Visualize and Affirm Your Desired Outcomes:
A Step-by-Step Guide
by Jack Canfield
You have within you an awesome power that most of us have never been taught to use. Elite athletes use it. The super rich use it. And peak performers in all fields are now starting to use it. That power is called visualization. The daily practice of visualizing your dreams as already complete can rapidly accelerate your achievement of those dreams. Visualization of your goals and desires accomplishes four very important things.
1. It activates your creative subconscious which will start generating creative ideas to achieve your goal.
2. It programs your brain to more readily perceive and recognize the resources you will need to achieve your dreams.
3. It activates the law of attraction, thereby drawing into your life the people, resources, and circumstances you will need to achieve your goals.
4. It builds your internal motivation to take the necessary actions to achieve your dreams.
Visualization is really quite simple. You sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and imagine — in as vivid detail as you can — what you would be looking at if the dream you have were already realized. Imagine being inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes at the ideal result.
Mental Rehearsal
Athletes call this visualization process “mental rehearsal,” and they have been using it since the 1960s when we learned about it from the Russians. All you have to do is set aside a few minutes a day. The best times are when you first wake up, after meditation or prayer, and right before you go to bed. These are the times you are most relaxed. Go through the following three steps:
1. Imagine sitting in a movie theater, the lights dim, and then the movie starts. It is a movie of you doing perfectly whatever it is that you want to do better. See as much detail as you can create, including your clothing, the expression on your face, small body movements, the environment and any other people that might be around. Add in any sounds you would be hearing — traffic, music, other people talking, cheering. And finally, recreate in your body any feelings you think you would be experiencing as you engage in this activity.
2. Get out of your chair, walk up to the screen, open a door in the screen and enter into the movie. Now experience the whole thing again from inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes. This is called an “embodied image” rather than a “distant image.” It will deepen the impact of the experience. Again, see everything in vivid detail, hear the sounds you would hear, and feel the feelings you would feel.
3. Finally, walk back out of the screen that is still showing the picture of you performing perfectly, return to your seat in the theater, reach out and grab the screen and shrink it down to the size of a cracker. Then, bring this miniature screen up to your mouth, chew it up and swallow it. Imagine that each tiny piece — just like a hologram — contains the full picture of you performing well. Imagine all these little screens traveling down into your stomach and out through the bloodstream into every cell of your body. Then imagine that every cell of your body is lit up with a movie of you performing perfectly. It’s like one of those appliance store windows where 50 televisions are all tuned to the same channel.
When you have finished this process — it should take less than five minutes — you can open your eyes and go about your business. If you make this part of your daily routine, you will be amazed at how much improvement you will see in your life.
Create Goal Pictures
Another powerful technique is to create a photograph or picture of yourself with your goal, as if it were already completed. If one of your goals is to own a new car, take your camera down to your local auto dealer and have a picture taken of yourself sitting behind the wheel of your dream car. If your goal is to visit Paris, find a picture or poster of the Eiffel Tower and cut out a picture of yourself and place it into the picture. With today’s technology, you could probably make an even more convincing image using your computer.
Create a Visual Picture and an Affirmation for Each Goal
We recommend that you find or create a picture of every aspect of your dream life. Create a picture or a visual representation for every goal you have — financial, career, recreation, new skills and abilities, things you want to purchase, and so on.
When we were writing the very first Chicken Soup for the Soul® book, we took a copy of the New York Times best seller list, scanned it into our computer, and using the same font as the newspaper, typed Chicken Soup for the Soul into the number one position in the “Paperback Advice, How-To and Miscellaneous” category. We printed several copies and hung them up around the office. Less than two years later, our book was the number one book in that category and stayed there for over a year!
Index Cards
We practice a similar discipline every day. We each have a list of about 30-40 goals we are currently working on. We write each goal on a 3x5 index card and keep those cards near our bed and take them with us when we travel. Each morning and each night we go through the stack of cards, one at a time, read the card, close our eyes, see the completion of that goal in its perfect desired state for about 15 seconds, open our eyes and repeat the process with the next card.
Use Affirmations to Support Your Visualization
An affirmation is a statement that evokes not only a picture, but the experience of already having what you want. Here’s an example of an affirmation:
I am happily vacationing 2 months out of the year in a tropical paradise, and working just four days a week owning my own business.
Repeating an affirmation several times a day keeps you focused on your goal, strengthens your motivation, and programs your subconscious by sending an order to your crew to do whatever it takes to make that goal happen.
Expect Results
Through writing down your goals, using the power of visualization and repeating your affirmations, you can achieve amazing results. Visualization and affirmations allow you to change your beliefs, assumptions, and opinions about the most important person in your life — YOU! They allow you to harness the 18 billion brain cells in your brain and get them all working in a singular and purposeful direction.
Your subconscious will become engaged in a process that transforms you forever. The process is invisible and doesn’t take a long time. It just happens over time, as long as you put in the time to visualize and affirm, surround yourself with positive people, read uplifting books and listen to audio programs that flood your mind with positive, life-affirming messages.
Repeat your affirmations every morning and night for a month and they will become an automatic part of your thinking — they will become woven into the very fabric of your being.
© 2007 Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/
Friday, August 3, 2007
The Person Responsible For Your Success
The Person Responsible For Your Success
by Jack Canfield
It’s time to meet the person who has been responsible for the life you live right now.
This person has created your income, your debt, your relationships, your health, your fitness level, your weight, your attitudes and your behaviors. Who is it? To introduce yourself, just walk to the closest mirror and say hello! This person is you!
Although one of the popular myths out there is that "external factors" determine how you live, the truth of the matter is that you are in complete control of the quality of your life.
It’s time to look at the life you’ve created and determine what is working and what is not. Certainly there are wonderful things happening in your life, whether it’s your job, your spouse, your grades, your children, your friends, or your income level.
Congratulate yourself on these successes; you are creating them for yourself! And then take a look at what isn’t working out so well. What are you doing or not doing to create those experiences?
It’s time to stop blaming outside factors for your unhappiness.
When you realize that you create your experiences, you’ll realize that you can un-create them and create new experiences whenever you want. But you must take responsibility for your happiness and your unhappiness, your successes and your failures, your good times and your bad times. When you stop blaming, you can take that energy and redirect to focus on creating a better situation for yourself. Blaming only ties up your energy.
It’s also time to stop complaining.
Look at what you are complaining about. Really examine it. More than likely it is something that you can do something about.
