Love yourself

January 11th, 2012 by Marci Shimoff

Does the thought of loving yourself more make you squirm? It’s selfish, right?

Wrong!

What I discovered doing research for my most recent book, Love for No Reason: 7 Steps to Creating a Life of Unconditional Love, is that learning to be loving, kind, and encouraging toward oneself is absolutely vital. Studies show it’s the basis for success, happiness, and healthy relationships. So how do you do it?

It’s easy to love yourself for your “good” qualities: your talents and successes. The trick is in learning to love your less-than-perfect qualities. The most direct way you can love the unlovable in yourself is to bring the feeling of love to whatever it is you’re feeling or experiencing – even it’s challenging or unpleasant.

Try this little experiment: Think of something that you really don’t like about yourself – you’re too fat or too thin, or you can’t balance your checkbook, for example. Now close your eyes, and remember a time when you felt love in your heart for someone or something. Notice if you feel a warmth or expansion in the area of your heart. Now direct that same feeling of love toward yourself—just as you are, flaws and all.

Let’s be clear here, I’m not asking you to love your excess flab or your boniness or your lameness in the bean-counting department. What I’m suggesting is that you beam love, compassion, and understanding to that person who’s experiencing the challenge: you! When you do this, you’ll probably feel a physical shift in your body – you’ll be more relaxed and you may even find yourself smiling.

When you can love yourself in every situation—whether you’ve succeeded or failed, whether you feel good or bad, whether you’re enjoying life or hating it –your self-love is unconditional and it naturally extends to others. Then you can truly experience the ecstasy of your own open heart.

- Marci

Marci Shimoff newest book, Love for No Reason: 7 Steps to Creating a Life of Unconditional Love, is now available in  paperback.  To order and receive the exclusive Love for No Reason gift package as a BONUS, go to www.TheLoveBook.com.  (If you don’t have it order it! Your life will be uplifted and you’ll be supporting a wonderful author who is doing great work to help the world.)

Marci is also the creator of our Happy for No Reason Paraliminal and personal learning course.

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Steve Jobs, Magic Johnson, Mark Zuckerberg & Smart Trust

January 9th, 2012 by Pete Bissonette

Trust produces better results in business and in life. It’s an irresistible force. We talk about it in most all of our programs.

A few years back Stephen M.R. Covey wrote a breakthrough book called The Speed of Trust, which sold over one million copies. He and his partner Greg Link are out with their new book, Smart Trust, and I can’t recommend it enough.

I’m going to copy some stories from the book here to get you thinking, especially about your professional life. If you’re intrigued, go to this site and order the book. You can also participate in an interactive broadcast they are doing this coming Thursday.

Here are stories and commentary from Stephen’s and Greg’s book:

-Steve Jobs… In 2007, Ted Morgan, the CEO of an unknown location-finding technology company called Skyhook, had been trying for months to get major companies to use his technology. Then one day when Morgan checked his voice mail, he found that a caller had left the following message: “Ted, this is Steve Jobs from Apple. I’d like to talk to you about Skyhook. Call me at . . .”

Thinking the message was a joke played by someone on his team, Morgan deleted it. Later that day, he told Mike Shean, Skyhook’s cofounder, “Good try, but you gave it away by pretending to be Steve Jobs. You should have said you were Scott or one of the other managers we just met at Apple.” Shean said he knew nothing about the message. When Morgan realized the call had actually been from Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple asking to meet with him, he sat up in a hurry.

Morgan returned the call and met with Jobs, and things started happening quickly. It looked as though a great deal was in the making. Then one day, Jobs called Morgan and said that Apple had a big Macworld event coming up, that it was close to doing a deal with Skyhook, and that he wanted to model Skyhook’s technology at the event—but he couldn’t do it without Skyhook’s code. So Jobs asked Morgan to give him the code.

While still on the phone, Morgan turned to his management team and whispered, “He’s wanting our code.” The immediate response of the team was “No! No! No!”  Morgan said to Jobs, “Steve, as you might imagine, we’ve never given out our code. That code is our intellectual property. It’s everything we have.” Jobs replied, “I know that. You’re just going to have to trust me.”

Against the advice of his team, Morgan gave Jobs the code. We later asked Morgan, “What do you think would have happened if you had said, ‘Steve, I just can’t?” He replied, “You never know. But personally, I don’t think he would have done the deal. I think Steve would have moved on.” Instead, Jobs rewarded Morgan by personally demonstrating Skyhook’s technology at Macworld in January 2008, giving an animated explanation of how the technology worked and adding, “Isn’t that cool? It’s really cool.”

Morgan called Jobs’s spotlight on Skyhook “the biggest publicity event any company can have.”  Skyhook’s WPS became the primary location engine for Google Maps and other applications used by both the iPhone and iPod Touch until April 2010, and the company continues to provide location-based services for Apple as well as other technology giants such as Samsung, Motorola, Dell, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments. Its software powers thousands of mobile applications and is being used on tens of millions of devices around the globe. Morgan’s leap of trust turned out to be a huge positive game changer for Skyhook. It also affirms that although there is risk in trusting, there is often greater risk in not trusting.

-Moments of Trust… Almost daily, most of us have what we could call “moments of trust,” single instances in which our behavior enables us to build, extend, or restore trust or to diminish it. How we respond in those key moments, large or small, often has a disproportionate impact, sometimes beyond our wildest imagination.

