A Course in Miracles

A Course in MiraclesEvery miracle begins with a change of thought:

The power of your wanting, must first be recognized. You must accept its strength, and not its weakness. You must perceive that what is strong enough to make a world can let it go, and can accept correction, if it is willing to see that it was wrong.

Practical Miracles Newsletter 154

3 Essential ElementsTo Achieving Your Dreams

What you get by achieving your goalsis not as important as what you becomeby achieving your goals.Zig ZiglarAccording to statistics, by the time you read this, 95% of people will have given up on the New Year's resolutions they made. How are you doing? Have you mastered the 3 Essential Elements for turning your dreams into reality?

People usually quit when the going gets tough. They get busy, fall back into their old patterns and abandon their positive intentions. They think they lack will power, but all they really need is know-how. Some have become so cynical that they don't even bother setting goals or thinking about what they want.

Smart people discover that NLP teaches 'what works'. For over 30 years, NLP has provided the map, the insights, the tools and techniques for achieving any outcome you want. Learning the process is easy: there are only 3 Essential Elements. However, mastering the application may take a little more dedication. That's why a good training in NLP must cover all the details.

Essential Element # 1 Create a clear and compelling outcome of what you genuinely want. Your goal must be completely congruent, i.e. possible, desirable, appropriate, and totally acceptable. If part of you believes you don't deserve to have this goal, or you can't begin to believe you could ever really achieve it, you won't!

Some people don't even know what they want. Other people try to kid themselves that they want something. But they neglect to listen to the voices of dissent inside their own heads. And then there are people who want so much that they don't know where to start and then end up confused and overwhelmed.

Some people do set goals but don't get excited about them. Often the goal isn't compelling enough because it's too small, or it's based on what they think they 'should' want. Other people are so obsessed with avoiding some nasty, negative experience, that all their energy gets spent moving away from what they DON'T want. But because they never think about what they DO want, they stay stuck, spinning their wheels.

Before you can focus clearly on what you want, you need to be honest and accepting of where you are now. What's good about your current situation? What do you hate and never want to experience again? What have you learned? What are all the reasons why you want to achieve this new outcome? What makes those reasons so important, that it will guarantee that you follow through?

When your outcome is totally clear, and you have complete certainty, just imagining it in rich detail, full technicolour, sound, smells, tastes, and sensations could be enough to bring it into reality. Especially if you focus on how good you'll feel when you have achieved it!

Essential Element # 2

Direct all your thoughts, internal representations, emotions, movement, - even breathing - towards achieving this desirable outcome. It can help to model someone who consistently achieves success in such an endeavor. But why not model yourself? Think of something you succeeded in achieving even though it was quite difficult or challenging. How did you do that? What made you persist? Where did you put your focus? How did you govern your feelings? Did you have a plan? What steps did you follow?

Even if you achieved your previous success unconsciously, when you backtrack what worked, you'll discover the path of how you did that. There will be choice points, good decisions and places where you had to school your emotions. Often achieving a goal requires delayed gratification: being willing to work hard and wait to reap the rewards later.

People around you may also play an important role. How much would your commitment to achieving this goal increase if all your best friends and peers were holding you accountable? On the other hand, you may need to inoculate yourself from the unhelpful, negative beliefs of friends, media, colleagues, doctors, or research data that could be discouraging.

What is the first step you could take right now towards achieving your goal? Even a small step starts the process. What can you put into action immediately? What information do you need, who do you need to ring, what do you need to decide, throw away or obtain?

How are you going to measure your progress? Imagine the energy boost you'll get as you congratulate yourself for achieving each goal post on the way to success! What will be your markers? How will you celebrate each one? Plan your pleasure in advance! Give yourself some positive rewards to work towards.

Essential Element # 3

Clear the blocks that hinder your progress. What stops you moving towards your goal? Do you need to root out old limiting beliefs? Have you got a backlog of negative emotions that you need to let go? Lighten your load. Clear out the source of your inner conflicts, so that you can be totally congruent and true to yourself.

Accepting your present state of affairs is crucial to this process. When you can appreciate how the events of your life have served you well, you can free yourself from guilt, regret and disappointment. When you understand the higher purpose you may have been trying to achieve, it's possible to forgive yourself and others. The more responsibility you can claim, the more power you gain.

Whether or not you understand the reasons behind events, the moment you fully allow things to be the way they are, you can choose better. Be totally present in the moment, in the 'now', so that you can grasp the opportunity to choose again in every instant.

Don't worry too much if you still have some negative thoughts occasionally. Even if they persist and take over at times, you can change them when you have 5 minutes of sanity. Just counteract their effect by re- focusing on your positive goal and all the good feelings you will have when you have achieved it. Re-commit to doing whatever it takes. Imagine your positive dreams in full detail and enjoy the good feelings that brings until you are smiling from ear to ear.

If you wish to accelerate the unblocking process, ask yourself how you can give to others with respect to your goal. Reaching out to help someone else in greater need than yourself is the fastest way to heal any problem or old pattern. Why not do some random acts of kindness? Pay it forward.

I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.

Groucho Marx

Arielle Essex