Are you unhappy about something that is happening? Make requests that will make it more desirable to you, or take the steps to change it yourself. Making a change might be uncomfortable to you. It might mean you have to put in more time, money, and effort. It might mean that someone gets upset about it. It might be difficult to change or leave a situation, but staying put is your choice so why continue to complain? Face the facts that you can either do something about it or not. It is your choice and you have responsibility for your choices.
Successful people take 100% responsibility for the thoughts they think, the images that visualize and the actions they take.
They don't waste their time and energy blaming and complaining. They evaluate their experiences and decide if they need to change them or not. They face the uncomfortable and take risks in order to create the life they want to live.
Taking responsibility requires you to first decide to believe that you create all your experiences. Second, to pay attention to yourself, your behavior, and your life experiences. And last, to face the truth and deal with what is not working in your life. You have to be willing to change your behavior if you want a different outcome. You have to be willing to take the risks necessary to get what you want.
Isn’t it a great relief to know that you can make your life what you want it to be? Isn’t it wonderful that your successes do not depend on someone else?
Commit to taking 100% responsibility for your every aspect of your life. Decide to make changes, one step at a time. Once you start the process you’ll discover it is much easier to get what you want by taking control of your thoughts, your visualizations, and your actions!
© 2007 Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/
by Jack Canfield
It’s time to meet the person who has been responsible for the life you live right now.
This person has created your income, your debt, your relationships, your health, your fitness level, your weight, your attitudes and your behaviors. Who is it? To introduce yourself, just walk to the closest mirror and say hello! This person is you!
Although one of the popular myths out there is that "external factors" determine how you live, the truth of the matter is that you are in complete control of the quality of your life.
It’s time to look at the life you’ve created and determine what is working and what is not. Certainly there are wonderful things happening in your life, whether it’s your job, your spouse, your grades, your children, your friends, or your income level.
Congratulate yourself on these successes; you are creating them for yourself! And then take a look at what isn’t working out so well. What are you doing or not doing to create those experiences?
It’s time to stop blaming outside factors for your unhappiness.
When you realize that you create your experiences, you’ll realize that you can un-create them and create new experiences whenever you want. But you must take responsibility for your happiness and your unhappiness, your successes and your failures, your good times and your bad times. When you stop blaming, you can take that energy and redirect to focus on creating a better situation for yourself. Blaming only ties up your energy.
It’s also time to stop complaining.
Look at what you are complaining about. Really examine it. More than likely it is something that you can do something about.
Are you unhappy about something that is happening? Make requests that will make it more desirable to you, or take the steps to change it yourself. Making a change might be uncomfortable to you. It might mean you have to put in more time, money, and effort. It might mean that someone gets upset about it. It might be difficult to change or leave a situation, but staying put is your choice so why continue to complain? Face the facts that you can either do something about it or not. It is your choice and you have responsibility for your choices.
Successful people take 100% responsibility for the thoughts they think, the images that visualize and the actions they take.
They don't waste their time and energy blaming and complaining. They evaluate their experiences and decide if they need to change them or not. They face the uncomfortable and take risks in order to create the life they want to live.
Taking responsibility requires you to first decide to believe that you create all your experiences. Second, to pay attention to yourself, your behavior, and your life experiences. And last, to face the truth and deal with what is not working in your life. You have to be willing to change your behavior if you want a different outcome. You have to be willing to take the risks necessary to get what you want.
Isn’t it a great relief to know that you can make your life what you want it to be? Isn’t it wonderful that your successes do not depend on someone else?
Commit to taking 100% responsibility for your every aspect of your life. Decide to make changes, one step at a time. Once you start the process you’ll discover it is much easier to get what you want by taking control of your thoughts, your visualizations, and your actions!
© 2007 Jack Canfield
Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/
Daily Disciplines for Effortless Success:
Daily Disciplines for Effortless Success:
Six Steps for Activating "The Secret" in Your Life
by Jack Canfield
The first step to using Law of Attraction as presented in the movie The Secret is to clarify exactly what you want. Remember—determine, write down and talk about what you do want, not what you don’t want. Be as specific as possible. Once you have clarified what you want, do the following each and every day.
1. Morning Intention, Visualization and Releasing
As soon as you wake up in the morning, take about 5 minutes to focus your mind on your desires, goals and intentions. Start by sitting in a comfortable position, closing your eyes and visualizing your desires and goals as already being fulfilled. Spend 30 seconds to a minute on each of your core desires and goals. You can also take a few moments to visualize your day going exactly as you would like it to.
When you do this, you will often find negative limiting beliefs that are the result of negative programming from your childhood will come up. You may hear thoughts like “I could never afford that,” “there’s no way I’ll ever get that,” or “who am I kidding?” coming up. If you do, use one of the many releasing techniques that are available (see the list below) to release the negative thought. Don’t fight or argue with the thought; just release it.
Remember to also spend several moments feeling the feelings you would feel if you had already manifested your desire in your life. The intensity of the feeling is what fuels the intensity of the attraction.
Powerful releasing techniques:
The Sedona Method by Hale Dwoskin: http://www.sedonamethod.com/ (Hale will be sharing his techniques when he speaks at my summer trainingBreakthrough to Success.)
The Work by Byron Katie: http://www.thework.com/
The Emotional Freedom Technique: http://www.emofree.com/
2. Use External Images to Keep you Focused on Your Desires and Goals
To keep yourself focused on what you want to manifest surround yourself with visual images of the things and experiences you want to attract into your life. There are many techniques you can use for this.
1) Cut out pictures of the things you wish to own (like your ideal car or home) and pictures that represent the experiences you want to have (like the perfect relationship, your ideal job, perfect health, being at your ideal weight, more joy, inner peace or balance in your life)to remind yourself of how you want it to be. Tape them up where you will see them every day—on the mirror, the refrigerator, or your bulletin board. You can also scan them into your computer and make them into a screen saver or a continuously running PowerPoint program.
2) Combine your pictures and words that you cut out into a collage on a large piece of poster board.
3) Make a Dream Book by putting the pictures into a 3-ring binder pasted onto the pages or slid into plastic page protectors.
When you look at any of these pictures, do what Bob Doyle, who is featured in The Secret teaches— think the thought, “THIS IS MINE NOW! THIS IS WHO I AM!”
3. Think a Better Feeling Thought
Start paying attention to the many times during the day that you have emotional responses (to other people, experiences, or your own thoughts) that are not in alignment with having or producing your desires. Pay special attention to when you feel disappointment, resentment, frustration or anger about your experiences and circumstances.
Remember, it’s your feelings (which are created by your thoughts, opinions, and beliefs) that are attracting your current circumstances. You must make a vibrational shift by changing your thoughts to ones that make you feel better (i.e., raise your vibration). Remember that you must become a vibrational match for the things and experiences that you want to attract into your life.
