Articles / Practicing MindPower

Changing Beliefs
One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his greatest surprises, is to
find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do.
-Henry Ford

The following is an excerpt from Money, Success and You, a book by John Kehoe.

Beliefs are as necessary to us as our physical organs. We cannot exist without them.
We need them as parameters to interpret what is happening in our life. One could
never be without beliefs, nor would you want to be. What you do want, however, is
to consciously decide the beliefs you want working for you. To choose the lens you
will view the world through. And here your choices are unlimited.

You are not at the mercy of your past experiences, unless you believe that you are.
With this new system you are free to break away from any past conditioning or
limited circumstances by simply changing your thoughts and beliefs. When you
change these you change everything. The future that you will encounter in your life
is not preordained, nor does it happen arbitrarily. As you have seen in the previous
chapter, your reality is forever being moulded and created from your thoughts and
beliefs. Your possible future - and there are literally thousands of possible futures - is
being formed by what you think and believe today. The present is the womb by
which the future will be born. The future is dynamically alive within you now. You
hold within you your own destiny. Change your thoughts and beliefs and you will
change your future.

Once you fully recognize the power and influence beliefs have in your life, the next
step becomes obvious. Change the beliefs that are limiting and holding you back,
and create powerful new beliefs that serve and uplift you, beliefs that will take you
wherever you wish to go.

There are three main methods for doing this, and all three should be employed. You
can begin by using them individually or in combination with each other. Either way,
you will eventually be working with all three.

1) Repattern Your Past

Don't spend time and energy looking back at your life to find out why you have a
certain limiting belief. Why bother? To look backward in this way will only lead you
into the habit of seeking negative examples that verify your old belief. Your past has
been distorted by the lens you have chosen to examine it through. What is
accomplished by searching the past with the same old lens, other than to further
reinforce that limiting belief already held within you? This is why much
psychotherapy proves futile, simply miring the patient further in his or her own
muck. A great many of the unsatisfactory conditions in our life have resulted from
our becoming frightened or confused during an unpleasant experience. We began to
doubt ourselves, and started concentrating upon negative aspects of our lives,
thereby eventually creating that imprint within us. For example, one person,
because of an unpleasant experience, begins to doubt his ability to get along with
others. So he searches his past with an I don't relate well with people lens, and
much to his horror finds many experiences to support this idea. His mind begins to
feed on these memories. His remembering becomes highly selective. Without even
realizing it, he invents his own history, and furthermore convinces himself that this
history represents an accurate picture of who he is. However, if this person had
journeyed through his memories with the lens, I get along great with people, trying
to find a different kind of proof, he would undoubtedly have discovered many
instances when he got on very well with others. However you choose to view your
life, through whatever lens you have constructed, this will structure and filter your
memories, and you will always be able to justify your belief with "proof." So in
changing beliefs you must practice changing your lens. Look through your past in a
new way, looking for new, forgotten or ignored truths. If you lack confidence, for
example, search your past for instances when you were confident. If you are honest
in this search you will find lots of examples of you performing tasks assuredly. But
you must search with the lens, "I'm confident," not the "I lack confidence lens." Each
lens will produce a different set of examples. There will be numerous examples of
both. It all depends upon which you want to emphasize. In almost all cases of
present limitation you have programmed yourself to stress negative aspects relating
to that part of your life. We all do it. So to rid yourself of these restrictions, you
repattern your past from the present. Whatever your circumstances, use the past as
a rich source of power, looking through it for long ignored successes. Restructure
your past. Reinvent it. Rediscover it. Its like finding a bank account with money that
you didn't know you possessed. Whatever you want to become or create in your

current life, you can find ample evidence of it already happening to you in the past
if you will only change your lens.

The Present is Your Point of Power

Stop for a moment and realize that the present is your point of power. When you are
thinking about the past or imagining the future, both these actions happen in the
present. When you act upon your life, it takes place in the present. In fact nothing
you can do will ever happen outside of the present. So choosing in the present to
reframe your past and future is incredibly powerful. An example: Pick a positive
quality about yourself that you are proud of and absolutely certain you possess.
Perhaps that you are caring, loving and compassionate towards others. Now, using
your memory, search your past for times when you were not caring, times when you
were selfish, mean, unkind and hurtful. Locate a number of these examples. Now
imagine yourself lingering on these images each day. Each day you purposely recall
these images and feel bad about them. Soon you begin telling yourself that you are
indeed mean-spirited and selfish. If you continued this practice you would literally
hypnotize yourself into believing that this selfish, mean-spirited person is who you
are, and then you would begin to become this person. This belief would become
self-fulfilling. Likewise with our negative qualities. We have programmed ourselves
without even realizing what we've been doing. We have hypnotized ourselves
through repetition and selective memory into believing that this reduced version of
ourselves is who we are. But you can change this. You can look within yourself for
evidence of whatever positive qualities you desire. Examine your past with this in
mind. Do not let the past reinforce your limitations; use it to reinforce what you wish
to become. Be diligent about this. Use the selective process of your mind to your
advantage.

2) Imprinting

What is 6 x 6? , 7 x 5? , 9 x 9? How is it that you know these answers instantly,

quicker than you can punch the numbers into a calculator? It is because you have
imprinted the multiplication tables into your consciousness. Think back to when you
were in school. Think of how many times these tables were repeated, written out
and practiced, until eventually they became imprinted into your consciousness. And
now they are firmly imprinted. You need not practice them or refresh yourself - they
are there for life. What you have done with the multiplication tables can also be
done with new beliefs you wish to permanently imprint into your consciousness. The
process is exactly the same, and the repetition equally important. For five or ten
minutes a day concentrate your attention as vividly as possible upon one simple

statement. For example, if you wanted to imprint a belief about your subconscious
that would help you to be successful you might use this one: "My subconscious
mind is my partner in success." Having picked the statement you wish to use, begin
to concentrate on it. Try to feel the statement in whatever way possible. Do not
allow your mind to drift to other subjects. If it does, bring your attention back to
your statement and refocus. Feel the power and implication of what you are saying.
Let it become alive within you. Repeat it over and over, allowing your mind to
absorb its message. If your mind insists on images, channel the images toward your
declaration. Close yourself off to all other truths or realities, focusing solely upon the
feeling and power of the statement. The repetition, whether verbal or mental, is
important because it activates neurological patterns. Do not strain. Do not question
or doubt. Enjoy the process. Claim it absolutely within. Lose yourself as completely
as you can in this one statement. Let it vibrate within you, letting you and it become
one. Feel its power. Let it energize you. When the exercise is finished, do not dwell
upon it, second guess yourself, wonder if its true. Put if from your mind until the
next day, when you will repeat the process. Realize you are using the present as a
moment of power to insert new beliefs that will naturally be materialized. It will
happen automatically. You may want to experiment with the precise wording of
your statement. Often it takes three or four revisions before the statement feels
exactly right. Once you have it right then simply continue with it. You may
experience spectacular results almost immediately. If you do, wonderful, but do not
let this fool you into discontinuing the exercise. Often when people begin this
process they do not realize how quickly results can be seen, and they become
overexcited about the results achieved. In their excitement they forget to continue
the exercise. If you want permanent results, you must fully imprint the new belief. A
minimum of sixty to ninety days is necessary for a permanent imprint to take hold.

3) Action

The sooner you begin to act upon the new beliefs you are creating, the better.
Otherwise you are not trusting and using the present. If you are poor and want to
have more money and you're trying to establish a belief in abundance while still
faced with your lack, then begin demonstrating abundance. In your outer reality
take some symbolic action that shows you are changing. Maybe give some money
(no matter how little) to charity. Indulge yourself somehow. A nice meal, a new
article of clothing, a little gift to yourself. Or if you're lacking confidence, you would
first repattern your past, searching and finding past examples of you being
confident and you would focus daily on these. You would also imprint new
empowering beliefs supporting your confidence, and then finally you act as if it were
true. Bring action into the formula. No matter how small or inconsequential the
action may seem, it is a huge step. It is a manifestation in outer reality. Responding

to your new beliefs in this way is sending a strong signal to your subconscious that
new realities are beginning to take hold, that you are willing to change, that you are
cooperating with the process, that it is in fact already happening. The initiative
must come from you. Challenge yourself to find ways to demonstrate your changing
reality.

John Kehoe

- See more at: http://www.learnmindpower.com/articles/changingbeliefs/#sthash.6UZVQO4F.dpuf

Articles / Prosperity & Abundance

Money Secrets
2008 is going to be great! Thats my most recent affirmation, so it feels
appropriate to address the subject that is of great interest to so many people
money. Coincidentally I have just produced a new CD called The Money Seminar a 2disc live presentation that is now available on this website, so you may wish to
check that out when you finish this topic. It was an inspired live performance and
Im really pleased we recorded it. There is a prosperity system that, when followed
and practiced, invariably leads an individual to financial success. This system, which
involves mastering both inner and outer skills, does not happen by chance or luck
(unless you win the lottery) but by the application of very specific principles. Here
are some of them:

1. Commit yourself to self-mastery

You and no one else can achieve your success. You are the one that is called to
think, plan and act in successful ways. When you commit yourself to self-mastery,
you are demonstrating that you have the desire and willingness to do whatever is
necessary in order to achieve your financial goals. This is important, for it sets you
apart from others who are willing to simply wait and see whether success happens
to them. The proactive person, on the other hand, creates success by the daily
application of practices. Self-mastery involves an honest appraisal of both our
mental and working habits so that we can see what needs to be changed and
developed. When we commit to self-mastery we commit to changing our thinking
and activities so that we maximize our abilities.

2. Work smart not hard

Do not confuse working long hours with working smart; the two are rarely the same.
When you work too hard you are less effective, drained of energy. You rarely come
up with the brilliant ideas that are so crucial to success when you are always
working. Challenge yourself to work fewer hours but to be more effective. Your
mantra should be, I work smart not hard and I get lots done. Make doing more in
less time a habit and youll have more time for fun and leisure. Down time allows us
to recharge and come up with innovative ideas.

3. Create prosperity beliefs

Your financial success will be directly related to the beliefs that you have about
money. The number one reason that people dont achieve financial success is that
there is a part of them that feels uncomfortable with the idea of having a lot of
money. One of my chapters in Money, Success & You is called, Is Rich a Four Letter
Word. In this chapter and in the new Money Seminar, we examine the limiting
beliefs many people have about money. If you think that it will take too much work
to achieve success, or that to have a lot of money is selfish or unspiritual, you will
have great difficulty in creating abundance. These limiting beliefs resonating within
your subconscious will distract you from achieving your goals and set obstacles in
your way. Build your desire for financial abundance upon a firm moral and spiritual
code that truly believes that our success helps many people and our failure helps no
one. Program your mind daily with prosperity beliefs and this will get your
subconscious mind working for you.

4. Find your passion

You will never be tremendously successful until you can find something to be
passionate about. Whether it is a product or service or simply your own talents and
abilities, you must be passionate about what you do. We all have strengths and
weaknesses, different skills and desires. What it takes to be a successful salesman
is not necessarily the same talent that is required to be a scientist. Each calling has
different skills that are called for. Find something that really turns you on and follow
it where it leads. This is one of the secrets of success. While I was writing Money,

Success & You I sent out the manuscript to all my financially successful friends to
get their feedback before it was published. I received many suggestions which were
ultimately used, but what was of real interest to me was that, as I looked at the list,
I noticed that every single one of them made their fortunes in areas that they loved.
One was a jewelry wholesaler. Another was in publishing. One was in home
renovation and another was a clothing designer. All of them had made their money
by doing what they loved to do. It got me thinking; I wondered if it is possible to
make a fortune doing something you dont enjoy. It soon became apparent to me
that its certainly possible to make a living doing something you dont love, as
unfortunately many people do, but to make a lot of money you need to find your
passion.

5. Be creative

Ask any four- or five-year-old if they think they are creative and ninety percent of
them will say yes. Ask the same question to anyone over twenty-five and the
percent rate drops dramatically, to about seven percent. What happened? What
happened is that somewhere along the way we got discouraged and forgot that we
are creative individuals who can come up with brilliant ideas and solve any problem.
Were neurologically wired to do this. Lets get over this idea that only artists and
poets are creative. It takes just as much creativity to start a successful business, in
many ways more so than to write a book or be an artist in the traditional sense. The
same can be said for raising children, or almost any pursuit that involves intense
activity. If we want success, we need to draw upon our innate inventiveness and
dare to be creative, to do things differently. Creativity is the art of success.

6. Tap into the subconscious mind

The subconscious mind is the hidden engine of success. Through the beliefs we hold
within us we are constantly either attracting or repelling success. Not only can we
imprint prosperity beliefs into our subconscious, but we should be in the habit of
listening to our subconscious and always be open to inspiration when it arrives. A
good affirmation is, My subconscious mind is my partner in success. Repeat this to
yourself many times each day until it becomes imprinted, and then watch as the
subconscious brings to you opportunities and inspired ideas. Another good
affirmation is, I am guided to success and I act upon my ideas and inspirations.

7. Take advantage of the Dharma of action

Action is the science of success. All ideas must be backed by consistent action in
order to flourish. Learning how to both set and achieve goals on a regular basis is
the key. Always be asking yourself what you can do today and what you can do this
week? Set yourself a daily and weekly goal and then do it. It is through applied
action that things change. When you master action you will master success, and the
most important action of all is the daily application of your Mind Power exercises.
Make this your first and most important priority. Daily application of Mind Power
practices, combined with inspired daily activities, will attract success and wealth to
you. Napoleon Hill, an advisor to many wealthy individuals, once said, When riches
arrive they arrive so quickly and in such abundance that you wonder where it had
been for all those lean years. That certainly is my experience, and it can be yours
too when you master the money practices.

John Kehoe

Articles / Prosperity & Abundance

Find Your Passion

This above all - to thine own self be true...
-Shakespeare

The following is an excerpt from Money Success & You, a book by John Kehoe.

A recent national poll revealed that more than 80 percent of North America's
working population do not enjoy the work they do. This is a profoundly tragic
statistic, considering that work consumes so much of our lives. Nor is it a good
formula for success, because when you study closely people who are successful it
becomes abundantly clear that their achievements are directly related to the
enjoyment they derive from their work.

This really struck home for me while I was writing this book. Since this is a book
about money and success, I decided to send each of my financially successful
friends (those with assets over $1 million) a copy of the manuscript so that I could
get their feedback. As I finished my list and was reading over the names, I suddenly
realized that every single one of them had achieved their success in areas they
enjoyed working in - one was in publishing, another was a jewelry wholesaler, one in
law, still another in home renovating - and so it went. They had found their passion,
devoted themselves to it and had prospered. Every single one of them was doing
what they loved doing.

It got me thinking: Has anybody ever made a fortune doing what he or she dislikes?
I thought about it for a while and you know what? I couldn't think of anyone. Not
one. This is something to seriously ponder if you presently find yourself trying to get
ahead working at an occupation you dislike.

Do What You Love; the Money Will Follow

Lars-Eric Lindblad loves traveling. As he backpacked his way to some of the more
exotic locations around the world, he thought of what he would do when he
eventually returned home. Nothing seemed appealing; and then he suddenly had an
idea. "There are probably others like myself," he thought, "who want to experience
a more adventurous type of travel. Why not start a business to cater to their specific
needs?" So that's what he did. He started his own travel agency, Lindblad Travel,
offering adventurous trips to offbeat locations-the Gobi Desert, Antarctica, the
Galapagos Islands. People in the travel industry told him he was sure to fail. "You
can't make money offering just adventure packages," they said, almost
unanimously. This was before exotic travel became fashionable. Lars was one of the
first to venture into this field and succeed he did, in a very big way. And 500,000
customers later, his travel business is still booming. Here's the lesson for those of
you who wish to follow your dream: the real key to Lindblad's success is that he
chose something that he was excited about, something he believed in.

Peter Moore hated his job as a bank manager. Although he liked dealing with people,
he felt stuck in his choice of occupations and felt he wasn't using his talents to the
maximum. He wanted more. Realizing that his people skills would be well suited to
sales, he began thinking of a career in selling. But selling what? Then one day, as he
was handling the affairs of a woman whose husband had recently died, it hit him.
Why not sell life insurance?

Peter's experience as a bank manager had given him experience in dealing with
families who are left without proper financial support. He believed absolutely in the
service and excitedly began researching all the available companies to see which
ones had the best policies. When he had made his decision, he approached the
sales manager and told him what he'd done and why he wanted to sell life
insurance for them. He was given a job on the spot.

Within one year he became one of their top salesmen, and eventually he became
their district sales manager for the entire West Coast. He succeeded because he
found something he could do with conviction. Something that felt right. He found his
passion.

Stephen Sandler thought his grandmother's mustard was the best in the world.
Nothing else he had ever tasted even came close. Everyone else who tasted it at his
house said the same. Then, one day, he had a wild idea. "Why not bottle it and sell
it?" But then came the doubts. "There are already lots of brands of mustard
available. I have no real business experience. There's stiff competition for shelf
space. Why would they give an unknown a chance?" And there were hundreds of
other reasons why not to do it. But Stephen genuinely believed his grandmother's
mustard was better than anything else available, and this thought kept nagging at
him. So he decided to give it a try.

He made twelve jars, had some labels printed, and went to visit several local
delicatessens. He told them he already had a company that produced the mustard
and offered them a free jar as a sample. Much to his surprise, Stephen received an
order for 120 jars from one of them.

"At six jars an hour," he laughed, "I didn't think I'd ever get through that first order."
He started by making it in his own kitchen and eventually the operation took over
the house. Then he had to move to larger premises. Sandler Mustard is now sold in
delicatessens all across the country and his small company, just barely out of its
infancy, is now worth over $2 million. Stephen Sandler found his passion - mustard and he made it his livelihood.

"People whose whole objective is making money, usually don't," says Jerry White,
professor of entrepreneurial studies at the University of Toronto, Canada. He should
know. He's made it his business to study successful entrepreneurs and to teach
others their winning ways, and the one message that came through loud and clear
in his research was: Find a product or service you can believe in passionately,
because without this you will not succeed.

What is your calling? To what areas are you best suited? How can you find a
livelihood that will nourish and fulfill you?

You start by simply believing in yourself. Take stock of your assets, your strong
points, and then see how you can best use them. Very often it's a lack of selfconfidence that keeps us in positions we don't like. If this is the case then embark
upon a daily program designed to build self-confidence. Make this your first priority,
and once this is achieved, your perspectives too will change.

Who am I? What are my possibilities?

You may think of yourself as a parent or spouse or in terms of your present job or
profession, but that is only a part of who you are. Beyond this what are your
possibilities? You have talents and strengths. You have natural inclinations towards
certain subjects, while others have no interest to you. You have activities that bring
you pleasure and others that you disdain. In fact you are quite unique, and this
uniqueness can be your compass. Trust it and let it lead you.

Remind yourself that you possess a powerful subconscious mind that will guide you.
Go to it daily, instructing it to bring you the answers you are looking for.

Make Lists:

Write down all the activities that give you pleasure.

Write down your mental assets and strengths, your past and present
accomplishments.

Write down choices that you would make for yourself if money were not an issue
and careers that sound interesting regardless of whether you think you have the
talent or opportunity to pursue them.
Open up your mind to options and possibilities. Dare to dream. There are no
boundaries except those that exist in your mind. As media tycoon Rupert Murdoch
said, "Fortune favors the bold."
The choice of how to make a living is perhaps the single most important of all our
decisions, yet it's often the one most neglected. Sometimes we feel we have to take
a job because of financial needs, or we are steered into a career because it has
"excellent prospects," when really our heart isn't in it. This is unfortunate and totally
unnecessary when you realize how many options are available to you. Certainly in
any given period of several months or even several years you might have to work at
something you don't enjoy to make ends meet, to pay off debts or just to get
started, but new opportunities will always present themselves to you if you are open
and receptive to them. Don't ever sell yourself short. You deserve more than just a
job.

No amount of money, no matter how much it is, will ever compensate you
sufficiently for remaining in a job that is drudgery and robs you of your spirit, or one
that prevents you from fulfilling a dream. As the old saying goes, "In your haste to
make a living don't forget to make a life." Be bold; forge off in a direction that you
have a passion for.

That's exactly what Dominic Chang did. An avid golfer, he often felt guilty about
putting golf ahead of his family, and he suspected millions of other golfers felt the
same way. So in 1992 he quit his job at the Bank of New York, where he was a senior
vice-president, to follow his instinct and passion. He raised the money to open
Family Golf Centers Inc. The basic tenet of his business plan: Encourage golfers to
bring their spouses and children along with them to the centers. Have party rooms,
snack bars, restaurants, miniature golf, so that it is exciting for everyone to come,
male, female, young and old. His first center was a big hit and was soon followed by
others. Now his company has gone public and Dominic's three million shares are
worth close to $100 million. Not bad for six years worth of work, or should I say six
years of passion.

Everyone has his or her own specific vocation or mission in life. It cannot be
replaced by something else, nor can someone else do it for you. Everyone's task is
to discover his or her uniqueness and find an opportunity to implement it.

