Issue # 40

To Your Success

June 2007 

Our Mission:
To help people live happy, successful lives ... to harness their natural power and live to their full potential.

"You don't have to change that much for it to make a great deal of difference. A few simple disciplines can have a major impact on how your life works out in the next 90 days, let alone in the next 12 months or the next 3 years."----- Jim Rohn

BLIND TO THE OBVIOUS

It's interesting how conversations about a certain topic often come in bunches; at least they do for me. What I mean is that over a period of days or weeks I'll find myself having discussions with a variety of people at different times, all relating to the same topic. Not surprisingly, these topics or issues often become the focus of these newsletters … I've come to view these conversation bunches as a sign of what direction these writings should go.

Well, this past couple of weeks it happened again.

Just so you know, I can totally relate to today's topic (good thing, or I wouldn't be able to write about it) because it's something that I've dealt with in the past on more than one occasion and no doubt will again. It's about being blind to the obvious.

To help clarify I'll relate a personal experience.

Many years ago, when I was still in the very early stages of learning all this wonderful life success and achievement stuff, I was an avid recreational golfer. I apparently took the game quite seriously; at least that's what my wife Kisch will tell you.

When I first came to understand that I really enjoyed the game I made a decision to become a reasonably competent player and it seemed logical that in order to do so I would need to learn the fundamentals of the golf swing, the mechanics of it so to speak.

I figured that if I could learn what caused good results then I might be able to reproduce them again and again more or less at will, rather than experiencing the frustration of wildly inconsistent outcomes. I'd already noticed that in a lot of golfers, as well as myself.

Learning these fundamentals in a sport is really no different than developing an understanding of color if you're going to be an artist, or keys and chord structure if you're going to be a musician.

So in typical fashion I dove into the subject, reading golf instruction books and magazines by the dozens in order to learn and understand these fundamentals. Then I would go to the practice range or out on the course and teach myself how to apply them. In hindsight, taking lessons from a qualified professional instructor would certainly have made sense as well but I had a very strong tendency back in those days to do things the hard way. For some reason I took pride in being 'self taught' in many of my undertakings … go figure. As I've since learned, there are easier ways of going about it.

In any case I learned. I learned about proper grip, stance, ball positioning, take away, swing plane, follow through, and so on … all the components that are important to the development and maintenance of a sound golf swing. I developed an understanding of what caused certain types of shots, like hooks, draws, slices, fades, flyers and so on (if you're not a golfer hang in there with me, we're almost done with this tale). Within a reasonable time I became moderately proficient and consistent, at least by club golfer standards.

But every once in a while an interesting thing would happen. I'd go into a slump. A part of my game would fall apart, the very thing I wanted to avoid in the first place.

I'd become FRUSTRATED! I would blame my equipment (old technology), the golf course (who in their right mind would plant that stupid tree there anyway), or my golfing companions (their play was too fast or too slow and it was throwing me off my game). As you can tell, I wasn't exactly Mr. Personal Responsibility back then.

I'd occasionally grumble to my golf partners after hitting a bad shot, perhaps hoping for a little sympathy. Inevitably however someone would offer suggestions as to what was causing my problem, but that only made me angry. After all, I wasn't looking for advice; I only wanted to complain. And so it would go.

But sooner or later, usually in a quiet moment playing out there by myself, I'd get a brainwave, an inspiration. "Hmm", I'd think to myself, "maybe I should check my fundamentals."

And I would. And inevitably I'd find that over time I had somehow gradually slipped into a bad habit. My grip had changed slightly, or my stance, or my ball position. One of those basic, simple things that I thought had become second nature had somehow gone awry. And with that breach of fundamentals came frustrating results.

So I'd refocus, go back to the basics, and … VOILA! … things would change. Golf would be fun again. AMAZING!

So how does this tie into our topic and what's the moral of this story?

Simply this. It's also easy to become 'blind to the obvious' in the game of life, to get away from the fundamentals … even when we supposedly know better. And this is especially true when it comes to living in harmony with the mental laws of life success and achievement.

Let me explain.

