Archive for January, 2011

What is missing in your life RIGHT NOW?

What would put a big fat ear-to-ear perma-smile on your face if it became the newest addition to your life?

A deep loving stare of admiration from your soul mate?

A big sigh of relief when all of your money worries are gone?

Maybe it’s looking down and seeing something you haven’t seen in a loooong time… your FEET!

And my guess is you’ve tried to achieve these things before (at least if you’re anything like the rest of us you have).

That means that you have the knowledge and techniques to get that thing you desire into your life.

In fact 10’s of millions of people have all the knowledge they can ever use and that they will ever need but still don’t have the prize!

Would it change you if you jumped over to the other side where people actually get the results they set out to achieve?

Could you accept it with open hands?

You might automatically say yes but think about that question real hard for a minute.

In order to accept new things in our lives, sometimes we have to make room for them by letting old things exit our lives.

Unhealthy relationships, unhealthy nutritional habits, actions that lead to mediocre finances, self destructive behaviors, etc..

And as weird as it sounds, letting go of stuff, even stuff we don’t like, can be very difficult.

Mainly because it’s letting go of part of our identity. It’s stuff that, over the years, have shaped us into who we are today and we rely on those things to guide our day to day lives.

Think about it…

Even cancer patients who have lived with cancer for some time have a hard time letting it go.

Everything in our lives sort of emulsify into our being and become “part of us” over time.

I know it sounds crazy but living with open hands can be a very hard thing to do for many people.

Addictions, un-serving habits, embarrassing character traits…

All the things we DON’T want are very often the things we cling onto making it impossible for us to have room for the new stuff.

It’s hard to put things into a clenched fist!

The fact of the matter is that it’s really not that hard to make the jump from doing things that move us further away from where we want to be AFTER we learn to live with open hands and let the old stuff crumble to dust and fall through the gaps in our fingers.

Try it this week. I promise it will be scary.

I promise it will feel awkward…

I promise it will bring up some anxiety…

But I also promise if you relax your grip on who you are and what defines you, some pretty amazing things can show up in your life…

To open hands,

Mike

I just had an interesting talk with a student…

She said she really wants success in her life but not just financial success, TOTAL success!

She said she wants it all. Money, health, love, happiness, freedom, peace of mind, etc..

And I said “GREAT! Let’s do it!”

Then she reached into her sack of armor and defense arsenal and pulled out this weapon…

“But it’s risky”.

With a confused look on my face I responded, “Of course it’s risky. LIFE is risky. You run the risk of failing, you run the risk of succeeding, and you run the risk of regret no matter what you do.”

There have been times I’ve regretted taking chances, and there have been times I regret not taking chances. It’s ALWAYS a risk no matter what you do (or don’t do). But the perspective you take on what risk means to you holds all the real power.

You have to fast forward through your life and take a good hard careful look at what you truly desire at your core to answer the one question that should give you clarity on what your actions should be at this stage of your life.

Go all the way to where you see your life ending, the very last day (hopefully many, many years from now). What do you regret more?

Working with purpose to create the things you want, the lifestyle you desire to live, even if it took you 10 years to create it and it’s hard sometimes or…

Getting to the end of your life and regret never taking the shot at all but staying in a state of existence where you feel “safe”. Wondering how much more you could have been, had, and experienced in life if you DID take the shot?

There is risk either way. There is risk of regret for taking the shot and missing, or not taking the shot at all. There’s the risk of choking to death while you eat, the risk of a parking garage collapsing on your head, the risk of a meteorite taking out the entire planet…

Life is full of risk (much of it is irrational) and the only honest advice I can give you is this:

The risk of regret is the heaviest burden to carry because it’s over, you missed the chance, and you cannot go backwards. What you do, what you did, and how lived will be the last thing on your mind at the end of your life and if you can build a vision of something that makes you peacefully smile with beaming pride, satisfaction, and fulfillment at that time, on your last day, THAT is what you should work towards no matter the risk.

The only way to avoid risk is to not live at all. But you’re alive! You can’t avoid risk nor should you. It’s really a matter of a simple perspective shift.

Re-define risk. Instead of focusing on the possibility of loss associated with risk, focus on the possibility of triumphant victory!

Make risk mean triumph. Never lose hope, give yourself permission to not get it right all the time, let yourself learn along the way, learn to laugh at your mistakes and see them as silly little street signs that say “oops! That was the wrong way”, embrace risk as your friend not your enemy.