It is especially important to focus your thoughts and behaviors on things that cause you to feel joy. Focus your thoughts on thoughts that bring you joy (your lover, your best friend, your grandchildren, your favorite vacation spot) and your actions on doing the things you love to do (pet your cat, work in your garden, listen to your favorite music).
4. Have an Attitude of Gratitude
It is critical to take time each and every day to focus on what you are grateful for. Some people do this in the morning before or after they visualize their desires; others prefer to do it in the evening. Focus on all of the things in your life (most of which you take for granted) that you are grateful for—your health, your children, your job, the nice weather, electricity, running water, a nice stereo system, your flower garden, your pets, your friends).
No matter what your situation, there are always things to be grateful for. The more you focus on what you are grateful for, the more things and experiences you will attract to be grateful for. You may wish to carry a “gratitude rock” like the one Lee Brower talks about in “The Secret.”
5. Take Action
There are two kinds of actions you can take. Obvious actions are things like, if you want a better car, going to test drive all of the models you are interested in and choosing the exact car you want to have, and saving 10% of your income in a “car account.” If you want to be a doctor, apply to medical school.
There are also what I call “inspired actions.” Once you begin to do the things described above, the universe will start responding by sending people, resources and opportunities you need to manifest your desired result. You are going to find that you have inspired ideas; you must act on them. You must follow those gentle proddings from the universe. Often these intuitive impulses will have no seeming connection to achieving your goal, but if you follow them, they will lead you down a path of wonderful fulfillment.
Here’s a quick way to know if the actions you’re taking are taking you closer to the fulfillment of your dreams and desires. If you are feeling joy while you are doing them, then you are on the right path. Remember, joy is your internal guidance system, just like the GPS system in a car, telling you are taking the right actions. Follow your joy.
6. Acknowledge That it is Working
If you start to see something change for the better, acknowledge that it is happening. Appreciate it. When you find the perfect parking space, acknowledge it. When you get the table you want in the restaurant, acknowledge it. When you receive unexpected income, acknowledge it. When you meet someone who can help you achieve your goal, acknowledge that Law of Attraction is working. The more you acknowledge that it’s working, the more it will work. It’s that simple.
If you are attracting things into your life that you don’t want, remember the Law of Attraction is still working. Instead of thinking or saying, “It’s not working,” ask your self, “What am I focusing on, thinking about, talking about, feeling or doing that is attracting this into my life?” If you want to know what you are thinking about, notice the results you are producing in your life. To change those results, you will first have to change your vibration by changing your thoughts and feelings.
While there are many techniques that are variations on these themes that you can apply, there’s nothing else you have to do.
Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/
Six Steps for Activating "The Secret" in Your Life
by Jack Canfield
The first step to using Law of Attraction as presented in the movie The Secret is to clarify exactly what you want. Remember—determine, write down and talk about what you do want, not what you don’t want. Be as specific as possible. Once you have clarified what you want, do the following each and every day.
1. Morning Intention, Visualization and Releasing
As soon as you wake up in the morning, take about 5 minutes to focus your mind on your desires, goals and intentions. Start by sitting in a comfortable position, closing your eyes and visualizing your desires and goals as already being fulfilled. Spend 30 seconds to a minute on each of your core desires and goals. You can also take a few moments to visualize your day going exactly as you would like it to.
When you do this, you will often find negative limiting beliefs that are the result of negative programming from your childhood will come up. You may hear thoughts like “I could never afford that,” “there’s no way I’ll ever get that,” or “who am I kidding?” coming up. If you do, use one of the many releasing techniques that are available (see the list below) to release the negative thought. Don’t fight or argue with the thought; just release it.
Remember to also spend several moments feeling the feelings you would feel if you had already manifested your desire in your life. The intensity of the feeling is what fuels the intensity of the attraction.
Powerful releasing techniques:
The Sedona Method by Hale Dwoskin: http://www.sedonamethod.com/ (Hale will be sharing his techniques when he speaks at my summer trainingBreakthrough to Success.)
The Work by Byron Katie: http://www.thework.com/
The Emotional Freedom Technique: http://www.emofree.com/
2. Use External Images to Keep you Focused on Your Desires and Goals
To keep yourself focused on what you want to manifest surround yourself with visual images of the things and experiences you want to attract into your life. There are many techniques you can use for this.
1) Cut out pictures of the things you wish to own (like your ideal car or home) and pictures that represent the experiences you want to have (like the perfect relationship, your ideal job, perfect health, being at your ideal weight, more joy, inner peace or balance in your life)to remind yourself of how you want it to be. Tape them up where you will see them every day—on the mirror, the refrigerator, or your bulletin board. You can also scan them into your computer and make them into a screen saver or a continuously running PowerPoint program.
2) Combine your pictures and words that you cut out into a collage on a large piece of poster board.
3) Make a Dream Book by putting the pictures into a 3-ring binder pasted onto the pages or slid into plastic page protectors.
When you look at any of these pictures, do what Bob Doyle, who is featured in The Secret teaches— think the thought, “THIS IS MINE NOW! THIS IS WHO I AM!”
3. Think a Better Feeling Thought
Start paying attention to the many times during the day that you have emotional responses (to other people, experiences, or your own thoughts) that are not in alignment with having or producing your desires. Pay special attention to when you feel disappointment, resentment, frustration or anger about your experiences and circumstances.
Remember, it’s your feelings (which are created by your thoughts, opinions, and beliefs) that are attracting your current circumstances. You must make a vibrational shift by changing your thoughts to ones that make you feel better (i.e., raise your vibration). Remember that you must become a vibrational match for the things and experiences that you want to attract into your life.
It is especially important to focus your thoughts and behaviors on things that cause you to feel joy. Focus your thoughts on thoughts that bring you joy (your lover, your best friend, your grandchildren, your favorite vacation spot) and your actions on doing the things you love to do (pet your cat, work in your garden, listen to your favorite music).
4. Have an Attitude of Gratitude
It is critical to take time each and every day to focus on what you are grateful for. Some people do this in the morning before or after they visualize their desires; others prefer to do it in the evening. Focus on all of the things in your life (most of which you take for granted) that you are grateful for—your health, your children, your job, the nice weather, electricity, running water, a nice stereo system, your flower garden, your pets, your friends).
No matter what your situation, there are always things to be grateful for. The more you focus on what you are grateful for, the more things and experiences you will attract to be grateful for. You may wish to carry a “gratitude rock” like the one Lee Brower talks about in “The Secret.”