Life is filled with choices and opportunities, so follow your heart, your instinct. Find
something you can be passionate about and devote yourself to it. This is where your
personal fulfillment as well as your contribution to the world lies.

Joseph Campbell says it well: "Your whole physical being knows that this [following
your passion] is the way to be alive in this world and the way to give to the world
the very best that you have to offer. There is a track just waiting there for each of
us, and once on it, doors will open that were not open before and would not open for
anyone else."

"Every calling is great when greatly pursued," said Oliver Wendell Holmes. Whether
you're selling life insurance, designing buildings, managing a company, writing a
book, marketing new products or cutting hair, find the passion and excitement in it.
If you can, you will succeed like you never have before. Follow your dream. Trust
your instincts. Find that something you can believe in passionately and give it your
all. Do what you love; the money will follow.

John Kehoe

- See more at: http://www.learnmindpower.com/articles/find-yourpassion/#sthash.aUZeGlOX.dpuf

Articles / Prosperity & Abundance

Four Secrets of Excellence

This month we draw upon the wisdom of a scientist, a professional athlete, a rock
musician, and the CEO of a major corporation to share with us their personal secrets
of excellence. Each one of these individuals offers a single insight on how a
particular practice has helped them achieve personal success in their chosen fields.
From these four distinct individuals we gain four pieces of wisdom to help us
navigate ourselves to a winning and prosperous life in 2009.

For our first piece of wisdom we hear from Daria Hazuda, scientific director for the
giant multinational pharmaceutical company Merck. For most of us, failure is a

disappointment, but not to Daria. She explains her approach: For me, a failed
experiment is actually a rich source of information. People tend to focus only on
positive results. But if you look at people in the drug-discovery business who are
successful, it is often those who also learn from the negative. They take all that
information and synthesize it in a holistic way. One of Hazudas fellow researchers
at Merck, Amy Espeseth, adds, Whats unique about Daria is that shes a very
creative, nonlinear thinker. A lot of people in science do things in a step-by-step
way. With Daria, its kind of like a chess game; her moves show shes thinking a few
steps ahead of everyone else.

For her part, Hazuda says she begins with simple curiosity. I really try to
understand the basic biology and chemistry of how the different enzymes work.
There were dozens of publications on enzymes that other researchers had
discovered, but none of them worked against the HIV virus. I was trying to learn
from what some really fantastic scientists had done. I tried to understand why those
particular approaches werent successful, and then I used those lessons to develop
a different approach. This different approach helped Hazuda develop one of the
first successful drugs in treating HIV. Studying what didnt work led to her success.

Wisdom learned: Failure is valuable information. Dont ignore it or miss its lessons.

For our next piece of wisdom we go to Adam Vinatieri, kicker for the Indianapolis
Colts. Adam may well be the greatest clutch kicker in NFL history. In his 13-year
career hes been to four Super Bowls with the New England Patriots, and won two
with last second kicks. His grace under pressure has earned his the nickname
Iceman. He explains the importance of focusing your efforts. I know exactly what
I need to do to help me do my job. The older I getand lets face it, its a young
mans sportI do a lot more stretching, including Pilates and yoga. I need to be
flexible to avoid injury, and for my follow-through. I dont have to run as long and
fast and as far as a receiver does. Its not my job. My job is to build fast twitch
muscles so I can kick the ball a long way. In my third year as a professional I missed
an important field goal that would have won us the game. I was down about it but
my coach told me that everyone whos great has missed a kick that has cost his
team the game. Its about how you respond after that which is the key. Dont get too
high in the good times or too low in the bad because you will experience both. You
must stay focused with the same intensity throughout every part of your job. Stay
focused on excellence. Stay committed. Do what needs to be done to be successful.
Its really that simple.

Wisdom learned: Stay focused on excellence. Dont let setbacks disrupt your
progress.

For our third piece of wisdom we go to Robert Trujillo, bassist for Metallica. Befitting
a musician who has played in all kinds of bands, from hard-core punk (Suicidal
Tendencies), to old school metal (Ozzy Osbourne), to his most recent place in
Metallica, Trujillo listened to almost everything growing up. But he says he finds
inspiration by watching masters in disciplines far removed from the music world.
Muhammad Ali, for the way he had to use his smarts and the way he moved. I love
Kelly Slater, the surfer whos the Michael Jordan of the sport, and author H.P.
Lovecraft, who had an amazing creative influence on so many. All of them fuel me
when Im playing. I feel the magic of those and others when Im performing. Its an
injection, a mixture of all those that moves me. Those of you who have been long
time viewers of this website know well the importance of role models in helping us
achieve our success. We thank Trujillo for reiterating this important point.

Wisdom learned: Be inspired by others; let them lead you to greatness.

For our final piece of wisdom lets go to Hector Ruiz, CEO of Advanced Micro
Devices. Since Ruiz took over as AMDs CEO in April 2002, the AMD microprocessor
has increased its market share dramatically and now challenges Intel, which is six
times the size of AMD. His piece of wisdom is to embrace ambiguity and change.
Part of my job is to make people comfortable with change and ambiguity. That
sounds counterintuitive. A lot of people think CEOs have to be absolutely crisp and
perfect on what they want. Quite often my people push back, but I dont like
spelling out exactly what people need to do. I think that boxes them. I challenge
them to go off in different directions and to experiment. You can never be really
creative unless you are comfortable with taking on new challenges and going in
directions that have no defined goal or benefit, but you do them simply to see
where it leads you. Almost every successful person I know will echo these
sentiments. We need to be comfortable with change and the best way to
demonstrate this is to be constantly creative in work, play and every other aspect of
our life.

Wisdom learned: Be creative in your life and be comfortable with change.

Four pieces of wisdom to take with us into the New Year to aid us in achieving our
goals. Happy New Year everyone.

John Kehoe

Articles / Prosperity & Abundance

Desire
First you fuel the desire, then the desire will fuel you.
-Napoleon Hill

The following is an excerpt from Money Success and You, a book by John Kehoe.

Knowing what one wants in life is not enough. Nor will wishing or hoping to achieve
success help you. You must go one step further and add the vibration of desire to
the mix. It is desire that acts as the catalyst with your thoughts and beliefs,
supplying the needed emotion that the subconscious mind requires in order to
translate your thoughts into reality.

All the great men and women achievers of the past have known this. They have all
shared this one overwhelming similarity - a burning desire to achieve their
objectives.

Thomas Edison experienced more than 10,000 failures before he perfected the light
bulb. His desire to succeed never waned. Wilbur and Orville Wright suffered through
years of humiliation and ridicule for daring to believe they could make a vehicle fly
through the air. Yet the strength of their purpose and desire allowed them to
persevere until they produced the first successful airplane. Henry Ford went

bankrupt twice before the first Model T rolled off the assembly line, yet he never
wavered from his determination to mass-produce the automobile.

Ted Turner also knew what he wanted. It was not a mere wish or hope that he had,
but a burning desire to achieve his objective - owning and running a media and
communications empire. When this thought first entered his mind, he owned a tiny
billboard company in Atlanta. He began to build his dream by purchasing a small
radio station, followed by a lackluster UHF (ultra-high-frequency) television station
that less than half the TV sets in the area were able to receive. The year was 1968.
Right from the beginning he ran into problems. The TV station was hemorrhaging
money. By 1970 it was losing over $700,000 a year. "The station will bring down the
whole company," said Irwin Mazo, Turner's accountant at the time, who promptly
quit.

"It's pretty tough when your own accountant quits because he thinks you're
doomed," said Ted. Others at this point might have backed off and been more
prudent, heeding their accountant's advice. Or maybe they would have given up,
thinking their dream was unattainable. But not Ted Turner. What was his response?
He went out and bought another station. His rationale? It was only losing $30,000 a
month! And not only did he purchase it; in the process he further assumed nearly
$3 million in liabilities.

Now at this point, I would like to say to the reader that a strong desire to achieve
your goal might cause a man to act in ways that seem crazy to others. So crazy that
even his accountant may quit, and for Turner that was not all. Several of his top
people quit as well, certain that Ted was headed for disaster. But they could not see
what Ted saw. For in addition to a lightning-quick mind, Turner also possessed a
sixth sense that allowed him to see beyond conventional wisdom and act
accordingly.

And sure enough, within several years he had turned his struggling Atlanta station
into America's first "super station," beaming its programming off a satellite into
homes all over North America. Revenue began pouring in, but rather than stop while
he was ahead, Turner set his sights even higher. In 1979 he borrowed over $27
million to finance CNN, an untried "all news station" that many said no one would
watch. And in the beginning, it looked like they were right. CNN lost over $70 million
in its first five years. During this time, Turner had a sign on his desk that read,
"Lead, follow or get out of the way." He knew what he wanted, and nothing was

going to stop him. His burning desire overcame all else. And here we come to one of
the secrets of desire. A strong desire to have or do what you have set your mind to
recognizes no such thing as failure. All disappointments, problems and setbacks are
but temporary obstacles on the way to success.

By 1984, CNN had turned the corner and finally began to show a profit. Then in
1987 Turner made his biggest gamble to date. With a combination of junk bonds
and other financing that highly leveraged his company, he bought MGM Studios for
a whopping $1.2 billion. It saddled him with almost a billion dollars in debt. Most
analysts at the time thought Turner had overpaid MGM's former owners by at least
$300 million. One Hollywood veteran was quoted in Fortune magazine as saying,
"Turner got the worst screwing in the history of American business." But they did not
know what Ted Turner knew. Nor could they see the profit he would one day derive
from the MGM film library of over 3,000 titles, how he would repackage this content
and broadcast it on still more TV stations. His desire to have his media empire, and
his sixth sense drawing upon the wisdom of his subconscious, let Ted see what no
one else could. With boldness, some called it reckless boldness, he pursued his goal,
never wavering.

"Turner has an uncanny ability to obliterate anything and everything peripheral to

his immediate objective," said Porter Bibb, former White House correspondent for
Newsweek. "This is why he is so successful."

By 1990, a mere three years later, with the media landscape changing rapidly and
the cost of programming skyrocketing, Turner's instincts were again proved right.
His company entered into a period of explosive growth and profits. The MGM deal
was suddenly called by Institutional Investor, "one of the deals of the decade."

In 1997 Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner to become one of
the largest communication and media companies in the world. Ted Turner's media
empire was now a resounding international success, worth billions of dollars. He had
revolutionized the broadcast industry and made Marshall McLuhan's "global village"
a reality. He had rewritten the very definition of news as something that is
happening rather than something that has happened. He had built the largest news
gathering organization in the world. He also controlled the largest library of motion
pictures anywhere, and one of the largest collections of animated films. His
broadcasts reached over 120 countries.

In the merger, and for his efforts, Turner personally received over $3 billion in cash
and stock. He had achieved his wildest dreams.

The same force of desire and determination that Ted Turner harnessed is available
to each and every one of us. Follow these four steps and watch desire come alive
within you:

Step 1 - Write down a clear and concise statement of what it is you wish to obtain.

Step 2 - Outline what you intend to do or give to achieve this objective.

There is no such thing as something for nothing. What skills, knowledge, disciplines
and actions will you obtain or practice? Be clear and concise.

Step 3 - Promise yourself to let nothing stop you from obtaining your objectives.

Make a commitment to yourself to do whatever is necessary to achieve your goal.

Be firm in your resolution.

Step 4 - Read this statement over twice every day.

Read it upon rising in the morning, and again before you go to sleep, and begin
immediately to put this plan to work. When reading your statement, magnetize your
mind to the reality of achieving your goal. See and feel yourself already in
possession of that which you desire. As days turn into weeks and then months, this
ritual will be the source of a great amount of power and inspiration for you.

A strong, burning desire to obtain and possess the goal you are pursuing is the
starting point for all achievement.

This isn't a vague wish or a simple hope; it is something much more powerful than
that. Burning desire, when properly ignited, takes on a life and power of its own and
empowers you in hundreds of different ways.

There is a Zen parable that will help to illustrate what I mean. A Zen monk and his
student were walking by the river when the young student begins to plead with his
master, "How do I become enlightened? What must I do?" The master grabbed him
roughly, pulled him into the river and pushed him under the water until the young
student was completely submerged.

The Zen master continued to hold the student under water and soon the student
began to thrash frantically. But still the master held him under the water.
Desperately the student tried to free himself, to no avail. Finally, just at the point of
drowning, the master released his grip and the student surfaced, gasping for air.

"What were you thinking while I held you under the water?" the master asked. "At
first I thought of many things," the student answered. "But after a few seconds,
when there was no sign that you would let me up, all I could think of was: Air! Air!
Give me air!" "When you desire enlightenment with the same intensity," said the
master smiling, "you will soon have it."

The same applies to achieving your goals. You must desire it with your whole being.
Desire is the fuel that propels you towards your objectives and influences your
thoughts and actions. Desire helps you overcome obstacles and draw inspiration
from your subconscious. A strong desire combined with prosperity beliefs and
continuous action towards your goal will attract to you the people, circumstances
and situations you need to be successful.

John Kehoe

Articles / Prosperity & Abundance

The Importance of Role Models

Hero worship shouldn't disappear with adolescence. It can and should be a lifelong
source of inspiration and motivation for us. Many of the most famous and influential
people we know let great men and women shape their lives well into their own
adulthood, and so can you.

Long before he ever became a Beatle, John Lennon idolized many of the old rhythm
and blues greats, people like Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters. He had their pictures
on his wall and used them as inspiration when he first began playing guitar. In this
way he could influence his imagination by conceiving mentally that he was them.
This process is not just idle daydreaming, but allows new creative ideas to be
released from the subconscious. It allows us to move beyond our preconceived
limitations and feelings of inadequacy. It is an excellent process for developing
inspiration and creativity.

Woody Allen watched the Marx Brothers' films hundreds of times and dreamed of
being as funny and talented. It's no secret that Groucho Marx was a major influence
on the talented filmmaker.

Billionaire Ted Turner, founder of CNN, studied the Greek classics in university. His
father, a very practical businessman, couldn't understand why his son was wasting
his time with the classics. What he didn't realize was that Ted was conditioning his
mind with images of the fabled Greek heroes who seized opportunities, turned sure
defeats into victories, and surmounted countless obstacles in order to win. Sounds
familiar? It certainly does to those who watched the meteoric rise and breathtaking
moves made by one of America's most exiting and successful businessmen. [And
congratulations Ted on giving away one billion dollars to charity. For those of you
who might not have heard, Ted announced last month that he would give one billion
dollars to the United Nations for humanitarian purposes. I hope you now become a
role model for many of the world's millionaires. I know you're certainly one of mine
and have been for many years.]

Singer Whitney Houston watched her older cousin Dionne Warwick release hit after
hit and dreamed of one day being just like her. She was lucky in that she had a
family member to model herself after as she made her way to super stardom. But
you don't have to know the person in order to model yourself after them. Few of us
get that chance.

A millionaire clothing manufacturer once shared with me how in her early struggling
years, she would draw inspiration from other successful women. She had pictures
on her wall of prominent women who had made it. They became her mentors. Each
time she looked at the pictures it gave her encouragement. If they could do it, she
could too, she reminded herself. And she did!

All big companies that pride themselves on excellence have what is called their
"war stories." IBM, Microsoft, 3M, and Hewlett Packard, all have them; stories of past
employees who performed great feats under difficult circumstances. These were
people who achieved spectacular results; men and women who did the impossible,
who surmounted all odds and won. They became part of the companies' lore, like
folk legends, and today continue to inspire others to carry on in the same tradition.

We all need to know that what we're trying to accomplish can in fact be achieved.
Perhaps it will take an almost superhuman effort, but we have to believe that if we
harness all our resources and determination, it can be done. And this is what our
heroes can do for us-they can prove to us that our goals are not impossible.

They can also show us how to proceed in any given situation, especially a difficult
one. In Mind Power Into the 21st Century I mention the example of Napoleon Hill,
millionaire author of Think and Grow Rich, who regularly convened, in his mind, his
"invisible counselors." He chose nine men whose lives and life works had been most
impressive to him. Just before going to sleep at night he would close his eyes and
imagine this group of men seated with him around his council table. He would
discuss what projects he was working on and ask for assistance. Although these
sessions occurred entirely in his imagination, the ideas generated through this
process led him "into glorious paths of adventure and wealth."

When we model ourselves after those who have achieved greatness, we take on
their character, their strengths and determination. Soon their success leads to our
success, and in the process we better ourselves. It's a win-win proposition.

Role modeling is an effective and powerful step in achieving success because it

supplies us with inspiration and encourages us to move beyond temporary failures.
It also stimulates the creative imagination and draws from the subconscious mind
ideas and insights which would not come to us unless we were so inspired.

And let us not forget the most important principle of all. What you think about, dwell
upon, focus on will make an imprint on a subconscious level if thought of regularly
each and every day. You can imprint the qualities of your mentors within. This
ultimately is the greatest gift they give us. So choose your heroes and role models
wisely, and let them lift you to heights you could not accomplish on your own.

John Kehoe

Articles / Prosperity & Abundance

Taking Risks
There is a common misconception that taking risks is well, risky. But the
truth is that taking risks is no more risky than playing it safe, or
maintaining the status quo. In fact, often by failing to innovate, make
changes and move forward in different areas of our lives, we open
ourselves up to the possibility of stagnation and falling behind.

Its all perception. How we see ourselves, our lives, our world, our
intimate relationships with the countless circumstances that surround us,
determines how we make decisions and choices. And often our
perceptions of reality do not match the truth of reality. For example,
statistically speaking, you are far less likely to be injured in an airplane
than in an automobile, by almost 100 to one. Cars are far more dangerous.
Think about it. How many people do you personally know that have been
injured or killed in a plane crash? Not in newspaper reports youve read,
but people you actually know. Now how many people do you know who
have been injured or killed in a car accident? Point made. Yet many people
feel apprehensive about taking a plane trip, and these same people feel
no apprehension whatsoever about a car ride. Their perceptions and fears
do not match the reality of the situation. This happens in our lives more
than we would care to realize.

Another common misconception that many people have is that life just
arbitrarily happens to us without cause or reason. While some of it we
may have control over they argue, most of it is just luck.

Mind Power students of course would find this notion incredulous, yet,
amazingly, most people believe it. If this hypothesis is true and everything
is just a matter of luck, then choice and decision are a meaningless
exercise. Those people who think in terms of good luck and bad luck are
obscuring the truth, because they separate events from their causes.
When we say that someone has fallen on bad luck, we relieve that person
of any responsibility for what has happened. When we say that someone
has had good luck, we deny that person credit for the effort and choices
they have made that undoubtedly have led to the happy outcome. The
question becomes what is luck, and what is cause and effect?

Canadian essayist Stephen Leacock once wrote, Im a great believer in

luck. Amazingly the harder I work, the more of it I seem to have. A. J.
Foyt, five-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 said it another way, Luck is
when opportunity meets preparation.

There is very little luck in our lives as we understand the term.

Synchronicity yes, but luck isolated from cause and effect, no. True, many
of the causes behind events are beyond our perceptions and
understanding, but the vibrating matrix that we live in is governed by
laws of cause and effect.

We are on far more solid ground when we look to ourselves for an

understanding of what is happening in our lives, when we look at our
choices, our actions, our thoughts, our beliefs, our fears, our desires both
past and present. These are causes, and they set in motion effects. Is
there no fate or destiny or randomness beyond our own initiating factors,
you ask? Of course there is. But even these have deep hidden causes
beyond our mortal comprehension.

When we choose to take a risk in some area of our life, we do so

anticipating a positive outcome from this decision. We do not know for
certain what the outcome will be, but we take a chance weighing all
options. Lets be honest with ourselves, every decision we make has its
risks. Even the decision to do nothing has its risks. Often we dont make
changes in our life because we are satisfied with what is happening. Why
change, we reason, when things are fine? Its a valid point. Even people

who are unhappy with their life situation often resist change. The
rationale being, Better the devil I know than the devil I dont know. I
might be unhappy, but maybe a change will make me even more unhappy.
At least this unhappiness I can handle. This resignation comes from a
distrust of life. (See the past topic Trusting Life, from the book The
Practice of Happiness.

It is not understanding the the Law of Constant Change that keeps people
stuck in situations that are crying out for change. The Law of Constant
Change states that everything is in the process of becoming something
else. Change happens everywhere, with everyone and everything. Nothing
is staying the same. Your health, your career, your finances, your friends,
your children, your parents, your opportunities, your interests, even your
thoughts, fears, desires and beliefs are all changing, morphing into
something else. And all things around you are changing too. You cannot be
isolated from this phenomenon. New causes are causing new effects.

Renaissance thinker and philosopher Jacob Bernoulli postulated that, If

all throughout eternity could be repeated, we would find that every one of
them occurred in response to definite causes, even the causes that
seemed most fortuitous.

But what if we make a mistake by taking a risk, we wonder? What indeed?

Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow was an air force weather forecaster during
the Second World War and shares an incident that illustrates our natural
human instinct to try to avoid uncertainty. Some officers had been
assigned the task of forecasting the weather a month ahead (this was long
before satellite technology). Arrow and his statisticians found that their
long-range forecasts were actually no better than predictions pulled out of
a hat. The forecasters all agreed on this point and so they finally asked
their superiors to be relieved of this duty. The reply came back to them:
The commanding General is well aware that the forecasts are no good.
However, he needs them for planning purposes.

We want certainty in our life, but uncertainty, change and movement are
the dynamics of this life experience. You can fight this fact, ignore it,
pretend it is something different, but you cannot avoid its effects.

There is a growing volume of research that reveals that most people yield
to inconsistencies, myopia, fear and a host of other forms of distortion
during the process of decision making, especially while making major
decisions that will potentially have a lasting effect on our life. All of us like
to think of ourselves as rational beings, even in times of crisis, applying
the laws of logic in cool and calculated fashion to the choices that confront
us. Yet how realistic are such images? Not very it seems. Furthermore,
many of the important decisions we make occur under complex, confusing,
even frightening conditions. No wonder we feel stressed.

What can we do? The answer is deceptively simple. Relax and accept that
this is life. In real life you are never granted one hundred percent
certainty about the outcomes of your decisions. Hopefully you use your
logic and your intuition, trusting both equally. You trust that which
resonates in your heart as true you trust what youre passionate about,
for this passion is in you for a reason. You trust synchronicity. You trust
life.

In conclusion, I have one simple question to ask you. Are you a risk taker?
If your answer is sometimes, that is good. If your answer is always, then
perhaps you should learn to sometimes play it more conservatively. If your
answer is never, then you need to shake things up by taking some risks.

Taking risks after a thorough examination of most of the possible

consequences (you never get to know all), trusting your logic and
intuition, is not foolhardy, but rather smart and proactive. Life demands
that we take risks. Not all the time. Not in every situation, but where we
need to see change, growth and movement. Often it is the most prudent
thing we can do.

John Kehoe

- See more at: http://www.learnmindpower.com/articles/takingrisks/#sthash.0ZEpaqbi.dpuf

Articles / Prosperity & Abundance

The Ten Practices of Successful Leadership

All of us will have times in our life when we are required to lead or
champion a cause. Knowing and applying the ten practices below will
assist you greatly in that challenge when it comes. Interestingly enough,
not only do these practices work in leading others, but they also apply in
pursuing our own goals as well. Next month I will take these same
principles and show you how we can apply them in our individual lives, but
for this month read and absorb these time-tested and proven practices of
success in a leadership role.

1. Have a large vision:

People want to be part of an organization or group that has an exciting

positive vision for change. Small visions attract a small response. Large
visions attract large numbers. Whatever your vision for change or growth
may be, you must articulate it well and be clear on the process of
attaining that vision, but most importantly it must be a vision that can
inspire.

2. Break the large vision into easily understood goals with deadlines:

As the old saying goes, The journey of one hundred miles begins with the
first step. A large vision will inspire people, but unless there is a plan to
achieve the vision, the inspiration and excitement will soon dissipate.
Completion of a large vision happens by accomplishing numerous smaller
goals. Each goal and step builds on the one preceding it. Have a clear and
workable plan that everyone can understand.

3. Focus on the big picture but work daily on the little picture:

Become goal oriented. It is through the accomplishment of thousands of

smaller goals that the final accomplishment is achieved. Ask yourself,
What can I do today? and then do it. The next day ask yourself again,
What can I do today? and then do it. The same the day after. Focusing

on what can be done today and accomplishing that is one of the secrets of
success.

4. Love the process, not just the final result:

As the mystic Gurdjieff said, Dont think of results, just do. Live life one
day at a time. Life is a journey, not a destination. Each day enjoy the
process of the people you meet, the challenges, the surprises, the
victories and yes, the failures too, for they also teach us. When you
dedicate yourself not just to the end result but to the process, good
fortune and synchronicity come to your aid. When you can embrace the
process as a means and end unto itself, and appreciate the process as a
journey within the journey to be mastered and enjoyed and appreciated,
you will be in harmony with the deeper currents of life.

5. Ask for and expect others to help you:

If you are dedicated to your vision and you believe that the
accomplishment of this vision will help many, you can expect others to
become enthused as well, and want to help you. This is not to say that
every single person you meet and share your vision with will want to help.
Some will be too busy or committed to other projects. Others may
disagree or argue with your vision, as is their right. However the law of
averages works in such a way that if you ask many to help, some will
respond. Carry no animosity or ill will towards those who do not share
your vision, but embrace and work closely with those who do. These
people will help you immensely. A group of individuals committed to a
shared vision can accomplish the impossible. It is these people that you
are destined to be with, learn from, and work with. Fortune favours the
bold, and unless you share your vision, how will others know of it?

6. Leaders see more in others than others see in themselves:

Most of us are in many ways our own greatest enemy. It is a very common
human trait to feel unworthy and to put ourselves down. Often latent
talents never get noticed. A successful leader will always bring out the

best in people. He/she will encourage people to live up to their potentials,

and praise them when they do. Encouragement, praise and recognition on
a regular basis will inspire those that you work with. Successful leaders
understand this and spend time developing the talents of others.
Leadership is not only in harnessing others to achieve a vision, but in
changing and empowering every person it is your privilege to come in
contact with.

7. Leadership is service:

Service to a vision. Service to others. Service to a greater good. Always

lead with humility and respect for the position you find yourself in. Never
be arrogant or full of ego. Leadership is about stewardship and you are
simply a steward of the vision. Serve it well. A leader must also anticipate
chaos and be prepared to work through temporary failure and
disappointment. Numerous challenges and tests go with the territory of
leadership, so do not let them surprise you or throw you off course when
they inevitably happen.

8. Your ability to serve others starts with mastering yourself:

Successful leaders have spent much time developing the character traits
and working habits that are necessary for success. You must learn to be a
good follower before you become a leader. You must know how to
overcome procrastination and inertia. How to set goals and achieve them.
How to be honest, creative, intuitive, How to manage both the micro and
macro situations. You must know how to listen, how to inspire, how to
bring the best out of others and yourself. Understanding that personal
growth never stops, a good leader will never stop working on him/herself.
In a leadership role, you must expect twice as much from yourself as you
expect from others.

9. Realize that we live in a real world, not an ideal one:

Allow for the fact that we live in an imperfect world. Your vision must
allow for this. Nothing is one hundred percent black or white. Trying to

change everyone and everything is unrealistic. Your vision must inspire

and be a great vision, but not an unrealistic, impossible vision. Do the
greatest good you can and make a difference to the world by achieving
that which is possible.

10. Have fun and celebrate your successes regularly:

Do not become so serious and fixated upon your goal and vision that you
lose the spontaneity of fun and joy. The joyful path is more effective than
the fanatical one. Joy, compassion, love, empathy, fun and success all go
hand in hand with one another. Enjoy each day amidst the busyness, and
remember to celebrate each victory and success no matter how small. A
joyful atmosphere will attract more people and be more productive. Look
for ways to celebrate success and improvement wherever you find it.

John Kehoe

- The Subconscious: The Hidden Engine of Our Success

I could have just as easily titled this section, "The Subconscious: The
Hidden Engine of our Failure," for both would be an accurate description
of how the subconscious works in our life. According to the beliefs and
imprints that we have allowed to enter into this hidden, mysterious part of
our being, so will our life attract to us the conditions and circumstances
that match the energy vortexes that vibrate within. For those of you who
have followed my work, you will know that I have spent over thirty years
teaching Mind Power worldwide and I love what I do. However, it was only
ten years ago that I began to seriously probe the mysteries of the
subconscious and learn the methods and techniques that unlock the
secrets held within. And it was during my three year "listening"
sabbatical, from 2002 to 2005, that my work took a quantum leap in
understanding the subconscious. Now it is the centre of my teaching and
what I am most passionate about, so over the next two months I will
devote this space to sharing with you some of the things I have learned
about the subconscious.

But first let me explain why it is so important to comprehend, use and

come into relationship with our subconscious. We are a multi-dimensional
being made up of a body, mind, soul and subconscious. If any part of our
being is out of sync, then the whole will suffer.

Mostly we live in our minds. This is fine as long as the other parts of us
are honored and listened to, especially the subconscious. Why is the
subconscious so important? It is important because it is the hidden engine
of what happens to us. Not only that, but it is through the subconscious
that we get our insights and inspirations, and the hidden mysteries are
revealed to us. Our subconscious is proactive and will always respond to
the requests we put to it. In fact, we have access to unlimited power and
understanding when we learn the techniques for changing the inner
patterns that reside within us on a subconscious level.

By coming into a working, functioning relationship with our subconscious

we will improve our health, become more effective, increase our personal
power, feel more in tune with ourselves and others, discover our life
purposes and reclaim a life of power and destiny. We achieve all this by
reclaiming the part of us that has always meant to be a functioning part of
who we are, but instead has been ignored, misunderstood and neglected,
to our own misfortune. In order to awaken and live a full life of power and
opportunity this must change, and it can change when you understand the
truths of the subconscious and apply the appropriate techniques.

TRUTH #1 - The Subconscious Has No Will of Its Own

Our subconscious mind has no will or agenda of its own. Its mandate and
function is simply to manifest according to the beliefs and images that
reside within it. It does not choose these beliefs and images, nor does it
judge them. It will manifest prosperity just as easily as lack, sickness just
as easily as health. Whatever resides within your subconscious is the
blueprint to what you will experience in your life. To understand this is to
understand something great. When we become conscious of this
astounding truth, our next task is to discover what it is that we have
residing within this all powerful faculty, for to know this much is to know
the causes of everything that is happening to us.

TRUTH #2 - Patterns Are the Hidden Footprints of the Subconscious

Each of us have certain patterns in our life that defy logic, and no matter
how many times we try to change these patterns they seem to have a
power of their own that overrides our best attempts. Whether it is the
workaholic who tries again and again to relax and take time off, only to
find himself back working all the time again, or the person who tries to get
ahead financially and demonstrate abundance only to find herself stuck in
the same financial situation, struggling with money. We achieve success in
some areas of our lives, and yet in certain other areas we do not. Why is
this?

In most cases the reason is simply that we have a subconscious pattern

that overrides our best intentions and desires. Let me share with you a
law: when your desires are in conflict with subconscious patterns, the
subconscious patterns will always win. This is a law, and until you change
the patterns within that are sabotaging you, you will not achieve your
desires.

Let me share with you an experience of mine. For many years I had the
pattern of leaving relationships. It was very strange because I wouldn't
leave when the relationship was going badly but rather when it was going
well. This happened time and time again in my life. Then one day in my
mid-forties I was doing some subconscious work on myself when suddenly
what popped into my conscious mind was the thought, "My mother didn't
leave me because I wasn't good enough." What a strange thought, I
thought to myself, and of course she didn't leave me because I wasn't
good enough.

Now a little background information. When I was thirteen my mother

drowned. It was traumatic, as you can imagine, and I dealt with it the best
I could, and it appeared to have no lasting effect. Yet here I was in my
forties having the thought that, "My mother didn't leave me because I
wasn't good enough." All at once I got it. My subconscious mind had
interpreted the drowning of my mother as her leaving me because I wasn't
good enough. I had also made a subconscious decision that I would never
be hurt by a woman again. Notice I say subconscious decision because
none of this was conscious.

So as an adult when a relationship became too intimate my subconscious

kicked in and made me leave. How could I make that decision and how did
the subconscious make the mistake of interpreting my mother leaving me
as proof that I was not good enough? I will write about that next month
and share more of the truths of the subconscious. Let me for now just say
that anytime you see a recurring pattern in your life, it is safe to say that
it represents footprints of the subconscious, and until these footprints are
understood and changed, you are unlikely to change that pattern.

Finally just let me say that once I understood the faulty images I had
within my subconscious, I immediately began reprogramming new beliefs,
and within six months I met the most amazing woman who was smart,
sexy and spiritual and everything I had dreamed of. Needless to say I
didn't have to leave because the old patterns had been replaced with new
ones, and now, fifteen years later, we are happily married and I am more
in love with her today than the day I married her.

John Kehoe

The Subconscious Contains Our Unused Potentials and Our Blockages

This is part 2 of the chapter on the subconscious from my new book, to be
released in 2010:

The subconscious contains within it our unused potentials, as well as the

personal blockages that keep us stuck in the various problem areas of our
life. I sometimes refer to these as our light and dark shadows. The word
shadow is a Jungian term and refers to those parts of us that are
unconscious. Being unconscious, we do not see them, but we often see
their effects in our life, that is we dont see what causes the shadow, but
we see the effect.

Each of us has both a light and dark shadow, and each needs to be
examined so that energy captured there can be released.

Dark Shadow: That which is holding us back. Repressed emotions, grief,

hurts, inner wounds; all these are part of our dark shadow. So are
dysfunctional beliefs. For example, a belief such as, If there is a flu
around Ill catch it! which, as you now understand, would attract the flu
to you, could be called part of our dark shadow, especially if we are
unaware of how this belief operates in our life. Any part of us that makes
us unbalanced and that we are unaware of can be called part of our dark
shadow. The dark shadow is that part of us which is self-defeating, holding
us back, often absorbing vast amounts of energy, leaving us feeling
depleted, anxious, frustrated, and at the mercy of forces that we
ourselves have set in motion. The Mind Power student is keenly interested
in both his light and dark shadows. He understands better than anyone
what it means to ignore these shadow parts of his being. What is in our
dark shadow is limiting us, so we do the inner work necessary to reveal
these parts to us. Once revealed, we can design strategies to change
those aspects of ourselves which are holding us back.

Now there is also the collective unconscious, which does not develop but
is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypes. The
collective unconscious contains both dark and light shadows, and as such
they are common to all of us. They reside as archetypal messages
resonating in the human unconscious matrix and so find their way into all
of us. One such dark shadow archetypal message is the belief, Im not
good enough. This can be held as a general belief, Im not a good
enough person or something more specific, Im not a good
parent/spouse/artist/mediator/entrepreneur/teacher, etc. When you find
yourself thinking this, which you sometimes will, you can counteract the
thought by first suspecting that it does not belong to you but rather to the
collective. This works to make it non-personal, giving you the opportunity
of nullifying it. It is our duty to overcome and heal the wound of Im not
good enough upon every occasion that it arises. By doing so we help not
just ourselves but also the collective. We are helping our species when we
refuse to accept shame. Paradoxically, the act of eliminating shame is
easier when we do it for the sake of others than when we do it just for
ourselves. Doing this is not a selfish act; it is heroic. Shame is the original
sin. What is not claimed and owned by the inner will manifest in the outer.
The dark shadow must be faced and addressed or it will cause all kinds of
problems in your life.

Light Shadow: Our potentials and those parts of us that have not been
explored and brought to fruition in our lives. Special gifts and talents that
lie underdeveloped, our art, our hidden desires, our unused and
unexplored abilities, all these form part of our light shadow. Because we
are a fragment, a holographic piece of the overall design of the universe,
everything that is possible and good and excellent is potentially part of
our light shadow. While theoretically true, practically speaking, some
things are more available to us than others. Not all the talents and gifts
within the universe are ours to use, at least not in this particular lifetime.
Some are more difficult to access, while others are waiting just below the
surface, like a seed in a dried out river bed awaiting the rains to sprout
and grow. Our light shadow can be discovered by following our bliss, our
natural talents, our joys, our creativity. Trust what turns you on the most
and follow it wherever it leads you.

The emergence of both light and dark shadow is always a positive event in
our lives. It shows we are connected and in touch with the hidden parts of
ourselves. When we awaken to these possibilities of transformation within
ourselves, almost anything becomes possible.

How to come into relationship with your subconscious:

You come into relationship with your subconscious by desiring contact.

You educate the conscious mind to the existence of the subconsciouss
functions and potential through daily mediations. Until you are aware of
its existence, and not just in an intellectual way, you cannot work with the
subconscious effectively. Contemplate daily the existence of this second
mind. Think about the fact that the subconscious is part of the etheric web
of all reality. Think about the potentials of imprinting into it, how it works,
etc. Affirm to yourself daily, My subconscious mind is my partner in
success. This is a very powerful affirmation and has a threefold effect.
First, by affirming my subconscious mind, you are educating the
conscious mind to the existence of this second mind. Secondly, by
affirming my partner, you are reminding the conscious mind of the
possibilities and advantages of working with the subconscious. And
thirdly, it is your partner in success. By affirming this you are building
up a success vibration; you are weaving success into your etheric matrix.
Make this a regular affirmation.

Finally, dialogue with your subconscious. Praise it and let it know how
appreciative you are of its power and ability to create and interact with
the etheric web. Tell it what you want to create and what imprints you are
presently working with. Let it know that you are working diligently to have
a functioning relationship established. Get to know this part of yourself as
a separate and neglected component that is being welcomed back into the
human matrix. By doing all of the above you will find that you will enter
into relationship with your subconscious, and when you do, a whole new
level of working with it reveals itself to you.

John Kehoe
The Subconscious Mind Part I
As many of my readers of this site know, I have been on a three-year
sabbatical. This time has been very powerful and rewarding for me on
many levels. Firstly, it has allowed me to view myself, my life, and my
work from a fresh perspective. You will be happy to know that I hold all
three in the highest esteem and am coming back with renewed
commitment to them.

Secondly, I am coming back from the sabbatical with a depth of

understanding of the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the soul
which far transcends my previous understanding. So in these upcoming
months I will be revisiting topics I have written about before and infusing
them with new insights and perspectives.

I am now in South Africa doing three weekend seminars on the Mysteries

of the Subconscious and the Soul, so I can't think of a better way to begin
this month's topic than with a fresh and new exploration of the
subconscious mind.

To understand the subconscious one must first understand that we do

indeed possess a second hidden mind that functions day and night beyond
the awareness of the conscious mind. Understanding and working with
this second mind is the basis of all mind power techniques. It is also the
key to your success and happiness. Those individuals, and they are the

vast majority of us, who live their lives without an understanding and
working relationship with their own personal subconscious, limit
themselves immeasurably. This is unfortunate, for it is not difficult to
establish a functioning relationship with your subconscious. All it takes is
a basic understanding of the dynamics of the subconscious, and a will to
establish a relationship with it. So let's begin by examining this second
hidden mind that exists within all of us, first from an overall perspective,
and from there we can work out the details of how to effectively work with
it.

The subconscious has two main functions. The first is to give you guidance
and insight that transcends your normal everyday conscious mind
awareness. The second is to interact with the vibrating matrix of your
reality, attracting to you the circumstances and situations that
approximate the vibrations of your inner mythology.

It is this second function that I now wish to explore. Now when I speak of
your inner mythology, what I am referring to is the myriad of beliefs
that you have resonating within you on a subconscious level. Often we are
unaware of what our subconscious beliefs are, and it is only through inner
stalking and personal archaeology that we discover them, but I'm getting
ahead of myself.

We have beliefs about every area of our life. We have beliefs about money,
sex, relationships, other people, ourselves, our opportunities or lack of
opportunities, our health, our bodies, even life itself. If our beliefs are
faulty or limiting in any area of our life, this will result in our subconscious
acting upon the etheric web of reality to attract to us these faulty limiting
patterns.

Beliefs exist on a subconscious level. Hopes, desires, wishes, goals,

intentions, these all exist on a conscious level. We think of them with our
conscious mind. But beliefs are different. They are deeper and more
entrenched. They are submerged vortexes of energy that we have
unconsciously allowed to take root within us. If they are empowering,
helpful beliefs such as, I am a competent, talented person capable of
great success, achievement and happiness, then this will be our
unconscious resonance and with this as our core belief we will attract to

ourselves situations that match this imprint. Our subconscious will work
day and night to make this a reality.

If, however, we have faulty, limiting beliefs such as, I am an unworthy

person and nothing ever works out for me, this then becomes our inner
resonance. And our subconscious, which works with whatever resonance
has been imprinted, regardless of what it is, will attract to us situations
which match these images.

I think it is plain to see that knowing and understanding what our

subconscious imprints are is critically important if one wishes to have a
happy, successful, fulfilling life.

Next month we will examine the methods of discovering what our inner
subconscious beliefs are, but first I will give you a hint, and something to
think about this month. Namely, that your life is a reflection of your
subconscious patterns. Your life's limitations, as well as your life's
successes, reflect quite accurately what you are vibrating subconsciously.

John Kehoe

The Subconscious
For the next few months I am going to share with you a work in progress
the unedited first draft of my new book on Advanced Mind Power, to be
released in 2010. The emphasis of this book is the alignment of the
conscious mind, the subconscious mind, the body, and the soul. This
following is a segment from the chapter entitled The Subconscious.

We have been designed with not just one mind but two. One mind, it
seems, is not enough for what nature and destiny have in store for us.
These two minds have very different functions, but they are designed to
complement each other, to work together as a functioning team. This
complementary work, however, rarely happens, and this is one of the
reasons we have problems in our lives. Without harmony in the inner

kingdom, there is bound to be dissent and disharmony in the many

different ways that life unfolds.