Do not let the mistakes you make along the define you!

Let yourself be confident, even in the face of no evidence that you should be confident. Let yourself find courage in your heart because life is NEVER “safe” as long as you look at risk as the possibility of loss.

Re-define risk as the opportunity to create victory that fills your soul with pride, fills your heart with love, floods your head with confidence (let your ego swell a little, it’s ok), and cracks open the greatest magic you have in the deepest part of your core, that part when exposed, makes tears roll down your cheek from the overwhelming emotional power and clarity of what and who you REALLY are inside.

When you use the power of perspective to re-define what risk means to you, you change the way you approach things, you change the way you approach life and you find a new courage, zest, and excitement to life that most all of us crave to feel in our hearts every day.

So is creating the life you want risky?

Yes, it is.

Is trying to stay “safe” risky?

Yes, it is.

But look at the last day of your life and make your own decision about which holds more risk…

Playing to win or playing not to lose?

There is a huge difference in the 2…

Mike

I was blind from the flaring heat of the intense brightness of the flames of hell.

Asking myself, “How? HOW MIKE! How did this happen to you?

You’re strong. You’ve beat things that eat this for lunch! How did you get so captured in this web of confusion? How have you gone blind to the simple truth!!!”

And it went on for months!

“You used to believe… You used to deeply care. Now you’re just harboring bitterness and anger! WHY!?!?!

Because someone hurt you? Because someone hurt your daughter? Because someone hurt your wife?

What is it? What has turned you so cold and angry? What hardened your heart? What’s making the river of blocked and suppressed tears build in your heart?”

Why have you let all of your success slip away from your life? You’re headed down a slippery slope my friend and don’t get cocky thinking you can easily recover from it…”

What am I talking about?

The blinding flames of my own personal hell caused by losing focus of my purpose.

From going blind to the truth that I so painfully discovered in my climb to my humble success of transforming from a scared suicidal drug addict living in poverty to creating a life so blessed it brought tears of gratitude to my eyes almost every day.

I grew tired from asking the same questions and coming up with the same weak ass answer…

So I asked a different question and began the work required to move into a different realm of my life.

I wasn’t worried about losing my financial success, because I already learned how to make money. That’s the easy part and once you know how to do it, you can do it over and over again.

But what I was worried about was the stuff that stops us, ALL of us, from actually doing it.

Taking control back over your life is one of the most liberating experiences you will ever go through.

But LIVING the stuff you KNOW is also one of the toughest things a person can do and without the right support and help, I’m not even sure if it’s possible.

I already know more than enough to live my life the way I want to, I don’t need to learn more information, but I did need help LIVING it again.

I thought back to rehab…

I made a decision to get sober (a hard thing to do for an addict), I learned the basics about recovery in a safe environment, I went back into the big bad scary world, and I was SCARED!

But then I remembered! They had this thing called “after care” and it was designed to assist us in living the new knowledge and skills we learned in rehab.

And by living I mean actively DOING stuff in a physical manner based on emotional and mental information. Physically applying the wisdom and knowledge of staying sober in our daily lives.

But no one went to after care meetings. They said it was a joke (keep in mind these were people forced into rehab by the court system, not people who made a decision to change).

But I DID go. I asked questions about alternative actions to take when I was scared and wanted to “run away” to drugs and alcohol. How to fight the intense pulling of drugs and alcohol ripping at my senses every day, etc…

I used the support and help and what do you know!

To this day, 22 years later, I’m the ONLY one who stayed sober and off drugs.

It reminded me that IS the answer… We all need help and while this isn’t quite the same in the way it shows up, the process and feelings are very similar.

I’ve partnered up with some trusted friends who fill the gaps I cannot fill to help you LIVE your success.

If you get what I’m saying, you know what I mean and you should click this link.

If it’s just another blog post that means nothing to you, you should not…

To living what you know,

Mike

P.S. I can’t believe how cool it is to go through this stuff again but this time with the experience of doing it before. It’s MUCH easier, faster, and actually FUN because I know and understand the process 100%.

Once you know something it’s in your head but when you LIVE something…

It takes things to an entirely new level of power and clarity that just floods you’re body, mind, and heart with endless confidence. You realize you NEVER EVER have to worry about anything again because you’ve LIVED it and can do it anytime you want. Like making money, losing weight, being dangerously open with people, etc…

It’s AMAZING!

I hope you “get it” and click this link and join us…