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School just started, summer holidays just ending and the world in chaos, so you might be facing a few challenges. In this episode we’ll explore a 5 step process to dissolve those challenges and more easily create the outcomes you want.
Topics Covered:
0:45 – Focus on what you DO want instead of what you DON’T want
2:15 – Love the rocks
4:32 – De-clutter your mind and heart
5:50 – Download your inner genius
7:57 – Write a new MindStory
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LINKS
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THE MINDSTORY INNER COACH BOOK plus two sample Neuro-Blueprints
Discover How to Install the MINDSTORY METHOD into Your Coaching Business to earn an extra 10K or more per month…
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Connect with Carla Rieger:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/carlarieger
Twitter – https://twitter.com/carlarieger
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlarieger/
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This is EP 70 – HOW TO DISSOLVE CHALLENGES BY WRITING A NEW MINDSTORY. During this week of school starting, summer holidays ending and the world in chaos, you might be facing a lot of challenges. In this episode we’ll explore a 5 step process to dissolve those challenges and more easily create the outcomes you want. Hi, I’m Carla Rieger, and this is the MindStory Speaker Podcast.
Here are five practical steps, you can do in your own mind, or on paper. Just keep one particular challenge in mind as you do this, as it helps to give you a focus.
Step 1 – Focus on what you DO want.
David Whyte, an expert on workplace creativity, is quoted as saying “The antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest, but often it’s wholeheartedness.” I believe that’s because many people when faced with a challenge tend to focus on and communicate about what they don’t want instead of what they DO want. For example, “I don’t want to attend these long, poorly facilitated work meetings,” becomes “I’d like to have shorter, more organized, engaging and productive meetings.” “I am tired of this constant back pain” becomes “I’d like to have a healthy back.” Sounds simple, but do you do actually practice this as much as you could? That habit alone of reframing towards what you want, starts to create a new story in your mind about how your life will go. You start envisioning productive meetings and a healthy spine, its going to prime your brain to focus on, find and implement solutions. When you’re in solutions mode, your heart gets involved and you develop wholeheartedness that brings up your energy better than almost anything else.
Step 2 – Love the rocks
Once long ago, a Zen master was able to remove very big rocks — yet he was a very fragile man. It was almost impossible looking at his physiology. Much stronger men than him were unable to pull those same rocks, and he would simply pull them with little effort. When he was asked what his trick was, he replied, “There is no trick — I love the rock so the rock helps. I simply hold the rock lovingly… and wait for a sign. It is usually a shudder, and my whole spine starts vibrating, then I move. If I move before this sign, then it’s against the rock; and I can’t do it. If I flow with the rock then the rock just moves itself.”
Sometimes things don’t change because they aren’t ready to change. For example, your body might be keeping on extra weight as a way of protecting your body from excess toxins in your fat cells http://www.content4reprint.com/fitness/weight-loss/how- toxins-are-making-you-fat.htm. You may need to cleanse your body before your body will release the excess weight. You may also have a habit of cursing your body for holding onto excess weight. This can make the body sub-consciously want to rebel. One client, Tracey, reported using this weird, fun but simple tactic. When she weighed and measured herself, if she gained weight or stayed the same, she simply threw both arms in the air and yelled, “Excellent!” If she DID lose weight she yelled out, “Double excellent!” Over time she figured this helped her enjoy the process more, and it trained her brain to be happy with her body no matter what. What you resist persists, so this was an important psychological and physiological way for her to break free of negativity patterns around weight, and this, she feels, was the lynch pin, the transforming idea, that finally allowed her to shed excess pounds.”
Step 3 – De-clutter
In the book Unclutter Your Life: Transforming Your Physical, Mental, And Emotional Space, the author, Katherine Gibson, says, often people can’t change because they haven’t cleared out the old first. Just as an artist cannot paint a new painting until she creates a blank canvas, sometimes you need to clear something from your mental, emotional or physical palette before a new possibility can flourish. Here are some interesting reports from our clients who have chosen to de-clutter at a variety of levels. One man claimed that soon after de-cluttering his basement a long overdue debt that was owed to him miraculously showed up. Another woman said that forgiving an ex-partner (emotional de-cluttering) finally allowed her to be open to a new romance. A third client said that writing out all her complaints about her new job and then burning the piece of paper (mental de-cluttering) allowed her to start enjoying her new job.
