Out for a morning stroll, a man observed a butterfly struggling to free itself from the cocoon that seemed almost to be holding it prisoner. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go further.

The man, no longer able to watch the tiny creature struggle, decided to help it out of the cocoon. He broke away the remaining bits of the cocoon so the butterfly could emerge easily. As the butterfly emerged the man noticed it had a swollen body and shriveled wings. He continued to watch it, expecting that at any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the butterfly’s body but that didn’t happen. In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its short life crawling around on the ground. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once that was achieved.

If we didn’t have difficulties, we would not grow and become all we were meant to be. We would live relatively uneventful lives and when our allotted time on this earth was finished, we’d just wither and die, having accomplished nothing more than having taken up space on the planet.

Fly high, butterfly! Soar high above the fray!

By J.Sewell Perkins, SCI – Author of Secret Abundance Files

Yes, you really can have it all. In fact, there are hundreds of “gurus” standing ready to tell you just what you need to do to qualify. On this subject there are books to read and websites to explore. Perhaps you’ve read/explored them all and here you are still searching for the right path, still on your quest for the secret to getting your piece of the pie of success.

Here’s a quick tip. You must first know what it is you’re searching for. Yeah, I know: Wealth – Freedom – Lifestyle, success, abundance, and they’re all worthy quests but what do they mean? I’m not looking for Webster’s definition but rather what they mean to you. In order to manifest (bring into your life) anything, you must first know what it is. It’s necessary to have an absolute and clear picture in your mind of specifically what it is you want. To approach your quest to have it all in any other way is the same as packing your car for a motor trip, filling the tank and taking off with no idea where you want to go. Admittedly that could be a great adventure under some circumstances, just not in the case of your journey to success.

An example of the meaning of Wealth-Freedom-Lifestyle and having it all could be having a life of total abundance in all areas. That means all the money you need to pursue the life you’ve dreamed of and the wellness and freedom necessary to enjoy the abundance of the dream-come-true. You must know exactly what it is you want.

Once you know precisely what it is you want, write it down and if it’s tangible get a picture of it and post it where you’ll see it frequently throughout the day.  Visualization is the key. Visualize yourself owning it. If it’s a house, for example, begin to live in it in your mind. If you don’t have an actual picture of the house, sketch one so you can carry it wherever you go and/or post it where you’ll see it throughout the day. Decorate it in detail right down to the candlesticks and candles on the dining room sideboard. When you’re out shopping, get pictures of exact items that will go in your new house. When the house is completely decorated begin the landscaping.

When all those steps have been taken, your job is not to figure out how to get the house; the Universe will take care of that. What you need to do is know that you already have the house, furniture and everything down to those candlesticks on the dining room side board. You must believe it is all already yours if you are to manifest it. To allow yourself to be in a state of wanting will keep you in a state of wanting.

Perhaps that’s a bit difficult to get your head around right now, but stay with me for just a minute. Think about this scenario: It’s your birthday and some of your friends invite you to their house for dinner and when you arrive you realize it’s a surprise birthday party for you.  I’m at this party and give you a birthday present, let’s say a new leather brief case…one you’ve always wanted and you love it but in the excitement of the party you go home without it. Now, let me ask you, do you own the leather brief case you’ve always wanted? Sure you do. You have no doubt that it’s yours you just don’t, at the moment, have it in your possession. It’s the same with wealth or anything else you want.

“Yeah”, you say, “but the brief case was given to me. No one is going to give me their house.” Maybe not (although that’s not entirely out of the question) but almost everything you’ll ever want in life is currently in the possession of someone else.

Frank, one of my clients, has first-hand knowledge of that. He saw a house that he fell in love with. At the time there was no way he could afford it. Did he let that stop him, of course not? He drove by the house with his camera and took pictures of it for his “visualization board,” a cork board on which he tacked a picture of everything he claimed for himself. He went so far as to look up the owner of the house and ask him how much he wanted for it. The owner was annoyed and told him it was his family’s dream home and it would NEVER be for sale and hung up on him. Frank called back and left his name and number on the guy’s answering machine with a message to the effect of… “Things change. Just know I’m here if you ever do decide to sell.”

