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Last week we organized a bowling event as part of our efforts to improve group dynamics at our company. Well, needless to say that many of us had either never played before or only had very little experience in bowling – and I certainly would say that I belong to the latter group – while some others could be called pros of the game.
We tried to create teams of equal strength to make it more fun for everyone so we established three categories: total beginners, intermediate and folks who knew how to play. I self-assessed myself as fitting into the second group.
Well, first round of the game came about and it was time for me to bowl and just as I internally had feared the ball hit the side barrier and my first try thus didn't count. I sighed and told myself – "told you so, you are a loser, period!" With this thought rushing through my head I bowled again and so that I could just prove myself, I of course also bowled this one right passed each and every pin so that I had a big fat 'zero' t o show for after my first round. I really tried to shrug it off and tell myself that I would do better next round, but internally I thought to myself, o boy o boy, you cannot even effing bowl.
Second time round I scored a combined five points – not great but certainly better than the big fat zero from my first attempt. Of course I immediately started to observe my fellow teammates as well as watched the other teams wondering whether I would be the worst in the crowd that night. With a little practice though, I got better and better as the night progressed and I realized that I did not need to throw the ball with brute force but rather with a bit of 'flair' making sure it would go through the middle of the stack. When the first game ended after 10 rounds my score card showed 86 points, which put me in the top third of our thirty some strong posse that night.
We created a second round of teams and off we went again. This time though, now that I had a better feel for the weight of the ball and length of the bowling alley and how much strength I should be using, I started to really focus my mind on hitting the first, central, pin slightly to its right or left. Every time before I threw the ball I visualized a perfect score of 10 with all the pins being throwed around by my perfect handling of the bowl. This time round I managed to clean the slate 4 times, twice as much as during my first game. I ended this game with 108 points – significantly more points than before.
Even though we were competing as teams against one another, I of course wanted to be at least the best in my team. First time round I finished as third in our team of six, and second time round I finished already as a close second.
People really liked the game so we decided to play one final game and created new teams again.
Now that my confidence was a lot higher than when we had started to play my visualizations were also much stronger. This time I simply knew how to throw the ball, I felt one with the alley and the pins and felt good about myself and so it happened that I wiped off all 10 pins three times in a row. I was so in tune with the game that I already knew way before the ball got even close to the first pin that I would clear out the field. I would already turn around and dance the dance of a winner before I could even hear the loud bang of the ball hitting the first pin. It was a wonderful feeling. I could have continued all night long. Life and everything that I believe in – the power of our mind, the power of visualization, self-love and self-acceptance, patience and determination – all came about during a simple game called bowling. While I was riding on this high wave I started to realize that I could actually beat the high score of the night, which at that time stood at a pretty impressive 154. I don't even remember where I stood after I finished my 9th round, all I know is that I didn't really think I could beat the high score anymore as I only had one round left. But I was in such a good place emotionally and mentally that I was able to clear out twice before scoring 9 points in my third round.
When all was said and done my score card was reading 165 points – the biggest number of the night by far. I felt like a champ. It was great.
The only reason why I am sharing this story with you is to show you that the power of our mind can propel us into spheres we never thought possible. Once your energies are flowing and you are in tune with the universe and you have a clearly defined goal, there is nothing that can stop you, as long as you have unwavering belief that you can and will achieve your dream!
Merry Christmas everyone!
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In order to create the life that you would want to live in, you need to be able to visualize. Your mind needs to be in a state where it is relaxed, calm, and balanced enough to produce a picture of your future that sweeps you off your feet.
One way of centering yourself – and by the way in my opinion the most powerful way – is through controlled breathing as shown in one of my videos: 'How to Breathe – the Power of your Breath".
A second way – and this would go in tandem with the above mentioned – would be meditation. Click here for a video on "How to properly Meditate – the easy way".
There is another way – the usage of herbal supplements – to help relax the mind during the day and help you to fall asleep after a hard day's work.
