Which would you choose?

Imagine yourself hopelessly lost in an unfamiliar city in another country. You are alone, you don’t speak the local language, you’re the only person who speaks your language for miles, and you have 7 minutes to get to an important meeting in the city center.

As you stand there wondering what to do, someone taps you on the shoulder from behind. You turn to face a dirty, haggardly, wrinkled, grey-haired woman dressed in rags, holding up three fingers at you. She whispers to you, in your language, “You seem lost. I can help.”

You of course begin to frantically explain to her your situation, but before you utter three words, she says, “YOU HAVE A CHOICE. I have three vital pieces of information I can share with you, but I will only give you ONE.”

Impatiently you nod and urge her on, c’mon, lady, faster, I’m late . . .

She pulls out a wrinkled piece of paper on which is printed the name of the company you are supposed to be meeting with in 6 minutes. She emphatically gestures with her index finger and says “NUMBER ONE: A detailed map of the building you seek.”

She then pulls out another wrinkled piece of paper, this one with the words “Yahoo! Driving Directions” printed on it. Waving two fingers in your face, she says “NUMBER TWO: instructions detailing how someone else drove to the place you want to go.”

Last, she pulls out a blank sheet of wrinkly paper and a chewed-up pencil. Holding the pencil as if to write, she licks the tip of the pencil and then squints at you. She speaks deliberately, “NUMBER THREE: I can write for you exactly where YOU stand in relation to your goal.”

Which of the three would you choose?

Today’s world offers many useful maps that describe in vivid detail what “success” looks like. Today’s world also offers wonderful travelogues detailing how others have found “success.” But what about YOU? Is there something that can tell you precisely where YOU stand, especially in relation to YOUR desired destination?

By measuring your thought patterns, recognizing which habits of thought are fostering your success, and recognizing which habits of thought may be sabotaging your efforts, a 6 Advisors™ Assessment Report & Debrief can provide you with your “exact location” in relation to where you aspire to be.

Life. The Art of Sneezing. Linked as ridiculous concepts from which one can find joy.

Projecting Gratitude

A good friend recently pointed me towards the book (nearly 100 years young) by Wallace D. Wattles titled "The Science of Getting Rich."

This friend knows me pretty well, he understands that one of my greatest challenges is simply to believe in myself, my God-given abilities, and that I have what it takes to be successful. It's funny to read myself writing this, because I recognize that I am admitting that although I have chosen to help other people with their thought processes, I have my own challenges in that regard that need to be addressed. I think I've heard it called "wounded healer" before. And yet I can still take positive energy from the fact that my own challenges give me empathy and intuition for others working through similar issues as mine; I have simply been blessed with the 6 Advisors process that I can then share with those around me.

Anyhow, my friend knew me well enough to get me to download the free e-book version of this century-old work. If you already believe in the power of thoughts on the universe around us, this book goes into explaining why our thoughts are so powerful.

I don't intend to go into depth on that philosophy here; go download the book for yourself, it's well worth the effort and time.

The concept this book introduced me to that I'd like to expand upon here is the concept of expressing gratitude for things I haven't yet received. I understand what it means to be grateful for things I have already received, things I have in my life that I'd be lost without: wife, children, religion, health, good friends, great family, etc. But I NEVER considered the concept of expressing gratitude for things that haven't happened yet as a way of expressing faith and as a way of utilizing the power of thought to create change in the universe.

I recently led a group discussion around this topic in church and, lucky for me (haha, "lucky," here I am talking about gratitude and I say "lucky"), someone shared a really cool story about this very principle.

He talked about entering an essay contest last year. The day he turned in his essay, he put a sign up on his wall that read, "I am grateful for winning this writing contest." Three months later, he received notification that he won.

Whatever you want to say about this, you can't deny the genius of this simple expression of gratitude AND faith. He already assumed he would win. Kind of like in some sales-speak, we're told to assume the sale. He expressed gratitude for it before he even received it, which, if you believe in God or god or some supreme being, makes it difficult for the divine to ignore.

What happens if he doesn't receive it? The attitude of gratitude makes it so that you can be grateful for not receiving it, if you think about it. If I express gratitude now for some big contract that's already been set in motion in my life (true story), but for some reason it doesn't happen, do I lose faith? No, if I am expressing sincere gratitude, I understand inherently that it's probably all for the best, and I can accept it and move forward towards other opportunities without remorse, without resentment, without anything.

Perhaps some might consider me naive to think this way. I choose to consider this as a means to helping me overcome my weak thought processes around my own success. Like Wallace says in his book, all it takes is for one success to come to me from this practice, and it has been proven to be effective. Anything wrong with that? No.

Life. The Art of Sneezing. Linked as ridiculous concepts from which one can find joy.