Master Key Week 9: Is Your Mind Full of Weeds?

Look at this beautiful bounty of fresh, organic vegetables

Every week from mid-November to mid-May, Susan and I receive a large box full of vegetables from our CSA share.  We get so excited to review each week’s harvest and plan for the meals we will prepare with this amazingly delicious food.

In mid-October of this year, we visited the Geraldson Community Farm in Bradenton, FL along with many of the other share owners to tour the fields, talk with the farmers and enjoy the festivities.

The Farmers have learned and use the Law of Growth

During the tour of the farm, our skilled farmers explained how they

• Prepare the fields
• Plant the seeds and seedlings
• Water and fertilize the crops
• Harvest the vegetables
• Deliver the final results to us

We see the Law of Growth all around us

The animals all over the world grow from babies to adults. The grass and weeds in my yard continue to grow even when I mow them down. The national debt continues to grow. There is even a Law of Growth listed in the Seven Laws of the Mind.

For those unfamiliar with the Seven Laws of the Mind, here is a quick overview:

1. Law of Substitution
2. Law of Relaxation
3. Law of Practice
4. Law of Forgiveness
5. Law of Dual Thought
6. Law of Subconscious
7. Law of Growth

The inclusion of the Law of Growth in the Seven Laws of the Mind brings us to the conclusion that our mind is the field that grows our life. Almost all of the results we experience in life are a consequence of the thoughts we have planted in our minds.

Is Your Mind Full of Weeds?

How do you prepare the fields of your mind? Do you sit still for at least 15 minutes a day learning the skill of quieting your mind?

What seeds to you plant in your mind? Do you continually imagine the results you desire?

What do you use to water and fertilize your thoughts? Do you amplify your goals with positive feelings and a burning desire?

What results do you harvest? Are you living the life you want to live?

The results in your life are a direct outcome of the thoughts you intentionally or unintentionally planted in your mind. If there are weeds growing in your mind, the results you experience will not be what you have wanted.

Here are some suggestions for removing the weeds from your mind

• Develop a Definite Major Purpose statement describing the person you are becoming and read it aloud at least 3 times everyday.
• Read this Self-Confidence Formula from the book Think and Grow Rich at least once a day.
• Start a Seven Day Mental Diet as described by Emmet Fox.
• Invest at least 15 minutes daily sitting quietly with a still mind or meditating. The Master Key System lays out an excellent 26 week series of daily sits.
• Smile and be Happy throughout the day.

Feel free to start slowly, using only one or two of the “weeding” techniques described above. As you begin to embrace all of the steps outlined above, you will experience your mind turn into your own, personal garden with everything you desire in life. As you take action on your definite major purpose, your harvest will be delivered as the life you have aspired to live.

Master Key Week 8: The Root of All Good and Evil

Have you read or heard this New Testament Bible passage?

(1 Timothy 6:10), “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil”. 

What do you think of this quote? Is greed really the root of many evils? And if so, what is the root of most of the good?

This blog entry isn’t going to dive into Bible passages to find the answer or explore a theological discussion about good and evil. I am just going to present you with a few ideas from The Master Key System – Part Eight  and let you decide.

First, would it make you feel better to know that there was one unchanging law that governed everyone equally? Well, there is, and you may be surprised what it is. Are you ready to learn it?

“Thought results in action”. Or as others have stated it “Thoughts are things”.

You may be thinking “OK. That is nice, but how do you get to the root of all good and evil?”

Consider if you had mostly constructive thoughts.

• Would you have a positive mental attitude?
• Would you focus on what you wanted from life?
• Would you use your imagination to idealize your future?

Consider if you had mostly destructive thoughts.

• Would you have a negative attitude toward life?
• Would you focus on the bad things around you and more misery coming into your  life?
• Would you imagine how terrible things could become in the future?

Throughout the ages, people have come to associate the results of harmonious, constructive thoughts as GOOD.  People have also come to associate the results of inharmonious, destructive thoughts as EVIL.