In this blog entry I would like to highlight 4 such supplements:
1) Melatonin:
Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain. It helps regulate other hormones and maintains the body's circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is an internal 24-hour “clock” that plays a critical role in when we fall asleep and when we wake up. When it is dark, your body produces more melatonin; when it is light, the production of melatonin drops. Being exposed to bright lights in the evening or too little light during the day can disrupt the body' s normal melatonin cycles. For example, jet lag, shift work, and poor vision can disrupt melatonin cycles.
Melatonin has strong antioxidant effects. Preliminary evidence suggests that it may help strengthen the immune system.
Studies suggest that melatonin supplements may help people with disrupted circadian rhythms (such as people with jet lag or those who work the night shift) and those with low melatonin levels (such as some seniors and people with schizophrenia) to sleep better. A review of clinical studies suggests that melatonin supplements may help prevent jet lag, particularly in people who cross five or more time zones.
Dosage suggestion: start with 5mg and observe how long it takes you to fall asleep. You can crank up the dosage to 15mg if necessary.
For more information on the impact of melatonin on your health, please read this article.
2) Magnesium:
Magnesium citrate, a magnesium salt of citric acid, is a chemical agent which is used medicinally as a saline laxative and to completely empty the bowel prior to a major surgery or colonoscopy as well as being a natural supplement to ward off the negative effects of a prolonged period of stress or an overreaction to stress. Going through a stressful period without sufficient magnesium can set up a deficit which, if not corrected, can linger, causing more stress and further health problems.
Magnesium has an important role in essentially every life function. It helps maintain normal muscle and nerve activity, keeps heart rhythm steady, supports a healthy immune system and keeps bones strong.
Magnesium also helps regulate blood sugar levels, promotes normal blood pressure and is involved in energy metabolism, helping overcome low energy levels, fatigue, insomnia, and anxiety. Many researchers believe that no single dietary factor is as critical as magnesium.
Dosage: you can take it daily, but you would need to build levels that your body can sustain otherwise you will end up having diarrhea. Start with half the recommended amount and work up your way until you feel the effect.
3) St. John's Wort:
St. John’s wort is an herb most commonly used for depression and conditions that sometimes go along with depression such as anxiety, tiredness, loss of appetite and trouble sleeping.
Dosage: start with 300mg in the evening and pump it up to around 900mg if need be.
4) L-Theanine:
L-Theanine is an amino acid commonly found in tea, specifically in green tea. The calming effect of green tea may seem contradictory to the stimulatory property of tea's caffeine content but it can be explained by the action of L-theanine. This amino acid actually acts antagonistically against the stimulatory effects of caffeine on the nervous system. The amino acid directly stimulates the production of alpha brain waves, creating a state of deep relaxation and mental alertness similar to what is achieved through meditation. Second, L-theanine is involved in the formation of the inhibitory neurotransmitter, gamma amino butyric acid (GABA). GABA influences the levels of two other neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, producing the key relaxation effect. For more info you can check out this article.
Dosage: you can take several hundred mg per day as no side effects are known.
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Given the success of my last blog entry: "Moneyball or the Power of Focusing on what You have Power over!" and all the feedback I have received, I thought I would write a follow-up blog entry giving you a step-by-step guide on how you can create your own "Moneyball success story".
My philosophies and teachings are pretty straight forward and easy – and because they are so simple, I keep saying "it's easy but not simple; and simple but not easy". Why am I using this mantra? Well it seems that people fall off the wagon because they simply cannot believe how simple the process is – so they try to either overcomplicate things by adding steps to or altering the process or simply not getting or believing in it. And then they wonder why it doesn't work. Those who do understand the process and have faith reap tremendous results.
Allow me to outline the process in as clear and straight forward manner as I possibly can to you:
1) Step one: Identify the precise problem – what is the actual challenge, what is the issue at hand? (Believe me, in 99% of the time money, or the lack of it, is not the issue!)
2) Step two: What would be a perfect solution for the problem? Create a solution in your mind. Visualize an ideal picture of how you would want things to be.
3) Step three: Work consistently at it. You have got take steps that take you to your ideal place. Your actions must be congruent with your vision.
4) Step four: Believe that it will happen – you must have unwavering faith that results will show up when the time is ready!
