your motivation is gone leaving no energy to move you forward. Fear of getting in trouble with the IRS definitely moves me forward in paying my taxes and doing so on time. The problem with something external moving you to action is if it isn’t present you won’t act.

Let’s say you want to succeed to prove to your parents you can do it. You can do this because you love your parents and you want to succeed as a sign of your appreciation for the role they played in your life. That’s a positive motivation that can move you forward even if your parents die before you succeed.

But, what if your internal reason is that you want to prove them wrong about you, that you want to shove your accomplishments in their face? The fuel for your actions is based upon anger. You have to keep that anger going if you want to succeed. Being angry that long is not fun for you and can drive away those around you.

Your Attitude is Crucial

It’s not just the “why” of doing something, it’s also the attitudinal “how” that determines whether you are happy or unhappy during the process of accomplishment. Life can be great fun or it can be filled with pain and turmoil. Everyone’s life has high points and low points. What is going on with you internally, your feelings, will determine whether life is fun or drudgery.

If you want to prove something to someone because you are angry with them, look for another reason to achieve the same goal. Search within you and find the reason for accomplishment that is based upon positive feelings. This could be as simple as you have always wanted to succeed in this area and you would feel a sense of great accomplishment when you have reached your goal. That is internal motivation.

Many people are aimless in life until they fall in love with someone. Suddenly they find the reason for accomplishment. They move forward out of love for another. This is a positive attitude that can lead to joy in life as long as you stay in the energy of love. What happens, however, if that person is gone or that love is gone? What moves you then? That’s why you ultimately have to act upon what you desire and what you want.

Once you are clear on why you want to achieve a particular goal, and you know you want to achieve it for yourself, then you are well on your journey with an internal energy which will sustain you as time goes on.