Notice the focus of most people is on the results. However, results are created by the thoughts you hold in your mind all day. What kind of thoughts are foremost in your mind? Will these thoughts lead to GOOD results or EVIL results?

Consider this story:

There was once a wise old man sitting at the gate of an ancient city. A young traveler stopped before entering the city and asked the old man, “What kind of people live in this town?” The wise man answered with a question, “What kind of people were in the town you just came from?” “Oh, they were liars and cheats and thugs and drunks, terrible people,” the young traveler replied. The old man shook his head, “The people in this town are the same way.” Later another stranger paused to ask the same question, and again the wise man questioned his questioner, “What kind of people did you just leave?” The second traveler answered, “Oh, I left a fine town. The people were good and kind and honest and hardworking.” The wise man smiled and said, “The people in this town are the same way.”

Are you starting to see how the thoughts you hold in your mind determine the results your experience throughout life?

Try this one simple exercise and see how your life starts to change.

Whenever a negative or destructive thought enters your mind, substitute it with a positive thought instead. Think of a very humorous or joyous moment in your life. Quickly move to the happy thought and push the unhappy, negative thought out of your mind.

Some people believe that any thought that is held for over 16 seconds will begin to draw corresponding results into your life. Knowing this, wouldn’t you want to strive to keep positive, uplifting and constructive thoughts present in your mind all day long?

Your thoughts are the root cause of the majority of good and evil results that enter your life. Knowing this, what kind of thoughts will you steadfastly hold onto today and tomorrow?

Master Key Week 7: Do Vacations Make You Work Faster?

I have some questions for you:

• Do you remember the last time you went on vacation?
• Do you remember the day before you left?
• Did you make a list of all the things that needed to be completed before you could leave?
• Did you work through the list quicker than you would have during a typical day?
• Did spend time watching TV or chatting with friends during this day or did you mostly focus on what needed to be accomplished?
• Did you read emails and spend time reviewing Facebook or did you attempt to get the important things done as expeditiously as possible?

As you guessed, I asked these questions to make a point. 

We can get more accomplished in less time if we make a plan, take personal responsibility for the plan and have a deadline for being done. I first learned about this “day before vacation” phenomenon over 25 years ago from Zig Ziglar. He suggests that we take what we learned from this experience and use it everyday.

Think how much more you could get done each day if you had a list of important tasks to complete before going to bed at night. How would you feel at the end of the day? Could you look at yourself in the mirror and say to yourself “I am pleased with what you accomplished today. I Love you.”?

So are you up for the challenge?

Will you treat tomorrow like it is the day before vacation?

How about doing this for the entire week?

1. What is your Objective for the week?
2. What are the Actions required to meet your objective?
3. How much Time will be required to complete your actions. Add 20% for unforeseen challenges.
4. Schedule it. If it isn’t in writing, it isn’t true.
5. The night before each day, review the tasks you will perform the next day.
6. Work your task list each day and complete everything on your list.

If you take on this challenge, you will be amazed at what you accomplish.

Let’s get ready for vacation!

Master Key Week 6: Are You Behaving Like a 90-Year-Old?

I have been blessed to have enjoyed the company of dozens of nonagenarians and even some centenarians.

Some of these people were my grandparents, great-grandparents and other relatives. Some were neighbors or friends at church and some were just acquaintances I met during my normal daily activities.  From what I have observed, the folks who have lived for at least ninety years all share many of the same attitudes, beliefs and habits. Below is a list of some of the qualities common among nearly all of these amazing people.

