How To Make Your Dreams Come True

How To Make Your Dreams Come True
Editors Note: Family Circle Interview (2003) with Dr. Wayne Dyer:
Could 2003 be your lucky year - the one in which you fulfill a dream, improve your health, increase prosperity and feel happier?
Absolutely, says bestselling author Wayne Dyer, whose latest book is 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace (Hay House). Dyer believes that positive thinking and a spiritual connection can lead to dramatic improvements in anyone's life.
He also insists that changing your thoughts and attitudes really can lead to making your most impossible dreams come true. All you need is a burning desire and an unwavering vision of what will eventually materialize.

In a talk with Family Circle, Dyer explains how to create a new contract with yourself that will enable you to make of your life everything you want it to be.
Family Circle: How do you make 2003 the year for a personal transformation?
Dyer: First look at any disharmony or scarcity in your life - your finances, struggles, even some he alth problems - and say: I created this. My life is the result of the choices I've made. What we think determines what happens to us, so if we want to change our lives, we need to stretch our minds.
Family Circle: Is that New Age psychobabble or does it really work?
Dyer: It may sound like psychobabble, but in fact, we become what we think about. William James, the father of psychology, said that if you form a picture in your mind of what you would like to be, and you hold it there long enough, it will become a reality. I've found that has worked for me.

Family Circle: Give an example.
Dyer: When I wrote my first book, Your Erroneous Zones, there was nothing I wouldn't do to make it a success. I called bookstores to create a demand, then delivered the books to the stores myself! I always say it's never crowded along the extra mile.
Family Circle: But what if your life isn't changing in the ways that you want it to?
Dyer: Realize that insanity is repeating the same thoughts and behaviors again and again, and expecting different results. To get a new outcome, you have to rewrite your agreement with reality, which I do regularly.

Family Circle: What do you mean?
Dyer: You have to compose a brand-new agreement with yourself that says: There is nothing that is not possible for me. I can attract abundance into my life. Connect with that thought. Norman Vincent Peale said, "Change your thoughts and you change your world."
Family Circle: So if you want to lose 10 pounds . . .
Dyer: First visualize yourself looking the way you want to and never let that picture out of your head. Envision yourself eating healthful foods and exercising. If you hold those thoughts in your mind, you'll act on them.

Family Circle: So what happens when you focus on all the things that you don't have?
Dyer: You stay stuck. Every thought you have either makes you stronger or weaker. Thoughts of kindness, hope, forgiveness, and peace are strengthening. Anger, anxiety, worry, a nd fear weaken you. You must process events in terms of appreciation rather than depreciation. You either feel that the universe is plentiful and providing, or you feel short-changed, that nothing is ever right. That's what I call a scarcity mentality - expecting that things won't work out for you. I was recently on a plane that was running 30 minutes late. The woman sitting next to me said, "With my luck, I won't make my connection." I answered, "With my luck, I will!" I think she may still be in Dallas. Family Circle: How can you reprogram yourself?
Dyer: Before you go to bed, create an image of what you want for yourself; then act as if you are who you want to be. Catch yourself verbalizing self-defeating thoughts, stop labeling yourself, and take time just to be.
Family Circle: And how do you do all that?
Dyer: You quiet your mind. On average, a person has 60,000 separate thoughts a day. We're thinking too much! As an ancient proverb says, "It's the silence between the notes that makes the music." So get quiet. Meditate; go for a walk; listen to the birds, the ocean. Breathe in the fresh air and allow your mind to let go.
Family Circle: can just hear workaholics saying they don't have the time to do that.
Dyer: If you don't take time for being healthy, you'll eventually have to make time for being sick. You can meditate for two minutes at a red light. Just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and clear your mind. The person behind you will let you know when your two minutes a re up!
Family Circle: What are the signs of inner peace?
Dyer: People who have a sense of peace tend to smile, feel compassion, and enjoy the moment. They lose interest in conflict, and they don't worry!
Family Circle: You often say, "Stop worrying because there's nothing to worry about." How can that be?
Dyer: It makes no sense to worry about things you have no control over because there's nothing you can do about them, and why worry about things you do control? The activity of worrying keeps you immobilized.
Family Circle: So the next time you're tossing and turning in bed . . . ?
Dyer: My teacher in India always said, "First think of God, whatever God means to you. Think of the universal force that allows an acorn to turn into an oak tree or a blossom to become an orange." The moment you bring spiritual energy to the present, worry and anguish dissolve.
Family Circle: Other than yourself, do you know anyone who has mastered this?
Dyer: I don't know that I hav e! I've got eight kids and I struggle with the same things most people do. I've dealt with marital problems and addictions. What I've learned is to remind myself that all I have is today. That helps me shift my attention to what's good and right.
Family Circle: You always say that forgiveness is a dramatic way to transform a life. Forgiving your father for abandoning his family was a turning point for you.