5. Take Action
There are two kinds of actions you can take. Obvious actions are things like, if you want a better car, going to test drive all of the models you are interested in and choosing the exact car you want to have, and saving 10% of your income in a “car account.” If you want to be a doctor, apply to medical school.
There are also what I call “inspired actions.” Once you begin to do the things described above, the universe will start responding by sending people, resources and opportunities you need to manifest your desired result. You are going to find that you have inspired ideas; you must act on them. You must follow those gentle proddings from the universe. Often these intuitive impulses will have no seeming connection to achieving your goal, but if you follow them, they will lead you down a path of wonderful fulfillment.
Here’s a quick way to know if the actions you’re taking are taking you closer to the fulfillment of your dreams and desires. If you are feeling joy while you are doing them, then you are on the right path. Remember, joy is your internal guidance system, just like the GPS system in a car, telling you are taking the right actions. Follow your joy.
6. Acknowledge That it is Working
If you start to see something change for the better, acknowledge that it is happening. Appreciate it. When you find the perfect parking space, acknowledge it. When you get the table you want in the restaurant, acknowledge it. When you receive unexpected income, acknowledge it. When you meet someone who can help you achieve your goal, acknowledge that Law of Attraction is working. The more you acknowledge that it’s working, the more it will work. It’s that simple.
If you are attracting things into your life that you don’t want, remember the Law of Attraction is still working. Instead of thinking or saying, “It’s not working,” ask your self, “What am I focusing on, thinking about, talking about, feeling or doing that is attracting this into my life?” If you want to know what you are thinking about, notice the results you are producing in your life. To change those results, you will first have to change your vibration by changing your thoughts and feelings.
While there are many techniques that are variations on these themes that you can apply, there’s nothing else you have to do.
Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/
How to Accelerate Your Success with a Mastermind Group
How to Accelerate Your Success with a Mastermind Group
by Jack Canfield
We all know that two heads are better than one when it comes to solving a problem or creating a result. So imagine having a permanent group of five or six people who meet every week for the purpose of problem solving, brainstorming, networking, and encouraging and motivating each other!
This process is called masterminding and is one of the most effective success tools you can adopt! It is a powerful way to support your dreams and bring unlimited resources to your business and personal life.
Participating in a mastermind group has been critical to me. I can't imagine achieving all I have without one, and it certaily made my goals happen much faster.
A Process for Accelerating Your Growth
The basic philosophy of a mastermind group is that more can be achieved in less time when people work together. Sometimes called a "dream team", your mastermind group is made up of two or more individuals who voluntarily come together on a regular basis - weekly, biweekly, or monthly - to share ideas, thoughts, information, feedback and resources.
Your group can be composed of people from your own industry or profession or people from all walks of life. You can focus on business, increasing each other's income, building a business, raising better kids, or solving a social problem.
Within your mastermind group, you benefit from the other members who empower you and draw out your full talents, resources and abilities. They trigger, stimulate, and motivate you to become all you are capable of being.
Creating Your Dream Team
The key is to choose people who are already where you'd like to be in your life - or who are at least a level above you. In forming your mastermind group, start by carefully enrolling another friendly, on-purpose, like-minded individual. Start by meeting together and then adding other selected, unanimously agreed-upon individuals who will work in total harmony for the good of each other and for the good of the group.
1. Your Dream Team should consist of 4-8 people. Most people find that 6 is the ideal number.
2. Meet weekly, if possible, for an hour to an hour and a half. This meeting must be held sacred as a life-enhancing priority. The meetings should be upbeat, enriching, encouraging and beneficial to each individual and the group's purposes. I always start our meetings with a prayer or an invocation. You could also start with an inspiring story.
3. Each member must agree to play all out -- to openly share ideas, support, contacts, information, feedback, and anything else that will help advance the individual and group goals.
4. Start by having each member share something positive and good that happened since the last meeting.
5. Next, have each member share an opportunity or problem they have experienced since the last meeting and ask for whatever support they would like on it. Appoint a time-keeper to make sure that everyone gets the same amount of time. This is important if you want your group to last. Everyone must get value at each meeting.
6. End by sharing appreciations and acknowledgements.
You'll find one of the real values of a mastermind group is the accountability factor - other members checking up on you to make sure you meet your stated commitments. It's one way to ensure you'll accomplish a lot more!
For more details about masterminding, read Success Principle #46 in The Success Principles book or utilize the mastermind worksheets found in The Success Principles 30-day Audio Course.
Jack Canfield, America's Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/
by Jack Canfield
We all know that two heads are better than one when it comes to solving a problem or creating a result. So imagine having a permanent group of five or six people who meet every week for the purpose of problem solving, brainstorming, networking, and encouraging and motivating each other!
This process is called masterminding and is one of the most effective success tools you can adopt! It is a powerful way to support your dreams and bring unlimited resources to your business and personal life.
Participating in a mastermind group has been critical to me. I can't imagine achieving all I have without one, and it certaily made my goals happen much faster.
A Process for Accelerating Your Growth
The basic philosophy of a mastermind group is that more can be achieved in less time when people work together. Sometimes called a "dream team", your mastermind group is made up of two or more individuals who voluntarily come together on a regular basis - weekly, biweekly, or monthly - to share ideas, thoughts, information, feedback and resources.
Your group can be composed of people from your own industry or profession or people from all walks of life. You can focus on business, increasing each other's income, building a business, raising better kids, or solving a social problem.
Within your mastermind group, you benefit from the other members who empower you and draw out your full talents, resources and abilities. They trigger, stimulate, and motivate you to become all you are capable of being.
Creating Your Dream Team
The key is to choose people who are already where you'd like to be in your life - or who are at least a level above you. In forming your mastermind group, start by carefully enrolling another friendly, on-purpose, like-minded individual. Start by meeting together and then adding other selected, unanimously agreed-upon individuals who will work in total harmony for the good of each other and for the good of the group.
1. Your Dream Team should consist of 4-8 people. Most people find that 6 is the ideal number.
2. Meet weekly, if possible, for an hour to an hour and a half. This meeting must be held sacred as a life-enhancing priority. The meetings should be upbeat, enriching, encouraging and beneficial to each individual and the group's purposes. I always start our meetings with a prayer or an invocation. You could also start with an inspiring story.
3. Each member must agree to play all out -- to openly share ideas, support, contacts, information, feedback, and anything else that will help advance the individual and group goals.