1. They have firm beliefs. They have developed these beliefs over many years and are not likely to change. Although some my view this as stubbornness, others see how these beliefs allow them to make decisions quickly and change those decisions slowly.
2. They focus their attention on what they want. Like a magnifying glass focusing the power of the sun, they will focus their attention on a what needs to be changed in their life and they seldom divert their attention until that change is accomplished.
3. They strive for independence. They don’t want to be a burden on anyone and prefer to live in their own home or living area if at all possible. They want to perform tasks themselves if they can.
4. They are helpful and giving to others. They are glad to help others in any way they can. They may volunteer or even donate money if they are able.
5. They are open to new experiences, tools and ideas. They have lived through significant changes in their lifetimes and they are open to embracing changes as long as it fits into their beliefs (see  #1 above).
6. They know their limits. They know what they can do and they know what they can no longer do. Although they have a strong sense of independence (see #3), they recognize when assistance or a team effort is needed.
7. They have developed a reliable support group. Through phone calls greeting cards, receiving visitors and even texts and emails, they keep in touch with others who love and care for them. They know they can reach out to this group for assistance if needed.
8. They are thankful: Thankful for what others do for them. Thankful for memories of the past. Thankful for what each new day brings. Thankful for life’s many blessings.
9. They enjoy life. As they go about their day, it is fun to watch as smiles, laughter and even tears come into their experience. They seem to enjoy it all.
10. They have love in their heart: This seems to sum it all up. They love the people around them, they love the world around them. They love the experiences that life brings.

So what do you think?

• Have you met many 90-year-olds with most of these qualities?
• Would these qualities be beneficial to anyone’s life?
• Which of these qualities do you possess?

Master Key Week 5: Welcome Adversity into Your Life

Have you ever woke up in the morning with sore muscles?

1. Starting a new exercise program.
2. An intense day of spring cleaning or working in the yard.
3. A guided Kayak tour on a lazy river.
4. A crazy day at a theme park rushing from ride to attraction to show.

The morning after any of these experiences, your muscles may greet you with an uncomfortable response to the prior day’s activities. This soreness isn’t really your body punishing you for working your muscles too hard. It is a sign that your body is adapting, building and preparing for future intense physical activity. If you decide to continue that new exercise program, you will find that the soreness soon decreases and the stamina and intensity you can bring to the exercises increases. your physical body responds to adversity by making improvements to handle future challenges.

Do you remember the first time you drove a car?

1. Depress the brake pedal.
2. Release the parking brake,
3. Shift into reverse.
4. Check your review mirrors.
5. Check up and down the street to make sure the road is clear.
6. Look over your shoulder and out the back window.
7. Slowly release the brake pedal.
8. As the car approaches the street, slowly turn the wheel to the right.
9. Once you’ve backed int the street, depress the brake pedal.
10. Shift into Drive.
11. Release the brake pedal and move your foot to the accelerator pedal.

All these actions just to back out of the driveway! Do you remember how much conscious thought you needed just to maneuver the car in very simple ways? However, as you continued to practice driving, your mind began to start performing many of the steps unconsciously. Driving became much easier and you had time to focus your thoughts on more advanced driving skills. Now that you have been driving for years, you have no trouble talking on the phone, drinking a bottle of water and listening to music all while maneuvering through heavy traffic. Over time, your mind has responded to each adversity that occurred while driving and has incorporated improvements to better handle future challenges.

Have you ever tried something once and given up, never to try again?

As you go through life, you encounter new experiences almost every day. Most of these new experiences will be accompanied by some level of adversity. How you decide to respond to that adversity will effect the path your life takes. For example, the first cigarette someone smokes is usually accompanied by some coughing or even some gagging. This adversity may cause the person to quit smoking right then and there, never to smoke again.

However, giving up at the first sight of problems is seldom a good idea. This is especially true if you have a clearly defined purpose in mind. Just as your body responds to adversity by improving and your mind responds to adversity by improving, so do all aspects of your life.

Are you ready to embrace the adversity that awaits you?

This is the question that has been entering my mind throughout the week. Many different sources have all been showing me the same simple truth: Life contains adversity. Growth requires plowing through the challenges. Avoiding adversity is avoiding growth.

Keeping all this in mind, I am now focusing on these ideas:

1. It is important to know how I want to live my life now and in the future.
2. Reading a descriptive statement of my Definite Major Purpose in life keeps me focused on my goals.
3. It is important I invest my time on activities that move my goals forward.
4. Activities not associated with my goals are not important.
5. There will be adversity as I am accomplishing my goals and these challenges will ultimately make my future actions easier to accomplish.
6. I always keep my promises; especially those promises I make to myself.