Dyer: After he died, I went to my father's grave and told him, I don't know what motivated you to run your life as you did, but I forgive you. Afterward I felt a deep sense of relief and peace. Forgiveness is transforming. I use the metaphor of the snake bite. It is not the bit that kills you; it's the venom. When you hold a grudge, the poisons of anger and blame destroy you. Your heart weakens, your blood pressure rises, you get ulcers. It wrecks your health, makes you miserable.
Family Circle: And when you forgive . . .
Dyer: . . . miracles begin to appear in your life because forg iveness heals. It's the core of every great spiritual teaching - from Jesus and Buddha to Gandhi and Mother Teresa.
Family Circle: You also recommend the art of detachment, calling it "one of life's great lessons." What do you mean?
Dyer: I mean detach from the opinions of others; from the habit of judging or controlling others; from the past; from the need to be right and to win; from an obsession with material things. Follow your passion in life, but detach from the outcome and allow the universe to handle the details.
Family Circle: So, as we usher in 2003, what would you say is the key to achieving happiness?
Dyer: When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way. That's what life is. There's no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. It's what you bring to life.
*Excerpted from Family Circle/January 14, 2003 issue
About The Author:
Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, affectionately called the "father of motivation" by his fans, is one of the most widely known and respected people in the field of self-empowerment. He became a well-known author with his bestselling book, Your Erroneous Zones How to Do More, Have More and Be More

Learning From The Past

How To Overcome Limiting Beliefs

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What does it take to be a success

Success is a Decision, Not a Destination
What does it take to be a success? I have spent a lot of time asking myself that question. I heard some good definitions before, but my favorite comes from Tom Hopkins. Here is my translation.
* Success is the worthwhile pursuit of a predetermined goal.
Short and sweet, but very to the point. Too many people think success is something we have to wait for. We only have to wait for success if we choose to wait for it. Becoming a success is as easy as making a choice you know you’re going to stick too. I have a line I love to say that goes like this.
* Success is a Decision, Not a Destination.
This simply means that once you have made up your mind to reach a goal, you are already successful because you will achieve that goal. Also remember that goals are dreams with deadlines, so make sure you assign a time the goal has to be accomplished by. You can’t just say someday I’ll lose weight. That’s not a goal, that’s an opinion, and a poor one at that. Instead, say something like this: With in 6 months I’m going to lose 50 pounds. Now you have a target and a deadline. Team those up with persistence and you have a powerful, magical, wonderful combination.
You are instantly a success because you can’t fail. Failure is never permanent, and success is always achievable. What great thing would you do if you knew that you couldn’t fail? Would you write a novel, start a business? Or how about not smoking anymore. As a quick aside, I’d like to talk about quitting smoking and relate to you a funny observation I heard by Dr. Wayne Dyer. He was talking about chocolate, but smoking will be just the same.
Is it easier to smoke or not smoke? Dr. Dyer says that not smoking requires less effort. If you want to smoke you have to work to earn the money to buy them, you have to drive to the store and pick them out, you have to pack the tobacco to ensure good flavor, you have to open the package, flip the lucky, take one out, put it between your lips, light it, smoke it, throw away the butt, and put awa y the pack. All just so you can do it again in a few minutes. Compare that to not smoking. All you have to do is not smoke. That’s it! So is it easier to smoke or not smoke? I guess it depends on how you look at it.
I hope to convey a central theme with this article. You are a success once you set a goal. A goal has a deadline and must be accomplished. Success is a decision, not a destination. By the time you reach your goal, you’ve already been living as a successful person. Thinking of yourself as a success now will make you finish your goal, because you will become what you think you are. Successful people meet their goals and do great things and with your new decision you’re now a successful person.
Michael Giannulis is a web entrenpreneur, weight loss expert, and motivational speaker. His whole life changed at the age of 24 when he realized the Secret to achieving success. He shares his insight on his blog, in books, cds, and motivational and training speeches.
His blog can be found at http://www.onlyonemike.com

Your Focus

Your Higher Purpose In Life

Rosa Parks

(February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005)

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was an African American seamstress and civil rights activist whom the U.S. Congress dubbed the "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement". Parks is famous for her refusal on December 1, 1955 to obey bus driver James Blake's demand that she give up her seat to a white passenger. Her subsequent arrest and trial for this act of civil disobedience triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in history, and launched Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the organizers of the boycott, to the forefront of the civil rights movement. Her role in American history earned her an iconic status in American culture, and her actions have left an enduring legacy for civil rights movements around the world.