One remarkable moment of trust occurred for Mark Zuckerberg right after his social networking service, Facebook (then called Thefacebook), was launched in 2004. Zuckerberg had entered into a verbal agreement for critically needed funding with Donald Graham, the chairman and CEO of the Washington Post Company. Just a few weeks later, the Accel Partners venture capital firm bettered the offer by $4 million. At a dinner with one of Accel’s co–managing partners, who was trying to close the deal, Zuckerberg appeared to tune out of the conversation. He left to go to the bathroom and didn’t come back.

In The Facebook Effect, David Kirkpatrick wrote: Cohler [one of the first executives hired by Zuckerberg] got up to see if everything was okay. “There, on the floor of the men’s room with his head down, was Zuckerberg. And he was crying. Through his tears he was saying, ‘This is wrong. I can’t do this. I gave my word!’,” recollects Cohler. . . .  “So I said, ‘Why don’t you just call Don up and ask him what he thinks?’” Zuckerberg took a while to compose himself and returned to the table. The next morning he did call Graham. “Don, I haven’t talked to you since we agreed on terms, and since then I’ve had a much higher offer from a venture capital firm out here. And I feel I have a moral dilemma,” Zuckerberg began. Graham had already talked to Breyer, so he was disappointed but not surprised. But he was also impressed. “I just thought to myself, ‘Wow, for twenty years old that is impressive—he’s not calling to tell me he’s taking the other guy’s money. He’s calling me to talk it out.’” Graham knew that even his first offer was very high for a company so tiny and so young. . . .   “Mark, does the money matter to you?” Graham asked.  Zuckerberg said that it did. It could, he went on, be the one thing that could prevent Thefacebook from going into the red or having to borrow money. . . .   “Mark, I’ll release you from your moral dilemma,” said Graham after a twenty-minute conversation. “Go ahead and take their money and develop the company, and all the best.” For Zuckerberg, it was a huge relief. And it further increased his respect and admiration for Graham.

Obviously, Zuckerberg has many years still ahead of him, but what has happened following that “moment of trust” has been nothing short of astounding. Today Facebook has more than 800 million active users worldwide and is literally redefining our world in ways both small and great, from enabling youths to share everyday thoughts with friends to fueling massive social movements, such as the 2011democracy uprising in Egypt. In 2010, Zuckerberg was named Time magazine’s Person of the Year, and today the company is valued at more than $80 billion and continues to rise.

-The personal congruence that leads to self-trust instills in us the confidence and credibility to inspire others. The two of us have seen countless examples of leaders—many times informal ones—who reach inside themselves, rise to the occasion, and turn the tide in leading a team or organization. One of the more inspiring stories we recall to illustrate this point is from the NBA basketball championship series of 1980. The Los Angeles Lakers led the Philadelphia 76ers three games to two in a best-of-seven series. The Lakers’ star player, seven-foot, two-inch center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, had severely sprained his ankle in game five and would not be traveling with the team to Philadelphia for game six in the hope that he could heal enough to play in game seven, if necessary.

An unlikely hero presented himself in the form of a nineteen-year-old rookie just drafted from Michigan State University, Earvin “Magic” Johnson. Johnson sensed fear and hopelessness in his more experienced and somewhat jaded teammates, who had relied on Kareem for the entire season and had just watched him miraculously score fourteen points in the fourth quarter on a badly sprained ankle to win game five. In the words of coach Pat Riley, as recorded in Tell to Win by Peter Guber, when Johnson heard his teammates say they were going to lose, he said, “I know what the problem is. All you guys are afraid because Kareem isn’t here. Well, I’ll be Kareem.” Riley continued, “We get on the plane for Philadelphia, and 1A is Kareem’s seat. Even when he was sick, nobody ever sat in 1A. He’d put a sign there: don’t sit in my seat. I’m Kareem. But Magic sat in his seat and said, ‘Hey, I’m Kareem. I’m here.’ ”

According to the NBA encyclopedia: Johnson’s confidence lifted his team’s spirits, and then he backed it up with one of the most remarkable games in NBA Playoff history. He began by jumping the opening tap in Abdul-Jabbar’s place, then went on to play every position on the floor at one time or another, from his customary point guard role to Abdul-Jabbar’s pivot spot. Johnson scored 42 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 7 assists as the Lakers stunned the 76ers 123-107 to clinch the first of his five NBA championships. After the game, he looked into the TV cameras and sent a message to Abdul-Jabbar back in his Bel-Air home: “This one’s for you, Big Fella!”

Magic’s confidence was not about himself; it was about his desire to rise to the occasion and draw on his trust in his own character and competence to inspire his team. As Guber commented, “The irony is, Earvin  Johnson’s greatest act of magic was the story he told to move his team into believing he was their hero. It was a pretty gutsy story for a rookie, but he pulled it off because he knew he was up to the role and because his ultimate goal was to benefit them all.” That Johnson’s character and competence typified him over time is evidenced in a New York Times article written eleven years later: “Magic Johnson gained the respect of many because, among other things, he devoted much of his off-the-court time to raising money for charities. On the court, he kept making himself better in his profession, no matter how good he got. And that, too, seemed to indicate the heart and mind of the man.”

To be clear, self-trust is not ego, arrogance, or unwarranted bravado. It’s a quiet inner confidence that reflects our awareness of the most important kind of prosperity we will ever have—a high balance in our own personal trust account. And whatever our current balance (or the balance of our team or organization) may be, the good news is that we can increase it significantly by making regular deposits through behaviors that both develop and demonstrate character and competence.