4. Start by having each member share something positive and good that happened since the last meeting.
5. Next, have each member share an opportunity or problem they have experienced since the last meeting and ask for whatever support they would like on it. Appoint a time-keeper to make sure that everyone gets the same amount of time. This is important if you want your group to last. Everyone must get value at each meeting.
6. End by sharing appreciations and acknowledgements.
You'll find one of the real values of a mastermind group is the accountability factor - other members checking up on you to make sure you meet your stated commitments. It's one way to ensure you'll accomplish a lot more!
For more details about masterminding, read Success Principle #46 in The Success Principles book or utilize the mastermind worksheets found in The Success Principles 30-day Audio Course.
Jack Canfield, America's Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/
Ten Steps to Loving Yourself, Having Good Relationships and Being Successful
Following are the ten steps to loving yourself, having good relationships and being successful. They are at the conclusion of the book
First, value yourself. You’re important, not because of what you have, but because of who you are. Nothing can make you inferior. No matter what happens to you, you’re always worthy. Other people can’t make you inferior, and even you can’t put you down. Thinking you’re inferior is a fantasy. By thinking you’re inferior, you suffer in vain, when you could be enjoying the fact that you’re unique and special.
Second, overcome pride. Many people confuse pride with self-value. They think that by having an arrogant attitude or by putting other people down they can have self-esteem. Nothing could be further from the truth. The more worth you feel, the more humble you are. Pride shows a lack of self-esteem. You’re proud because you don’t believe you’re valuable. You put other people down because you feel inferior to them. When you believe in your worth, you don’t need to boast anymore.
Third, love yourself unconditionally. Accept yourself as you are. You can’t love others if you don’t love yourself. If there’s a war going on inside you, there will be a war going on outside. When you love yourself, you believe in people’s love and as a result, you love them. Love isn’t an obsession, it’s a principle. When you love someone, you don’t do things for them because you feel a strong compulsion to do them. You act out of your will. When you love, you keep your promises and are a person of character.
Fourth, forgive yourself. We have a tendency to judge and condemn ourselves for things we’ve done in the past. Miguel Ruiz says in his book The Four Agreements that the human being is the only one who pays several times for the same mistake. We also condemn ourselves for things we do on a daily basis. When we mix all those condemnations together, we realize why we’re so unhappy. Forgive yourself and you’ll find happiness. Stop criticizing yourself and making a big deal out of your faults and you’ll be a better person, for good comes from love. You’ll never overcome your shortcomings while putting yourself down. The way to perfection is through forgiveness. You aren’t perfect to forgive yourself. You forgive yourself to be perfect.
Fifth, overcome anger. You feel angry because you don’t value yourself unconditionally. Every time you feel inferior, you become angry. You’re angry because you allow things to shape your self-image. You might think that you need to be angry to get people to respect you. However, by being angry, you show a lack of self-control and an inability to love yourself and others unconditionally.
Sixth, believe in yourself. You are what you think you are. You’ll never reach higher than you think you deserve. You attract to yourself the very things you expect. Expect good things, and you get good things. Expect bad things, and you get bad things. If you focus your mind on problems, failures, and fears, you’ll attract them like a magnet. Victory is on the inside. Set your mind to be a victor, be positive about your future, and you’ll see things turn out for the best.
Seventh, overcome the victim mentality. Your life isn’t the result of outside forces and influences. If you’ve allowed circumstances and people to shape your destiny, it was your choice. You can’t blame other people for poor results, when it was you who gave them the right to control your life. Don’t give other people permission to manipulate you and to have power over your outcome. You be the one who makes the choices. Don’t victimize yourself to get people’s love. Crying over your fate won’t prompt compassion. You don’t need to be bad to be loved. You have many qualities that make you worth being loved without having to resort to self-pity to gain appreciation. You’re unique, special, and talented. You don’t need people’s mercy, because you’re a victor and not a victim.
Eighth, overcome your fears. You fear that something bad might happen because you wouldn’t value and love yourself if that thing happened. You project your lack of self-love to other people and think that they wouldn’t love you, either. When you love yourself unconditionally, you no longer fear rejection. You believe in other people’s love because you love yourself.
Ninth, don’t demand from yourself. You can do things because you have to do them or because you want to do them. Although it sounds the same, it’s completely different. When you do things because you have to do them, you don’t take pleasure in the doing. You can’t have contentment while you force yourself and demand from yourself. When you do things because you want to do them, you have pleasure, because you love yourself every step of the way toward getting what you want. Love makes life enjoyable. When you love yourself, you stop criticizing yourself every time you make a mistake and you don’t push yourself beyond your limits. As a result, you have more fun throughout the process, which causes you to reach your goals faster.
Tenth, learn to say no. In order to say no, you need to believe in your own love and in other people’s love. Saying no doesn’t make you a bad person. Quite the opposite, saying no shows that you trust other people’s love and you love them. You say no to them because you believe they’re able to understand and love you unconditionally. Believing in other people’s love lets you say no with grace and respect. Your no is so confident and polite that it sounds like a yes. You say no with your mouth, but you say yes with your heart. You aren’t afraid of being rejected. You also don’t doubt your intentions and emotions. You know that you’re a good person and that you have other people’s best interests in mind. You believe in your judgment and decisions, and you express that when you say no.
© 2007 Claudio Vargas Silva
First, value yourself. You’re important, not because of what you have, but because of who you are. Nothing can make you inferior. No matter what happens to you, you’re always worthy. Other people can’t make you inferior, and even you can’t put you down. Thinking you’re inferior is a fantasy. By thinking you’re inferior, you suffer in vain, when you could be enjoying the fact that you’re unique and special.
Second, overcome pride. Many people confuse pride with self-value. They think that by having an arrogant attitude or by putting other people down they can have self-esteem. Nothing could be further from the truth. The more worth you feel, the more humble you are. Pride shows a lack of self-esteem. You’re proud because you don’t believe you’re valuable. You put other people down because you feel inferior to them. When you believe in your worth, you don’t need to boast anymore.
Third, love yourself unconditionally. Accept yourself as you are. You can’t love others if you don’t love yourself. If there’s a war going on inside you, there will be a war going on outside. When you love yourself, you believe in people’s love and as a result, you love them. Love isn’t an obsession, it’s a principle. When you love someone, you don’t do things for them because you feel a strong compulsion to do them. You act out of your will. When you love, you keep your promises and are a person of character.