The problem is with the conscious mind. The conscious mind, unless it has
been awakened, remains uninterested in the subconscious. It sees no
value in working with it. Even the subconsciouss existence is at best
conceptual to the conscious mind; a working functioning relationship has
not yet been established between the two minds. But with awakening
comes the realization of the possibilities of such a relationship. At this
point the conscious mind woos the subconscious. This is why it is so
important to educate the conscious mind to its role in the human matrix.

The subconscious mind is very powerful, but quite different from the
conscious mind. The conscious mind, as you will remember, seeks out
Inventory, knowledge and meaning. The subconscious mind, on the other
hand, does not seek out Inventory, but receives its mandate and imprints
from its interpretation of the content and focus of the conscious mind.
What the conscious mind thinks about and focuses on will be the material
that the subconscious works with, and that is why we also call the
conscious mind Guardian to the Gates of the Subconscious. It is the
conscious minds function to be discerning about what thoughts it thinks,
knowing that whatever its focus and attention is on will eventually enter
into the subconscious.

As we awaken, we train the conscious mind to take this Guardian of the

Gates of the Subconscious seriously, and we train ourselves to think only
thoughts and images that we would want the subconscious to pick up.
There is a very intimate relationship between these two minds, and as the
conscious mind gains respect for this relationship, it will work accordingly.

The subconsciouss mandate and function is simply to resonate according

to the energetic images that reside within it. It does not choose which
beliefs or images it will hold, nor does it judge or censor what it receives.
Like neurons wired together because of constant traffic, the subconscious
accepts content delivered to it by repetition and feeling. Repetition and
feeling are two of the methods we use to reach the subconscious.
Whatever the conscious mind thinks about regularly will be picked up by
the subconscious and imprinted within. Repetition and deep feeling are

what it is looking for and it will seek these out. If your thoughts are about
abundance and success, it will pick these up. It will manifest prosperity
just as easily as lack, and health just as easily as sickness. If your
thoughts are about scarcity, that is what it will pick up. If they are of fear,
it will pick up this too. Whatever blueprint resides within our subconscious
as an energy vortex becomes the attracting process by which experiences
happen to us in our life. To understand this is to understand something
great.

The conscious mind is also the holder to the will. This is another
interesting difference between the two minds, as the subconscious mind
has no will or volition of its own. It is passive in what it receives, and acts
upon the Inventory it receives from the conscious mind. In fact, you could
say that all of Mind Power is based upon the receptivity of the
subconscious to suggestion and instruction.

More to be revealed

John Kehoe

Subconscious Blockages - Part II

A fabulous affirmation I often use is My subconscious Mind is my partner
in success. I like sharing this affirmation and encouraging my Mind Power
students to use it as well, for several reasons. Firstly, by saying my
subconscious mind we remind ourselves that we do in fact possess such a
faculty. The subconscious mind is not some vague new age concept, but a
real part of who you are. Saying so over and over reminds you again and
again of its existence.
Secondly, it's a partner. A partner is someone who helps you accomplish
your goals. Two people can accomplish more than just one. So too can you
accomplish more when you harness this part of yourself. Thirdly, the word
success is a powerful word to have vibrating in you at a subconscious
level. When you repeat this affirmation it resonates three important
themes within you.

You are the one who decides what your inner vibration will be. Your
subconscious can only work with the material that reaches it through the
conscious mind. If through neglect, your subconscious resonates with a
number of limiting beliefs about a certain area of your life (i.e., money,
relationships, health, etc.), then no matter how hard you work or how hard
you desire to achieve your goal, you are unlikely to do so. It then becomes
obvious that knowing and understanding what your subconscious believes
is crucial in achieving success.

Now since we don't have a conscious awareness of what is in our

subconscious mind, we have to approach it in a roundabout way. We do
this through a creative analysis of our life. Mind Power teaches that our
life will always reflect the inner patterns we have within us at a
subconscious level. So to understand your inner patterns, look at your life.
Your life will tell you a lot if you have the courage and honesty to look at it
objectively. This is not as easy to do as it might seem. Most of us are so
preoccupied with our lives, so intent upon succeeding and doing the right
thing, that using our life as a mirror to the subconscious seems well, a
waste of time and effort. And besides, who amongst us is willing to admit
that maybe, just maybe, the reason we're not seeing results in a certain
area of our life has nothing to do with others or the outside reality, but in
fact everything to do with us. Hard to swallow but true, and taking this
approach will teach us a lot.

If you have used Mind Power regularly you will have noticed how powerful
and extremely effective it is in manifesting your goals. It is the greatest
tool we have in achieving happiness and success. But each of us has areas
where Mind Power seems to not be as effective. It seems to work ninety
percent of the time, but that ten percent is where we question ourselves
asking, Why doesn't it work here? Well actually it would were it not for
your subconscious imprints blocking and sabotaging your efforts. But
why are they doing that? you ask. They are doing it because that is the
nature and function of the subconscious, namely to attract circumstances
and situations from the outer matrix of our reality according to the
imprints it holds within.

This is both good and bad news. Good news because once you understand
how the system works, you can methodically imprint beliefs that are in
harmony with your goals, and once these beliefs are accepted by the
subconscious, they will work within you to create the reality you desire.

The bad news is that you already have a number of limiting beliefs in the
problem areas of your life that need to be dealt with.

Here is an exercise I recently did with participants at the Mysteries Of

The Subconscious and The Soul weekend workshop In South Africa. I had
them decide what was their number one problem area in their life. You too
can do this at home. Think about it. What one area in your life seems to
give you the most concern and worry? Or to put it another way, if you
could magically change one aspect of your life, what would it be? Once
identified, I had all the participants write down all their beliefs about that
area of their life. Then we examined the beliefs. In all cases almost all of
them were negative and limiting beliefs. This surprised the participants,
but not me. If their outer reality had a problem in a certain area, it almost
always indicates limiting beliefs. Try it yourself and see if I'm not right.

Now here is some more good news. All beliefs can be changed no matter
how entrenched they are if you have the will and persistence. Beliefs are
not absolute truths, though we often think they are, but rather
interpretations of reality. Change your beliefs and your reality will change.
People often say, I'll believe it when I see it. But this is not how to live
life creatively. A better and more accurate saying would be, Believe it
first and then you will see it. All Mind Power students can do this.
Awaken from your limiting beliefs and change them. Change them because
they are blocking your success. Change them because you can change
them. Change them because when you change a limiting, negative belief
into a positive belief you are changing the dynamics of your inner
vibration. This creative alchemy is available to all, and is the gift of being
a human being. Change your beliefs and you change your reality.

John Kehoe

Articles / Subconscious Mind

Intuition Part I
The subconscious mind has three main functions. Firstly, by acting upon
the brain stem, it controls the bodily functions such as the heartbeat,

blood flow, breathing, repair of cells and tissues, and hundreds of other
process that are beyond our conscious understanding.

Secondly, any thought or belief that has been accepted by the

subconscious resonates and vibrates within you. This vibration, like a
tuning fork, attracts the people, circumstances and events that match the
images and concepts you have within. This function of the subconscious is
what makes mind power so effective in manifesting our goals and desires.

Thirdly; the subconscious mind, being holographic and a part of all reality,
has access to infinite amounts of information not readily available to the
conscious mind. The ways of accessing this information are varied;
however our intuition is one of the easiest and most reliable ways, and
this will be what Ill explore over the next several months.

Intuition is a function of the subconscious. We all have it and it works for

everyone. Obviously, the more you use and understand it the more
effective it is. Like anything, practice makes you better. Also your trust
and belief in your intuition has an effect as well. If, for example, you laugh
and scoff at intuition as an old wives tale, if you dont put any value on it
whatsoever, it will be unlikely that your intuition will come to you; or if it
does, that you will be open and aware enough to receive it. On the other
hand, if you believe in intuition, watch for it and act upon it when it does
arrive, it will frequent you more often. So obviously your belief in its
existence is a factor.

This belief, however, does not have to be blind faith. Belief comes from
reading, researching, and ultimately from looking within and
experimenting with intuition. When you practice going within regularly,
you will surely discover this second powerful inner self, and from this
discovery a whole new life revolves. We realize that we are no longer
limited to just our conscious mind and five senses.

In my twenty-three years of teaching Mind Power I have never once met a

person who cannot tap into their subconscious and use their intuition.
However, before I continue, let me say that the word "intuition" itself is a
bit of a misnomer. Referring to it as a noun makes it sound like a wise

sage, or something you get to by "using my intuition." A better and more

accurate way to look at it would be to think of it as a process a verb.

"I intuited the answer." While this may sound funny to the ear it is a more
accurate description. You dont use your intuition to get answers you
"intuit," and through this process you access the wealth of information
contained within our subconscious.

Always remember that in tapping into your subconscious you are

connecting into the web of all reality. Each of us has a personal
subconscious which contains every event of our life, as well as a collective
subconscious. The "collective unconscious," as Jung called it, is not limited
to our personal knowledge and experiences. It draws upon the collective
wisdom of all knowledge past, present and, in a strange way, even future.
Our subconscious is not limited by time and space; it transcends physical
reality. It is in many ways the ultimate Internet connection. Whatever you
need to know, you can go within and discover it.

Next month well explore some of the methods by which you can do this.

John Kehoe

- Intuition Part II
"I woke up this morning with the most peaceful feeling, knowing I had the
job." This is what one of my students, Sharon, shared with a small group
of us on the day she landed a plumb job with an advertising agency. Over
a hundred people had applied and though she felt she had done well in the
interview, realistically there were probably dozens of others who had done
well. Yet, upon awakening, something in her "knew." Sure enough they
called her that morning and offered her the position.

How was she so sure, and what happened to bring her that feeling?

We are all connected subconsciously. As I mentioned in last months topic,

each of us has a personal subconscious and a collective unconscious.

The collective unconscious contains the wisdom of the human race. All
ideas, philosophies, concepts every thought ever conceived is contained
within this reservoir. And it is being added to constantly by every new
thought and idea. You yourself add to it daily with your thoughts. Nothing
is hidden in this dimension of reality. It is so vast and complex that it
defies our normal understanding of what is real, and yet each of us is
connected to it and can access it.

In Sharons case what happened is this: The decision to hire her was made
by a panel of four people the afternoon previous to her being phoned (she
found this out when she showed up the first day). So the fact that she had
the job was part of the collective unconscious data, even though she had
not yet been informed.

Going to sleep that night her conscious mind was very active, thinking
about whether she had the job or not. While she was sleeping her personal
subconscious received confirmation that she had the job from the
collective unconscious. When she awoke she "knew." Now consciously she
still didnt know, but another part within her knew. Thats why it came as
a feeling rather than a thought.

This is one of the ways intuition comes. It comes from within us as a

feeling, a hunch or an instinct. Intuition of this kind resides in the body,
not the mind. Our central nervous system assists in this process. It is the
connection between the collective consciousness and our body. In this way
our physical body becomes the vehicle for the message. Knowing this lets
us trust our feelings more. When we trust the feelings and hunches that
emit from our cellular bodies, we actually give that connection more
power, more validity, and the line becomes stronger. This process has
nothing to do with logical rational thinking; it bypasses the logical mind. It
is a direct communication between the collective unconscious and the
personal unconscious, which our central nervous system interprets and
then transmits to us as a feeling.

With practice we can get to know for ourselves what this feels like and
recognize it when it happens. It is not that hard to understand once you
know how the mechanism works. What is incredible is that we do indeed
possess this amazing ability.

John Kehoe

Having a Relationship With Your Dreams

Ive written in past monthly topics about dreams, but this month I thought
I would approach dreams from the perspective of having a relationship
with your dreams, rather than just understanding and interpreting them.
Having a relationship with your dreams is a different focus. It is a different
approach. It means having respect for your dreams. It means thinking of
your dreams as something you can have a relationship with. It is in many
ways a paradigm shift from investigating your dreams, to entering into a
dialogue with them. For me personally, a much deeper respect and
understanding happened when I began approaching dreams as sacred
messages from other parts of me, and from beyond the veils of our normal
reality. Rather than curiosities, they became sacred, holy, of great value
and interest, even though I didnt understand them. Respect entered into
the experience. I began respecting the phenomena of having dreams, and
so honoured them by having a dream journal and pen by my bedside each
night. I would give thanks in the morning if a dream happened and I would
write it down in my dream journal upon waking. By doing this I honoured
my dreams.

Do not underestimate the importance of honour and respect. Honour and

respect are symbols of your heart. The subconscious understands
symbols. You are speaking the language of dreams and the language of
the subconscious by doing this. Having a dream journal and pen by your
bed is also a symbol. It is saying, You are important to me. I honour your
great dreams from beyond. I honour your wisdom. I honour your
messages. Writing your dreams down in the morning is also a symbol.
Doing this is very powerful. It shows that you believe that these messages
and symbols are worthy of being recorded. It is the beginning of your
relationship with your dreams. You need not interpret them to have a
relationship; you need only to honour them in this way. Interpreting
dreams is another process. Next month we will explore that in greater
detail.

Always the secret in interpreting dreams is to think of them as symbols

and ask what the symbols represent to you. It is easier than you might
think once you get the basics and have some practice, but well before this
comes the relationship part.

Your relationship with your dreams will grow and deepen the more you
spend time together. Like a good marriage, when love deepens and
expands beyond what either partner could have envisioned when they
were first married, so too your relationship with your dreams will expand
infinitely as you honour them, write them down, think upon them, and
respect them as important parts of who you are.

Your dream journal will become a book of mysterious wisdom cloaked in

the veil of symbolism. At first only tiny clues will reveal themselves, but
the book will build from one dream to another, and you will begin to see
patterns and repetitions and a larger story revealing itself.

Seek and ye shall find is a true maxim and law of the inner worlds, and
you will be rewarded with insights and guidance by honouring, respecting
and listening to your dreams.

The Dew

The dew is the term I use for the time just after youve awakened. That
two to five minutes where you are still in the twilight world between
asleep and awake. The dew is a very special and valuable time to review a
dream and gain insight, or if there has been no dream, it is very conducive
to gaining messages or insights from an inner, deeper perspective. Use
the dew each morning to relax and drink in secret wisdom. Dont rush
yourself awake. Lounge and be lazy and indulgent in letting this stream
play with you. Dont try to do anything other than letting your mind
wander between the waking and sleeping worlds. This can be a most
enjoyable and pleasurable experience, not to be missed. Dont rush to
write down your dreams until the dew has finished. Enjoy the dew.

At night, before you fall asleep, you may ask for certain dreams if you
have a particular problem you need answered. You can silently repeat
what you need. Most times, however, just having your dream journal and
pen handy is sufficient. Then of course in the morning you write down your
dreams. These two simple practices will naturally develop a relationship
between you and your dreams.

What will ultimately happen in that relationship is between you and your
dreams. Each person has a different and unique relationship with his or
her dreams. No two relationships are the same. But if you wish a sincere
and authentic relationship, I suggest you approach your dreams with
respect, dignity and sincerity. If you do, that is the way they will approach
you.

John Kehoe

- Invoking Synchronicity
Carl Jung, the brilliant and innovative protg of Freud, coined the word
synchronicity. Synchronicity, to Jung, referred to the strange and
unusual encounters or events that happen to individuals which appear on
the surface to have no causal linkage, and yet have such a profound
meaning to the individual that the event was unlikely to be the result of
mere chance. They happen to all of us, and usually we explain them away
as being luck or coincidence, which in fact they might be, but there is also
the possibility that something deeper and more profound is at work at
these times.

A dramatic example of this is shared by a close friend of mine who, as a

thirteen-year-old girl, was, as she termed it, on fire for God. She would
travel on the bus every Saturday looking to do Gods work. Sometimes
she would have meaningful encounters and sometimes not, but every
Saturday she rode the bus being led where it felt appropriate. This
particular Saturday she was again riding the bus when suddenly she felt
the need to get off at a particular bus stop. Across from the bus stop was
a tavern, and she walked into the tavern without knowing why. Now it is
illegal in Canada for anyone under the age of nineteen to be in a tavern
and Ann, a young-looking thirteen-year-old, was obviously not nineteen,
yet no one stopped her or said a word. It was as if I was invisible, she

said recounting the incident. She walked up to a woman who was sitting
alone at a table. She sat down and said to her, God has asked me to tell
you he loves you and you are not alone. She had no idea why she was
saying this, or what the reaction would be from the woman, and was
surprised herself at what had come out of her mouth. The woman looked
at her in disbelief for several seconds and then burst into tears. Come up
to my room, she said. They walked up several flights of stairs in the rundown hotel and entered her room. A gun was on the table.

I bought this gun yesterday, she said, and went on to describe the
horrific circumstances she was presently enduring, and how hopeless and
alone she felt. This afternoon at one I said to myself, If God does not
send me a sign or give me some hope in the next hour I am going to kill
myself. The clock indicated it was ten minutes to two. In ten more
minutes she would have killed herself. The two wept in each others arms,
and then my friend left the room, never to see the woman again.

How could this have happened? Obviously something more than luck or
coincidence was at work. The quantum theory of interconnectedness
would explain part of it. According to quantum theory, each of us is part of
same vibrating matrix, so there is good reason to believe that, in
extraordinary circumstances, we are led to experiences that serve
purposes beyond our understanding. Somehow the depth of the womans
despair and the openness of the young girl to do good were matched and
drawn together. The universe works like this in more ways than we
suspect.

Psychologist Jean Houston shares having a conversation with the

illustrious anthropologist Margaret Mead. She had noticed that Mead had
an extraordinary amount of fortuitous events happen to her. She always
seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Jean commented on this
one time. You are so blessed, she said. Yes, I know, Mead replied.
Why? Houston questioned further. Mead looked at her for a moment and
then in a gruff voice answered, Because I expect to be.

Could it be that simple? Yes and no. Of course there is more to it than
that, but having positive expectations doesnt hurt, in fact it ups the
chances of it happening immeasurably. Novelist Somerset Maugham said it

another way: Its a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept
anything but the best, you very often get it.

Beliefs create our reality. We invoke synchronicity by believing in an open

and dynamic universe where all is possible, where our thoughts, wishes
and desires are heard and responded to. Where, as Joseph Campbell said,
a thousand unseen helping hands come to our assistance when we have
embarked on a course of action that we have a passion for.

Jungs housekeeper in her memoirs shared that the more Jung relied on his
unconscious and trusted it, the more it worked for him. I observed, she
wrote, one concrete fact, for instance in watching Dr. Jung, that the older
he became, the more he got the information he needed for whatever he
was thinking about or working on; it simply ran after him. Once when he
was occupied with a specific problem, a general practitioner in Australia
sent him material he could use, and it arrived by mail just at the very time
Jung said, Now I ought to have some observations on that kind of thing.

Jung sometimes referred to these types of circumstances as magic

causality. He strongly suspected it had its source in the unconscious, yet
he struggled to find a way to have it accepted by the scientific community.
Nor did he understand fully how it worked. While Jung was familiar with
the most up-to-date scientific discoveries, and had contact with Nils Bohr
and Albert Einstein, the explosive findings of quantum physics had yet to
be revealed. For us of the 21st century, we have the means and ability to
understand why synchronicity works, even if it still seems incredulous.

As we accept our oneness with all things and relax in the possibilities of
what we might become if we dare to believe, we can invoke synchronicity.
Once we accept the idea that the universe will bring to us whatever we
need to succeed at our goals, we become more integrated within
ourselves. The minute we are willing to accept the help from this
invisible collaborator, we will attract it everywhere in our life. From both
the seen and unseen, from that which we understand and that which is
mysterious, good things will happen to us. Our effectiveness as a human
being is increased through this method, and it is a method available to
everyone.

John Kehoe

- Articles / Metaphysical Spiritual

The Path of the Ten Virtues

In the next couple of months we will examine living a virtuous life and
what it means to follow the path of the ten virtues. You might ask what
does this have to do with Mind Power? The answer is simple and helps
explain the fundamental law of being, namely, all is energy.

Quantum Physics has now established that all physical reality, while
appearing to be solid, is actually vibrating energy. So too in the study of
Mind Power, you learn to create thoughts (which are also vibrating
energy) in your conscious mind to influence and imprint on the
subconscious mind, which in turn vibrates in the matrix to attract to you
the people, events and circumstances you desire. Actually it is incredibly
easy to understand; however not so easy to practice because of our
natural inclination toward inertia and procrastination. Nevertheless, the
methodology and path is there for anyone to pursue, and it has been used
successfully by millions of people who follow this system.

The ten virtues follow a similar pattern. Do not think of virtues as spiritual
practices or obligations one does to become a better person. Think of
them as paths of energy that lead the sincere seeker deep into the
mysteries of life and self. Practicing the ten virtues changes your
vibration, and when you change your vibration you change your life.
Pursue the virtues as others pursue wealth and fame. Pursue them
because their paths are ones of wonder and joy. What you will learn on
these paths will assist you to live an authentic, happy and successful life.