Step 4 – Download Your Inner Genius
If you play tennis with someone who is better than you, your game tends to improve. You are picking up skills sub-consciously by osmosis. It’s like downloading information (or a certain kind of genius) from someone else’s bio-computer, just like you would from a web site. You can do this with anything and you can do it without anyone else being present. Here’s how you can do it with a particular problem you face right now. Think of that problem and then simply ask yourself “If I were exceptional at ___________ – what would I do that I’m not doing now?” For example, if you feel overwhelmed by your To Do’s ask “If I were exceptional at time management – what would I do that I’m not doing now?” Keep asking this over and over again until your bio-computer processes an answer for you. In this case, my client Rick came up with this idea: “I would ask my brother how he is so organized.” He recommended David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, http://www.davidco.com/ and ever since reading and implementing those ideas Rick almost always has a clear desktop and an empty email inbox.
Step 5 – Write a New MindStory
Once you’ve done those steps, you can put them all together in a new MindStory. Successful people dissolve challenges by taking back control of the meaning they give to those challenges and ensuring it sticks in the deeper part of the mind, by writing out both a past and a future MindStory. What do I mean by that? So think of one present day challenge. Ask yourself this…What is a challenge from my past that I overcame successfully AND that is similar to what I’m now dealing with? For example, a client of mine was looking for funding to scale up her existing business but few venture capitalists were wanting to invest in her kind of business. They wanted the kind of business that would go up 100x in, like, 3 months so they could get their money back asap. Her kind of business was more for people who were patient, believed in slow, sustainable growth and wanted to invest in something they felt was a values match. A time in her past when she faced a similar situation was when she started her first business which was a wellness centre with various alternative practitioners, yoga, a juice bar, a meeting room that people could rent to run meditation classes, etc. That was her vision. At the time she couldn’t get traditional funding or even loans, but she allowed herself to think outside the box. After brainstorming with several people and researching possibilities she came up with an idea that worked. A local chiropractic clinic had just ended a partnership with someone who used several rooms for massage. They shared the same space. He had this large office, but not enough services and practitioners now using the space. He decided to try a short term agreement with my client, whereby she would use the space with him. They put on a big launch day event. Because her vision was a bit unusual it attracted local media, which brought a lot of people out to the launch day. That brought in more clients for both them. Eventually, they ended up expanding the space and had a successful wellness centre for years. So, that was a past mindstory where she got the support she needed to grow a business.
The next question you ask yourself, after writing out the past mindstory is, What was good about that experience? List as many things as possible. What might you have learned? How did you become more experienced, resilient, wiser, or better by having gone through this? So she made a big list and was amazed about all that she learned and all the ways she grew from that. Then, summarize the challenge you’re going through right now. E.g. Not finding the funding she needs to expand her business. And she asks herself, What’s good about this situation now? She listed as many things as possible, answering specifically things like…What might I be learning? How might I become more experienced, resilient, wiser, or innovative because I’m going through this experience right now? That exercise made her remember attending a small business forum where she learned all about non traditional funding sources. Her imagination went wild with the possibilities. That made her brainstorm and research and talk to colleagues and open her mind to all kinds of new possibilities.
So, that’s what you do and then you write out a future MindStory, also called a future memory. It’s like a past memory, only told with the details of how you want it to turn out. So you’re using your imagination here so just have fun with it. If you hear an inner voice say things like, well that’s silly, that will never happen, this will only create disappointment, this is something Pollyanna people do and just end up looking stupid for even thinking it could happen…don’t worry…those kinds of thoughts are normal. They are subconscious programs many people have that keep them from thinking big and creating miracles in their lives. So, don’t try to argue with or squash that voice, just listen, include and do it anyway. You can just say to that voice “Thank you for sharing your point of view. I will consider that moving forward.” And then just get on with it.