Fourth, forgive yourself. We have a tendency to judge and condemn ourselves for things we’ve done in the past. Miguel Ruiz says in his book The Four Agreements that the human being is the only one who pays several times for the same mistake. We also condemn ourselves for things we do on a daily basis. When we mix all those condemnations together, we realize why we’re so unhappy. Forgive yourself and you’ll find happiness. Stop criticizing yourself and making a big deal out of your faults and you’ll be a better person, for good comes from love. You’ll never overcome your shortcomings while putting yourself down. The way to perfection is through forgiveness. You aren’t perfect to forgive yourself. You forgive yourself to be perfect.
Fifth, overcome anger. You feel angry because you don’t value yourself unconditionally. Every time you feel inferior, you become angry. You’re angry because you allow things to shape your self-image. You might think that you need to be angry to get people to respect you. However, by being angry, you show a lack of self-control and an inability to love yourself and others unconditionally.
Sixth, believe in yourself. You are what you think you are. You’ll never reach higher than you think you deserve. You attract to yourself the very things you expect. Expect good things, and you get good things. Expect bad things, and you get bad things. If you focus your mind on problems, failures, and fears, you’ll attract them like a magnet. Victory is on the inside. Set your mind to be a victor, be positive about your future, and you’ll see things turn out for the best.
Seventh, overcome the victim mentality. Your life isn’t the result of outside forces and influences. If you’ve allowed circumstances and people to shape your destiny, it was your choice. You can’t blame other people for poor results, when it was you who gave them the right to control your life. Don’t give other people permission to manipulate you and to have power over your outcome. You be the one who makes the choices. Don’t victimize yourself to get people’s love. Crying over your fate won’t prompt compassion. You don’t need to be bad to be loved. You have many qualities that make you worth being loved without having to resort to self-pity to gain appreciation. You’re unique, special, and talented. You don’t need people’s mercy, because you’re a victor and not a victim.
Eighth, overcome your fears. You fear that something bad might happen because you wouldn’t value and love yourself if that thing happened. You project your lack of self-love to other people and think that they wouldn’t love you, either. When you love yourself unconditionally, you no longer fear rejection. You believe in other people’s love because you love yourself.
Ninth, don’t demand from yourself. You can do things because you have to do them or because you want to do them. Although it sounds the same, it’s completely different. When you do things because you have to do them, you don’t take pleasure in the doing. You can’t have contentment while you force yourself and demand from yourself. When you do things because you want to do them, you have pleasure, because you love yourself every step of the way toward getting what you want. Love makes life enjoyable. When you love yourself, you stop criticizing yourself every time you make a mistake and you don’t push yourself beyond your limits. As a result, you have more fun throughout the process, which causes you to reach your goals faster.
Tenth, learn to say no. In order to say no, you need to believe in your own love and in other people’s love. Saying no doesn’t make you a bad person. Quite the opposite, saying no shows that you trust other people’s love and you love them. You say no to them because you believe they’re able to understand and love you unconditionally. Believing in other people’s love lets you say no with grace and respect. Your no is so confident and polite that it sounds like a yes. You say no with your mouth, but you say yes with your heart. You aren’t afraid of being rejected. You also don’t doubt your intentions and emotions. You know that you’re a good person and that you have other people’s best interests in mind. You believe in your judgment and decisions, and you express that when you say no.
© 2007 Claudio Vargas Silva
Who is Your Neighbor?
One day, a lawyer decided to test Jesus. He asked Him, “What is the most important commandment?” Jesus replied with, “What do you think is the most important commandment?”
The lawyer said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27) Then Jesus said, “You are right. That is a very wise answer. If you do that, you will find salvation.”
Love is like a triangle. God is at the top, we’re on one side, and our neighbor is on the other. Why aren’t we or our neighbors at the top? Because if we don’t love God above everything else, we don’t love ourselves, and if we don’t love ourselves, we don’t love our neighbors either.
Love is a principle. When we place God above all things, we are people of integrity. We aren’t ruled by passions or feelings, but by principles. Here’s an example: Your teenager comes to you and asks you to let them take the car and you say no. Does that mean you don’t love your child? Quite the contrary, you’re following a principle of love. When you love, you say no for the benefit of the person who receives it. You say no with your mouth, but you say yes with your heart. However, if your child asks you to drive the car and you say yes, you are saying yes with your mouth, but no with your heart. When you say no to someone, it doesn’t mean you don’t love them, just that you’re placing your principles above your emotions. Therefore, saying no can be an expression of love.
Since we and our neighbors are at the bottom of the triangle, we need to love everyone equally, with no preferences or exceptions. We don’t prioritize people and we don’t engage in profiling. Everyone is special and unique. We don’t reject people because of their culture, origin, or skin color.
We need to love people like we love ourselves. Maybe we think that if we love people, we can’t love ourselves. We think that we can’t have both. However, we can’t love people and hate ourselves at the same time. People are like a mirror. We see ourselves reflected in them. If we accuse ourselves, we also accuse them. If we put ourselves down, we put them down. If we don’t accept our mistakes, we can’t accept their mistakes either. If there is a war going on inside us, there’ll be a war going on outside us. If we’re unhappy, we’re going to treat them with the same lack of respect we have for ourselves.
In order to love people, we need to forgive ourselves for hurting them. If we condemn, judge, and punish ourselves for having mistreated people, we will also condemn, judge, and punish people for having mistreated us. We do to them as we do unto ourselves. If we want to forgive people for what they do to us, we need to start forgiving ourselves for what we do to them.
We need to get to the bottom of the problem and accept ourselves as we are. We need to respect ourselves, be patient with our shortcomings, and forgive our mistakes. When we’re kind to ourselves, we’ll have the same consideration for others.
If you have done something to someone and carried the memory with you throughout your whole life, let it go. Learn to forgive yourself and then you will forgive others.
When we love, we are people of integrity. We usually think that when people hurt us and do things to us, we have an excuse to get even and hold a grudge. We refuse to let it go and proudly keep the hurt inside. We need to forgive and forget.
The Greek had two words for love; agape and filein. Agape is the love we have for the whole universe, for everyone, even those we don’t know. Filein is the love we have for those who are close to us, such as our family, relatives, and friends. The word feeling comes from the Greek filein.
The love that is above all love is agape. It isn’t a feeling but a rational love. This is the love Jesus had for his enemies whilst they betrayed, insulted and killed him.
You might ask, “How can I love someone who treats me so badly? How can I love the spouse that betrayed me? How can I love the man who killed my wife? How can I love the criminal that raped my daughter?”
You can’t have a passionate love for them, but you can have an agape love by placing agape above filein. You need to surrender your feelings to your principles.
Many marriages end because people are not ruled by principles. They are ruled by their feelings. If they feel like loving, they love. If they feel like hating, they hate. So they go from one emotion to another. This love isn’t stable.