This is what I have found. But you might find something different. Perhaps
having traveled these paths for a period of time, you may decide that they
have no value for you and are empty concepts. If this is so, then drop
them and move on. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. However, you might
also find after traveling these paths and incorporating them into your life
that they bring wisdom, understanding, inner peace and great benefits. If

this is so, then you may wish to incorporate them permanently into your
life. It is your choice. But until you travel these paths yourself firsthand,
they will only be vague concepts. Each of us decides if these if these paths
have value. To thine own self be true.

The first path is the virtue of compassion. Practice acts of love and
kindness towards others. Notice I say the word acts of love and
kindness, for the virtues are paths, not mere concepts or attitudes of the
mind. While one must have a concept of what compassion means before
you practice it, it is in the daily acts of compassion that the path is trod.

Love and compassion are the cornerstones of Christian teaching. Jesus

said, love thy neighbour as thyself. Many of his parables were about
compassion in action. Greater love has no man than he give up his life for
his fellow man, he taught. While these words might be hard for us to
comprehend, and harder still to practice, the way of compassion is held
forth to us as a path that leads to God. For the Bible teaches God himself
is love. But love and compassion are not only the cornerstones of Christian
teaching; they are at the foundation of all the great religions. The
Buddhist too is encouraged to practice loving kindness.

The Bodhisattva, one who is dedicated to compassionate acts toward

others, represents the knowledge of eternal release while living. The full
participation in others sorrows, troubles and challenges allows the
Bodhisattva to experience the perfection of compassion. It is said that
ambrosia pours from the Bodhisattvas fingertips, giving comfort to all.
Nor is it the aim of the Bodhisattva to change or improve this world,
though he very well might. What the Bodhisattva is doing is simply
participating in the nature of things. He is benevolence without purpose.

In my book, The Practice of Happiness, one of the chapters is Loving

Kindness. Let me quote an expert from this chapter:

When we help others we are actually helping ourselves. The joy and
happiness that love and compassion for others bring is one of the bestkept secrets of humanity. The benefits are so enormous and consistent

that you have to wonder why we dont practice such kindness more often.
Helping others always makes us feel good.

Think back to times when youve given of yourself completely. Maybe you
nursed a sick friend back to health, helped in a soup kitchen, coached the
school football team, volunteered to raise money for some charity. How
did it make you feel? And why did it make you feel so good? What is there
in loving and helping one another that is so nurturing to our souls?
Perhaps in doing so we are rediscovering our connectedness to one
another. A hidden part of us thrills with joy when we reach out to one
another in simple everyday ways

We search for happiness in romance, achievements, possessions,

exciting experiences, and all of these bring us some satisfaction, but
always more is needed. The paradox is that if we are totally preoccupied
with only our own happiness, we will never truly achieve it.

The Japanese have an expression for neurotic self-preoccupation. It is

seikatsu onchi; a term loosely translated as tone-deaf about life. This
condition has us totally preoccupied with only ourselves. Every event and
circumstance in our life is measured by how it affects us personally.
Others are not considered. This self-centeredness is the cause of most of
our suffering. Think about it. When youre unhappy, are you thinking
about yourself or others? Always yourself. This should teach us something.

This month I suggest you travel the path of acts of compassion to see
what value it has for you. Notice how you feel when you perform acts of
kindness.

Next month we will carry on with the path of the ten virtues

The Path of the Ten Virtues - Part II

Last month I wrote about the path of the ten virtues being a path of
energy. This is important to realize. If we think of these virtues as spiritual
obligations, or as something one does to become a good person, then

there is a resistance to them. Perhaps resistance is not the right word, but
there is a reluctance or heaviness about doing them because it is just
another set of obligations we are expected to meet in our already busy
and overburdened life. Yet when we think of them as paths of energy, they
become much more interesting. They cease being obligations and instead
become a means by which we are nourished and uplifted. This is the point
I'm trying to convey. You are the benefactor of traveling these paths of
energy.

Path #2 Gratitude

I'm going to quote from my book The Practice of Happiness :

There is a hidden hierarchy in life which dictates that gratitude for what
we already have precedes the attainment of that which we still desire.
Gratitude always comes first, and gratitude can start right now, in our notso-perfect life.

The power of gratitude cannot truly be appreciated until you have

practiced it regularly.

The vibration of gratitude transforms lives. All change in our life begins
from within, and when we make a conscious decision to be grateful for
what we already have, even if what we have is very little, we set in motion
vibrations that attract more to us.

This is the magic of gratitude. It attracts more of whatever we give thanks

for. If we praise and give thanks for our health, greater health will come to
us. If we take the time to praise and give thanks for the ordinary moments
of joy and happiness, even more of those moments will appear. Gratitude
not only multiplies that which is praised, it increases the blessings in
other areas of our lives as well. This is the truth and wonder that each
person awakens to when they regularly practice gratitude.

Gratitude is a very potent energy source. If you desire to achieve your

goals, then awaken to the truth that gratitude for what you already have,
however limited, will help you achieve them, for it will give you much
needed energy, which in turn you can use in whatever way you see fit. The
trick is to practice appreciating and giving thanks for even the smallest
pleasures and joys. To walk this path of energy means you are vigilant in
seeing all that you now have for which you can be grateful. Drink deep
and often from this source; the energy you can receive is unlimited.

Path #3 Praise:

The energy path of praise is traveled when you verbalize your

appreciation both internally and externally. But the appreciation must be
sincere and heartfelt if you wish to benefit from it. Praise is a form of
energy that benefits both the one praising and the one being praised.
When you praise, you receive energy. Notice how you feel the next time
you choose to consciously praise someone, perhaps one of your children, a
friend, a co-worker. When it is sincere and not meaningless flattery, when
it comes from the heart and is spoken, be aware first of how you feel, both
as you say it and as the person's reaction to your praise is received. How
do you feel? If you're aware and conscious of your feelings, you will notice
a surge of energy within you. You will feel uplifted. This is a path of
energy. And how does the other person feel?

Think about a time in your past when someone has sincerely

acknowledged and praised you for something you did, or even simply for
who you are. How did you feel? Did you feel uplifted? That feeling of being
uplifted is energy. So both the praiser and the one being praised receive
energy from this source.

Now let me speak of criticism, which is the opposite of praise. How do you
feel when someone criticizes you? Angry? Upset? Discouraged? Deflated?
Now think in terms of energy. Does it increase or decrease your energy? If
you are conscious and aware of your energy flows, you will notice criticism
always decreases your energy. Now what about the one doing the
criticizing?

Think about times when you have singled out someone for criticism. How
did you feel? You might say I felt good' or He had it coming,' or I was
justified in doing it.' This is what you think you felt, but if you monitor
your energy, you will discover that when you criticize someone it actually
weakens your energy. This is not to say that you should never point out
shortcomings or help someone to see the error of their ways, but you must
do it in a skillful manner that does not weaken either of your energy
fields. Notice when you criticize others even in your mind, or maybe when
you and another are criticizing someone else. Notice whether this ups or
downs your energy. What you will find is that criticism always drains
energy from you. This is something to keep in mind if you are someone
who is in the habit of criticizing others or yourself on a regular basis.

Now back to praise. Praise is not just for others, it is for yourself too.
Walking the path of praise means you drop your neurotic criticism of
yourself because you see that it weakens you, and instead you look for
sincere and honest ways to acknowledge yourself. When you do this, it
gives you energy.

Praise birds, animals, flowers, beauty of all kinds wherever you find it.
Credo Mutwa, a Zulu sangoma (healer priest), once shared with me that
animals receive much energy and power when you sing songs of praise to
them. We can help them immensely,' he said, by seeing their strength
and beauty and reflecting it back to them with our words.

Praise the earth. Praise God. Look for opportunities to give voice both
externally and internally to praise. It is a great energy source.

This month explore the paths of gratitude and praise and be aware of how
you feel energy wise when you walk these paths.

John Kehoe

- See more at: http://www.learnmindpower.com/articles/path-ten-virtuespart-ii/#sthash.XqMLxyxh.dpuf

Metaphysical Spiritual

The Path of the Ten Virtues - Part III - Generosity and Forgiveness
As we continue on the path of the ten virtues, I feel inclined to once again
remind the reader that these are not spiritual or moral codes, but rather
paths of energy that one explores by living and practicing them. They are
of no value whatsoever as mere intellectual concepts. Their value can only
be experienced by the individual who has the courage, curiosity and
tenacity to live and practice them for a period of timeI suggest one
month. If they have no value to you after practicing them for a month,
then drop them and adopt practices that do have value for you. However,
if you do find that they have immense value, as I have found they do, then
incorporate them into your daily life as practices worthy of your time.

Now when I suggest you experiment to see if these practices have value
for you, what do I mean by value? What Im referring to is how they make
you feel when you practice them. Do you feel happy and joyful, or do you
feel sad and depressed? Do you find that they make you feel peaceful and
relaxed, or do they add more stress to your life? Do they add energy to
your chosen activities, or do they deplete you? Do you feel more whole or
more isolated? These are all important questions, for if it is truly a path of
energy, you must be able to notice the difference in yourself when you
practice it.

Your success and happiness in life have a direct relationship to the choices
you make on a daily basis. This month the energy paths I advise you to
explore are generosity and forgiveness. Firstly generosity: Generosity can
take many forms. There is the obvious one of giving charity to those less
fortunate, but the true path and way of generosity goes much deeper. You
can be generous with your time, your attitudes, your self-acceptance, your
goals, as well as with your money.

Be generous with your attitude. You do this by allowing others to have

different points of views, even ones contrary to your own. Each of us sees
and feels the world in a different way. Our past and present circumstances
mould us into who we are, and no two of us are the same. The opposite of
generosity is rigidity. Rigidity demands that others think and act as we do,
and if they dont, then we judge them harshly. But if each of us sees and

feels the world in a different way, then there are bound to be differences.
How could it be otherwise?

When we are generous with others in allowing them to be true to what

they see and feel, without judging them or needing them to be like we are,
it opens up an appreciation for the diversity of the human condition.
Appreciating others for who they are opens us to see other possibilities
that we would never see or acknowledge by being close-minded.

It also allows us to be generous with ourselves by appreciating ourselves

even when we are being judged by others who do not know of this path. If
they cant see our uniqueness because of their blindness and selfabsorption, then that is their problem, not ours.

Be generous with your time. Take time to listen to people and share with
them. Time spent with others in fellowship and service nurtures us
immensely. As the old saying goes, In your haste to make a living, dont
forget to make a life. If you are generous with your time and attitude and
stop your busyness to simply appreciate people, your relationships will
grow. It doesnt have to take that long. Sometimes a five-minute
conversation is all it takes. Practice generosity with your time and,
paradoxically, you will have more time and energy in reserve.

Be generous when you decide on your goals. Make a list of all your goals
and see how many are exclusively for your own benefit. You should always
have at least one goal, at every point in your life, where the achievement
is for others. By pursuing this goal, as well as your personal goals, you are
demonstrating generosity.

Now forgiveness: Forgiveness goes hand in hand with generosity. When

you are generous with yourself and others, you can then approach the
path of forgiveness. The path of forgiveness involves awareness and
generosity. Awareness because you are aware and conscious enough to
realize that we all make mistakes and errors in judgment. No one is
perfect. Not you, not me, not the person youre holding responsible for the
incident that has you upset. Now notice I say, That has YOU upset.

Forgiveness is letting go of your upset. You let go of it because it does

you no good. Every time you think of the person who has upset you, you
get upset. You lose energy. The upset that you feel is in you and does not
affect them in the slightest. You are the one suffering from it. In fact you
suffer from it again and again, every time you think about it. The smartest
way to deal with the upset is to forgive and move on. But they dont
deserve my forgiveness, you might say. Perhaps this is true. But whether
they do or not is not the issueyou deserve it. You deserve to be free of
this annoyance, to not have it upset you and bring you down every single
time you think about. The benefit of forgiveness is for the person
forgiving, not for the person being forgiven. When you realize this, it
becomes much easier to forgive. In fact it seems almost ludicrous not to
forgive.

Think of one or two individuals who you can practice forgiveness with this
month. You need not speak to them or tell them what you are doing. This
is an internal practice, and if at a later date you do speak to them you can
do so without any animosity, for your forgiveness has long ago swept
away the negative feelings. Forgiveness is practiced by honestly and truly
wishing them well every time you think of them. Its that easy. Having said
that, it wont necessarily happen the first, second or even tenth time you
think of them, but if you continue with the practice of wishing them well
every single time you think of them, it will gradually have its effect. Each
time you just let it go by not indulging in any negative thoughts; instead
send them love and appreciation. Its radical and revolutionary and
incredibly effective. Try it for a month and see what happens. If you dont
like the effect it has on you, you can always go back to hating those
people and getting upset every time you think of them. Its entirely your
choice.

The path of forgiveness releases toxic energy that has been residing
within you, and this energy, once released, can be channeled into more
productive areas. It will seem as if a huge weight has been taken off your
shoulders, a burden you have been carrying, perhaps for years, will be
gone. Trust me; Ive practiced and walked these paths. Lives are
transformed by these practices.

So your assignment for the month is to daily practice the energy paths of
generosity and forgiveness, and to notice where they take you and how
they make you feel within.

John Kehoe

Articles / Metaphysical Spiritual

Faith
Before I discuss what faith is, it might be easier to begin by briefly
discussing what it is not. Faith does not involve religious dogma, although
some refer to their religion as their faith. Nor is it a blind acceptance of
a set of rules and beliefs. Faith is something far beyond beliefs. Faith is a
vibration of energy, and is probably the most powerful and yet most
misunderstood energy that we have available to us as human beings.

Faith comes from contemplation, experience and a willingnessno, more

than a willingnessa personal quest to probe and understand the deeper
workings of life and our relationship with it. Faith and personal growth go
hand in hand, and if you are honest, sincere and diligent in following the
path of personal discovery, you will encounter the power and possibility of
faith.

I have faith in myself and faith in the inner and outer workings of the
matrix, and this has come from contemplation, experience and testing
through trial and error to discover a system that produces consistent
results in my life. Note I say consistent results, not guaranteed results;
this is not a flawless system that produces one hundred percent results
each and every time (beware of systems that promise this). However, I
have discovered a system of beliefs and actions that help me navigate
through life in both good times and bad, and this is what you must do as
well. Discover and adopt your own system. A system that will turn your
desires and goals into reality. A system that will come to your aid in your
darkest hours. Something you can trust. Something you can have faith in.

One may use a religion as a source of faith, if you choose, but only if,
through study and contemplation, you can distill the wisdom from the
dogma and arrive at a workable system that applies to all aspects of your
life. This cannot be a mere conceptual model; it must be one that has been
tested in the fire of life and proven worthy of your trust and faith. It must
produce results in your life. Noticeable results. Results that are so
conclusive and consistent that there is little room for any doubt that your
system works. And because it works, you can have faith in it.

When you resonate and vibrate with the energy of faith you are working
with powerful energy. An energy that will supply you daily with hunches,
insights, and ideas on which you can act. An energy that will propel you
into action, and through action, will attract to you the people,
circumstances, events, the synchronicity that will manifest that which you
are vibrating faith in.

Faith is more than confidence. Confidence comes from what you can see
and experience. Faith also has the wisdom of our intuition, which draws
upon the higher spiritual laws. With faith one comes to see the beauty,
harmony and truth of this intricate system of our life, and how cause and
effect resonate throughout it, and how our thoughts and actions produce
results. To know and understand how this works is to know and
understand something great.

As I approach my sixtieth birthday (Feb. 24th) and look back at the

journey I have taken, it looks incredible, and yet it has a weave and
pattern to it that is unmistakable. I have achieved success beyond my
wildest imagination in all the areas of my life that are important to me. My
health, my finances, my career, my marriage, my spirituality, my creativity,
my love of travel and adventure. From this reflective stance of turning
sixty and looking back forty-seven years to where I entered my teenage
years, I can see clearly not only what has happened, but why it happened
the causes and choices that propelled my destiny. It was not luck or
chance that created such an interesting life, but rather the natural
unfolding of laws that were understood and applied.

WHY DO I HAVE FAITH AND WHAT DO I HAVE FAITH IN?

I have faith because I have discovered that it is a powerful source of

energy, and it has served me well, proving itself thousands of ways in my
life. I have faith in following ones passion because following mine has
given me a fun, successful and interesting life. I notice also that all
successful people follow their passion. I see a pattern there.

I have faith in the powers of the mind because when I use them regularly
they work so astoundingly and so consistently that one would have to be a
fool not to notice the effects they produce. And this is true not only of me,
but of millions of people who follow the mind power system through my
books, CDs, seminars and this website. It is a system that works for
everyone when they apply it.

I have faith in my inner voice (the still inner voice), my intuition and my
dreams because they have led me and guided me throughout my life, and
when I follow their guidance I am well served. This I have learned from
experience.

I have faith in myself. The multi-dimensional self of body, mind,

subconscious and soul. I know that each of these parts of who I am has
wisdom and knowledge for me to use and apply in my life. I know this
because I have used them and seen the effect. I know that when I am
balanced with all aspects of my self I am in harmony, creative, inspired
and filled with energy.

I have faith in the unknown, the unknowable and the mystery of life. I do
not need to know and understand the fine intricacies of life to have faith
in it.

I have faith in a higher power, whether I call it God, the universe, or the
Great Mystery, and in a hierarchy of beings and dimensions that span far
into eternity. And I know that I am a part of this grand and mysterious
system, and an important part as well. Important and at the same time
insignificant. This is part of the great paradox, and I am comfortable with
this paradox.

In conclusion, let me say that faith is available to all who desire it, yet it
cannot be given to you. You must create and develop it yourself, and it
must be built upon your own personal discoveries, not others. It will work
for you when you have faith in it, and it will be useless if it is not true and
authentic to you. It must be your faith, and a faith that is tested and used
and found worthy. Each of us is called to have faith in our own unique way,
but not all of us heed this call. Rise to the challenge and utilize this great
power and it will be of great service to you. When you possess faith, you
possess one of the ten virtues, and much will be given to you from
resonating with this energy.

John Kehoe

- Articles / Metaphysical Spiritual

The Fundamental Truth of Who We Are - Part IV The Soul

This month I will explore with you the third aspect of our consciousness,
namely the soul. One can use whatever name or term you choose to define
this heightened consciousness (higher self, inner self, and still small voice
are a few that are commonly used), but I choose to use the world soul.
While to some it will have a religious or spiritual connotation, in fact it
goes far beyond these definitions, and is a very real and powerful aspect
of who we are. To become aware of our soul consciousness is to be aware
of a reality that transcends our physical reality, this plane transcribed by
space and time.

We are a multi-faceted being with not one but three centres of

consciousness. Over the previous two months I have briefly explained the
dynamics and functions of both the conscious and the subconscious mind.
Now comes the most challenging of all, for in attempting to reveal the
truths of the soul we are entering into deep mysteries reserved for the
most advanced students. However, each person can of their own volition
become aware of at least the concept of a soul, and from that concept you
can build a bridge that will eventually allow you to experience for yourself
the transforming aspects of soul consciousness.

You begin by contemplating the fact that there are worlds and realities
beyond the known physical universe. In fact the physical universe as we
know it is but a small part of the vibrating matrix in which we live.

Physicist David Bohm, whom I write about in Mind Power into the 21st
Century, presents very convincing arguments which indicate that, despite
its apparent materiality and enormous size, the physical universe does not
exist in and of itself, but is the product of something far vaster. More than
that, it is not even a major production of this vaster something, but is only
a passing shadow, a mere hiccup in the greater scheme of things.
According to his understanding, there are countless inner dimensions
which we are only beginning to discover.

Our soul resides in these inner dimensions, in a state of consciousness

beyond space and time. It is a higher, expanded and transformed
consciousness where past, present and future exist simultaneously, and
where all reality exists as part of one whole. It is part of the vibrating
matrix which is beyond our comprehension. It is not possible to
understand your soul and its power by simple logic, for it transcends logic.
To know ones soul requires faith in the unseen worlds and a
determination to pass through the veils that separate our worlds. Now
faith is not blind acceptance of some religious dogma or position, as some
might think, but rather a mode of consciousness whereby the mind feels
comfortable taking leap after leap, from sensory logic to unknown
dimensions, trusting the deep inner instincts that propel it forward.

Our conscious mind cannot by itself come to grips with realities that
transcend logic, but fortunately something else within us can. It is this
innate urge within that suddenly or gradually awakens within us, and this
happens at different times for different individuals. For some the search
for soul consciousness will be of little interest, and for others a burning
desire. I used to think it had to do with the amount of inner work one did,
but my opinions are changing, and I now see it as a product of an
evolutionary seed that lies dormant within each of us until awakened, and
the search for answers begins. This awakening is akin to what happens
with the wild salmon that swim the oceans oblivious to a biological calling
until one day, without warning, it suddenly prompts the salmon to leave
the ocean and return to the very stream it was spawned in, overcoming

tremendous obstacles and hardships to fulfill its mission. We too are

called, or rather awakened to return to our source and reclaim our soul
consciousness. To experience the fullness of our being in a way that could
never be imagined by the conscious mind.

No one will be denied this experience if they are sincere in their desire. A
few simple practices will help you begin on the path, and the rest will be
revealed to you as you advance by your own intuition.

