You make me feel like dancing...

When you think about every relationship you have, romantic, family, work and all the others do you realise that, no matter how it may seem, that you have control over them all. 

I often describe relationships like a dance. Every one is a  set of steps where two people play their role, responding perfectly to whatever the other does eventually ending up in a whole range of beautifully choreographed set of trigger and response.  

Think about it. Choose a close relationship that you are part of. I guarantee there are things they do that you will always respond to in a perfectly conditioned way (whether that's positive or negative is irrelevant!). There are ways they say your name, ways they look at you, ways they walk, talk, move and you respond the same way every single ruddy time. You have been choreographed. You are part of the dance. 

The thing to realise is that a dance like this takes two people. You cannot waltz alone. And, whether you are the leader or follower, if you change your steps in this dance the simple fact is that the dance MUST change. 

One of my favourite phrases is 'it's not them, it's you'. The dance will never change if you wait for the other person to lead. It's down to you. 

So ask yourself, what's the step that takes your dance where you don't want it to go? What's that thing you do that takes the dance to that same ruddy place every ruddy time?

What would happen if you change it? What would happen if you stopped that 'step'? What would happen if you simply stopped accepting that the dance has to be danced the same way every single time. 

Make the dance the dance you want to dance....wooft, try saying that 3 times quickly!!! 

Oh crap, I've just discovered I don't exist

You know, your mind is a very, very amazing machine yet, at it's most basic level, it is nothing more than a bunch of chemicals and some electricity. I suppose that makes it even more amazing but you get what I mean!

Every thought you've ever had, every emotion you've ever felt, every sunset you've ever marvelled over, every incredible thing you've ever learned...nothing more than chemistry and electricity.

But we can go further than that. One of my favourite books is 'A short history of nearly everything' by Bill Bryson. In the book he has a short passage that basically says that if we could pick you apart atom by atom we would end up with a pile of atomic dust, none of which had ever been alive but, all the same, all of which had been you. 

So what is life? How do we create it from this atomic dust, chemical soup and ability to generate electricity?

It's when we put all these things together that magic happens.  It's when this atomic dust learns the exact chemical soup to conduct the perfect electric dance that somewhere inside it comes together into something we experience as an image. A representation of the experiences of our sensory cells translated from a cacophony of light, sound and electrical resistance. 

This is our reality. And, when we learn that we are the machine, we can have control. 

Now that I am this far into this post I've realised I've opened a can of worms bigger than one post! Woops!

So here's a wee temporary conclusion before we come back to it tomorrow - you are in charge of you. You are the machine. Put the right things in, get the right things out. So tonight and tomorrow, notice what happens if you take charge of your machine and only run pictures of what you want rather than what you don't.   

You have been put in charge of some remarkable machinery. You owe it to yourself to drive it with care and precision :)

Holding and Feeling....

Tiny Tuesday Treat: What's your next ambition? What do you want to achieve?

Take some time just now and, even if your watching telly or having your tea, just let it muse through your head. Give it detail and really consider it. Do it for as long as you can...then ask yourself -

How long did you last before you let the vision fade?

The longer you can hold your dreams as reality in your head the more likely you are to be able to do what you need to make them happen. Your responds to your dreams with emotion and emotion is the fuel for your success.

Allow yourself to feel your dreams. Never hide from your own ambition.

Your a feckin Champion, you know that?

Is there a success virus do you think? Watching the Olympics over the last 10 days or so, it seems like, for Team GB anyway, that success has become infectious. Spreading from one member of the team to the next, giving people hope, encouragement and an extra push when it matters. 

Success does that. I remember in a previous 'life' (when I had a 'proper' job!) working for one of the UKs biggest banks and financial institutions when that success was infecting the whole country. We called the infection the dot.com boom. It felt like everyone was financially invincible. Put money here, make a packet quickly, get out while the going is good. It didn't last. 

A company called LastMinute.com came along.  The news showed clips of desperate people running trying to get their applications in just before it closed, it was going to be amazing. They were all going to be rich by the next week. Sadly, LastMinute.com launched at 8am and by 10am had started to fall. It never recovered and, 12 years later, has never reached its opening share price. 

This is when people are tested. Not when success is there, but when success stops. 