Frank and his wife began immediately to select the furnishings. Each time they made a selection they put a picture of it on the “visualization board.” Friends thought they were crazy because it was obvious that Frank could NOT afford the pool house on the other side of the pool, much less the main house. Then there was that little matter of the fact that the current owner had told him the house would NEVER be for sale. Frank and his wife ignored all the so-called facts and in no time at all had the house pretty well furnished (in their minds and on the “visualization board”).

As time passed Frank’s business started to grow by leaps and bounds. Friends asked when he was going to leave the neighborhood in which he was currently living and buy something a little larger to accommodate his new family. He and his wife had just learned that they would be blessed with twin baby boys in about 8 months. The house they were living in was, as some described it, a closet with a bathroom and a kitchenette.

Five months before the anticipated birth of his twin sons, the phone rang and it was the owner of THE HOUSE, Frank’s house, as he had grown to think of it. Due to a family situation the owner had to sell and sell fast. Frank not only got the house, he got it at a great price. His wife began immediately to phone all the stores where they had selected furniture and made arrangements to have the furniture delivered to their new home. The only problem, if you can call it that, was that they had overlooked that fact that they would need patio furniture for around the pool.

Frank was not going to let little things such as the house not being for sale and his not being able to afford it get in his way. He claimed the house and he and his wife began living in it in their minds. Today they are living very happily in their home, the home that became theirs in their minds, on their “visualization board” and today in reality.

YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL WHEN YOU BELIEVE YOU CAN!

If you have dreams that are still unfulfilled you need to know that you really can have a life of abundance. To learn more about the Secret Abundance Files click here.

“Just as the tiny acorn contains within it a mighty oak tree, you have within you greatness beyond your wildest imagination.”

J.Sewell Perkins

DISCOVER YOUR INNER SELF

An Exploration of Inner Self

By J.Sewell Perkins, SCI

An interesting thing, the human mind… men and women throughout the ages have gone to great lengths and devoted their lives to a variety of discoveries without ever exploring their inner selves. While we surely must pay homage to those who have discovered continents, life-saving vaccines, outer space, etc., isn’t it interesting that discoveries outside ourselves seem so much more interesting and important to us than the exploration of our inner selves?

Many famous people throughout history have contributed much to our world as we know it today and yet so many of them never took the time to get to know themselves. There were, of course, those who devoted their lives to discoveries outside themselves and still managed to explore their inner selves as well. Those were the magnificent ones and we should seek their written works and biographies and learn from them…and that brings to mind one of my favorite quotations, actually it’s an old Zen saying…

Do not follow in the footsteps of the masters. Seek what they sought.

That’s great advice but only if you’re sure that what they sought is what you seek. Hopefully the thing you seek first and foremost is to discover your inner self.

Once you really know your inner self everything else you do will be easier. Too many people live and die without ever really having engaged in that exploration. They lived off the cuff, so to speak. By that I mean that they were as straws in the wind. When the winds of fortune or failure blew one way that’s the way they went. When the winds shifted to another direction, so did they. Never really discovering your inner self relegates you to the life of someone to whom things just happen, things over which you have no control.

So, what does this discovering one’s inner self really mean? How does one even begin to do it? Well, it starts with understanding why you do what you do, why you react to certain things the way you do. It’s important to understand why you’ve never realized your dream…if you ever even had a dream. You need to know why things rarely seem to work out for you the way they seem to work out so well for others.

The answer lies in what you think about and the way you think about it. We need to delve into how success or failure; happiness or misery; loving or loveless lives are a direct results of the thoughts you have about them. Yes, your thoughts do actually determine your destiny.

Memorize the following words until they become so much a part of your life that you know them as well as you know your own name…then begin to live them daily.

Be aware of your thoughts; your thoughts become your words.

Be aware of your words; your words become your actions.

Be aware of your actions; your actions become your deeds.

Be aware of your deeds; your deeds become your habits.

