I felt tremendous urgency. I felt better then than at any other time in my life. My mind was clear on objective. Sure there were distractions, but my purpose was enough to get me through and manage them.

In 1988, I led my team at work to a company wide contest win, great recognition for me. And I took my wife Anne on her dream trip, a trip for 2 weeks to Hawaii. We took everything in we could, and took 33 rolls of film to sit together and look at later.

I journalled my thoughts and feelings at that time, but alas, I did not journal in a hard bound book, just a three ring binder. The pages tossed away sometime ago. Therefore, I have only my memory to serve me. (Journalling regularly is a great way to measure how much one has grown. I recommend it heartily.)

What really pulled me out was realization that, not only was I completely fouling up my life and my family's, but that I was not creating anything for them or myself. I was not being who I was supposed to me. My idea of who I am, was completely in direct contradiction to what I was acting out.

Now. Back to Present.

So, how do you set your mind to it? How do you make what you want, most important thing in your life for time period needed to achieve?

How do you give it importance over those things you most value already?

Connect them up. Use what is already important in your life and connect it to what you want to have, with stronger, more powerful reasons associating fact that one gets stronger and more potent with other.

How do you take something you have doing for years and stop ‘cold turkey’, and turn it around to give you terrific momentum for positive?

How do you take something that you have been trying to do for years, and failing, and turn it around so that you are successful at it immediately?

You must make it most important thing to do in your life for time period necessary to ingrain it into your life. And you must make it a MUST! Just like in story of mother saving her child. There is no other acceptable alternative other than total and complete success.

Connect it to something you feel is already critically important and merge them. Make one depend on other and you will be pulled to success. Look forward to your new future!

My guess is that at some time in your life you have ‘set your mind’ to something and cruised to victory. This is feeling you want to remember and practice.

Think back, pull memories of successful changes you have already made and you will have your own personal strategy that you know works for you. You just have to consciously remember and practice it.

There are many ways to change. You probably already know these but are you using them? I have found them absolutely critical to habit development and change. The degree of success you have will be directly proportionate to degree you apply these principles.

They create a 'pull' instead of you having to 'push'. Logical reasons will help, but emotional reasons have most power. Here are 5 strategies that I feel are critical.

1. Decision to Commit - Pure resolve that I am doing it. No matter what, whatever it takes. There is no option acceptable other than to do it. 2. Great Reasons that move me to ACTION! Strong Empowering Emotional Reasons WHY I must do this. 3. Connection to what's already important. Anchoring positive thoughts over negative to control focus. Look forward to your new future. 4. Associating with people who have done it or are doing it. Immerse myself. 5. Change My Identity, to a Self Image that is consistent with what I want.

I use these strategies in conjunction with each other. It does however depend on habit you want to create or replace.

More later at another time, this will give you a great place to start. Go for it!

Copyright 2004 Al Smith, All Rights Reserved

When Up Against Wall, Choose Magic

In my young twenties, as a professional journalist covering floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, accidents and assorted disasters, I observed this miraculous dynamic of super-natural powers on countless occasions. When confronted with a choice between dire prognosis of their current belief system and an unknown outcome if they let go of those beliefs, people will often choose to let go. They release their preconceptions of how physical universe works. They let go of their need to have events fit their expectations of cause and effect. The reward for such surrender of one's rigid beliefs and expectations is a much preferable outcome-in fact, a miracle-or, at least, what we call a miracle: an occurrence outside our box, our paradigm, beyond what we think or believe is possible.

Your Beliefs, or Your Life!

I've witnessed people lifting two-ton trucks, ripping open steel elevator doors, and performing medical procedures they had no way of knowing how to conduct. How? By choosing to go with an unknown future instead of a known past. When a person's own life, or well-being of another, is at stake, people often decide to drop limitations taught by our culture.

When it's dramatically obvious that a known past will lead to a known-but fatal-future, people will often choose to give up their familiar, current beliefs and allow something fresh and new to occur.

There Is No Quota on Miracles

As a young journalist, a light bulb lit up inside my head: If we can tap these super-normal abilities in a crisis, why can't we access these extraordinary powers at will, whenever we want? Thus began my lifelong quest for Holy Grail-the sacred vessel that holds nectar of gods, knowledge of how to recapture our true nature of grace.

(c) 2004, Keith Varnum. All rights in all media reserved.