For the above steps to work, two statements have to accepted as fundamental laws of the universe:
1) Everything is energy – literally. From bricks to computers, rivers and airplanes to thoughts, emotions, speech, and planet earth. Since everything is energy then that means that everything is oscillating at at specific frequency. Thus, to change something, anything, one only has to change the frequency of bring about almost instantaneous change.
2) We are all connected. Actually, everything and everyone are connected through an invisible net of energy: from humans to nature and the animal kingdom to the universe at large. Precisely because of this connection we have an impact on everyone and everything else and thus can alter the course of our fate.
Good luck with creating the best life for yourself ever!
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I just watched the movie Moneyball while visiting Sydney. When I saw that a movie about Billy Beane had come out, I simply had to go and watch it. Not because Brad Pitt plays the lead role or because I am a baseball fan – mind you, after so many years in the US, I still do not understand the rules completely – but because I heard about Billy Beane's achievements. Apparently he was able to convert a bottom of the barrel team into one with the most consecutive wins in baseball's history. Quite a remarkable achievement. I know that there is a lot of controversy about whether he really is a genius or even a successful GM or not but I will not get into any of this as this blog entry is not about baseball or sport per se, but rather about shifting of one's paradigm and focusing on what you have control over as opposed to worrying about things that you have no control over – in his case, the bigger budgets and better players of other teams in the franchise.
Since in my life it is all about the Power of our own Thoughts and how we can Change the set of Paradigms we are in, Beane's achievements quite naturally were rather intriguing to me so I wanted to learn more about him. Beane is the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, a baseball team operating without the mega budgets of the big name teams in the league – his team’s budget in 2002 was less than $40 million per year compared to say $140 million of the NY Yankees. With no money to buy championship talent Beane realized he has to look for a different way of doing things. His challenge was how to put together a team that was able to compete with the best of them while staying within the constraints of his low budget.
He had no clue as to how to go about this but he knew what the challenge was and that he had to do things fundamentally differently to how they had operated before.
Dismissing all of his team’s management efforts and suggestions to simply continue with the way they knew best – the old way – he eventually – (I do not believe in luck only in the power of creation!!) – stumbled across Peter Brand, a young economics graduate working in the back office of a big name competing team in the franchise who was convinced that certain sidelined players had a hidden value. It is this hidden value that Beane and Brand went to use to build a winning team.
They shifted the focus of the game from pitching and batting to whether a player was simply able to get to first base, period. This philosophy is called sabermetrics. Without getting too much into detail, this system is able to identify players that get the job done, i.e. make it to base one, irrespective of their other qualities or inadequacies.
He had the vision that this system could beat the big boys, persistently pursued his goal and had the belief that he would get there. I am sure this was not an easy task at all for him – persuading the management and his team to follow his vision and to buy into a model that no one else had tried out before must have been very draining on him. His system didn't work out right away either. Constant changes and some fine tuning throughout the season gradually helped create the team that beat the record for most consecutive wins in the game's history.
Billy is a prime example that even when you are really down and your livelihood and reputation and future are at stake that you can come out as a winner by simply focusing on areas that you have control over. And if you do not know what it is that you have control over then ask yourself over and over again until you do.
Given what we can learn from Billy I would highly recommend everyone to watch the movie – you might find inspiration in it.
Basically, when it comes down to it, I did the exact same thing when I hit rock bottom two years ago – what are my skill sets and what is it that I know? By changing the frequencies that I was vibrating at the mind frame I was in and focusing on a future that I desire I was able to create the lifestyle I am enjoying today. If I can do it, I am sure you can, too.
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Money – the constant struggle, battle and challenge in life! We never seem to have enough of it. And if we are in the lucky position that the amount of money that we have is not the challenge then for many it is the fact that earning it comes at a price – more than we are willing to pay for it: we feel exhausted, stressed and burned out.