Be aware of your habits; your habits become your character.

When we know ourselves, truly know ourselves, it is then that we will know success.

]]> http://www.jsewellperkins.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=26 0 http://www.jsewellperkins.com/blog/?p=20 http://www.jsewellperkins.com/blog/?p=20#comments Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:06:29 +0000 admin http://www.jsewellperkins.com/blog/?p=20

“Just as the tiny acorn contains within it a mighty oak tree, you have within you greatness beyond your wildest imagination.”

J.Sewell Perkins

OPTIMISM – AN IDEA OR A REALITY?

As an avid Twitter-er who tweets under the name @TheSCICoach each day, I choose a WORD OF THE DAY. Actually, being limited by Twitter to 140 total characters, I call it TODAY’S WORD (that saves me three characters).

The chosen word of the day is the basis for all the tweets of the day and all the tweets relate to the chosen word. Many followers tell me the quotes are each rather like a mini coaching session and since I’m a Life, Business Development and Marketing Strategies Coach, mini coaching sessions are right up my alley.

The point of this post is that of all the hundreds of tweets I’ve tweeted, one word brought the greatest reaction. That word is OPTIMISM. Other words used for these mini coaching sessions have been: ability, happiness, risk, determination, obstacles, knowledge, courage, persistence, life and many others. Of all those words OPTIMISM received an overwhelming response.

That’s significant because most people are not optimistic. As a coach I speak with people who live in a world of “It’s not working.” Whatever it is…it’s not working for them. The fact is that things don’t just work. We create things working or not working by the way we think about them.

If you think about all the complainers you know, most of them feel they are as straws in the wind. They seriously believe they are powerless in how their lives turn out. Perhaps complaining is easier for them to handle than the responsibility of living an abundant life.

Many show up in my office for their first appointment telling me that they are trapped in a dark closet (or some other dark place) and can’t get out. The first thing I want to know is if they know who holds the key? It no longer surprises me to hear these desperate people say, “It’s not locked.” According to them, the reason they can’t open the door is because they are trapped there…trapped there in a confining, dark space with an unlocked door and according to them, they can’t get out.

What that means is too much to go into here but if you’re wondering how I deal with that, I open the door and tell them to come out. Once they are out, I lock the door from the outside and keep the key.

Obviously, the client did not bring the closet with him; the closet is a metaphor for feeling trapped. I not only let these people out of the closet but give them light to keep with them at all times. The source of the light I give depends entirely on their personal beliefs and what I know they can handle in the moment.

So, the question is why is OPTIMISM so fascinating…so interesting to so many people? It’s because they long to be optimistic, to be hopeful but sometimes one becomes so entrenched in the minutia of life that it’s difficult to see above the trench.

As I work with these people and as they begin to become more trusting, I put them through something we developed at Success Coaches Institute called the MindRemodel. It’s a trademarked procedure for cutting through all the misinformation and false beliefs that may go back as far as early childhood (it can actually be prenatal). Its official name is “Original Faulty Programming” and while it is a powerful and all consuming force, it can be overcome.

Everyone likes the idea of being optimistic. It’s a hopeful word that by its very nature implies happiness, success and all-in-all a great life. The question is – is optimism an idea or a reality?

Which is it for you…or do you know?

If you tell me it’s a nice idea and seems to work for some but would never work for you because you know it’s not possible to change your life simply by changing your thoughts about it…you are absolutely correct. If, however, you tell me optimism is a reality and by expecting the best life has to offer, you are actually attracting it to you, you’re correct.

What you think about things does become your reality. Your thoughts can create a magnificent life for you or keep you broke and desperately searching for the rest of your life.

If you’ve never read As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, I recommend you do so ASAP. To take away any excuses you may have about not knowing where tot get a copy, I just happen to have a copy for you. If you’ll go to SuccessCoachesInstitute you will be able to download a free copy. It’s my gift to you.