Some people marry at the peak of passion. They have that strong feeling and they lose self-control. However, after two years, on the average, that feeling goes away and their emotions switch from love to hate. They wonder how they could possibly have loved that person and search for another person to express their passion with and start the cycle all over again. They know it’s wrong. They know it’s against the principle, but they start making excuses. There is no excuse for hating.
Jesus showed us that there is no excuse. If He could love the people that treated Him so badly, we can love as well. We can love by principle, and not by feeling. We can love people who mistreat us if we have the love of God in our heart.
In our story today, the man asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” By making this question he was suggesting that there are people who aren’t our neighbors. That’s how the doctors of law in Christ’s time got out of obeying the Scriptures. They interpreted it according to their desires and changed the real meaning of it. When God said, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself,” he meant to say that we need to love everyone, even those who don’t love us.
Jesus told him the story about the man who was going from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way, a gang of thieves robed and beat him so badly that he almost died. He couldn’t walk. He was lying by the road, expecting to die.
A priest came walking by and saw him, but didn’t stop to help him because he thought he was already dead. He knew that if he touched a dead man, he wouldn’t be able to do the service at the temple, and if he stopped to help him, he would be late.
A Levite walked right past him.
Both the priest and the Levite were hypocrites. They were going to church, to perform their religious rituals, but they didn’t have the love of God in their hearts. Sometimes, we deceive ourselves by thinking that because we keep the commandments and are church members, we are true Christians.
There was a time when I confronted myself with the question, “Am I a hypocrite?” One Friday night, an elder called me, complaining about my work. He told me I wasn’t organized and I didn’t have a work plan. He was so rude that he upset me. The next day, Sabbath, I preached about love. When I preached, I made it my main concern to attack that elder. I said things like, “Some people in the church are so inconsiderate and mean, all the way thinking they are true Christians. They accuse, bad-mouth, and fight for God, thinking that this is what God expects them to do.”
When I look back at that Saturday morning, and think about my preaching, I realize I was a hypocrite. I didn’t love that elder. I couldn’t accept his harshness and I couldn’t forgive him. I was the opposite of Jesus when he said to those who mistreated him, “Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they do.”
If you are a Christian and you hold grudges in your heart, thoughts of jealousy, or revenge, you aren’t a true Christian. You need to be able to love and accept people as they are, even when they mistreat you. You can do it.
In my list of goals, I wrote, “I will not engage in revenge.” Shoot me if you wish, I won’t try to get back at you. No matter you do to me, I will always love you.
It’s very easy for me to hate you now and then forgive you later. However, I need to love you while you hurt me. You might say, “That is impossible. That is too much.” When Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” was he mad at them? No, He did love them at the very moment they were hurting Him. My friends, it’s possible and we need to have this goal in our lives if we want to be true Christians. Don’t settle for less.
The priest and the Levite were busy. They had to go to church. They had to preach and perform their rituals. They put church first. The church was more important than man.
This is our problem. We place commandments and church rules above people. We judge, criticize, reject, condemn, and punish those who don’t fit the image we have of Christians. We use the Bible as a weapon against people. We hate them and think we’re Christians. When we do this, we’re nothing but a lie. We have a cover of Christianity, but we’re empty inside. We aren’t true Christians because we place church and rules above people. We don’t realize that the church and the commandments were created for the benefit of people and not the other way around.
We might get so occupied in doing things for our church that we don’t have time to help people. We think people are impeding us from serving God. We don’t realize that by serving people, we are serving God. Like the priest and the Levite, we let the weak, the poor, and the dejected suffer and go to church, thinking that we’re true Christians.
Why were we created? We were created to serve and to love. If our lives aren’t lives of service, there is no real purpose in our lives. Many people are despondent, convinced they’re victims. They always think of what other people are doing to them. They think that everything in life revolves around them. All their plans and dreams are self-centered. Friends, we need to learn to live for people. We need to center our lives around people and do everything to bless them. Sometimes that means that “One person is more important than the ninety nine.” In the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep, Jesus talked about the man who left ninety nine sheep to search for the lost one.
The priest and the Levite were more concerned about what other people would think of them. They left the man to die, because they were more concerned with the approval and opinion of other people. At that moment, that one man was more important than the whole church.
I want to invite you to have the true love, the agape love, the love that places principles above feelings, the love that put people first. I want to ask you to not be a liar or a hypocrite. I want to invite you to be a true Christian, to love your neighbor like you love yourself, to not be prejudiced and to not make exceptions. I want to ask you to not use the commandments as an excuse for not loving those who don’t meet your standards. If there is a law you need to follow, if there is a commandment you need to obey, it is to love everyone unconditionally. Without this, all your knowledge of the Bible and all your righteousness means nothing. This love isn’t far beyond your reach. You just need to believe it’s possible and receive it right now by your faith. Everything is possible through God. He has the power to make you a true Christian.
© 2007 Claudio Vargas Silva
The lawyer said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, strength and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27) Then Jesus said, “You are right. That is a very wise answer. If you do that, you will find salvation.”
Love is like a triangle. God is at the top, we’re on one side, and our neighbor is on the other. Why aren’t we or our neighbors at the top? Because if we don’t love God above everything else, we don’t love ourselves, and if we don’t love ourselves, we don’t love our neighbors either.
Love is a principle. When we place God above all things, we are people of integrity. We aren’t ruled by passions or feelings, but by principles. Here’s an example: Your teenager comes to you and asks you to let them take the car and you say no. Does that mean you don’t love your child? Quite the contrary, you’re following a principle of love. When you love, you say no for the benefit of the person who receives it. You say no with your mouth, but you say yes with your heart. However, if your child asks you to drive the car and you say yes, you are saying yes with your mouth, but no with your heart. When you say no to someone, it doesn’t mean you don’t love them, just that you’re placing your principles above your emotions. Therefore, saying no can be an expression of love.
Since we and our neighbors are at the bottom of the triangle, we need to love everyone equally, with no preferences or exceptions. We don’t prioritize people and we don’t engage in profiling. Everyone is special and unique. We don’t reject people because of their culture, origin, or skin color.
We need to love people like we love ourselves. Maybe we think that if we love people, we can’t love ourselves. We think that we can’t have both. However, we can’t love people and hate ourselves at the same time. People are like a mirror. We see ourselves reflected in them. If we accuse ourselves, we also accuse them. If we put ourselves down, we put them down. If we don’t accept our mistakes, we can’t accept their mistakes either. If there is a war going on inside us, there’ll be a war going on outside us. If we’re unhappy, we’re going to treat them with the same lack of respect we have for ourselves.