Keep in mind that actions and behaviors are things we can choose to change. As the renowned executive coach Marshall Goldsmith said, “When people ask me if the leaders I coach can really change their behavior, my answer is this: As we advance in our careers, behavioral changes are often the only significant changes we can make.”

-When Meg Whitman joined eBay as CEO in 1998, she said the reason was because she was “blown away by the power of trust.” The company was founded by the French-born Iranian-American entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar, and from the beginning, it quickly became wildly successful. Today the company has a market capitalization in excess of $35 billion, with 235 million registered users (buyers and sellers) engaging in more than 1 million transactions a day.

So how has eBay managed to become so successful, especially considering that “success” involves millions of transactions each year between people around the globe who don’t even know each other? The company was built on Omidyar’s high-trust belief that “most people are basically good.”

Whitman said: More than a decade later, I still believe that Pierre was right: the fundamental reason eBay worked was that people everywhere are basically good. We provided the tools and reinforced the values, but our users built eBay. Our community’s willingness to trust eBay—and one another—was the foundation of eBay’s success.

Does that mean that eBay operates on blind trust? Not at all. According to Whitman: Pierre’s premise was not that all people are good; it was that most people are basically good. I agree that it is an optimistic statement, but let’s be clear: we did not build eBay by sticking our heads in the sand. We did not ignore or deny that fraud, distasteful behavior, or unlawful activities occurred on eBay from time to time. Quite the contrary: we invested significantly in eBay’s Trust & Safety division, which policed the site. We created software that looked for patterns that might be signs of trading in counterfeit goods, illegal bidding, or even behavior that was simply inappropriate, such as one user stealing a digital photograph from another user’s auction page. But from day one it was clear to us that such behavior involved only a tiny minority of people.

-Zappos also trusts its customers, giving them the opportunity to order any shoes they want, try them on, and return what they don’t want—with free shipping both ways and a 365-day return policy. In addition, the company consistently behaves in ways that inspire trust. In May 2010, for example, a pricing error resulted in all items available through 6pm.com, a Zappos sister site, being offered for a six-hour period at a maximum price $49.95. Because some of the items carried on that site normally sold for thousands of dollars, the six-hour sale resulted in an enormous loss to Zappos. Nevertheless, Zappos honored the advertised price.

While we’re sure this was a great deal for customers, it was inadvertent, and we took a big loss (over $1.6 million—ouch) selling so many items so far under cost. However, it was our mistake. We will be honoring all purchases that took place on 6pm.com during our mess up. We apologize to anyone that was confused and/or frustrated during our [sic] little hiccup and thank you all for being such great customers. We hope you continue to Shop. Save. Smile. at 6pm.com. What’s most impressive about Hsieh and Zappos is the results they’ve achieved in the midst of an economic downturn. And those are not just financial results, though they are clearly impressive. To Hsieh, the most important results Zappos has created have to do with energy and joy. In fact, delivering happiness to Zappos’ people, customers, and partners is really what defines the company. The company’s vision and purpose statement is clear and distinct: “Zappos is about delivering happiness to the world.”

-High trust is a performance multiplier—a multiplier that translates directly into greater prosperity: increased revenues, profits, economic outcomes, and results. High trust creates a dividend that enhances and increases the productivity and profitability of interactions, thereby increasing prosperity. Low trust creates a tax—a wasted tax—that penalizes interactions and diminishes prosperity.

-Successful organizations lead out in extending Smart Trust to their customers. In addition to the companies we’ve already highlighted, you can see this manifested in businesses such as Zane’s Cycles of Connecticut, one of the three largest bike shops in the United States. Zane’s allows customers to go out the door for test drives on their bikes without asking for any identification or collateral. When customers offer to leave their driver’s licenses, they are politely refused. The message Zane’s communicates to its customers is “Just have a great ride. We trust you.” As its founder, Chris Zane, put it, “Why start out that relationship by questioning their integrity? We choose to believe our customers.” The company’s high-trust message also communicates clearly to its employees that Zane’s is in the business of building customer relationships, not merely selling products. The result is $13 million in annual sales, with a 23 percent average annual growth rate since opening in 1981 and a loss of only five of the 5,000 bikes sold each year to theft.

Zane states: Most customers are blown away by how much we trust them, and that goes far in building their confidence in us. As soon as we begin distrusting our customers and treating them like potential thieves, we’ll automatically be putting our relationship in jeopardy. . . . Sure, we may lose those five bikes a year, but the other 4,995 that are test ridden do return.  

Zane firmly believes that the customers appreciate being trusted and that they reciprocate that trust by becoming lifelong customers, returning again and again and referring family and friends. So although there’s a risk, with the company losing five bikes a year, Zane is convinced that it’s Smart Trust because it’s selling significantly more bikes than it would without such a high-trust, referral-generating approach.

-People’s growing awareness of the relationship between trust and prosperity was starkly evident to the two of us when we had the opportunity to participate in the summer 2008 meeting of the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China, the Forum’s “summer Davos.” This respected forum—which is “committed to improving the state of the world”— included 1,400 leaders from business and government as well as selected academics and journalists from more than ninety nations throughout the world. This particular meeting promised to be especially insightful because of the economic crisis at the time. Just two weeks earlier, Lehman Brothers had collapsed, and the markets were in free fall. That very week-end the U.S. Congress and other governing bodies worldwide were meeting in emergency sessions to discuss options. People everywhere were in deep panic as the full extent of the interdependence of the world economy began to surface.