Believe me, I know what it means to own a lot and lose it all. I was born into a wealthy family and as a child I was used to getting almost anything that I wanted. I grew up in an environment knowing that I was 'privileged' (without having a clue what the word actually means). Even though I was very young, I knew that I was treated differently than other people. At the tender age of eight a revolution swept through Iran and we had to flee the country and leave everything behind – everything. All of a sudden, I was not the privileged kid anymore, but the 'immigrant' in class who didn't speak the language too well. From then onwards it was not dad who provided for us but mom – it were rather confusing times I am telling you, my world not only had collapsed but was also turned upside down.
As a teenager I started to earn my own money and this is when I realized that money came to me rather easily. I don't mean that I did not have to work for my money – quite the contrary, I even had to work very hard for it at times – but I could clearly see that I landed summer and part time jobs that paid a ton more than those my peers were landing – which of course put a big smile on my face.
Long before I realized that everything in life is merely energy, created through the frequencies that we exude, it hit me that making money had little to do with who you were and whether you had a degree or not but rather how you 'felt' about money. When I had money in my wallet I felt, amongst many other things, 'cooler', 'bigger', 'older', and more self confident. With the influx of all these emotions life became more delightful – for example it was almost effortless to chat up girls, and otherwise not so enjoyable aspects of my life, such as exams and school, were easier to deal with. And as an added bonus, I would attract even more money: grandma would slip me a bill, I would find money on the sidewalk or an opportunity would present itself where I could earn extra cash without having to kill myself for it.
This simple but very powerful equation – money in my pocket means a better, smoother life – burnt itself into my mind and stayed with me throughout my entire life in good times as well as in hard and challenging ones. A few years ago when I was faced with my company's collapse, I remembered those carefree times in my teenage years and started to reprogram myself from the ground up about how I felt about and perceived money. Even though my self esteem had hit rock bottom and my stress levels sky high, I knew I had it in my power to ultimately change my life's trajectory. Remembering how I felt as a kid when I had a (large) bill in my wallet I put a couple of $100 bills in my wallet and went on walks. I would go on a shopping spree and everything that I saw and liked I would pretend to buy making myself believe that I could afford it. I would often say thank you that I can afford this or that and that money was coming easily to me. This exercise helped me to change how I felt about money and helped me shift my paradigm from victim in life to money is coming easily and in abundance to me. Admittedly, the exercise did not prevent me from having to file personal bankruptcy a couple of years ago but it helped me to get to where I am today: in 2011 I have made more money than ever before and it is still coming in in droves. Don't get me wrong, I have to work hard for it, but it practically comes to me on a silver platter, all I have to do is to "service it", i.e. guide my groups through Europe, coach my students or manage the business I am a partner in. And I am doing so with a big smile on my face – despite all the stresses that I am exposed to due to my rather busy (work) schedule – as I simply know that money lies out there waiting for me to be picked up. And with this mindset I end up earning my money easier and easier and with more joy than ever before.
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Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist who survived Auschwitz, wrote a book that is commonly known as "Man's Search for Meaning". In his book he concludes that the meaning of life is found in every moment of living; life never ceases to have meaning, even in suffering and death. Frankl observed that those inmates who had something meaningful to do upon their release from the concentration camp, such as a teacher returning to his students or a physician taking care of his patients, or someone waiting for their return back home, such as children or a spouse, had a much higher chance of survival than those without any meaningful life back home. Knowing that someone was depending on their return gave inmates the strength to deal with even the worst atrocities imaginable. Frankl himself, in part, survived Auschwitz because he had a loving wife and family who were waiting for him as well as a profession that he loved. He imagined sharing his experiences in the concentration camp with his students at the university in Vienna where he taught and lived.
I quite frequently meet people who, despite facing most challenging times, continue to focus on experiences that give them joy and happiness, such as travel or spending time with their grandchildren.