In order to love people, we need to forgive ourselves for hurting them. If we condemn, judge, and punish ourselves for having mistreated people, we will also condemn, judge, and punish people for having mistreated us. We do to them as we do unto ourselves. If we want to forgive people for what they do to us, we need to start forgiving ourselves for what we do to them.
We need to get to the bottom of the problem and accept ourselves as we are. We need to respect ourselves, be patient with our shortcomings, and forgive our mistakes. When we’re kind to ourselves, we’ll have the same consideration for others.
If you have done something to someone and carried the memory with you throughout your whole life, let it go. Learn to forgive yourself and then you will forgive others.
When we love, we are people of integrity. We usually think that when people hurt us and do things to us, we have an excuse to get even and hold a grudge. We refuse to let it go and proudly keep the hurt inside. We need to forgive and forget.
The Greek had two words for love; agape and filein. Agape is the love we have for the whole universe, for everyone, even those we don’t know. Filein is the love we have for those who are close to us, such as our family, relatives, and friends. The word feeling comes from the Greek filein.
The love that is above all love is agape. It isn’t a feeling but a rational love. This is the love Jesus had for his enemies whilst they betrayed, insulted and killed him.
You might ask, “How can I love someone who treats me so badly? How can I love the spouse that betrayed me? How can I love the man who killed my wife? How can I love the criminal that raped my daughter?”
You can’t have a passionate love for them, but you can have an agape love by placing agape above filein. You need to surrender your feelings to your principles.
Many marriages end because people are not ruled by principles. They are ruled by their feelings. If they feel like loving, they love. If they feel like hating, they hate. So they go from one emotion to another. This love isn’t stable.
Some people marry at the peak of passion. They have that strong feeling and they lose self-control. However, after two years, on the average, that feeling goes away and their emotions switch from love to hate. They wonder how they could possibly have loved that person and search for another person to express their passion with and start the cycle all over again. They know it’s wrong. They know it’s against the principle, but they start making excuses. There is no excuse for hating.
Jesus showed us that there is no excuse. If He could love the people that treated Him so badly, we can love as well. We can love by principle, and not by feeling. We can love people who mistreat us if we have the love of God in our heart.
In our story today, the man asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” By making this question he was suggesting that there are people who aren’t our neighbors. That’s how the doctors of law in Christ’s time got out of obeying the Scriptures. They interpreted it according to their desires and changed the real meaning of it. When God said, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself,” he meant to say that we need to love everyone, even those who don’t love us.
Jesus told him the story about the man who was going from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way, a gang of thieves robed and beat him so badly that he almost died. He couldn’t walk. He was lying by the road, expecting to die.
A priest came walking by and saw him, but didn’t stop to help him because he thought he was already dead. He knew that if he touched a dead man, he wouldn’t be able to do the service at the temple, and if he stopped to help him, he would be late.
A Levite walked right past him.
Both the priest and the Levite were hypocrites. They were going to church, to perform their religious rituals, but they didn’t have the love of God in their hearts. Sometimes, we deceive ourselves by thinking that because we keep the commandments and are church members, we are true Christians.
There was a time when I confronted myself with the question, “Am I a hypocrite?” One Friday night, an elder called me, complaining about my work. He told me I wasn’t organized and I didn’t have a work plan. He was so rude that he upset me. The next day, Sabbath, I preached about love. When I preached, I made it my main concern to attack that elder. I said things like, “Some people in the church are so inconsiderate and mean, all the way thinking they are true Christians. They accuse, bad-mouth, and fight for God, thinking that this is what God expects them to do.”
When I look back at that Saturday morning, and think about my preaching, I realize I was a hypocrite. I didn’t love that elder. I couldn’t accept his harshness and I couldn’t forgive him. I was the opposite of Jesus when he said to those who mistreated him, “Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they do.”
If you are a Christian and you hold grudges in your heart, thoughts of jealousy, or revenge, you aren’t a true Christian. You need to be able to love and accept people as they are, even when they mistreat you. You can do it.
In my list of goals, I wrote, “I will not engage in revenge.” Shoot me if you wish, I won’t try to get back at you. No matter you do to me, I will always love you.
It’s very easy for me to hate you now and then forgive you later. However, I need to love you while you hurt me. You might say, “That is impossible. That is too much.” When Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” was he mad at them? No, He did love them at the very moment they were hurting Him. My friends, it’s possible and we need to have this goal in our lives if we want to be true Christians. Don’t settle for less.
The priest and the Levite were busy. They had to go to church. They had to preach and perform their rituals. They put church first. The church was more important than man.
This is our problem. We place commandments and church rules above people. We judge, criticize, reject, condemn, and punish those who don’t fit the image we have of Christians. We use the Bible as a weapon against people. We hate them and think we’re Christians. When we do this, we’re nothing but a lie. We have a cover of Christianity, but we’re empty inside. We aren’t true Christians because we place church and rules above people. We don’t realize that the church and the commandments were created for the benefit of people and not the other way around.
We might get so occupied in doing things for our church that we don’t have time to help people. We think people are impeding us from serving God. We don’t realize that by serving people, we are serving God. Like the priest and the Levite, we let the weak, the poor, and the dejected suffer and go to church, thinking that we’re true Christians.
Why were we created? We were created to serve and to love. If our lives aren’t lives of service, there is no real purpose in our lives. Many people are despondent, convinced they’re victims. They always think of what other people are doing to them. They think that everything in life revolves around them. All their plans and dreams are self-centered. Friends, we need to learn to live for people. We need to center our lives around people and do everything to bless them. Sometimes that means that “One person is more important than the ninety nine.” In the parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep, Jesus talked about the man who left ninety nine sheep to search for the lost one.
The priest and the Levite were more concerned about what other people would think of them. They left the man to die, because they were more concerned with the approval and opinion of other people. At that moment, that one man was more important than the whole church.
I want to invite you to have the true love, the agape love, the love that places principles above feelings, the love that put people first. I want to ask you to not be a liar or a hypocrite. I want to invite you to be a true Christian, to love your neighbor like you love yourself, to not be prejudiced and to not make exceptions. I want to ask you to not use the commandments as an excuse for not loving those who don’t meet your standards. If there is a law you need to follow, if there is a commandment you need to obey, it is to love everyone unconditionally. Without this, all your knowledge of the Bible and all your righteousness means nothing. This love isn’t far beyond your reach. You just need to believe it’s possible and receive it right now by your faith. Everything is possible through God. He has the power to make you a true Christian.
© 2007 Claudio Vargas Silva
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