At the closing session of the forum, participants were divided into table groups of ten to twelve participants, and each group was asked to identify the number one challenge threatening global economic growth for the coming year. From the hundred or so tables, the top seven challenges were taken and presented to the group as a whole for keypad voting. Surprising to many who reviewed the results of this informal survey was the fact that—even in the midst of all that was happening on the economic scene, with markets literally unraveling before people’s eyes—the global financial crisis was ranked as only the second biggest challenge facing the world’s economy. What was ranked first? “Loss of trust” and “loss of confidence.” This group of informed decision makers and thought leaders recognized that all other conditions in society—including the global financial crisis— were being exacerbated by a crisis of trust and confidence.

We believe the participants of the World Economic Forum got it right, and in fact, we had seen their very conclusion affirmed that same weekend as we participated in a televised debate about the world financial crisis on CNBC Asia. The participants of that debate agreed that the economic crisis was, at its roots, a crisis of trust. They recognized that governments could put more capital into the system. They could try to improve liquidity in attempts to get money flowing. But without trust, banks were not going to loan money to other banks or to consumers because they didn’t think they were going to get their money back, so money didn’t flow. It had become clear that not only was prosperity a huge benefit of high trust, it was also a casualty of low trust. 

-There are times when blind trust might appear to work. In August 2010 New York Post articles told of an ad executive who was approached by a homeless man outside a SoHo restaurant, asking her for some change to get some Vitamin Water. She told him she didn’t have any change, all she had was a credit card. So the man asked if he could borrow her card and get a couple of other things as well. She asked, “Can I trust you?” “I’m honest, yes,” he replied. So she handed him her American Express card. People who saw the interaction thought what she did was insane and told her they doubted he would ever come back. But a little more than ten minutes later, he surprised them by returning with the card in hand. He had bought deodorant, body wash, a pack of cigarettes, and Vitamin Water, totaling about $25. Giving her the card, he said, “Thank you for trusting me.”

That particular extension of blind trust turned out to be a good experience for both the giver and the receiver, and perhaps there are some lessons here that can be learned. However, the blind-trust approach is risky, and it typically does not represent the smartest way to operate in a low-trust world.

Again, if you’re intrigued, go to this site and order the book. You can also participate in an interactive broadcast they are doing this coming Thursday.

Pete

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Back by Popular Demand!

December 30th, 2011 by Pete Bissonette

We’re bringing back my favorite teleseminar series, Pathway to Enlightenment. We first ran it in 2008, and I think this is one of the best things you can do for yourself in 2012.

It’s a great way to learn meditation – and reap all of the benefits of meditation — while exploring the essence of who you are.

Please read my personal invitation below. It is the original letter we sent in 2008 with a few modifications. It’s as true today, as important to our lives, as it was then.

Enjoy!!

An exploration of your spirit can lead to Enlightenment

When I chiseled Truth into the stone wall of my house by my front entry, I had no idea why I was so obsessed with it. What did truth mean? Why did I want to see the word every single day of my life? Why did it seem to emerge as a guiding principle of my life?

I told others that I was inexplicably infatuated with the movie Moulin Rouge and its ideals of “Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and, above all, Love.” At the time I chose to chisel that 78-pound piece of Kasota limestone, I had already seen the movie over 40 times. I even watched the entire movie in slow motion. It seemed as if I were sculpting a mound of mashed potatoes like Roy in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I told myself I had chosen Truth because I valued honesty, transparency, and being true to myself.

Although I had that good intention, something was still missing. For some reason I was blinded to the real meaning, the real driving force, the real motive. I was not yet fully ‘seeing’ the Truth. I did not understand its language and therefore could not speak its words or live according to its principles. When I finally glimpsed the real meaning of Truth, the epiphany was as illuminating as when I first saw the Mona Lisa, as ethereal as hearing the Minnesota Orchestra performing Beethoven’s Ninth. It was as delicate as a rose and as blunt as a mallet on the head.

Jeddah Mali swung the mallet for me in July 2007, and I want you to experience it. I want Jeddah to swing the mallet for you. The course we’ve created for you, with Jeddah, is radically different from anything we’ve offered in the past. If you love it 1/20th as much as I do, you’ll be thrilled.

Turning on the homing beacon

Maybe the swinging mallet is the wrong metaphor, but the experience was profound. I swear I saw stars. Something happened that was like a homing beacon deep inside me turning on. And finally, after 52 years, I began to understand what life is about.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been living a wonderfully fulfilling life, doing and being what I absolutely love. I’ve been so blessed here at Learning Strategies working with the likes of Paul Scheele, Chunyi Lin, Marie Diamond, and our hundreds of thousands of clients. My family and friends are the best…with everything always getting better and better.

It’s not that I learned something that I hadn’t heard before. After all, I’ve attended many seminars and read thousands of books. Intellectually I am not deficient by any stretch of the imagination. Finally something inside of me shifted and I began to experience it all in my cells, and I suppose I can say, in my soul. My “book” knowledge shifted to “real” knowledge.

New Age Jargon

I first met Jeddah in Tucson during the January 2007 meeting of the Transformational Leadership Council (TLC). She was there as the personal guest of Jack Canfield, and was introduced as Jack’s spiritual teacher. I have tremendous respect for Jack and we were working together on a couple of projects – even so, I was really wary of new age teachers and the jargon that seems to pepper their conversations.