When my world collapsed around me a couple of years ago: within just a few months I lost my father, my multimillion dollar business collapsed, my girlfriend told me that there won't be a future for us and finally I was told by my doctors that my cancer treatment over twenty years ago, had caused some damage to my heart which I eventually would have to tackle head-on by undergoing surgery, I started to think that this downward spiral would never end and that I would eventually end up on the streets. Despite all the stresses that I was exposed to, somehow I focused on the moments in the future where I could share my experiences with my future family as well as the rest of the world. I envisioned how I would be able to help other people overcome their challenges better and faster through my work: blog, videos, seminars, books and lectures. The focusing on my future, better, life, helped me to step outside of my current situation and gain some distance. With the distance came clarity and focus. The more I was able to separate myself from the collapsing world around me, the more I was able to relax and focus on the life that I wanted for myself in the future. Gradually, with each passing month and with each small success in my life, my self esteem got stronger and stronger so that I eventually dared to dream big again. Big as in retiring by 45 where I only work because I would want to work and that my work would revolve around travel and people and that it would pay me handsomely. Well, today, just a relatively shot period of time after my financial collapse I may say that I am well into my way of achieving exactly that.
There is no secret to my successes and achievements – if I can do so, I am convinced that you can do so, too. Find something in your life that "turns you on", that makes you happy and that makes you feel wanted and fulfilled. For me this is traveling the world and interacting with people – what would it be for you?
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As already indicated in last week's blog entry, I am 110% convinced that no matter how dire or helpless the situation or seemingly grand and 'impossible' a wish, through the power of our mind and the miraculous force of creation and visualization teamed up with an unshakable belief that our vision will become reality, we are able to create the most amazing life for ourselves and others.
Just a few years ago I lost a lot – my dad, my girlfriend and financially I lost literally everything. My situation looked dire and I admittedly started to doubt in my own magical powers. But I continued to do my routine exercises and brushed off every attack of doubt that crept up in my mind and continued to focus on what it is that I truly wanted – complete financial independence so that I only had to work because I wanted to work, a flexible work schedule so that I could have a lot of quality 'me' time to do sports or yoga or travel or simply do absolutely nothing at all.
Well, within a couple of years my life has totally changed – I am now looking at an annual income that will provide me with my financial independence within the next few years – my income is growing at an exponential rate without me really feeling that I am working as what I do really gives me pleasure. I am leading an almost completely flexible life style so that I can indulge in 'me' time and do nothing at all or travel to a foreign destination just as I had envisioned it a few years back.
Having gone through a complete financial collapse has allowed me to experience first hand that really the only difference between utter success and complete failure is how I think about and perceive life – our thoughts and belief systems pre-generate our experiences. In my search on how to overcome how I felt about money, I came across the following exercise which I consciously practiced for a very long time. At that time I had to count practically every penny that I owned and so $20 or $50 were a lot of money to me. As I hated how it felt not being able to afford anything anymore I focused my energies on how to make myself feel that I indeed could afford most, if not all, things that I desired. I started to put a $20 bill in my wallet and walked through the streets with open eyes and an open mind, making sure to tell myself that whatever item that I came across that cost up to $20 I could indeed afford. So by the end of the day I had literally hundreds of things on my list that I theoretically could have bought I chosen to do so. After a while I put a $50 bill in my wallet and started to do the same exercise only increasing the price tag to fifty dollars. I was really amazed how much more I could have bought had could afford. And finally I put a $100 bill in my wallet and roamed the streets and the web in search of things that I could afford.
What a powerful exercise that was. I did this for several weeks and even though I could not see an immediate result I knew that eventually my mind would create me the reality that I wanted. Lo and behold, a year after I did the exercise I started to make good money again and now I sometimes earn several thousands of dollars per day!!! How crazy (cool!) is that?! I am not wearing a suit, I do not have to show up in an office at 7:00 in the morning and I do not hate my job – quite the contrary I love what I am doing: coaching people in lifestyle and mental attitude, guiding people through Europe, as well as help running a business, leading it to it's IPO in a few years from now. It is simply jaw dropping how things have turned out for me in such a short period of time – sometimes I cannot believe my own 'luck'. (Even though I know that I created this 'luck' myself through the power of my mind).