Be well, be happy and make today… and every day… absolutely magnificent,

]]> http://www.jsewellperkins.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=20 0 http://www.jsewellperkins.com/blog/?p=3 http://www.jsewellperkins.com/blog/?p=3#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:01:57 +0000 admin http://jsewellperkins.premiumdomains-buyhere.com/blog/?p=3

“Just as the tiny acorn contains within it a mighty oak tree, you have within you greatness beyond your wildest imagination.”

J.Sewell Perkins

WHAT YOU DON’T USE – YOU LOSE

This is one of those sayings that have been around for as long as I can remember. It doesn’t really matter where it came from. What’s important is that the point it makes rings true on many levels.

It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about our muscles, our minds or our skills, if we don’t use them, we lose them. By the same token, one who has no real muscles, who has not really developed his mind or lacks basic life skills can begin where he or she is right now and within months change the picture completely.

The problem is that we tend to look at where we are today and decide that that is our future. That’s true only if we don’t change what we’re doing and our thoughts about it.

There’s an old story, THE PAUPER, THE BULL AND THE PRINCESS. It’s about a young man of limited means, a pauper by all standards, who lived in a kingdom in which there ruled a king who had a very beautiful daughter. All the young men of the king’s court dreamed of marrying the princess. Our pauper had that dream as well but his job was cleaning out the king’s stables. He decided that is position in life ruled out the possibility of his even being able to even look upon the beautiful, young princess.

The king had decided what sort of husband he wanted for his daughter and to that end he created a competition for the princess’ hand in marriage. The competition was straight forward. He would observe all the young men of the kingdom and in one year he would choose the strongest, most fit young man to marry his daughter.

All the young men of the king’s court were fit and strong and each believed he would be chosen. Not too long after the beginning of the competition the king announced that he was upping the requirements. The young man who could lift a full grown bull upon his shoulders and walk around the town square ten times with the bull on his back would be declared the winner and would receive his daughter’s hand in marriage.

This announcement caused many of the young men of the court to give up. What the king asked was impossible, they thought. The young pauper who worked in the stables began to think differently about the situation. He went to a nearby farm and presented a proposal to the old farmer. He offered to clean the stables for the farmer free of charge for one year. If at the end of the year he had done a good job the farmer would reward him with a parcel of valuable land on which to build the beautiful home of his dreams. The farmer agreed.

Each day, in addition to his agreed upon chores, the young man would feed and care for the farmer’s newborn bull. He and the bull became great friends and each day the young man would lift the baby bull upon his shoulders and walk a mile or two. The baby bull was heavy at first but as the young man continued to lift and carry the bull, he strengthened his muscles and as the bull grew in size and weight, so grew the strength of the young pauper.

A year passed and the king ordered all the young men of the kingdom come to the square for the competition. One by one each young man attempted to lift the bull upon his shoulders but could not. The young stable hand walked into the square, petted the bull, spoke to it softly and lifted it upon his shoulders. All were astounded and could not believe what they were seeing. The young pauper then walked briskly around the town square ten times with the full-grown bull on his shoulders. While all onlookers found this amazing, none were amazed than the king. His majesty could not believe what he saw for he was sure what he had asked was impossible.

The princess was impressed and told the king that, that was the man she wanted to marry and being a man of his word, the king agreed. The land for which the young pauper had made the deal with the farmer became so much more valuable in the year since he had originally made the deal and many approached him with offers to purchase the land at unimaginable prices.

All on the same day, with just one year of cunning and effort behind him, our young pauper became wealthy beyond his wildest imagination, married the princess and was knighted by the king. Our young pauper, a stable worker and pauper no more, lived happily ever after with the eternal love of the princess and the admiration of the king and all the people of the village.

Whatever it is you want in life, make the decision right now to begin to build toward it. Sure, the going may become tough but not as tough as cleaning the stables and slinging a bull around on your shoulders. Maybe that’s the problem some of us have. We spend too much time slinging the bull and not enough time taking the steps necessary to build the life of our dreams.

When you change your thinking about what you’re capable of,  what you’re capable of with change to match your changed mindset. Make the decision in this moment to pursue your passion and change your life forever.

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