But with Jeddah it was different. I was really drawn to her, much the same as when I first met Chunyi Lin in October 1997. Jeddah’s energy was pure and alluring.

I visited her website when I got home, and was even more drawn to her, but was stopped when I saw she normally worked with people every week for 12 months at a significant investment. (You can relax – the course we’re offering you isn’t anywhere near that long, and the cost – or “expression of appreciation” as Paul Scheele likes to call it, is completely accessible.)

So I put it out of my mind and before I knew it Marie Diamond was here in Minnesota for the Diamond Dowsing seminar that we filmed to make our Diamond Dowsing self-study course. After the seminar Marie and I went out for dinner. We talked in depth about her experiences in becoming a master of energy, of Feng Shui, and of Dowsing. Very fascinating. It was like mind candy to me.

Coincidentally, and as it turned out quite fortuitously, that week held a full moon. I usually do Chunyi’s Moon Meditation before and after full moons, which fit beautifully with what I learned from Marie. On the last of four evenings doing that meditation and in contemplating what Marie had said, I humbly asked a question of the Universe – that in itself was interesting, because I am seldom humble when I ask questions of the Universe. Full of gratitude, yes, but of humility, not really.

Although I didn’t realize it at the time, the answer to my heartfelt inquiry to the Universe came in the form of an email from Jeddah. The email was about doing a course with us, but because we get so many requests, I didn’t respond immediately.

Finally we set up a phone conversation and spoke for over an hour. Right in the middle of it she said something that sounded as if she were responding to my question of the Universe. I stopped and quizzed her. Sure enough, she was answering my question.

I’m not going to tell you my question or the details of what I learned between Marie, Chunyi, and Jeddah, because it is far out, and it might stop you in your tracks. But, if you do Jeddah’s 20-week teleseminar course, you can drop me a note toward the end of it, and I’ll fill in all of the details.  (I’ll actually give you a recording of a telephone call where I laid it all out.)

Jeddah kept the conversation on doing a product together, but I knew that I wanted to work with her individually. At that point I didn’t care about the commitment or cost. The entire chain of events (and its content) was all too coincidental to be anything other than a sign that I needed to spend a lot of time with her.

But since she seemed more intent on doing a course, I told her that we would be interested. In truth, however, we have never done a course unless it was something that Paul and I got behind 100%. We’ve got to use it, love it, and want to share it. At that point it was still way too early to even speculate. Nine months later, after working with Jeddah personally each week, we were ready to share with our clients by offering an amazing course. And now, four years later, I am writing again.

Back to my chiseled stone

It would be over a month before Jeddah and I began our weekly 2-hour meditations on the phone. At first I thought it a little unusual that we were not going to have very many actual conversations – everything she would teach would be in the form of meditations. But I kept thinking back to the coincidental chain of events (and her satisfaction guarantee), so I moved forward.

Before the first session began, she did an energetic reading of my life, which she used to do for those working individually with her. She has the gift of sight as do Chunyi and Marie, so she was able to review my life from the perspective of universal energy. That’s when the meaning of that five-letter word chiseled into the side of my home began to unfold.

The Truth meant that we are not really human beings, but we are spiritual beings having a human experience. That we are all energy. That we are all connected. I’ve heard that a billion times, as you may have. But something was different when she said it.

“I don’t believe it to be the truth. I know it to be the truth,” she explained. “I’m not a seeker who teaches while they seek. I am there. I live it. Every moment of every day. I do not have moments when I forget the truth. I cannot forget.” Wow, I thought. She’s the real McCoy.

“Many teachers use flowery new age descriptions, because their minds are describing something they understand only intellectually. It makes sense to them. But there is a huge difference between being aware of the truth and knowing the truth.”

This, along with my subsequent work with Jeddah, gave me a better understanding of who I am. I have a completely new perception of myself. My reality transformed. How I relate to every human being I come in contact with has changed. Even how I relate to every situation from the melting of my 401K to a friend losing her house. It has all changed. It is so freeing that it is nearly unbelievable.

Until you experience it, you can’t have an idea of what I’m talking about. That’s how much of a transformation it is. You’ll have to follow your intuition to decide whether the course is right for you to follow. I know no words to describe it. I can only imagine how much better this world would be if all of my friends could undergo this. Everyone at Learning Strategies. My family. Everyone at TLC. Our government.

In no uncertain terms, I know this planet would be utterly transformed. The life we all long for, but never believe is possible, would be a reality. I’m not suggesting that we would all bliss out. Or that we would be instantly healthy, rich, and powerful. As wonderful as all of those things are, they require outside circumstances to bring happiness. They pale as a goal compared to a life of abiding contentment, the ability to maintain a state of unending grace.

Jeddah would say that when you align with this truth, you experience tremendous freedom from anything that shackles you. Remember, everything is energy. Energy cannot be created. Energy cannot be destroyed. Energy can only be transformed.

When we operate from a never-waning belief in ourselves as energy, as spirit, we can transform into anything we want. The extent to which we deny or reject this belief – even for just a moment – shows up as struggle. It shapes our lives and determines whether we are on course with our life purpose or whether we meander through life.

Let’s look into the actual course that I’d like you to be a part of this year.

You will change from Limited Thinking to Limitless Living

Jeddah will help you change from a way of life that is based on limited thinking and restricted understanding to one that is based on the natural laws of existence. Think of it as expansion versus contraction. This offers a level of experience more satisfying, rich, and rewarding than any that is possible with your current way of life.