Today my tip to you is pretty simple: put a bill in your wallet and start focusing on what it is that you can afford as opposed to what you cannot afford and before you know it things will also start changing for you. Good 'luck' ;)
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I recently watched the movie “The Green Lantern” and it threw me right back into my childhood – a period of my life where my imagination knew no limits and everything was possible, absolutely everything. Sitting in the movie theater and watching the fantastic creations of the ring left not only with a big smile on my face but also reminded me that there are really no limits to what I can achieve in my life, as long as I can perceive it in as detailed a way as possible and believe that it will become reality.
The gist of this Marvel comic legend is that as the bearer of the ring you can, through the energy of the ring, which it receives from the ‘universe’, create anything you want in order to help save the world. The only limitations there are is what the ring bearer can actually envision. The clearer his vision and the stronger his belief, the more effective his ring’s creations will be.
Apart from the fact that the ring chooses his bearer I thought that a real cool feature of the ring was that it draws its energy and power through the combined energy of the universe – showing us that the universe with all its living creatures are interconnected.
When thinking back through my life I can say that everything that I wanted, envisioned and believed that it would happen actually became reality – here is an example of how my very own “Green Lantern” worked its magic:
In 2007 I was attending the Institute for Integrated Nutrition in New York. My friend and I traveled once a month to NY and spent a weekend studying with some 1,800 fellow classmates from across the nation at Columbus Circle. It happened that the 31st of March, my birthday, fell on a class weekend. On Friday, March 30th, already in NYC, I met up with a few friends who had organized a little get-together for me, which I thought to be very sweet of them and I really enjoyed hanging out with them. On the 31st, when walking into our classroom, a temporarily converted concert hall, I was really excited to see what was organized for my birthday. So I asked my friend whether she had organized anything for me – she simply said ‘no’. I got really pissed at her as she, despite knowing how important birthdays are to me, did not do anything to set up a little party for me. Here I was in the heart of New York City, sitting among almost 2,000 people in an environment that I loved and highly enjoyed, but felt like the loneliest guy alive. I started to get angry and feel sorry for myself. All of this happened at around 10:30 in the morning. When I caught myself feeling like a victim, I said stop to myself and put the breaks on my growing emotions of anger, pain and sadness. Instead I closed my eyes and created the coolest birthday I could imagine for that day: 1) I wanted the entire class to applaud me for my birthday, 2) I wanted to have a private chat with the director of the institute I was studying at (at that time he had no clue who I was) 3) I wanted to be on stage and feel how it was to talk to an auditorium of nearly 2,000 people and finally 4) I wanted to have a dinner gathering in a cool restaurant/bar with friends and the principal of the school coming as well.
To me these wishes were quite daring and exciting as I had no clue how these wishes might possibly come true in such a short period of time. I had no clue how to attain any of my wishes in such a short period of time. Basically my wishes had to come true or be on their way by 4:00 in the afternoon as that was when school ended for the day.
Nothing happened for a couple of hours – we had our lunch break and resumed class at 1:00 p.m. At 2:00 p.m. I left my seat to go to the bathrooms. For whatever reason, before returning back to my seat I went upstairs to check out the upstairs section and to look down into the auditorium. While looking down I saw that the director of the institute was sitting in my seat talking to my seat neighbor. My heart rate went up when I saw this and rushed back to my place. When I got back to my seat the director had already left my seat, so I asked my neighbor what he had wanted from us and I got the most amazing answer – he had come over to invite us to his hotel room at the end of class for a private get together. I thought to myself that this was simply crazy and started to internally smile.
During the final hour of class a lively discussion had broken out and I indicated that I had something important to share – to my utter surprise the director of the institute came to my seat gave me the microphone and asked me to go on stage and share my thoughts with the rest of class. So I got up and started to walk to the front as all of a sudden some of my classmates who knew me better started to shout ‘happy birthday’. More and more people realized that it was my birthday so eventually the entire auditorium started to clap and wish me a happy birthday. Standing in front of a couple of thousand people and being wished a happy birthday was a mind-blowing experience and while I enjoyed the attention that I was being given I started to hear the theme of ‘Twilight Zone’ in the back of my mind as I realized that another wish just had come through.
Later on that afternoon when I had a private chat with the director I asked him if he wanted to join some of us that evening helping me celebrate my birthday. First he said no, claiming that he was tired and in general did not mix too much with students but nonetheless he asked me for my cell phone so in case he could make it he would give me a call.