Are you avoiding a challenge that lies in the path of what you want in life? 

Master Key Week 4: Do The Words We Use Really Matter?

When you see a pink ribbon, what thought enters your mind?

Did you say breast cancer or breast cancer awareness? Most people do and that speaks volumes to how effective the various breast cancer awareness organizations and charities have been at promoting the symbol of their cause. However, when I see a pink ribbon, I think of health and vitality for those around me and for myself. What’s wrong with supporting breast cancer research and support groups? Nothing really, but the messages of these and many other causes often focus on a disease or a problem. No energy is focused on a better and brighter life.

• Foods that fight disease,
• The War on Drugs,
• Stamp Out Poverty.
• Stop Hunger,
• Breast Cancer Warrior.

These phrases and many, many more focus our minds on the problems we see around us and do not build energy toward solutions. Mother Teresa explained it this way: “I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.” She and many other successful people understand that the words we use are important for these words and thoughts produce the results we receive in our lives.

Let’s see if we can change the phrases to better focus on what we really want. Do these words cause your mind to focus energy on the desired effect?

• Foods that heal.
• High on Life.
• Bridge to Dignity.
• Food for All.
• I Love Boobies.

OK. I admit that some of these could be better; however, they are all actively being used by various causes and charities who understand that to get improved results, a better message is needed. Share your improved slogans in my comment section. I am sure if we work as a Mastermind, we can come up with even more powerful statements.

Master Key Week 3: Fear and “Ghosting”

I am a movie buff.

I enjoy the immersing myself in a hero’s journey being played out on screen. The sights and sounds of the motion picture make it all seem so real that I am able to suspend my disbelief and experience the emotions the hero is feeling all along the journey. I relish finding the subtle inspirations that the writers, director and actors have woven into the tale. As you know from last week’s blog post, leaving the subconscious mind unguarded can effect your future thoughts and actions. Therefore, I am careful to choose films which I believe are closely matched to my goals and beliefs plus I still keep the guard on active duty.

The reason I bring this up is that I just watched the movie After Earth. 

It is a Sci-Fi movie in which a father and his teenage son, Kitai crash land on planet Earth 1000 years after it was abandoned. The Father has two broken legs and their rescue beacon is damaged. It is now Kitai’s responsibility to locate the backup rescue beacon 100 Kilometers away. Earth is now covered with wild animals and other dangers. To make matters worse, the destroyed spacecraft was carrying an Ursa: A large, blind, multi-limbed creature which hunts humans by actually “smelling” their fear (pheromones). Kitai starts his journey knowing it is his duty while also encumbered with fearful thoughts from the past, the present and the future.

As his journey progresses, Kitai is able to keep in contact with his father through a remote monitoring and communications device built into his uniform. The first night after starting his trek, he asks his father to share with him the process he used to defeat the Ursa. His father relates how “Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not at present and may not ever exist. That is near insanity. Do not misunderstand me danger is very real but fear is a choice. We are all telling ourselves a story”. This technique for overcoming fear is known as “Ghosting” in film: One can become invisible to the Ursa when fear is no longer active in one’s thoughts and feelings. This involves rooting oneself the present moment.

Fear is the enemy.

The movie’s subplot of conquering fear really hit home with me as this week’s Master Keys reading discusses overcoming fear as well:

”15.  [Fear] is this personal devil which makes [people] fear the past, the present and the future; fear themselves, their friends and their enemies; fear everything and everybody. When fear is effectually and completely destroyed, your light will shine, the clouds will disperse an you will have found the source of power, energy and life.”    ~Part 3 in the Master Key System~  by Charles F. Haanel

This week, I am learning from both Kitai and Haanel how fear is present in my life. Through introspection and observation, I have found that fear sometimes affects the choices I make and the actions I take. The exercises we are performing for the MKMMA (Master Keys Mastermind Alliance) are providing me the tools I need to focus on what I want instead of being distracted or sidetracked by my fears. I am finding fear starting to melt away and my light is shining brighter.These crazy exercises may actually be starting to produce results.