Jumping into popular vernacular, you will learn the correct use of the Law of Attraction that will provide rewards beyond the manifestation of material goods.

This kind of transformation can only occur through direct experience. It is of little use to read about it, talk about it, or even have a thorough intellectual understanding of it. Many times I’ve gotten stuck asking Jeddah a question. She would say, “Let’s just go into meditation to experience the answer,” and sure enough it would all come together.

Only sincere practice yields results. For this reason, much of the detailed instruction of your course with Jeddah will take place in a meditative state, when the mind is in an alpha pattern. This enhances perception, understanding, and integration, which is vital for anyone who is serious about operating at an advanced level of awareness.

Simple, yet extraordinary

Here are some of the skills you will learn. As you read them, think of how you might use them in your day-to-day life.

  • Mind Control – the ability to still the mind and allow higher faculties more space to operate. This is the ability to select your thoughts for their usefulness in making progress.
  • Single Focus – the mind as a tool. Sharpening awareness. Enhancing concentration.
  • Visualization – the picture nature of the mind. Techniques that enhance results.
  • Awareness in Action – practical applications that lead to mastery.
  • Layers of Human Experience – the multi-faceted nature of the human energy field and its effect on thought/feelings/action/results.
  • Analytical Investigation – looking at issues/circumstances/ourselves under the microscope.
  • Energy Awareness – the foundation principle of all life. Being able to sense and interpret energy in order to know the inherent properties of whatever comes towards you in life. Being able to direct energy opens up infinite possibilities for self-advancement.
  • Interaction with Others – relating to others with the highest intention, clarity, posture, and knowledge. Being able to ‘read’ the intentions of others, decipher actions, and assess their contribution to present circumstances. Being an inspiring example to others. The purpose and value of encouragement. Being able to genuinely and successfully assist others at the highest level.
  • Where do we fit in? – our place and role in the hierarchy of life.
  • Perception – being able to see things that most people cannot! (I’ll leave a fuller explanation as a surprise.)
  • Exploration into the Nature of Energy – how human awareness as a tool compares to scientific analysis.
  • Intention – the mother of all movement from idea to action.
  • Correcting Imbalance – a crucial skill in navigating along any path. Being able to diagnose situations that are out of balance and take remedial action. This skill is the gateway to mastery, not only within oneself but in any situation.
  • Relationship with Universal Intelligence (God/Divine Being/Source).
  • Perception of, and interaction with, your higher powers.
  • Developing Relationships that foster greater levels of love, abundance, gratitude, understanding, wisdom and compassion towards self and others.
  • Accepting higher levels of responsibility, power, and mastery.

Whew!

And best of all, you will learn with your eyes closed. You will not have to study lectures, because it will all be presented in meditations. What a great way to learn.

Are you beginning to see how the depth of your work with Jeddah will transform everything (and everyone) around you?

Your course with Jeddah will be conducted over the telephone as well as over the Internet –you can do either

That’s right. This is not a CD program. Nor do you have to travel to Minnesota. Your sessions will be conducted over the telephone. You’ll also hear periodic Q&A sessions.

YOUR WEEKLY SESSION: Every Saturday morning, at 9:00 a.m. Central Time (3:00 p.m. London, 10:00 a.m. New York, 7:00 a.m. Los Angeles, 12:00 p.m. Tokyo), you will dial into a special telephone number or login at a special webpage. Jeddah will speak for up to 15 minutes, and then she will guide you through that day’s meditation for the rest of the hour. (We recommend listening to the session with headphones, but a speakerphone or speakers on your computer will work.)

YOUR RECORDING OF THE SESSION: Every Saturday you can download a copy of that day’s meditation. Jeddah recommends that you listen to it at least two times between sessions. If you miss something during the Saturday session (which can happen during a meditation), you’ll catch everything the second time through.

Sometimes I found that during my meditations with Jeddah, my mind would be jabbering. What did she just say? I wonder why that? How do I do that? It wasn’t until the second or third listening of the recording that my mind chatter completely subsided. That’s when I really experienced everything she taught and received the extra benefits.

By the way, you can burn the recordings to a CD, download it to your iPod, or listen to it on your computer. You will have access to them through our new “My Library,” which will always allow you access to the recordings as long as we are in business (after 31 years, it’s a safe bet we’ll be around for a long time).

The first session is Saturday, March 17, 2012.

You will meet for 20 weeks in a row. Your final session will be July 28.

It is alright if you miss a week. Do your best to catch up by listening to the recording of the session you missed a couple of times before the next session. If you need to miss more than a week, catch up by doing two sessions in one week. If you miss more than two weeks, just delay the entire program by a week – in other words, instead of joining others on the calls, you will progress through the recordings at your own pace. But, I have to tell you, you will receive the most benefit if you follow Jeddah’s pace – she is the master, she knows the best way to learn and experience the material.

Jeddah will not be on the calls live, other than the first session. Rather we will be playing back the original recordings from 2008 with a couple of enhancements that were made in 2009. But, you’ll love this: Jeddah will be in meditation each week focusing her energy on each and every participant in the program.

While you are following her guidance in meditation, she will be working on you energetically to help you embrace and embody what she teaches in the session.

If you can, be on each session live – either on the telephone or on the computer. Not only will you receive Jeddah’s energetic support, but you’ll receive the support of the hundreds of others who will be on with you. It can be an extraordinarily powerful experience, and we are pleased to create this unique opportunity for you.