Great People of History Bessie Coleman Rosa Parks

Tips For Happiness

Yoga Tips For Happiness Off The Yoga Mat

After spending time in a class with your Yoga teacher, for an hour or two, the commute home is much more tranquil. You left anxiety back at the door step of your Yoga class, and have discovered inner peace again. How do you capture that feeling of tranquility and “bottle it?”
Would you like to order “Yoga to go” or package some “inner peace?” If only it were that easy to package Yoga. Yet, there are some tools that will help you maintain your peace of mind, until your next Yoga class.

Music: Music, that generates relaxing and happy feelings, has the power to be particularly uplifting. Music is a great way to prevent anxiety, loneliness, and sadness. Some of the better music for Yoga can also be played when you are commuting from one point to the next.
If you shop for Yoga music CD’s, you may also want to try an audio book, in CD format, about Yoga, self-help, or self-improvement. Some of these CD’s can be played many times and can create a positive frame of mind.

Major Characteristics of A Strategic Thinker

Let’s begin with a definition of strategic thinking so we are all on the same page before reading the article. Strategic thinking is the way people think about, assess, view and create the future for themselves and others. It is much more than responding and reacting to both day-to-day and long-term problems, opportunities and new realities. It is proactive, not reactive and focuses on creating a better future and adding value. Strategic thinking always involves change and imagining the results we can achieve in the future.

So what makes a strategic thinker? What are some of the major characteristics of a strategic thinker? Here are eight (8) major characteristics of strategic thinkers from my perspective as a strategic thinking business coach.

Characteristic #1: possess the ability to move out of their comfort zone and use new and broader boundaries for thinking, planning, performing, analyzing and evaluating and continuous improvement.

Characteristic #2: are very passionate abou t what they do. They have a deep source of energy and motivation.

Characteristic #3: are life-long learners are driven to teach others and share what they have learned.

Characteristic #4: differentiate between the ends (what) and the means (how). They define and plan results at multiple levels before deciding how to achieve the results.

Characteristic #5: are risk takers. They do not limit themselves by current paradigms. They are comfortable investing and risking today’s time for tomorrow’s potential benefit.

Characteristic #6: possess the ability to develop a vision and then use that vision as the foundation for strategic thinking and planning.

Characteristic #7: continuously keep working, connecting and communicating because they never take their success for granted.

Characteristic #8: are will to develop outrageous and extraordinary objectives that define the desired results in measurable terms.

Glenn Ebersole, Jr. is a multi-faceted professional, who is recognized as a visionary, guide and facilitator in the fields of business coaching, marketing, public relations, management, strategic planning and engineering. Glenn is the Founder and Chief Executive of two Lancaster, PA based consulting practices: The Renaissance Group, a creative marketing, public relations, strategic planning and business development consulting firm and J. G. Ebersole Associates, an independent professional engineering, marketing, and management consulting firm. He is a Certified Facilitator and serves as a business coach and a strategic planning facilitator and consultant to a diverse list of clients. Glenn is also the author of a monthly newsletter, “Glenn’s Guiding Lines – Thoughts From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach” and has published more than 250 articles on business.

To find out more about the benefits & rewards of effectively working with a strategic thinking business coach, please contact Glenn Ebersole through his web site at http://www.businesscoach4u.com/ or jgecoach@aol.com

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud (born Sigismund Schlomo Freud) May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939; was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who co-founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind, especially involving the mechanism of repression; his redefinition of sexual desire as mobile and directed towards a wide variety of objects; and his therapeutic techniques, especially his understanding of transference in the therapeutic relationship and the presumed value of dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires.

He is commonly referred to as "the father of psychoanalysis" and his work has been highly influential — popularizing such notions as the unconscious, defense mechanisms, Freudian slips and dream symbolism — while also making a long-lasting impact on fields as diverse as literature (Kafka), film, Marxist and feminist theories, literary criticism, philosophy, and psychology. However, his theories remain controversial and widely disputed.

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