1. Build up a body of images and ideas that reflect your understanding of

the soul. Think of it as a centre of consciousness that transcends our
normal consciousness and has great wisdom and understanding.
Contemplate and meditate upon these things regularly.

2. Before going to bed at night, and upon waking, ask your soul to reveal
itself to you. This practice shows your intention and builds up a powerful
vibration that attracts what you are asking for.

3. Choose a system of spiritual/religious/mystical/self-help/training that

resonates with you and can be a catalyst for awakening your soul
consciousness.

If you practice these steps you will begin experiencing moments of

clarity. These moments will consist of a heightened sense of awareness,
where you see and feel your reality at a deeper, more profound level. You
will come to intuitively know that life is deeper and more profound than
our conscious mind understands. Your mind will receive new concepts and
undergo an expansion that leaves you breathless at its scope and
profundity. These moments are steps on the path, and when they pass,
you lose the brilliance of the vision, but something is left behind. You
never return to the old self. It is often small and fragile, this new
awareness, but if it is treasured, honoured and nourished, it grows strong
within us. Illumination happens by the gradual and persistent introduction
of the mind to higher modes of consciousness than that which are built up
from normal sensory experience. These mystical or enlightening
experiences produce an intensification of awareness, and from this
quickening of the mind comes astounding insights and revelations.

Within soul consciousness we see clearly our own human drama, and the
steps necessary to fulfill our ultimate destiny. It is not to the privileged
few that this honour is given; it is available to all who honestly and
sincerely seek its wisdom.

Your soul is a part of who you are. The truth of our being (the title of the
past three months topics) is that we have three levels of consciousness:
the conscious mind, the subconscious, and the soul. Aligning all three to a
functioning whole is the goal and ultimate achievement of the enlightened
being. If you feel inclined to pursue this path, be encouraged to know that
many before you have pursued it, and that the path is well marked in the
inner worlds to guide the sincere and dedicated seeker.

John Kehoe

- Articles / Metaphysical Spiritual

Happiness and Joy

The ninth of the Ten Virtues is happiness and joy. Many of you who
regularly visit this site know that I have written a book called The Practice
of Happiness (see product page). That I would devote an entire book to
happiness shows the importance and value I place on it. Not only is it one
of our most basic human desires, it is in fact a misunderstood and seldom
practiced spiritual discipline. The word practice in the title The Practice
of Happiness foreshadows the theme developed in the book, namely that
one practices, rather than pursues happiness in order to be happya
radical approach but one that produces extraordinary results.

I believe absolutely that it is our duty and responsibility to cultivate the

virtue of happiness and joy, and practice that virtue daily in our lives. Not
only do we become empowered with this practice, but it also empowers
everyone we come into contact with. And beyond this, the practice of
happiness helps to change the vibration of our global consciousness. If it
is even remotely possible for you, you should find something to be happy
and joyful about today, even at this very moment.

Can you stop what you are doing and be happy now? Is it possible? There
is an old saying, I felt sorry for myself because I had no shoes, until I saw
a man with no feet. This saying has particular relevance to me this month
as my wife and I have just returned from a six-week voyage to West Africa.
We traveled through five countries: Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and
Mali. We journeyed to many isolated and out of the way places in order to
experience the real Africa. The poverty and hardship that the vast
majority of people in West Africa endure, day in and day out, was
astounding. What we in the western developed countries take for granted,
things such as clean water, electricity, food and shelter, are luxuries for
most of the people there. Even rice, which is an inexpensive staple to
most of us, is a luxury to be enjoyed once or twice a month. Most people
eat millet.

A trip like this forces us to realize how fortunate we are. Most people in
undeveloped nations (that is, most of the world) can only dream of leading
our lives. How they would love to have our problems. And here is the
crux of our situation, what I call the Western disease. Most of us have
become so neurotic in our needs and pettiness that we have forgotten
how to appreciate the simple everyday joys and pleasures that life affords
us. We continually want more than we have now, want life to be different
than it is now. We seem never to be satisfied, suffering greatly in our
blindness and neurosis, when the truth is we have extraordinarily
abundant and full lives. We just need to realize it.

The practice of joy and happiness is a virtue because it allows us to

appreciate who we are and what we have, without needing anything more.
With this appreciation comes awareness, and with awareness even more
joy and happiness. Now let me share with you a little trick. Forget about
having a happy life, or even a happy month or week. Practice having
happy, joyful moments. To try and have a happy life is far too great a task
to even comprehend. Besides, no life is one hundred percent happy. Every
life has its share of pain, struggle, failure, heartache, sickness, confusion
and uncertainty. No life is without these, and yet every life also contains
joy, pleasure, love, friendships, beauty, success, health, adventure,
creativity, free will, choices and much more.

Practice noticing and appreciating the countless moments of joy and

happiness that occur each day. Countless? Yes, when you practice looking
for joyful, happy moments you will be surprised at how many we can
potentially experience daily. Of course it means we have to give up our
pettiness and the feeling that we are hard done by.

A number of years ago I had a moment that changed the way I perceived
my life. I was in the bath and it was a beautiful summer morning. The wind
was blowing softly in the open window, caressing my body. A Neil Young
CD was playing in the background. Outside the window was a small spider
web, with a spider that was vibrating in the wind. I just lay in the bath,
taking it all in, when I suddenly realized, This is a perfect moment. It
doesnt get any more perfect than this. I let the joy and happiness flood
into me. It was a deliciously intense moment that brought me great
pleasure. I also realized that this is how our life unfoldsin countless
moments just like this. If you cannot see and appreciate and be happy in
these moments, how can you have a happy life?

Most moments need nothing else but themselves. They are complete and
whole in what they are. Appreciating these moments and letting them
bring you happiness is a virtue. It is also a practice, a discipline that
brings great rewards.

Then the question arises, what right do we have to be happy when so

many go without? Its a valid question and I will answer it with a question.
What right do you have to be unhappy when you have so much?

The practice of the ten virtues brings awareness and enlightenment. With
awareness comes deep compassion and a feeling of oneness with
everything. So you might have times of great grief and sorrow for the
human condition, and this is good. This leads to action, action in whatever
form seems appropriate. It is through action that conditions are changed.

When you are feeling unhappy at any point in your day, notice whether
this unhappiness is about others or yourself. What you will find is that
almost all of your unhappiness is self-centered. To know this is to know a
great secret. You are the source of your happiness and unhappiness; these

feelings do not flow from the conditions in your life. Your reaction to these
conditions is what keeps you unhappy, and to be unhappy in your life is to
be selfish, unappreciative and incredibly self-indulgent.

Resolve today to change your perspective and begin to notice and

appreciate the moments of beauty, joy and happiness all around you. Look
for these moments and let them nourish you deeply. Through this practice
you will cultivate and activate the ninth virtue, the virtue of joy and
happiness.

John Kehoe

-Articles / Metaphysical Spiritual

Wakefulness The 10th Virtue

Wakefulness is more than just not being asleep. It is an aliveness and
alertness about yourself and the people and circumstances around you
that sees and feels it all. It is a heightened awareness that comes with
practice. One makes a commitment to be awake to life and not spend all
our time in thinking mind. When we are awake in this way we can be
attentive to our needs and the needs of others, and we know instantly
when we are out of balance.

Wakefulness allows us to see without judgment or criticism, and to act

instinctively and spontaneously upon that which needs to be done in any
given moment. To live like this, and we can all live like this with practice,
aligns us to the greater rhythms of life, giving us energy and deep insight.
All the ten virtues contain blessings and gifts and charge us with energy,
and wakefulness is no exception. It breaks through the illusions and
pettiness that the mind creates for us, and allows us to relax into what is
happening so we can experience it fully.

This relaxing, however, is not slackness, but an alertness that sees and
feels directly without the need to label with thinking what we are seeing
and feeling.

Zen Buddhism emphasizes wakefulness and attention to the now, and has
many practices to enhance this ability. So does Christianity. All the great
religions teach the importance of living life day by day, moment by
moment.

When you practice wakefulness, your life opens up and you get to know
and see yourself without illusion. Self-deception is impossible with
wakefulness because you see clearly that all in your life has a cause, and
the cause is almost always our thoughts and actions. We see clearly that
we are the creative power in our life, and that there is a direct
relationship between what we are and what happens to us. We see where
we are lazy and negligent, where we are petty and indulgent. We see our
desires, hopes and aspirations, and how these are being fulfilled or
sabotaged by ourselves. We see it all.

To be aware like this is often shocking, because we can no longer hide

behind excuses and pretend that life is being unkind to us for no reason.
We see that life is always responding to us according to our thoughts and
actions, and that we are in an intimate relationship with life. Its a
relationship that is governed by laws both known and unknown, and we
can get to know and use these laws. This gives us confidence and
assurance and a methodology for living our life. It also provides inner
peace, for life suddenly makes sense. Not in a logical way, for life
transcends the narrow limits of logic, but in a deeper mystical way.

Wakefulness is noticing the inner voice amongst our clamoring thoughts,

and listening keenly to what it says. Not only listening to it but acting
upon what it says, which in turn creates causes and effects in our life.

Wakefulness is allowing our authentic presence to manifest. Our

uniqueness is seen and felt and given expression. And this expression sets
in motion causes and effects, and we find ourselves on the path of destiny.
Living in an authentic, wakeful way, we find ourselves in harmony with all
that is. Each moment calls for something different, and each moment we
are ready for whatever is called. We practice being awake, alive and alert
in each moment.

Living this way brings great blessings. Not that we can spend each and
every moment awake, for this is enlightenment, but with practice we can
spend more and more time in wakefulness. As with all the ten virtues,
these concepts must be experienced to be fully appreciated. Then they
cease to be concepts and become living realities for us.

Inner peace, happiness, joy, success, self-awareness, mystical

awakenings, self-knowledge; these do not happen by chance, but by an
awakened human being living an authentic life.

The paths of the ten virtues are paths to be traveled and lived, not
concepts to be thought about. When they are lived, they produce much
energy and delight, and lead us deep into the mysteries of self. When
simply thought about, they produce inspiration for a moment or an hour.

The opportunity to practice them is always available. The choice is yours.

John Kehoe

- Articles / Metaphysical Spiritual

Loving Kindness...
Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them, humanity cannot survive.
- The Dalai Lama

Ive been visiting my grandfather at the senior citizens home for some
time now. He moved in here when he broke his hip and couldn't look after
himself at home anymore. I go about once a week, and at first I did it as

the dutiful grandson, thinking of it as an obligation, but gradually, over

the years, Ive come to enjoy these visits.

Weve talked about politics, sports, the weather, his life, my life. Ive
asked him questions about everythingmarriage, sex, health, religion,
whats important in life and whats not. I figured that from his perspective
hes probably seen and understood more things than a young person like
myself could possibly fathom. I wanted to plumb the depths of the
distilled wisdom thats contained within a man who has lived past a
hundred.

But now, at a hundred and seven, he hardly talks at all. Im lucky to get a
sentence or two out of him. But still I come. I push him around in his
wheelchair, maybe take him out for some fresh air or feed him lunch, and
sometimes, when I know hes alert, Ill talk to him about whats happening
in my life.

Today, as I sit beside him, his eyes are glazed and hes showing no sign of
even recognizing that Im here.

"Grampa, can you hear me?" I ask for the third or fourth time. No reply.
Ive brought my newly published book and want to read him a section
where he is mentioned. He doesnt know about the passage and I wanted
to surprise him with it. But now Im feeling Ive left it too late.

I decide Ill read it anyway. What have I got to lose? "Why dont people use
praise more often?" I begin, quoting one of my grandfathers favourite
expressions. The passage goes on to say how people respond more
favourably to praise than criticism, and its written from my grandfathers
perspective. I continue to read, unsure if hes hearing or not, but then I
look up to see him smiling, with tears in his eyes. Hes not saying
anything, but I suddenly know hes hearing every word.

Somehow sensing that this might be the last time I see him alive, I pour
out my feelings. How much hes meant to me. What Ive learned from him.

How much I love him. I take his limp hand into mine and just sit with him
in silence.

"Grampa Ive got to go," I finally say, but I dont go. I just sit there looking
at his hundred-and-seven-year-old face.

Finally I do leave, and as Im driving away, Im thinking about how much

these weekly visits have meant to me. I know he heard me today and that
the reading truly touched him. I know it made him feel good, and this
makes me feel fantastic. My visit brought some joy into his life, but its
brought immense joy into mine.

As I stop at a traffic light I also realize that, all these years where I
thought I was helping him, he was helping me. I was the real beneficiary
of these visits. Whatever he received, I received tenfold, and its only now
that Im realizing it.

He died a few days later.

Goodness is its own reward.

When we help others we are actually helping ourselves. The joy and
happiness that love and compassion for others bring is one of the bestkept secrets of humanity. The benefits are so enormous and consistent
that you have to wonder why we dont practice such kindness more often.
Helping others always makes us feel good.

Think back to times when youve given of yourself completely. Maybe you
nursed a sick friend back to health, helped in a soup kitchen, coached the
school football team, volunteered to raise money for some charity. How
did it make you feel? And why did it make you feel so good? What is there
in loving and helping one another that is so nurturing to our souls?
Perhaps in doing so we are rediscovering our connectedness to one

another. A hidden part of us thrills with joy when we reach out to one
another in simple, everyday ways.

Ram Dass said it well in explaining what happens when we help one
another: "Caring for one another we sometimes glimpse an essential
quality of our being. We may be sitting alone, lost in self-doubt or selfpity, when the phone rings with a call from a friend whos really
depressed. Instinctively we come out of ourselves, just to be there with
her and say a few reassuring words. When were done, and a little
comforts been shared, we put down the phone and feel a little more at
home with ourselves. Were reminded of who we really are and what we
have to offer one another."

Unfortunately, our lives are busy. Sometimes we feel theres no time to

help. There are always so many things we have to do, and they all seem so
important. But if we do not value helping one another; if we do not see
this as an important part of our growth and development, what does that
say about us? What path are we on if loving kindness is not a part of our
journey? Do we really think that making more money, watching another
night of TV, or going out to a fine restaurant will ultimately make us
happier?

We search for happiness in romance, achievements, possessions, exciting

experiences, and all of these bring us some satisfaction, but always more
is needed. The paradox is that if we are totally preoccupied with only our
own happiness, we will never truly achieve it.

The Japanese have a word for neurotic self-preoccupation. It is seikatsu

onchi; a term loosely translated as "tone-deaf about life." This condition
has us totally preoccupied with only ourselves. Every event and
circumstance in our life is measured by how it affects us personally.
Others are not considered. This self-centredness is the cause of most of
our suffering. Think about it. When youre unhappy, are you thinking
about yourself or others? Always yourself. This should teach us something.

Goodwill is the mightiest practical force in the universe.

- Talmudic Proverb

The world mourned the passing of Mother Theresa, and rightly so, but the
truth is that there are thousands of unknown Mother Theresas working
out there, helping to make our world a kinder and gentler place. Emelda
Damani is one of them.

Mother Emelda, as everyone calls her, founded and operates the "Welcome
Home Centre," a drop-in shelter in downtown Johannesburg. A devout
Christian, she ministers to the homeless and most destitute not with
religion, but with love.

Each day, as her doors open at 7 a.m., people drift in for some coffee and
a place to relax, but mostly for Mothers love. I was helping there one day
and watched while she brushed the hair of a young prostitute, listening to
the girl describe her nights exploits and traumas. When the girl finished,
Mother embraced her, wrapping her arms around the young woman, and
simply said, "Mother loves you." No advice. No condemnation. Just
unconditional love.

Do all the good you can, by all the means you can,
In al the ways you can, in all the places you can,
At all the times you can, to all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
- John Wesley

"The centre is called the Welcome Home Centre because everyone is

welcome," Mother Emelda says. "Many people are hurting. I am just one
woman. I cannot help everyone, but everyone who comes here I will love."

The practice of loving kindness is simply being open and responsive to

others. It is helping one another through small acts of kindness and
compassion. Not once in a while, but regularly and consistently, so we lose

our sense of isolation and begin to feel our oneness, and the joy that such
oneness brings.

Our mind may try to conceptualize the idea that, "We are all one," but we
can never know this with only our mind. Not even an enlightened mind can
know this. But our hearts know this truth intimately.

The practice of loving kindness involves loving ourselves as well.

Compassion is not just for others, but for ourselves too. In many ways it
must start with ourselves. For until we can love and appreciate ourselves,
we cannot love and appreciate others. We must learn to see ourselves
without the harsh glare of self-criticism, and come to the conclusion that
we are good and worthy in who we are now, just as we are now.

This is not always easy. We live in a society and culture that holds up
almost impossible ideals that we think we have to match. The millionaire,
the celebrity, the beautiful model; success is often measured in what
youve achieved, how much money you make or how good-looking you are.
And if we fall short of these ideals we deem ourselves unworthy. It is time
to awaken from this nightmare. We have spent most of our lives
struggling to be something different from what we are, to have more
money, be more successful, better looking, smarter, thinner, more fit. In
doing this we have too often created a sense of inferiority in who we are
now.

I am looking at the flowering dogwood tree through my window this

beautiful spring morning. It is blooming magnificently. I have had my
coffee and am preparing to write but there it is, demanding my attention,
and I am seduced. Each year it seems to flower more and more gloriously,
and this morning it is really putting on a show. Im just sitting here and
enjoying it immensely. I am not examining it minutely for every little flaw,
though Im sure there are some. I do not say this flower is beautiful but
that one is so-so, and this one could be bigger and that one not so nice. Or
this branch is too weak, that one too short, this one too long and looks
funny, out of place. I do not. I just sit and appreciate it for what it is,
enjoying it immensely.

I can sit and enjoy the beauty of the dogwood, but not the beauty of me.
What is wrong here? Am I less than the dogwood tree? What is this
neurotic self-examination, this fault-finding, nit-picking feeling going on
inside me that makes me feel ashamed, not good enough, unworthy,
inferior? Why must I be anything other than what I am?
- Excerpt from John Kehoe's A Vision of Power & Glory

A great many of our problems in life occur because we dont always

appreciate ourselves. Developing appreciation for ourselves allows us to
see our potential as well as our problems. We discover that even though
were not perfect, there is still immense value and beauty in who we are.
This is reassuring. Being open and honest with ourselves helps us to be
open with others. We learn that we can relate with others on the basis of
the goodness and beauty we discover in ourselves. And doing so, the
results in our life are both enormous and startling.

When my daughter was small she got the dubious part of the Bethlehem
star in a Christmas play. After her first rehearsal she burst through the
door with her costume, a five-pointed star lined in shiny gold tinsel
designed to drape over her like a sandwich board. What exactly will you
be doing in the play? I asked her. I just stand there and shine, she told
me. Ive never forgotten that response.
- Sue Monk Kidd

When we open our hearts large enough to include ourselves and let go of
our harsh judgements, something wonderful happens within. We flower
and grow strong in this ever-present love and acceptance. Our inner light
burns brighter and we are amazed to see ourselves as special and unique,
to see our true worth.

The practice of nourishing ourselves and others in this way allows us to

become strong and self-assured. Unconditional, total love is called for. No
part of ourselves or others is to be omitted. Even the unappealing parts
are to be loved and accepted. This is the challenge. And when we rise to
the challenge, great alchemy takes place. There is a new dawning. A life
without shame or judgement. A life nourished from within. A life of selfacceptance. A life of loving kindness towards all.

John Kehoe

- Articles / Metaphysical Spiritual

The Awakened Heart

The heart has its reasons that reason knows not. - Unknown.

The following is an excerpt from A Vision of Power & Glory, a book by John
Kehoe.

Awakening our heart and trusting our heart wisdom allows us to

understand ourselves and our position in life more accurately. The heart
speaks a different language, one the intellectual mind does not
understand. But if we desire to, we can learn this language and receive
the wisdom and joy that an awakened heart will bring. It is not difficult.
Trusting our feelings and acting upon them puts us in communication with
the heart. Often it is instinctive. Someone slips, your arm goes out. A car
is in a ditch; you join the others and push. A colleague at work is
depressed; you let him know you care. Already we are kind and loving in
many ways, but this can deepen immeasurably. These are only the first
few steps on the amazing path to the centre of your heart.

When you awaken the heart, the boundaries between self and others
diminish. Each of us is linked to each other, in more ways than we can
imagine. We are all brothers and sisters. We are all part of the human
tribe, and through service love and appreciation of one another we
awaken this realization.

Christ said, 'For I was hungered and ye fed me, thirsty and ye gave me
drink, sick and ye ministered me, in prison and ye visited me.' And they
said amongst themselves, 'Lord when were ye hungry and we fed thee,
thirsty and we gave thee drink, sick and we ministered thee, in prison and

we visited thee?' And he answered, 'As ye have done unto the least of my
brethren, ye have done unto me.'
-Bible quotation

And where will the heart lead us? To others. The heart longs to nurture
others. To explore others. To experience and interact with others. To
experience our oneness with others. And this fact offers a clue to some of
the truths and perceptions that the heart contains.