Master Key Week 2: Talking to Your Mysterious Mind

Most people understand that the human mind consists of two major parts

First, there is the conscious mind or active mind. This part of the mind has been explained in many different ways by many different people over the ages. I could make up some intriguing definition, but I will just say it is where you experience and interact with the world around you.

Second, there is the subconscious mind or mysterious mind. This is the part of the mind few of us really understand. We may know it keeps our heart beating and the rest of our bodily functions working without any conscious thought. We may even understand it as the storehouse of our lifetime of experiences. But do you really understand how you can talk to your subconscious mind and ask it to help you live the life you desire?

Many sources are vying to talk to your subconscious mind

Advertisers, parents, teachers, preachers, bosses, the media and much more are communicating to your subconscious mind with messages they want you receive. These messages may be beneficial to you: “Don’t touch the hot stove”. These messages may someday hinder you: “Don’t talk to strangers”. The simple fact is that who you are today is the sum of all the messages that you have allowed to reach your subconscious mind.

Controlling the messages reaching your subconscious

The good news is that your subconscious can easily have an armed guard on duty to protect it from messages that may not contribute to the life you want to be living. This trained guard is the conscious mind. And it is your responsibility to call this guard to duty. Make sure your conscious mind is on active patrol for negative or conflicting messages. This guard should be allowed no coffee and doughnut breaks. It should be ever vigilant to protect your subconscious from garbage, conflicting messages and other hype.

Talking to your mysterious, subconscious mind

Although it is important to keep the garbage out of your subconscious, the wonders start to unfold when you place your life’s goals into your subconscious mind. The most effective method to communicate with your mysterious mind is to read to your subconscious mind, out load and with enthusiasm. To take this even further, you should consider reading it your goals and plans written in your own handwriting.

You may be thinking “This sounds silly. I am to read my handwritten goals out loud AND with enthusiasm?” Yes! This is effective because your subconscious mind delights at hearing your voice and finds your handwriting powerful and persuasive. Your mysterious mind trusts you above all others and recognizes your instruction through your spoken and written words.

So start this habit today. Do not let another day pass. Write out your major purpose in life on a piece of paper and carry it with you. At least three times a day, read the statement dramatically aloud, filled with emotion and energy. I have found this practice to keep me focused and excited to complete the tasks needed to move forward toward my goals. More intriguing, some solutions appear with little or no effort from me and my conscious mind. It seems as if my subconscious is somehow helping me expeditiously accomplish my goals. No wonder some people refer to the subconscious mind as the mysterious mind.

Master Key Week 1: Where Am I Going From Here?

There is a very old saying . This is often loosely translated “a journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step”. This week, I took my first step on the journey of learning and applying The Master Key System by Charles Haanel. This has stirred up a flood of feelings: Excitement, anticipation, fear, hesitation, worry, gratitude, joy and love, just to name a few.

The good news is that this is not a lonely, solitary journey. I will be joined by others learning and applying the same things. We are forming a Mastermind Alliance to support and encourage one another along this 26 week odyssey.

The other news is that it is my responsibility to perform all the tasks and habits being taught. The results that come from this experience will depend on me following directions and making decisions on how I want my life to proceed from where I am now to where I decide I want to go.

In the coming weeks, it has been suggested that I will once again see the world as I did when I was a child. This interesting as the phrase that has been going through my head as I start this journey is “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”

This week I have learned that harmony in my inner being is reflected as harmony the world around me. For now, I am focusing on inner harmony. This will make it easier for me to figure out where I am going from here.

As Emerson so eloquently wrote “Life is a journey, not a destination.”  The best part of this experience is that my wife Susan has started on her “Master Keys” journey as well.

I think we’re in for the ride of our lives!