The Human condition is funny thing. We can’t escape it, but we humans consistently try to defy our nature – at a cost.

You see, the brain is something we use on a regular basis to do all sorts and tasks that we deem useful and even necessary – like finding food, cooking it, then eating it… all while knowing that it’s food and not poison (hopefully at least).

But an issue arises when you start taking a stand on something and are looking for fellow humans to follow your cause. When you want to get the message out to influence people, you have 2 choice for the most part… group together FOR a cause, or fight together AGAINST a cause.

Now, we humans have something called a ‘fight or flight’ mechanism. This thing is really deep rooted in our brains and chemically identical to a panic attack. In fact, it’s part of our “old brain” that also lets our heart beat and lungs breath without having to consciously think about them. Personally I think it would quite difficult to sleep if I had to tell my heart to keep moving the blood around while in bed.

So how does this relate to your message reaching ability?
Well, before I get to that let me let me ask you not to think about fuzzy pink bunnies. In a few moments you’ll understand why. Adding to this is an idea that Napoleon Hill first suggested back in the 1930’s within the book “Think and Grow Rich”, and that’s that THOUGHTS ARE THINGS.

Ok, with your brain not trying to make bunnies real, lets dive in…
Fear is likely the strongest motivating factor (or state) we have. It’s what keeps us alive in the face of danger. Absent of fear we are almost purely a pleasure seeking creature. A life with no fear however will likely result in a series of poor choices and may lead you directly into a trap – either emotionally, physically, or both.

Fear will always get you a stronger response then pleasure. It’s a stronger emotion because it’s a survival mechanism. Pleasure only happens when you’re alive and usually only after you feel safe. So if you want to make a big crowd quickly, you rally against a common enemy and insight a common and easy to relate to fear. However, by concentrating on what you’re fighting against you are forcing it to always be ‘front on mind’. That fearful thought, according to Mr.Hill, will eventually create itself by the collective thoughts of the crowd.

Mother Teresa understood this intuitively and was recorded as saying “I will never attend an anti-war rally; if you have a peace rally, invite me.” Because fear is such a strong emotion it’s much easier to build an Anti-War rally, but the focus on war actually prevents the creation of peace. Peace rallies would be much more effective, but it’s hard to get people ‘worked up’ to be peaceful. Often people equate peace with doing nothing. With silly phrases like “If you cant say anything nice, say nothing at all” many people have been conditioned by their upbringing to do nothing when a civilized dialogue is desired.

You see, your human brain doesn’t care either way about weather you say or think about anything as a ‘pro’ or ‘con’. It doesn’t differentiate between good or bad. That’s your rational brain that was developed many evolutions later. If you don’t believe me continue trying to remove all thoughts of bunnies from your mind – especially pink fuzzy ones. All your brain knows is that something exists, and it will help you create whatever you concentrate the most effort on.

In an anti-war rally you are constantly bombarded with this war is bad and don’t kill that. Your brain hears war and kill way too often and will start to consider ways to wage war and kill things. How are you doing removing the pink bunnies from your thoughts? A pro-peace rally will fill your mind with suggestions of peaceful and harmonious activities and ideas. As you keep focusing on peace your thoughts will drift over to suggest peaceful resolutions to try. Your brain wants to please you and will try to manifest anything you think about often enough.

So what about that cause you’re trying to influence?
If you are having issues in your life, or your business trying to get yourself or others to think a certain way, or take certain actions, you need to understand how your language, and the presentation method used, affects ones thoughts and ultimately their actions.

You can gain a large crowd ready to fight against something much easier then create a crowd of people ready to build something new. But it’s really hard to get a bunch of fighters calm enough to do the work of building something. No matter how awesome the result could be, you need to remove the destroy mindset before you can install the build mindset.

So it’s a rather simple – If you want a large gathering fast, hate something. But realize converting these people into builders of positive change may be very difficult. If you want to insight positive change it will take more time and more effort to generate the crowd you desire, but the results will be much closer to the original goal.

If this all sounds like a little hocus-pocus, you’re not alone. There is a Ted.com video that summarizes the human condition as “Our Mind: Incapable of understanding itself”. In a nutshell it simply explains we know our mind does things we can’t really explain (yet). You don’t have to believe in gravity for it to work, it just does so relentlessly. And like gravity, you don’t have to believe thoughts are things for your mind to start creating your thoughts all around you.

Next time your planning something where you want to make a positive change, or build something helpful understand this: Quick results often requires inciting fear and can get messy, while lasting results requires more work but will reward you much greater for this effort.

…now turn that pink bunny into a moving image of you succeeding at your next task and prosper.

Once you get over your self-inflicted self-doubt and allow your eyes to open to certain shining facts about how your passions do contain oodles value and how your interests are interests of others as well, you will be capable of empowering your motivation to accomplish most or all of the crazy dreams you dream.  And when You finally decide to take action and prove to yourself (and the rest of the world) that you can do it ‘like a rock star’ you will finally get it.

You get that you are worth your dreams.
You get that you are good enough.
You get that the only real limitations are your own thoughts and the process you use them.
Read the rest of this entry »

While many people have many different views on religion, in general they are all just trying to help everybody enjoy life together. Below is a great story.. if you don’t like the term God, you can replace it with friend, or Buddha, or anyone you respect…

A holy man was having a conversation with God one day and said,
‘God , I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.’

God led the holy man to two doors.
He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.
In the middle of the room was a large round table.

In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew,
which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water.
The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly.
They appeared to be famished.

They were holding spoons with very long handles,
that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible
to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful..
But because the handle was longer than their arms,
they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.
God said, ‘You have seen Hell.’

They went to the next room and opened the door.
It was exactly the same as the first one.

The holy man said, ‘I don’t understand ..’ It is simple,’ said God .
‘It requires but one skill.
You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.’

If you want to achieve any sort of meaningful success in your life, you have no choice but to take ownership of everything your life contains.

If you don’t accept responsibility for every action, emotion, thought, and belief in your life, you will be susceptible to exactly the sort of change you are seeing right now – random events. There are excuses preventing you right now from being the best you, you can be.

Your thoughts need to be constructive, not destructive.

You are where you are in life because of the decisions your made in your life. Period.
Nobody has it easy.

Because when you take complete ownership of your past, you finally get to take ownership for your future.

We all want to control our own destiny, but so many of us believe fate has more control then we do. That’s just a lie… it’s the excuse we use to avoid the pains of personal responsibility for our current place in life.
It’s easier to feel better about yourself on a superficial level when we deny the realities of our own in-action or laziness. Do you feel good about intending to do something one day? How do you feel after you complete a meaningful task?

4 are birds on a sand bar in the ocean, 1 decides to fly away – how many remain?
Four. The bird only thought about flying. My question is this: What happened next? Was there a better way?

Every moment of every day, with every thought guiding each and every action, we’re slowly shuffling our future choices into bits of immutable history. The difference between drowning on a sinking raft and being waited-on in the perfect place just how you like, is simply a matter of choice – and the personal responsibility to take action on the choice.

The Past is the past, remember the lessons learned from it, but don’t let it drag down your future. Use it – Raise high by providing strength through knowledge and experience. Let The past go. While it may take time to see the effects, Change happens in a moment. Make that change now to choose a better future. Make now better.

Choose.

Even if you have seen this before, I recommend reading it again every few weeks or months. We all have a tendency to get caught up in busy times and sometimes forget what we are really trying to accomplish. This may help reset your perspective.

While the following are not my words, their meaning resonates well with my intended purpose here. If you want to become a better person, run a better business, or have stronger relationships, these words will provide food for thought.

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete…

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, “I love you” to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

George Carlin