It's all natural law, what goes up must come down, nothing is constant, entropy.  But it is when this happens that the truly successful set themselves apart. The strongest system, survives. The strongest genes, survive. The strongest company, survives. The strongest people, survive.

When all the success is gone amd the pushing and encouragement stops there is an important thought. Success is temporary, but so is the lack of it.  It's time for evolution not panic or fear.  

Stock markets go up and down. It's the nature of the machine. But it will survive because some people will never, ever give up. 

The Olympic glow will pass, some people will decide they will never succeed but the strongest and most committed will be back and be champions. Why? Because they will never, ever give up. 

In your life, whatever it is that is happening for you now will pass (ups or downs).  Your success or lack of it is temporary and you can either face it like a champion or this can be your LastMinute. 

Never, ever give up. Be infected and stay infected by success. 

I want to BreakThrough...

When you were young did you envisage that you would be where you are now? Did you think you would have the relationships, money, circumstances, opportunities and life that you have created for yourself?

When you think about it, everyone's has something. Something more they want to do, somewhere amazing they haven't been yet, something special they have still to achieve. So now is the time to get that something...

The BreakThrough Weekend has helped hundreds of people achieve their dreams by showing them h

ow to take control, believe in their own ability and take their attitude and focus to the next level. What could you do with your life if you knew how to? What are you capable of that you haven't done yet.

BreakThrough Weekend is a life changing 2-days. It is the beginning of many special things and you can be part of it. You will leave this course and enter a new life, a life where you are in control.

The next BreakThrough Weekend is being held in Glasgow on September 15 & 16th and is STILL only £80 for the whole weekend. You can book now. Just click here and you've made a massive step towards getting what you want Www.headstrongnlp.com/breakthrough

All that is needed just now is a small £20 deposit and you will be there. You are the most important thing in your life. You owe it to yourself to put everything you can into having the life you want.

I hope you can make it

Brian

PS cos a lot of people ask, there is no need to speak out or share anything you would rather not. The only person that needs to know why you are there is you :)

Quick Progress Update

Wee quickie: Progress, how do you know you've made it?

I meet a lot of people who tell me how stuck they are yet, when they tell me the things they have done, you find out they are amazing. One of the problems, in my opinion, is how stuck people gauge their personal progress.

So here's a wee thing; think about yourself a year ago.  Think about who you were, where your life was, what you knew and what you were doing.  Now ask yourself, how has the 'now' you progressed from the 'then' you?

Now, think about yourself three years ago and ask the same questions.

Keep going if you want to really become amazed at yourself. You ten years ago and you now are very different people I bet!

You've never stopped progressing.  Every day you become more special. You should just accept how special you are :)

Ah jaysus, I'm on fire!

When was the last time you felt a spark? You know those moments when, from somewhere, something begins. It can be something sparking inside you or maybe it's a spark that jumps between you and someone else, but you know the feeling I'm talking about. Think, when was the last time you felt it?

I've wondered how cool it would be to bottle 'spark'! What would you do with it if you got it?

The interesting thing is that, scientifically speaking, sparks require polarity, positive and negative.  That's something we all accept.

So why in life do positive and negative not create sparks. In fact, they tend to repel each other and attract themselves. It contravenes every law of physics we know!   In some cases it does work, for example the spark between masculine and feminine, but what is it we have to do to create a spark within ourselves? 

I don't necessarily have the 'right' answer (although I'm intrigued to know if you have thoughts) but here's a thought. When I speak, coach and train I often feel the spark between me and the people I am talking to. It's a tangible energy that builds up between us and often starts a fire that keeps on burning long after we have done what we came to do (and can I pop in here that it burns in us all, including me).  So what if a spark isn't a spark caused by polarity, what if it is a spark of pure energy?

Given enough energy you can ignite anything but to really catch it needs two things persistence and focus. It's the life equivalent of sunshine and a magnifying glass. So here's a wee thought for you tonight, what is it that you want so much that when you think about it you feel that spark do everything it can to ignite. Think about it and feel it. But this time, just for 5 minutes, don't ignore it. Don't run from it. Don't extinguish it. Focus everything you have on it. Dream it, feel it, imagine it, live it.  Feel that spark turn into a small flame and allow it to begin burning. When it is, go to sleep and allow it to really catch overnight so that when you wake tomorrow, you're on fire.

"It only takes one tree to make a thousand matches, only takes one match to burn a thousand trees"