While the mind may conceptualize "We are all one," as indeed it tries to, it
can never know this. Not even an enlightened mind knows this. But the
heart knows this intimately. And by following the path of the heart we will
know it intimately too. For this is both the first and most important truth
the heart teaches us. And to know this as a reality we ourselves
experience, rather than an intellectual concept, is to be forever changed
and blessed. To know this is to be initiated into one of the great mysteries
of who we are.

Unfortunately, our lives are complex, overcrowded, full. Sometimes we

feel we are too busy to be of service. There are always so many things we
have to do, and they all seem so important to us. But if we do not value
and put importance on awakening our heart, helping one another; if we do
not see this as an important and valuable part of our growth and
development, what does that say about us? What path are we on if service
is not part of our journey? Do we really think that making more money,
watching another night of TV, or going out to a fine restaurant will make
us happier or more content? Actually our constant self-preoccupation is
the source of much of our unhappiness.

We need to open up and feel deeply our special relationship to others, to

break out of the prison of constant preoccupation with self. Open the
windows and let in some fresh air. When we do this, what healing balm it
is to the soul.

When you have the courage and will to awaken your heart, you will find
the chains of self-absorption melting away, like snow on a hot spring day.

Breaking out of the prison Of little self I find myself Flowing into
everything

The Japanese word for neurotic self-preoccupation is "seikatsu onchi" or

"tone-deaf about life." This is an artful description of a condition that has
us totally preoccupied with ourselves. Every event and circumstance in
our life is measured by how it effects us. This self-centeredness is the
cause of most of our suffering.

The goal is to pull your attention away from excessive self-focus and push
it outward until you begin to see yourself as part of others lives. To see
others as a part of your life. And to notice how we all share the same life
experience together. The separation we feel is more illusion than fact. And
our heart knows this. You will know this too; you have merely to stop and
listen to your heart. When we quiet the mind, we will hear the heart
clearly. It is always trying to make its ways known to us. A little confidence
in its wisdom, and the courage to follow where it leads us, is all we need.
We need not be afraid. It will not sidetrack us from our life's objectives.
And what are our true objectives in life if not to enlighten our mind and
awaken our heart?

The gift of our life is an honor and privilege for which we are forever
indebted. The awakened heart never forgets this. We are blessed with
riches and joys innumerable, no matter how sparse our situation, and so in
gratitude we do our part. We help because we want to help. Our heart
leads us to help. To lend a hand, an ear, give some time, concern, money whatever seems appropriate. And we find that by doing so we are
nourished and become greater for it. And as we lose ourselves act by act,
moment by moment in helping one another, we find a nurturing joy and
inner peace we could not have imagined before.

The awakened heart also encourages us to love ourselves. It teaches us

that self-love is not vanity but as necessary to us as food, water and air.
For until we can appreciate ourselves we cannot appreciate life. This is not
always easy. We live in a society and culture that holds up almost

impossible ideals that we think we have to match. The millionaire, the

celebrity, the model; success is often measured in what you've achieved,
how much money you make or how good-looking you are. And if we fall
short of these ideals we deem ourselves unworthy. It is time to awaken
from this nightmare. We have spent most of our lives trying to be
something different from what we are. To have more money, to be more
successful, better looking, smarter, more in shape. In doing this we have
fled from ourselves and created a sense of shame in who we are.

The awakened heart beckons us to let go of all this nonsense and relax.
We don't have to be anything other than what we are.

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

-Bible scripture

Whenever this is taught to us the emphasis is always on "love thy

neighbor." But the scripture says, "Love thy neighbor AS THYSELF." If we
do not love and appreciate ourselves, how do we expect to love our
neighbor. We must first love and appreciate ourselves.

A great deal of our problems in life occur because we don't appreciate

ourselves. Having never developed sympathy or gentleness towards
ourselves, we cannot express it towards others. Developing appreciation
for yourself allows you to see both your problems and your potential. If
you practice self-appreciation you discover that no, you're not perfect, but
there is nevertheless immense value and beauty in precisely who you are.
This is reassuring and very necessary to our growth. From being open and
honest with ourselves, we can also learn to be open with others. So we
can work with the rest of the world on the basis of the goodness we
discover in ourselves.

I am looking at the flowering dogwood tree through my window this

beautiful spring morning. It is blooming magnificently. I have had my
coffee and am preparing to write but there it is, demanding my attention,
and I am seduced. Each year it seems to flower more and more gloriously,
and this morning it is really putting on a show. I'm just sitting here and

enjoying it immensely. I am not examining it minutely for every little flaw,

though I'm sure there are some. I do not say this flower is beautiful but
this one is so-so, and this one could be bigger and this one is not so nice.
Or this branch is too weak, this one too short, this one too long and looks
funny, out of place. I do not. I just sit and appreciate it for what it is,
enjoying it immensely.

I can sit and enjoy the beauty of the dogwood, but not the beauty of me.
What is wrong here? Am I less than the dogwood tree? What is this
neurotic self-examination, fault-finding, nit-picking feeling going on inside
me that makes me feel ashamed, not good enough, unworthy, inferior?
Why must I be anything else than what I am?
-Excerpt from John Kehoe's A Vision of Power & Glory

When we open ourselves up in this way and let go of our harsh judgments
of ourselves - something wonderful happens within us. We flower, bloom
and grow strong in this ever-present love and acceptance. It is oil for our
lamp, and as our lamp burns brighter, we are amazed, for we begin to see
ourselves as we really are - we see our true worth, warts and all.

And as we learn to regularly behold ourselves in this way, day by day,

week by week, everything becomes bathed in the warm glow of love and
acceptance. Unconditional, total, complete love and acceptance is called
for. No part of ourselves is to be omitted. Every weakness and inadequacy
loved and accepted. Even the dark parts of ourselves loved and accepted.
All or nothing - this is the challenge. And when we rise to the challenge,
great alchemy takes place. All things become new. There is a new
dawning. A life without shame or regret. A life nourished from within. Two
monks are on a journey together when they come to a river. By the river
there is a beautiful woman. The woman asks them, "Please will one of you
monks carry me across the river? The river is too wide and the current too
swift."

The two monks look at one another, because they have taken a sacred vow
to not so much as even touch a woman. Then, abruptly, the older monk
picks up the woman, carries her across the river and puts her down on the
other side. They continue on their journey.

The younger monk is flabbergasted. He can't believe it. An hour goes by

and not a word is spoken between them. Two hours. Three hours. And
finally, after four hours, he turns to the older monk and blurts out, "How
could you have done that? How could you have carried that woman?"
"Oh?" responds his companion, "Are you still carrying her? I put her down
four hours ago."
- Zen parable

How much are we still carrying around inside us that should have been put
down a long time ago? Disappointments. Regrets. Failures. Grudges. How
much junk are we carrying around inside us and how long are we going to
carry it? All our life?

Wounds heal when we forgive others and ourselves for our humanness.
We allow ourselves and others to fail and make mistakes, to not be
perfect. We forgive ourselves for lost opportunities, foolish decisions. We
forgive ourselves for all our past and future errors. We recognize our
vulnerability and fragility, and, far from being a weakness, we see this as
part of who we are. Our quirks and idiosyncrasies? All part of our
distinctiveness. We are special and beautiful because of our humanness,
not in spite of it. In fact this is where our true beauty lies.

Self-appreciation means cleaning up the debris left behind in our life as

the result of neglect and self-indulgence. We owe it to ourselves and
others to respect ourselves. Until we respect ourselves, we cannot respect
others. Until we love ourselves, we cannot love others. Our search for
meaning and harmony in the universe can begin nowhere else but within
ourselves. These are the truths an awakened heart teaches us.

John Kehoe

Inner Harmony and Social Responsibility

Inner Harmony and Social Responsibility

The following is an excerpt from The Practice of Happiness, a book by John Kehoe.
Inner harmony comes from recognizing that certain attitudes and feelings make us feel harmonious and
others do not. It comes from noticing how we feel when we think in a certain way, from being aware of
our own inner states and what has caused these inner states. Doing this is not hard, but it does take
attention.
First of all, let's look at what causes disharmony within us. Anger, guilt, fear, worry, self-doubt,
disrespect for yourself and others-these undesirable attitudes cause us untold problems and
difficulties. We should always be on guard against slipping into these states of consciousness. For not
only do these cause us harm, but in a very real way they affect the consciousness of the entire planet.
Each of us adds or diminishes to the whole of consciousness by the way in which we think. Our strength
adds strength. Our weakness weakens the whole. Our inner harmony or disharmony has an effect, just
as a pebble dropped into a pond causes ripples throughout the entire pond. We are always affecting
the whole by how and what we think.
Let me share with you an incident that illustrates this. A number of years ago I was speaking at a
university and I was explaining this exact same principle. I said that the root of problems with
environmental pollution - the killing of the whales, drift net fishing, industrial waste - lay not with the
decisions of companies and governments, but with our own inner anger and disrespect.
"The energy we emit into consciousness is what is killing the whales," I said. "There will be no change
until there is a change of consciousness within, and we are all players in the game." I went on, "Until
we take responsibility for our own inner harmony, we're part of the problem." Well, one woman took
offence to this. She disagreed with me vehemently. "I'm not killing the whales," she screamed at me,
going on to share what environmental groups she belonged to and all the good work she was doing. I
tried to respond but she wouldn't let me. She worked herself into a rage and for the next few minutes
the worst type of venom spewed from her mouth as she denounced both me and my ideas. Obviously I
had touched a raw nerve with her. As her anger turned to rage you could feel the atmosphere of the
whole room become charged with toxic energy. When she was finished she stormed out of the room,
calling me several obscenities as she left.
The room became eerily silent. Nobody said anything. Everyone was wide-eyed and aware and clear.
We looked at one another knowingly. What I had been talking about was no longer just a concept. We
had all witnessed it in action and felt its effect. I couldn't have asked for a better demonstration. It
was a great revealing moment for everyone present, because everyone 'got it' instantly. I still feel
shivers when I think about it. So if you wish to be socially responsible but cannot look after your own
inner kingdom, you are fooling yourself. If you truly wish to help the world, begin by working within.

There are no passengers on spaceship Earth; we are all crew.

-Marshall McLuhan
Paradoxically, when our inner harmony becomes not just a means to happiness but a social
responsibility, we have a far greater incentive to achieve it. Our work on inner harmony no longer
becomes selfish or self-indulgent, but rather an important part of the quest for world peace and
harmony.
Let me put it another way. Indulging in self-pity weakness and inner disharmony is not a private act.
When, through laziness, ignorance or self-indulgence, you allow disharmony within, you harm and
affect the whole.
John Kehoe

The Power of Vibration

One of the first people in our time to render vibration into visible forms
was the eighteenth-century German physicist Ernst Chladni, who began by
scattering sand on steel disks and observing the changing patterns
produced by playing various notes on a violin. These Chladni figures
which have so inspired artists and symbolists, result from the fact that the
disk resonates to the violin only in certain places, shifting the sand to
those areas which are inert.

Chladnis work inspired the late Hans Jenny of Zurich to spend ten years
duplicating and expanding his experiments with sophisticated equipment,
and he named the pursuit cymatics, the study of the interrelationship of
waveforms with matter.

Since the circle seems to mediate harmonic patterns in a way no other

shape will, Jenny also used disks and scattered them with liquids, plastics,
metal filings and powders. He then vibrated the disks through the
controlled medium of a crystal, observing that as the pitch ascended the
musical scale, harmonic patterns on the disks also changed, many of them
to organic shapes: the vanishing spirals of jelly, fish turrets, the
concentric rings in plant growth, the patterns of tortoise shell or zebra
stripes, the pentagonal stars of sea-urchins, the hexagonal cells of the
honeycomb, etc.

All these are, of course, the same geometrical and vortical forms which
one discerns underlying both the ordering of physical matter and the
ordering of human consciousness into deeper dimensions of vision. With
Chlandni figures, as well as with the crystals of sacred geometry, we see
how symbols are not merely abstract ideas but actual ciphers and
doorways to the vibrationary music which knits us all together. To he
whose feelings are alive to depth, the forms of snow crystals, the mandela
faces of flowers, actually resonate to the awakening harmony within him.
It is only to the culture or individual which sees merely in three
dimensions that the universe is an existential fluke of chemistry with no
rhyme or purpose.

What is fascinating about Jennys work is that fluid vibration such as

sound produces organic shapes in our three-dimensional, physical world.
Another fluid vibration of course is thought. Might this, very special of all
vibrations, be the holy grail of understanding how thoughts act upon the
etheric web to produce our reality? Here Im getting ahead of myself, so
let us get back to the Chladni figures and see where it leads us.

With any one of the patterns, which magically emerged on the discs
through playing various musical notes, there emerged always two
patterns. The one formed by sand, and the background, which is free of
sand. The runnels of sand, which we see are simply where sand has
collected at the dead areas of the disk, whereas the life of the pattern is
vibrating in the background behind, or between the runnels, where
invisible energy is causing chaos to coalesce into form. The interesting
paradox is that the visible expression of energy is the inverse of the
actual vibrationary pattern, which is invisible. We are reminded again of
the Gnostic assertions that the physical world is but a pale shadow, the
mirror image or outermost shell of a supreme ordering energy that exists
in another dimension.

Words, of course, are also vibrations. There is evidence to suggest that

the script, where it remains, of sacred, liturgical languages (such as High
Javanese or Hebrew) bears close scrutiny as to the vibrational effects it
has on matter. Legends of the Navajo Indians, famous for their sand
paintings, speak of the time when their shamans produced pictures in the
sand merely by speaking to it. The genesis legends of Ethiopia tell of
the origins of language, of how the first men could only sing, like the
birds, or the wind in the reeds, but how gradually they forgot the tune and

had eventually to make do simply with the speaking of words. The

vibration of music, such a primal part of primitive expression, hints at a
forgotten awareness of the rhythms and tones which actually keep us
alive. And let us not forget that the Bibles account of creation states
quite clearly that the world was created by the word of God. This is
commonly thought to be a poetic phrase, and what is inferred is that it
was Gods wish or intention to create the world, and so it was done. But
perhaps they meant to say exactly what they did. The deeper implication
here is that a mystery language once existed whereby words were
instantly manifested into reality, and that God is the founder and creator
of this language. Incredulous to believe but then again, why not?

The ancient Aztecs of South America recognized that each individual had a
particular note and pitch. With this sound knowledge a man could be
purified and raised by vibrationary mantras. Perhaps the chants and
liturgical rhythms of the church are shadows of a long vanished and
forgotten wisdom of the early churches.

Many spiritual systems still change the names of novitiates in recognition

of the fact that each time they are called by their new name they are
being struck with a new vibrationary pitch, one which resonates to the
inner palate they are trying to awaken. Name changing from this
perspective emerges not only as a symbolic act, but as the actual retuning of an individuals resonance to one more in harmony with his
present axis of growth.

Polish physicist, the late Andrew Glazewski, who was also a Jesuit priest,
spent almost half his life studying musical harmonics as well as infrasonic
frequencies. Atoms are known to be harmonic oscillators, he wrote, the
nuclei being the oscillators themselves, the electrons and their orbits
being seen as the reverberations and echoes of the periodic harmonic
motions of the nucleus. In Glazewskis terms this is the music of the
atomic scale. Glazewski further found that there is a sonic field that
emanates from the human body and differs with each individual as
radically as fingerprints. One could further state that all physical reality
could quite accurately be thought of as music/sound that has taken on
form. Our bodies, in this context, are vibrational music as distinct and
unique as anything in the universe, singing and pulsating to their own
rhythm.

Now back to thoughts. From the perspective we are taking, thoughts could
be seen as singing our reality alive. Each thought, as the eminent
neurologist Sir John Eccles wrote, indicates a river of a million sparking
synapses, like a golden loom perpetually weaving and reweaving its way
to a conclusion.

Im choosing to end on this poetic thought, for it is often through the

heights of poetry or art that a transcendence happens to take us to places
where reason cannot go. Often at these times something in us clicks and
we go Ah I understand. We of course dont understand at all, but
something larger, grandeur, awakens in us and we are left with the feeling
that our life and the universe in which we inhabit it is much more
miraculous than our limited perceptions of it would indicate. This is a
wonderful and reassuring thought to have.

John Kehoe

- Articles / Nature of Reality & Consciousness

What, Me Worry? Ten Practices for Eliminating Fear and Worry

Long-time followers of my teaching, as well as readers of this website,
know that our thoughts and emotions are vibrations of energy, and as
such have a direct impact on our lives. What we think and how we feel are
the two most important parts of who we are. The third is our actions.
Incredibly, we have the ability to monitor and direct what we think, act
and feel by the thoughts we choose.

When our thoughts and emotions are directed in a positive way, they not
only make us feel better, they also attract to us the conditions we are
focusing on. This is sometimes referred to as the Law of Attraction.
However, the exact same law is in play when we have negative thoughts or
feelings about our lifes circumstances or ourselves. We must be diligent
in monitoring how we think, so that negative thoughts and emotions do
not find a resting place in our consciousness, then make themselves at

home. Fear and worry are the two most destructive of the negative
emotions, and it is these I will speak of this month.

Fear is the intense focusing of your thoughts on something you do not

want to happen. By focusing on this yet to happen event with strong
emotion and intensity, you give power to these images and help to attract
them. These images, charged with emotion, are powerful forces, and so
imprint on the invisible matrix web of the universe, which then works to
create the exact thing we fear. This is precisely what we dont want to
happen.

This is the tragedy of fear and worry, and yet often we feel we have no
power over these thoughts. Here is where Mind Power comes to our
assistance. Mind Power not only gives us the tools to create and manifest
any situation we desire; it also gives us the tools to eliminate fear and
worry with equal effectiveness. Mind Power is simply the most powerful
set of tools we will ever have in our lives.

Eliminating Fear and Worry:

Rule number one: If you know what it is that you dont want to happen to
you, then dont think those fearful thoughts. If you can remember this rule
and say it to yourself as a mantra, so that it imprints into your
subconscious, you will be halfway towards eliminating fear and worry from
your life forever. The other half will come from following these ten
techniques:

1. Next time you find yourself fearful, take a few good long breaths, relax
and realize that the only thing making you fearful this very moment is the
thoughts you are thinking. It is not your present circumstances, nor
something that may or may not happen to you in the future; it is the
thoughts you are thinking now. You are the cause of your fear. Resolve to
change this.

One of the ways you can do this is by spending several minutes focusing
on the exact opposite of what you have been fearing. Whatever the fear
has you focusing on, change the focus to the exact opposite. You dont

need to fight fear. Observe it carefully to see what it is suggesting to you,

then simply focus on the opposite. For example, if you are fearing losing
your job, focus on being competent, doing a good job and being respected
and rewarded accordingly. If you are fearing losing your money, focus on
being successful financially, making smart decisions and living an
abundant life. Fear is fed by your thoughts, and taking your thoughts
away from fear eliminates it. Fear does not usually appear overnight. It
often has its root in regular worrying, which then progresses to the point
where it becomes fear. So to eliminate this happening we eliminate
worrying. Easier said then done? Not at all, once you understand and
practice the principles.

2. Practice the five techniques for eliminating negatives (see the Mind
Power practices section of this website.)

3. Recognize that the essential component of worry is always future

orientation. In other words, when you worry, you invariably focus on
something that might happen but hasnt happened yet. You might argue
that you worry about the things that are happening right now, not in the
future. A closer look, however, will reveal the truth that worry is like a
ghost tormenting you with a terrifying view of the future. It is always
about the future. Knowing this takes away the power of this view.

4. Track your worries by keeping a journal of them. You cant change

worrying until you know what youre worrying about. What are the
common themes of your worrying? Health? Finances? Relationships?
Family? Know where you are most vulnerable. Knowing this will help you
recognize worrying when it slips into your mind.

5. Learn the difference between concern and worry. Concern about the
different aspects of our life and what may or may not happen is valid and
beneficial. It allows us to view our life and to be proactive in making
positive choices. This is a very constructive process. Worry, on the other
hand, is simply focusing on what could go wrong. It has no positive aspect
to it. Not only are we focusing on this negative outcome but also we are
giving it energy. Why would you do that?

6. Recognize the cost of worrying. Yes, there is a cost. Firstly, it causes

stress, which in turn affects our health and our decision-making process.
You dont make good decisions when youre worried. Secondly it actually
attracts to us the circumstances we are worrying about, especially if we
start to fear it. Understanding this, we choose to not worry. It is not worth
the time or effort, and it is always counterproductive.

7. Challenge catastrophic thinking: Most of us exaggerate our situations

during fearful times, projecting ourselves into the most dire
circumstances. We let worry carry us away. Resolve to not let this happen.
There are solutions to every problem, and undoubtedly it will not become
as bad as the fear is projecting. Dont let worst-case scenarios dominate
your thinking. There is every possibility that the situation wont be a bad
as you think, and it could be a whole lot better. There may well be hidden
benefits and blessings that you havent even thought of.

