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Creative Visualization February 7, 2007

Posted by The Probabilist in : [Books], Consciousness, Creativity, Gratitude, Goals, Psychology, Purpose, Relationships, Beliefs, Vision, Abilities , 3 comments

Shakti Gawain’s Creative Visualization is more than the title indicates. In fact, how to visualize something in order to create what you desire is very briefly explained. The biggest portion delves into the different kinds of things you can accomplish or have in your life, what inner beliefs may be rooted in you that block you from using your creative power of the law of attraction, and also how to reach a meditative state that serves as the best way to have creative visualization work for you.

My own interpretation and what I thought of the book is that it’s 50 % about creative visualization and another 50 % of personal psychology and life lessons that help you to lead a more fulfilled life. To understand the power of intention-manifestation and have it work well, you need to first work on your inner beliefs of what you rightfully deserve, why your natural state is that of joy, prosperity and self-worth, and what the power of your own mind really includes and controls.

The richness found in the book is the many methods that aid and complete the art of successful creative visualization. Among them are meditation, using several senses to visualize, affirmations, the link to spirituality, acceptance, healing, energy flow and centers, sanctuary, invocations, writing a notebook, clearing, goal-setting, idealizing, treasure maps and creative visualization within relationships and groups.

I found it very interesting how much in common there is to this book and what I have been writing about in this blog. There’s the question of what you want, do or are, how the beliefs about yourself are more important than what others think of you, why prosperity is your birthright and how to use a positive attitude to get what you want in life instead of perpetuating what you don’t like about yourself and your circumstances.

Creative visualization has been in the bookstores for quite some time already and I can see that it has had quite an impact in the teachings of many great personal development coaches of today. My copy is a 25th anniversary edition and it also includes some examples of what kind of results the technique has manifested. This book is a worthwhile read and daily reference to visualization to anyone who isn’t yet totally satisfied with how their life has turned out or who don’t enjoy every minute of it.

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Who Likes You - in the Long Run? February 4, 2007

Posted by The Probabilist in : [Articles], Consciousness, Communication, Gratitude, Personal Growth, Psychology, Relationships, Beliefs , 9 comments

When I first read through How to Win Friends and Influence People I felt awesome and wanted the whole world to start liking me, one person after another. Some of the principles were obvious to me, like the rule never to badmouth and criticize anyone, but I’ve always been poor at inspiring people to talk about themselves, even though I’m a great listener. I bet there’s something new and something familiar in it for everyone. So how do you make yourself more likeable on a lasting and genuinely significant level? And why isn’t this book the ultimate guide to improved relationships after all?

There was something about the book that I just couldn’t put my finger on.

There was something in the core principles that stopped me from working diligently on improving my relationships to an even greater level than before, even though all of the examples showed excellent results and even though it all made logical sense as well. It all finally dawned upon me once I looked at the big picture and the underlying motive of the book. The objective is to get others to like you, but is that really all you need in order to feel good about yourself?

People come and go, but the only person that will like you for the rest of your life is yourself - but only if you let him/her do that to you. This is the point where some might scoff at my egotistical view, but nobody can deny the fact that you alone consist of the company in which you’ll always be. So it’s most vital that you build on that relationship first before you can start to have other people like you as well.

Don’t you just feel sorry for people that try to be oh so popular while you can see right through their brittle shells that they feel insecure, afraid and disgusted on the inside about themselves? These are the people that don’t have a clue about the difference between self confidence and self esteem. Or about which one of these matters the most.

The reason I didn’t put more effort into all the principles outlined by Carnegie is that I already feel so good about myself that I don’t need others’ acceptance, interest or praise. I like getting some of that, but I don’t need it. I enjoy my current level of being fairly likeable in others’ eyes, but I’m not running a popularity contest. And you shouldn’t feel the urge to do it either, no matter how important it seems to be to some people.

If you strive only for external affection, you will end up getting an unhealthy perspective of yourself. You will only attract people into your life that tell you what you want to hear and not what you should hear. It all gets toxic and twisted in the long run. But if you allow yourself to be in the company of everyone and focus mainly on listening and learning from others, you’ll eventually become a person who leads others by example as well.

What you tell yourself is what creates the really big results and changes in your life. Why? Because what others say to you will always be filtered by your own mind-set about yourself. There are numerous examples of world class top performing athletes, artists and celebrities who receive incredible amounts of goodwill, praise, thank-yous and encouragement, but it all goes wasted because they still don’t feel perfectly satisfied with themselves. So read that sentence again and know it by heart. What others say to you will always be filtered by your own mind-set about yourself.