You can enroll right now for a $24 deposit. Simply click here.

This course is best suited to those who yearn for a deeper connection from the depths of their being.

It is not suited to those who are looking for a quick fix or a temporary pep up. Participants that are earnest in their intentions and dedicated to see the subtle process through, will get the most benefit from this.

Paul Scheele and I were on each of the calls as students, just like you, when we ran this course for the first time in early 2008. We were joined by many of our staff and their families, because they want to experience the magic that Jeddah weaves. It was absolutely phenomenal, so much so that I will be back for most of the sessions in 2012.

Your Family Bonus

Your family members and close friends can join you in the course at no additional cost, as long as they are in your house on a speakerphone or listening on your computer. I must warn you, however, they will receive little benefit if they do not participate in all of the sessions. In other words, if someone wants to join you, make them commit to you that they will be on every session with you. Tasting works in a chocolate shop, but not in this course with Jeddah.

The Path to Enlightenment

Jeddah does not like to use the word enlightenment for many of the same reasons that I run from New Age gobbledygook. Nonetheless, many students of Jeddah’s still experience levels of enlightenment, of truth realization.

Truth realization is when you fully realize the Truth in every moment of every day with it never leaving your mind. It is when you completely understand that everything is energy, including your body and your soul. All that exists is universal energy, a unified field of consciousness, God.

Truth realization is when you realize that your body is temporary, but the real you, the soul you, will exist forever. It is when you realize this in every moment, and you live out your life and act with this knowledge. When you do this, everything I described earlier in this letter happens for you.

I know from past experience that nearly everyone who participates in Jeddah’s course will experience truth realization to one degree or another. It is absolutely possible for someone to become completely enlightened. It depends on who you are on the soul level. Any degree of realization gives you tremendous freedom from the shackles of life. And if you find that you are being tangled by life, you merely need to remember who you are, the Truth – and all of the tangles loosen.

I was serious when I said your paradigm will change. Everything around you will transform. Here is how it will show up in your life:

* Your relationship to yourself, your family, society, our species, and the universal energy will shift. You will become less caught up in the small story of your life (as well as the stories of the world around you) and operate more with the bigger picture in mind. There is tremendous peace in this especially given the calamities of our time.

* You will be freed from being locked into habitual responses to other people’s energy/expectations/thoughts/feelings. You can steer your own boat and navigate the waters of life as a captain rather than a deck hand.

* You will experience greater levels of love, compassion, and wisdom, which has a profound effect on the rest of humanity. You can become a beacon of light if you so choose.

* You will let old ways of seeing/thinking/feeling/doing drop away without struggle. (Not without work – but without struggle. An important distinction.)

* You will see how some thoughts and actions cause contraction while others cause expansion, which gives you unlimited freedom and magical results in your life.

* You will be exposed to a wide range of sensations from peace to joy to bliss to, if I may be so bold, Divine Grace.

You can apply what you learn to any situation (be it work, family life, or life purpose) to derive more satisfaction. Depending on your inclination, you can find greater ability to participate in any area of life.

Just who is this Jeddah Mali?

You can see that she has become a dear friend of mine. You have a pretty good idea that she has special gifts. Now, read the story of her life. See if you can hear her British accent, which you will grow fond of during the Pathway to Enlightenment sessions.

“As a child, I had many unusual (spiritual/extrasensory/paranormal) experiences that taught me how the intention of thought governs differing energy states that in turn affect the behaviour of matter. These experiences came about unbidden, but even at the age of six, I had an innate understanding of their nature. In the same way that a bird knows how to fly without ever having done it before, I knew at an early age that I had an ability to understand, and interact with, the intangible.

“I also knew that most people were not aware of this potential within themselves, and as a result, it lay largely undiscovered. However, it is always accessible for those who choose to look for it. My own questioning was answered in the form of advanced spiritual masters who appeared to me for teachings and guidance. They have been my constant companions ever since.

“Throughout my life, I have experienced a series of awakenings, culminating now in a moment to moment awareness of the source of all existence, of truth realization. I have spent the rest of my life fine-tuning this ability to be able to teach others how to find, explore, and realise that incredible potential.

“In 1987, at the age of 20, I embarked on a 20-year long journey that led me to Asia to study with some of the world’s highest ranking masters: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, His Holiness Ajahn Buddhadassa, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Master Goenka, and realised teachers in the Tibetan, Theravadan, and Bhutanese traditions of Buddhism.

“In order to understand the concepts involved in these teachings, one must undergo hundreds of hours of precise analysis and exploration through the practice of meditation (this is both in daily practise and in regular 10-day retreats in silence, practising for up to 16 hours a day). There is little value in reading a book on these subjects. One must practise them in order to gain an experiential understanding. I learnt the necessity of action in achieving a desired outcome. These principles of self-discovery were the foundation for my subsequent understanding and experience of the structure, nature, and working order of human consciousness and, of course, its ultimate purpose.

“I am particularly interested in how the principles of creation apply to child development. This led me to gain a teaching qualification in anthroposophy, the study of spiritual science and its application to child development founded by Rudolf Steiner, between 1995 and 1997. In 1998 I was invited to establish the early childhood department at a school in Australia. Once I had finished my two-year contract, I returned once more to my central passion, only this time working with groups as well as individuals.