As you may know (especially if you've been reading these newsletters for awhile), there are a series of natural laws or principles that explain how it is that we get what we get in life. These days the most widely known of these laws seems to be the Law of Attraction but there are others, such as the Laws of Accident, Concentration, Belief, Expectation, Substitution and Responsibility that are equally important to understand.

An understanding of these laws enables us to develop and maintain a sound 'swing' that will allow us to get the kinds of results we want, and to enjoy the game. We won't go into detail here about these laws (check out our upcoming September ThoughtShop program at the end of this article if you're interested in learning more) but the reality is that they are, to playing the game of life successfully, what swing fundamentals are to successfully playing the game of golf. And speaking from personal experience, I can assure you that ignoring or getting sloppy in the fundamentals of anything is asking for problems.

In a nutshell, what these laws tell us is that our thinking determines the quality of our life in each and every area. What we allow ourselves to think about determines how we feel, our attitude and outlook, our actions and intentions, and inevitably our outcomes or results. These laws explain how our thoughts attract not only other thoughts of a similar nature, but also people, circumstances and situations of a similar nature.

It's really quite amazing. The way we think and feel determines who and what shows up in our life, as well as how we experience who and what shows up in our life.

And here's the thing … in order to get the 'whos', 'whats', and 'experiences' that we want, we must have our thoughts in harmony with that. We must LOOK for that in our life and expect it, anticipate it with feeling … not look for, expect and anticipate what we don't want. Because whatever we consistently think about, look for, expect and anticipate, is what we're going to end up with (whether it's what we want or what we don't want).

So here's a question for each of us … what's showing up in life these days? Are we happy with that? If yes, wonderful, let's keep right on doing what we're doing.

If no however, then doesn't it just make sense to change our thinking and feeling in such a way that we can begin attracting what we do want? Because if we don't, that undesired stuff is going to keep showing up over and over again.

That's what the Law of Responsibility is all about. It tells us that because our thoughts determine who and what we attract into our life, and we alone control our thoughts, we are ultimately responsible. No ifs, ands or buts. End of story! Period!

And believe me, it doesn't help to keep complaining. That won't bring different stuff, I've tried it and it doesn't work. It also doesn't do any good to get angry or blame others.

It's no different than the golf swing. Bad fundamentals, bad outcomes. Good fundamentals, good outcomes. If we don't like the outcomes then we'd better go back to the basics and correct the fundamentals. Why wouldn't we? Who wants bad results?

Too simple.

Hope this has been helpful in some way ... I know it has been for me. It's reminded me to take off my dark glasses, notice the obvious, and again refocus on the fundamentals.

To your success,
Reg Neufeld

"Mastery is not something that strikes in an instant, like a thunderbolt, but a gathering power that moves steadily through time, like the weather." ----- John Champlin Gardner, Jr.

ARE YOU EXPERIENCING EVERYTHING YOU WANT IN LIFE?

Are you ready now to move ahead in your personal or professional life in big way? Then take a giant step forward by enrolling in The ThoughtShop. ( more information)

This powerful life success and achievement workshop will help you clarify what you want to be, do and have in life, and give you the tools you need to accomplish anything and everything important to you.

You will learn the timeless natural laws that govern the world we live in, as well as how to apply them in positive way … and be amazed by the simplicity of it all.

Our next (and due to private booking commitments perhaps last for some time) open to the public ThoughtShop in the Fraser Valley will take place immediately after the summer holiday season. Don't miss it!

The ThoughtShop a truly life changing experience!
3 Full Days (One day per week)
Saturdays, September 15, 22 & 29
Abbotsford, BC (venue to be announced)
Early Enrollment Rate - $499 per person
Special Couples Rate - $799

Growing Into Success Training
Ph: 604 793 8696
Fax: 604 792 7467
Email: reg@growingintosuccess.com
www.growingintosuccess.com

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Reg Neufeld, founder of Growing Into Success Training, is a teacher of life success and achievement principles using practical, step-by-step processes that can help you get from where you are to where you want to be. If you're ready to take control and begin living a truly happy and successful life, get your FREE success tips now at www.growingintosuccess.com