8. Trust that the Universe will unfold as it should. Have faith that what is
meant to happen will happen and that it will be for the best. If you have a
spiritual belief, then let this nourish and guide you. Let go of the worry
and realize neither God nor the universe wants you to worry. Worry is
showing lack of trust. It means you have no faith. Trust and act in a
proactive way. What you can change, change. What you cannot, leave it
alone. There are always forces at work beyond what we can understand.
Trust in them and assist them by expecting the best.

9. Practice Mind Power. The daily practice of Mind Power will keep worry
from overpowering you. Fear and worry will find no fertile place to take
root in a mind that is aware and conscious of itself. Mind Power is your
best friend and most powerful tool. Use it.

10. Have some fun. Fun is one of the most honest and reassuring feelings.
It always acts as healing balm, restoring our sense of balance. Our
situations always seem different and less stressful after a time of fun. And
you dont have to spend money to have fun. Fun is possible in almost any
situation. Play with your kids and do something outrageous. Go to the
park and roll around on the grass. Spend an afternoon reading in the sun.
The ways of having fun are endless, limited only by your imagination and
willingness to do it. Reward yourself with some fun every day.

John Kehoe

Articles / Practicing MindPower

Importance of Eliminating Negative Thinking

Our topic for September is the importance of eliminating negative
thinking. Eliminating negative thinking is not simply about having a good
attitude or feeling good or being positive just for the sake of being
positive, although all these things have their benefits. It goes much
deeper than that. The student of Mind Powers recognizes that thoughts
are real forces and that how we think directly affects the things that
happen to us. Our mind is like a garden, and we are the master
gardeners. Through care and diligence we can create a botanical
masterpiece, or through neglect our garden can be a mass of weeds-negatives, insecurities and failures. Understanding this, it becomes our
duty and responsibility to eliminate negative thinking.

I'm going to give you five excellent techniques for eliminating negatives
from your mind.

Each technique is separate and independent from the other. In fact some
of these techniques will seem contradictory, but each will be highly
effective in dealing with negative thinking.

The first technique is called cut it off.

With this technique, the instant you recognize that you are thinking a
negative thought, you end it. You don't argue with it, you don't analyze it,
you don't defend yourself against it, you cut it off. The moment you
recognize that you're thinking a negative thought, simply cut it off and
insert a totally different thought into your mind. And the key here is the
instant you recognize you're thinking a negative thought. So whenever

you become aware of negative thinking, act immediately, cut it off and set
a totally different thought into your mind.

The second technique is called label it.

As soon as you recognize that you are thinking a negative thought,

instead of cutting it off as you did with the first technique, label it. You say
to yourself, "What is happening inside me now is that I am experiencing 'a
negative thought.' " That's all it is, and you keep reminding yourself of
that. You keep reminding yourself that "It's only a negative thought. It's
only a negative thought." I'm going to share an astounding truth with you
that will help you immensely in ridding yourself of negatives. I'm going to
write it in bold letters and I would like you to read it over at least three
times before you continue on, so that it becomes imprinted into your
mind. Here it is: Negatives only have power over you if you react to them.

Go back and read it again. Continue to read this statement until you fully
realize that it's you reacting to negatives that gives them power. The
minute you start worrying in this way, the minute you start reacting to the
negative, the minute you start working yourself up about it, it's got you.
But when you recognize that negatives only have power over you when
you react to them, then you simply choose not to react. Label it. Remind
yourself that it is only a negative thought. And then move on to something
else. Don't get trapped into thinking about it. Dismiss it. Once again,
negatives only have power over you if you react to them.

Now the third technique for eliminating negatives is to exaggerate the

thought into all ridiculousness.

The exaggeration technique is a great technique, but you must exaggerate

it into ridiculousness. And the key word here is ridiculousness. Let's say
that you're a salesperson and you're out making your sales calls and
suddenly the thought comes to you, "Ah, what's the use, I'm not going to
make another sale today." And then you catch yourself and you say, "Wait
a second that's a negative thought." With the exaggeration technique,
what you might then say is, "That's right, I'm not going to make another
sale today. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if, when I visit this next

company, as soon as I open the door people are going to be throwing pails
of water on me, and then they're going to release pit bull terriers and
German shepherds and I'm going to be bitten and I'm going to be wet, and
then this great big mechanical boxing glove will come out and it's going to
smash me in the face. And then everybody is going to leap up on their
desk and reveal this great big banner that says, 'You fool, why did you
come here? You're never going to make another sale!' " And you just keep
carrying on like this, exaggerating it until your mind goes, "Okay, enough,
this is ridiculous." You then find yourself laughing at the thought, and
once you're laughing at the thought you have robbed it of all its power.
Wouldn't it be great if when we had negative thoughts they came with
warning signs reading, "It's only a negative thought, you don't have to
believe it if you don't want to." But negatives don't come like that. They
come disguised as apparently real problems, or quietly, slipping in when
we're not paying attention. And if we're not aware of the fact that our
mind is the great trickster, forever conjuring up negative thoughts, then
we'll buy into every single destructive thought that occurs to us. But with
these techniques we have ways of dealing with negatives. That's why they
are so valuable.

The fourth technique is to counteract the negative with the exact

opposite.

Whatever the negative is saying to you, you counteract it by thinking the

exact opposite thought. When the negative thought comes to you: "I'm not
going to make another sale today," you counteract it with, "I'm going to
make several more sales today." When the negative thought comes to you,
"I'm never going to get ahead financially," you counteract it with the exact
opposite - "I'm going to be tremendously successful financially." When the
thought comes to you, "I'm never going to have a meaningful
relationship," you counteract it with the exact opposite -"I'm soon going to
have a fabulous relationship." You see, the mind can think only one
thought at a time. It might seem to you that you're thinking many
thoughts at a time, but what is actually happening is you're thinking one
thought after another one thought after another one thought, and so on.
At any given moment, you're only thinking one thought. So if you take out
the negative and put in the exact opposite, you are taking the power away
from that negative. Don't feed the beast. This is often exactly opposite to
what most people do. Most people, when they have something that they
don't want to have happen to them, they think about it, they worry about
it, they focus on it, eventually they manifest it.

The fifth technique is to use affirmations on the negative.

If you don't know what affirmations are, they are simply statements that
you repeat to yourself, over and over and over again. In Mind Power into
the 21st Century I have written a whole chapter on affirmations.
Affirmations are extremely effective, especially on those reoccurring
negatives, the ones that have haunted you for years. What you do is the
next time that you find yourself thinking that negative, calmly inform it
that, "From here on, every time that you come to me, you will be met with
two minutes of affirmations stating the precise opposite of what you are
saying." And keep to that promise. So when your mind comes up with a
negative such as, "I'm never going to get ahead in my life," as soon as
that thought comes to you, counteract it with two minutes of affirmations
stating the exact opposite: "I'm going to be tremendously successful in my
life. I'm going to be tremendously successful in my life. I'm going to be
tremendously successful in my life." And repeat this affirmation to
yourself over and over again for the full two minutes. And if the negative
comes back, hit it again with another two minutes. If you respond with
two minutes of affirmations every single time it comes to you, I will
guarantee you that very quickly, often within days, that negative will
cease haunting you. These are five excellent ways of dealing with
negative thinking. Use whichever ones you find beneficial, use them in
combinations with one another, but most importantly, use them. Because
you no longer need to be overpowered by negatives. No longer do you
have to let these negatives bring you down. From this point on you
possess the tools and techniques to eliminate negatives. Congratulations.
Now go out and use them.

John Kehoe

Become An Athlete of the Mind

I recently sat down with performance coach Jim Murphy to discuss how
athletes use the mind to attain peak performance. Jim has a long and
successful career (almost twenty years) training top professional and
Olympian athletes to get the very best out of themselves. I respect Jim for
his knowledge, his track record, and his integrity as an individual. He is

presently working on a book, which will be published in the fall, and he

has agreed to do a monthly topic for us at that time to further elaborate
on his techniques for maximum effectiveness. Some of them will surprise
you.

We can learn valuable lessons from the worlds greatest athletes and
apply these lessons in our own life with equal success. The physical
practices will of course be different and sport appropriate, but the
principles and practices of the mind are exactly the same for all top level
achievers.

Peak performance has a few common characteristics, says Jim.

Passion. Enjoyment. Heightened awareness. Getting caught up in the
moment-to-moment focus. Full engagement. All top athletes have
commonalities when they perform at their best: a clear mind and
unburdened heart, a positive focused energy, and powerful beliefs.

What you think is crucial. It is, in fact, the core of a championwho they
are, how they train and how they compete comes down to how they think.
The thoughts you repeat over and over in your mind, whether these are
positive or negative, will create your beliefs. So an athlete wanting to
perform at his peak needs to develop powerful beliefs about himself.
Every thought you have has energy, and, as an athlete, you know that
focusing your energy is a top priority.

I asked him to elaborate on what he meant by focusing energy, and his

reply was fascinating: The amateur athlete has three to four times the
amount of thoughts as an elite athlete. The elite athlete works years to
control his thoughts and feelings, developing a powerful focusa
presence. The amateur has his mind filled with thousands of random,
useless, and worst of all negative thoughts. This cluttered mind I call the
monkey mind, and it is one of the biggest obstacles to peak
performance.

I couldnt agree more. In my thirty years of teaching Mind Power there are
common denominators that seem to distinguish those who are successful
from those who fail. While the ways of using Mind Power are similar and

available to all, the ability to implement them varies widely from person to
person. Martial Arts Master George Leonard has a saying that summed
this up perfectly: The master of any activity is undoubtedly also a master
of practice. The master of practice! I love that phrase because it echoes
what I teach my students over and over again. The power of daily practice.

I know well from teaching Mind Power for thirty years that most people
work with Mind Power techniques for a few days or weeks and then fall
into lazy habits. They dabble with it. Regular, consistent practice is the
mark of a champion. You must first know what to do, but then equally
important is that you must do it. Implement your knowledge with daily
practice.

The power of practice is further summed up by Mark Spitz, winner of

seven gold medals at the Munich Olympics. His quotation heads up the
final chapter my book Mind Power Into the 21st Century. We all love to
win, but how many of us like to train?

I shared Spitz and Leonards quotes with Jim. Absolutely, he replied,

you must practice internally and externally, but you must practice and
practice regularly. One thing that helps with this is creating daily routines
routines in all areas of life, physical, nutritional, mental and spiritual.
The best athletes have routines the night before a game, on game day,
pre-game, during the game and after the game. Over time theyve created
a recipe for success that enables them to perform their best, and they
stick to the recipe. Negative thoughts have less room to take hold when
athletes focus on their routines.

Jim went on to also talk about self-image. Peak performance comes in

large part by having a self-image that is consistent with peak
performance. Self-image is determined by your repeated thoughts and
images. Every day youre creating, reinforcing or expanding your selfimage, whatever that is. Peak performers are constantly at work to
expand their self-image to that of the next level, in every area of their
lives. When you have powerful beliefs and regular routines, you play from
your heart and you have a presence about you that comes from a positive
focused energy. Youre then inviting the zone of peak performance. And
not just peak performance, but more peak experiences in all areas of your

life. Call it mental toughness, call it emotional toughness, call it full

engagementits all of those, but in the end its the journey of a great
life.

Jim and I have developed a very close relationship since we first met when
he attended the four-week Mind Power training system. I have always
been intrigued with the similarities between excellence on the sporting
field and that in life. I hope this months topic has revealed to you some of
these secrets. We too can, if we choose, become athletesathletes of the
mind, and in this regard through our daily habits we will become either
amateur athletes or elite professionals. We can choose to train a little, a
lot, or not at all; it is up to us. But make no mistake, your life will most
certainly reflect the choices you make and implement on a daily basis.
Become an athlete of the mind and train for peak performance, excellence
and success.

John Kehoe
Stalking Part I
Stalking yourself is the process of hunting, following and observing your
habits, beliefs, thoughts, routines, strengths and weaknesses for the
purpose of seeing who you are. It is using the mind to see all aspects of
yourself in action. In stalking yourself, you want to see not only what and
how you are thinking, but to identify your central beliefs, those core
beliefs that cause you to act in certain ways. The fact is that our mind
makes decisions for us and directs us in all aspects of our life, and if we
remain unaware of this process, we can lose control of our lives. For
indeed the mind is a great servant, but a terrible master.

Most of us remain totally unconscious of this internal process. We fail to

see how our beliefs influence our choices, or how our inadequacies and
hurts cause us to lash out in anger or withdraw into self-pity, according to
our nature. Or we fail to see how certain habits like procrastination or lack
of imagination keep us stuck in situations that do not serve our best
needs.

In many ways we dont see ourselves at all because we are too busy
thinking and doing without noticing what we are thinking or why we are
doing what we are doing.

Stalking ourselves is a novel concept because we assume we know and

see ourselves well. In fact, we reason, nobody knows ourselves better
than we do. But in this reasoning we are woefully wrong. It is an important
turning point in each of our lives when we are confronted with and fully
grasp how much of who we are is unconscious, and how these unconscious
parts of us have agendas and make decisions for us. Not only that, but if
we are not careful and diligent, these unconscious parts of us can take
over our thinking without our even being aware it has happened. Each of
us is a unique mixture of strengths and weaknesses of conscious and
unconscious patterns and beliefs. We are totally unconscious in some
areas of our life (usually those areas where we are having problems and
difficulty), and hyperconscious and aware in others. No two of us is alike,
and so no two strategies will be alike. Each of us must design a strategy
that fits our unique situation. But to do this we must first see and
understand ourselves without illusion.

To be effective in our life we need to be adept at three distinct processes.

Seeing: seeing ourselves and our present situation without illusion.

Knowing: having the insight and wisdom to make empowering decisions
according to what we see.
Doing it: overcoming procrastination and fear and mastering the dharma
of action.
Until you can see yourself, you cannot see your present circumstances,
much less the choices and options available to you. Stalking is the process
of allowing us to see. We stalk ourselves the way we would stalk a wild
animal. To successfully stalk a wild animal you must know its habits and
routines. Is it nocturnal, or does it hunt during the day? What does it like
to eat? Where does it sleep? What attracts it and what scares it away?
Hunters will patiently study their prey and come to know its habits and
routines.

We take the same attitude. We stalk ourselves as if we are stalking

something or someone we dont know. We stalk ourselves without
judgment or attachment to what we find. This is important, perhaps the
most important key to stalking no judgment.

If a part of you feels judged by the process, your mind will find a way to
sabotage the process. So agreement number one with yourself is, No
judgment about what I find. When you find something revealing you
simply say, Thats interesting. Not judging allows parts of ourselves to
be revealed to us without fear.

The second agreement is to not act immediately upon what you see. When
we discover something about ourselves that we dont like, our first
instinct is to blame ourselves, and our second is to try to fix it right away.
In stalking you are asked to do neither. There will be plenty of time to
discern appropriate action, but only after seeing yourself clearly, without
illusion. In stalking yourself, you are asked to neither blame nor fix.
Simply to see it. Not once or twice, but to see it many times so you can
discern patterns. The third agreement is to stalk without self-importance
or self-pity. Each of us is inclined one way or the other, and both selfimportance and self-pity will distort our seeing, each in its own way.

The fourth agreement is to have no preferences as to what you find. Dont

stalk with agendas, fears or hopes. Stalk with curiosity and a burning
desire to see and know yourself, in all your complexity and contradictions.
Dont assume you know already what you will find. I can assure you there
is much you do not know or understand about yourself.

This month I would like you to stalk your internal dialogue. Like a hunter
listens for sounds in the bush, listen to what your internal dialogue is
saying.

For some of you it will be a total revelation that you have an internal
dialogue. Im not talking about the thoughts you are actively thinking, but
the inner chatter beyond thought that comments and has opinions about
everything. Stop and listen to it. You might begin by watching and
listening to your thoughts, and then noticing that there is also a judge, a

critic, a commentator alongside the thoughts. This is the internal dialogue

I am speaking of. Stalk and listen to it. What is it saying? Is it positive or
negative? What are its favorite topics or themes? Is it critical of you or
others? What sets it off?

Then, at the end of each day, spend fine minutes journaling about the
main themes of your internal dialogue that day. After one month, if you
stalk diligently, you should be able to see and know something about
yourself that has previously been unknown to you. Dont judge or act upon
what you see yet. That will come later.

Stalking takes vigilance, patience, cunning and willpower. Our internal

dialogue is one of our chief tyrants, keeping us unconscious and unaware,
and we will not see it or know it without stalking. Interested? Curious? Up
to the challenge? Well then begin today, and we will continue this topic
next month.

John Kehoe

- Stalking Part II
Last month I presented the technique and art of stalking oneself. I gave
each of us an assignment to stalk our internal dialogue for the month, to
notice if it is critical or supportive of you/others? Is it positive or negative?
What are its favourite topics of themes? I asked you to stalk and listen to
yourself daily, then at the end of each day to spend five minutes
journaling about what you found.

Here it is one month later. Be honest, did you do it? And if you didnt do it,
do you know why you didnt? Dont dismiss what Im asking you for in
answering these two questions, especially the second. Most of you didnt
stalk and journal daily, I know that. How do I know that? Because Ive
trained and taught people for thirty years and I know the power of inertia
and procrastination. I know the snares, bad habits and illusions we all
struggle with. I know because I know myself. I have stalked myself. I can
see myself. What I want is for you too to know and see yourself. So
back to the second question, Do you know why you didnt do it? Dont

answer right away. Savor the chase as you stalk the answer to this
question. Yes there are the obvious answers that leap to the mind too
busy, lazy, forgot, not interested and these are all on one level valid, but
beyond these reasons there lies something deeper. I will stalk it for you
because I know this territory.

Each of us struggles with our inability to execute our best intentions. It is

easier to think than do. We fool ourselves by believing that our best
intentions count for something. We feel proud and satisfied when we make
promises to ourselves, as if we have done something great. Let me share
with you a secret. Our best intentions count for nothing, because most of
them dont happen. Harsh but true. If youre truly honest and stalk your
life, you will see this for yourself.

Looking closely (stalking), you will find some areas of your life where you
perform and execute flawlessly, and other areas where you fail again and
again. We usually settle into this routine. We accept it as life and dismiss
it as unimportant. Besides, we tell ourselves, we are too busy making a
living, raising children, going to school, meeting deadlines. You choose the
reasons (all valid and true) you give yourself for not doing what you
intended to do. But not executing on our intentions is a dangerous habit
to have entrenched, and for most of us it is entrenched, and we dont even
realize it.

So without your doing any stalking whatsoever I have stalked for you, and
have revealed something for you to see. Because that is the purpose of
stalking to see ourselves without illusion.

Now I would like you to think about what areas of your life consistently go
unattended. In what areas of your life do you repeatedly make promises,
and then fail to execute on them? Remember one of the agreements in
stalking is no judgments. Dont judge yourself, blame yourself or make up
reasons why you fail to make changes in those areas of your life, just
notice it. When you truly see this, own it and accept it. This is powerful. It
is not resignation but realization. You are seeing yourself without
illusion. It is only after seeing yourself that you can design a strategy to
move beyond this stuck area in your life. Dont be nave and think yet
another good intention will be enough. It never has been in the past so

why would it in the future? Know your habits. Know your routines. Know
the excuses you give yourself. Know what trips you up again and again.
This is stalking. It is only after knowing and seeing that you can make
lasting positive changes.

There are three areas of your life that I suggest you stalk: your internal
dialogue, your habits, and your energy fluctuations.

Lets examine our habits and routines. All of us are creatures of habit, and
our habits are more entrenched than you would suspect. Sleeping habits,
eating habits, working habits, leisure habits, thinking habits. It can be
quite startling to realize how much of our life is on remote control,
powered by our habits. Some are obvious, such as drinking coffee,
watching TV in the evening, working too hard, being lazy. We all have our
own particular habits. But others are more subtle, like our internal
dialogue habits, but then you wouldnt know that because you didnt stalk
yourself last month (You can always go back and try again.).

Habits and routines, while necessary in some circumstances, can have a

numbing effect on our life. We tend to forget that they are only habits and
routines, no more or less, and they are not our life. Let your choices make
your life, not your habits and routines.

In fact, a very powerful awakening technique is to choose a habit and

break it for no other reason than to show yourself it can be done. Try it
this month. Oh yeah, I forgot, youre too busy, lazy, not interested etc. But
this one is easier than last months. Pick something symbolic, something
you wont miss, something that has become a habit and youve been
meaning to change anyway, and do it. Change one tiny habit in your life
for this month and notice every time you dont do it. You will find yourself
about to do it, (because it is habit) but by stalking yourself you can catch
yourself and make the choice not to do it.

Or maybe it is to do something that youre in the habit of not doing.

Habits can be not doing as well as doing. The key is to change your
routine in one small aspect of your life. What difference will it make? More
than you would suspect. Up for the challenge? Ready to be creative?

Ready to start altering your life one step at a time? Remember that your
intention is only an intention and of no value unless actualized through
daily stalking and action. You actually have to do it. Do you have it in you
to change one tiny habit? This month and this month only? Dont answer
with words. Answer with action.

Next month I will write about Stalking Energy Fluctuations

John Kehoe