“In 1994 I was given permission from a group of advanced masters to conduct spiritual teachings and healings. I started moving away from a specific philosophical approach towards a more integrated, all-encompassing view of our nature and purpose. Working with the masters, I was encouraged to bring instruction on how to experience our essence as Source, which had long lay dormant in modern man. I started the mentoring work for which I am best known: helping individuals overcome the limitations of their own thinking and teaching them how to better use the creative capacity of thought to realise Oneness. This has a direct impact on the future of our planet and us as a species.

“I am pleased to be working with Learning Strategies to present this virtual course to help you gain a better understanding of who you are and how to step into a whole new perception of yourself, thus transforming your reality, and that of our society and our planet, permanently.”

If you have any doubt, any hesitation, close your eyes and follow your intuition.

If it is right for you, you will receive a signal. You will know that you need to be with Jeddah.

Early on in my letter I mentioned that I chiseled the word Truth in four-inch letters into the side of my house. I actually chiseled four words, which as it turns out are the promises of this course: Truth, Beauty, Freedom, Love.

When a man in his 80s saw my house, he lingered at the east patio. Gazing at the words, he said, “There really isn’t anything else, is there.”

A youngster in his 20s who has studied some of our courses said, “What about abundance?”

The man turned, cocked his head, looked into the youngster’s eyes, and said, “When you have this,” and he made a sweeping movement of his hand along my wall, “When you have this, you have everything.”

I don’t think the youngster got it – heck, I didn’t really get it, but I betcha that in about 30 years, he’ll find me, in my 80s, and tell me that he finally realized that all abundance, including material wealth, flows when you live a life of Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and Love.

Enroll today by making a $24 deposit here.

Pete

1 comment total - Most Recent:
  1. Irina Fiqueroa
    January 27th, 2012 4:18 AM

    highly educational and properly written. Good Work.

Posted in Changing the Paradigm, Embracing Freedom, Infinite Grace, Jeddah Mali, Seeds of Enlightenment | 1 Comment »

Welcome to Winter, the best time for meditation

December 22nd, 2011 by Pete Bissonette

The first day of winter and time to listen to the “Winter” meditation from Sonic Access Four Seasons.

This is the time of year to do deep within to gain insight, support, and wisdom to manifest your highest good. Tap into it and you’ll find the natural energy of winter bringing opportunities for expansive spiritual growth. It also helps ready yourself for new ideas and projects to come. It helps establish a safe, clear, deep connection to your true life purpose.

I’ll be doing the “Winter” meditation before bed tonight. It’s a great way to usher in these energies and the possibilities they bring. Winter is the best time of year for doing consistent meditation. Find more time to Chunyi Lin’s “Small Universe” meditation, join us every Monday afternoon and Wednesday evening for Chunyi’s telephone group healing meditations, and dive into meditations from Jeddah Mali’s three courses of Seeds of Enlightenment, Embracing Freedom, and Infinite Grace.

The five-minute meditations from Deirdre Hade’s Pure Energy program are also good, but I think you’ll find longer meditations more satisfying in the winter. Of course, you can string together multiple Pure Energy meditations for a rich experience, and if you are new to meditation they are a great way to start.

You can find more information about any of the programs through the links above or in other blog articles to the right.

Happy Winter, Happy Holidays, and Happy Meditating,

Pete

Posted in Changing the Paradigm, Embracing Freedom, Infinite Grace, Pure Energy, Seeds of Enlightenment, Sonic Access, Spring Forest Qigong | Add Comments »

Qigong for people with cancer

December 9th, 2011 by Pete Bissonette

New University of Sydney research on Qigong found that cancer patients who used this 5000-year-old combination of gentle exercise and meditation experienced significantly higher wellbeing levels, improved cognitive functioning, and less inflammation compared to a control group.

Dr Byeongsang Oh, a clinical senior lecturer at the Sydney Medical School who led the study, said the reduced inflammation in patients who practiced medical Qigong, a form of traditional Chinese medicine, was particularly significant.

“Several studies have indicated chronic inflammation is associated with cancer incidence, progression and even survival,” says Dr Oh, who will presented his findings to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference in Chicago this spring.

“Patients who practiced medical Qigong experienced significant improvements in quality of life, including greater physical, functional, social and emotional wellbeing, and enhanced cognitive functioning, while the control group deteriorated in all of these areas,” Dr Oh says.

He also found the patients in the medical Qigong group reported increased satisfaction with their sex lives.

The study involved 162 patients, with those assigned to the medical Qigong group undertaking a ten-week program of two supervised 90-minute sessions per week. They were also encouraged to practice at home every day for at least half an hour.

The mean age of participants in this study was 60, with ages ranging from 31 to 86 years. The most common primary cancer diagnosis among participants was breast cancer (34 percent) followed by colorectal cancer (12 percent).

When the study began there were no significant differences in measurements of quality of life, fatigue, mood status and inflammation between the intervention and control groups.

“To our knowledge, our study is the first statistically significant, randomized controlled trial to measure the impact of medical Qigong in patients with cancer,” Dr Oh says.

I pulled the above information from a press release issued by the University of Sydney.

Qigong Master Chunyi Lin says that Spring Forest Qigong is a form of “medical Qigong.” He’s found the above to be true in people who practice Spring Forest Qigong, which is a combination of simple movement, focused concentration, and controlled breathing. You can find out more about Spring Forest Qigong here.

This weekend we’re streaming Chunyi’s film Your Healing Power. Check your email for details on this free event.

Pete

Posted in Spring Forest Qigong | Add Comments »

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