Now some tips for making this work is to be specific in the outcome you want, but keep it more broad and open for HOW you get there. In other words, the purpose is to trigger the reticular activation system whereby you start seeing the world in terms of this outcome being possible. That may mean being open to ways of getting there that are outside your expectations, outside what you believe is possible, outside of what you’ve heard of before. Most people don’t solve complex problems because they are only looking for solutions they expect, that which is inside what they believe is possible, in other words something they’ve done or heard of before. But the truth is, given how massively the world is changing, we can’t look to the past for solutions, we have to imagine the world we want, and look beyond the horizon for solutions.
So here’s what she did. She’s imagined writing this five years from now looking back. “I started my 2nd business offering online courses and expert interviews to people around the world. At the time I couldn’t get traditional funding, but I allowed myself to think outside the box. After brainstorming with several colleagues and researching possibilities I came up with an idea that worked. With their help I created a video that attracted a few joint venture partners, who made my online classes an “add on” for their offerings to people. They ended up doing most of the marketing for me in the beginning. That allowed me to grow quickly and hire good people to take me to the next level of success. Once I had a solid following, I attracted grants, equity partners and funding I’d never heard of before. They were people and groups that shared my values and vision for what I was trying to accomplish. They worked in a way that allowed the business to grow with integrity, in a collaborative, win-win way. I’m now operating all over the world, making a difference in millions of people’s lives and I love what I’m doing.
Now after you write that out, you might want to re-read it from time to time to ensure it sticks. With our clients we create what’s called neuro-blueprints customized for them and their vision. They listen for a minimum of 66 days which imprints it onto what’s called the formative learning system in the deeper part of the mind, so that then it comes about effortlessly in their life. The strange thing is that many people re-read the story a few years later and are shocked to see how close it all turned out. Does it happen exactly like you write out? Sometime yes, sometimes no. Sometimes it doesn’t happen at all, but something far better happens, or something different happens that needed to happen in order for you to be ready for that goal. Life works in mysterious ways, but I do believe that if you have a vision, a business idea, a mission and it really stirs you deep down inside. That it’s not just something you think you should do, because someone online said it was a good way to make money, in other words you are moved to do this, from the higher mind, then it’s meant to be. Sometimes it doesn’t happen right away, sometimes there are challenges to overcome, but that’s part of the adventure, and important for you to learn and grow. That’s when it’s important not to give up on the ultimate outcome you’re going for. You will need to course correct, and the “how” will unfold in unexpected and magical ways. This MindStory process is a tool to help you do that. Enjoy!
This podcast episode, by the way, is based on our book, MindStory Inner Coach. If you’d like more tools like this, for a limited time we’re offering this book for free on our website: MindStoryAcademy.com. Or you can get it on Amazon as a hard copy or on Kindle. You’ll also see the free book link in the show notes. Along with the book, you also get two free guided audios that are examples of what we do at MindStory Coaching Academy, that are called neuro-blueprints. They are form of mental rehearsal that uses MindStories to create ideal outcomes in your life.
One is called how to end self sabotage, it’s one you would use at night. The other is called your hero’s journey, which is about reframing the challenges of your life in terms of a mythic adventure and how those challenges have forged you in the fire of wisdom to now help others. Sometimes that’s hard to see until you do a process like this. And this is a version you would do in the morning. These take chapters 2 and 10 of the book to a much deeper level. All together, the audios and the book come to $94 but you can get them free right now.
Also if you’d like to learn how to install our whole MindStory Method into your coaching business see the link below for more details. We help business coaches increase their income by 10K or more within 90 days by installing a 5 step system to supercharge all aspects of their business, from getting coaching results that stick to marketing your business in a way that magnetizes ideal people, to reconstructing your sense of power and purpose, to creating a business model that lets you live the lifestyle you love. See the MindStory Method link for Business Coaches, in the shownotes.
That’s it for today, I hope it was useful. Do hit subscribe if you want to hear about other episodes coming up, which you can do on our website MindStoryAcademy.com\podcast. and you’ll see all the ways to subscribe or, if you’re listening on YouTube, just subscribe to our channel. Until next time, I’m Carla Rieger. Thank you for listening.