Well, needless to say that he did call me later that night and we all ended up celebrating my birthday in a trendy restaurant in Manhattan.
The power of our mind is incredible and unbelievable – we can create anything we want as long as we dare thinking it. Utilize the inner “Green Lantern” that we all have built in and you will be amazed at what is possible for us in this world.
Dare, envision, be as specific as possible, believe that it will happen and you will receive…
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In my last couple of blog entries I have been talking about how much I was inspired by some of my more mature travelers. This time I would like to share with you how traveling with a 12-year old girl put back some magic into my life and daily routine.
Life can be dreary, mundane, challenging and sometimes frightening. Life can be and often is a problem and very serious. Traveling through it as the personal guide of a princess makes it so much more adventurous and entertaining – one would feel like living in a permanent fairy tale. I have guided many, many tours in my life and have traveled with several thousand passengers across Europe. So, quite naturally, even an exciting job as mine can become routine and most certainly, at least at times, boring after a while. Unless of course you have the honor and the pleasure of guiding a princess and then all of a sudden everything changes and you walk through life with rose colored glasses on.
I don't remember exactly when, but I would guess pretty much at the beginning of our journey through Europe I started to call the daughter of some of my passengers princess – and do not ask me why, because I do not know, it was simply an inclination to do so. And already the first time I called Laine 'princess' I could see the spark in her eyes. At first she was a little timid and shy when I called her princess – but undoubtedly I could tell that she enjoyed being called so – but then, after just a few days into our journey, Laine had become a princess. She had slipped into her role as if she has always been a princess. The universe outside of our bus was gone – no past, no future, just the here and the now. We visited castles, and old buildings, cruised on the Rhine and discovered hidden gems and secret treasures in Europe together and with each new discovery through the Old World the princess became more and more real.
Observing her and seeing how much fun she had traveling through the Occident being called a princess made me see my world in a different light. I was again able to see the magic behind all the beauty and felt like traveling through a fairy tale world – even though the world I was traveling through was indeed very real and I was putting in 14-16 hour days every day, making sure my almost 50 passengers had the best time of their lives.
Just one small change to my routine changed everything - changed how I was perceiving my surroundings – and all I did was to call the daughter of some of my passengers 'princess'. Observing how much Laine enjoyed being a 'princess' and traveling and exploring Europe as a 'princess' made me smile every day. I, vicariously through her, had become a little prince myself and enjoyed exploring castles and Medieval towns that I had seen umpteen times before as if were seeing them for the first time – what an incredible and highly enjoyable experience that was. I saw gnomes hiding behind curtains and I imagined unicorns grazing in the pastures. I pictured court jesters and elegant dresses and opulent gala dinners where before I only would have seen bored goats hanging out in the sun, partially dilapidated old buildings and a landscape I had already seen a million times.
Our mind is an extremely powerful tool and learning how to utilize it not only makes our life more interesting and zesty, but more self-determined and fulfilled. I enjoyed my experience so much that I intend to have little 'princesses' on each and every one of my upcoming tours from now on – I want to continue to be able to see unicorns, court jesters and wizards – which I much prefer over seeing traffic jams, road works, overcrowded restaurants and experiencing the same old same old over and over again.
Where in your life can you have a 'princess' bringing some magic and inspiration into your life? Just a little magic will also help you bring in new insights and perspectives to your life, no matter, whether you are a lawyer, a physician or a firefighter. There is so much magic around us that yearns to be seen discovered and experienced and enjoyed, but never stands a chance due to our o so busy and stressful lives. Step back and allow magic to happen and I can almost guarantee you that it will.
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Many of you know that I wear several hats: I guide people through Europe during the summer months, I co-own a multimillion business in the travel industry and I coach people in mindset, attitude to life and self-healing.
During a recent tour I had a chat with a very smart gentleman from Australia about how fast people draw conclusions and judge a person or a situation based on only one or two facts, far from even grasping the part of the picture. At the end of our conversation, knowing that I am history buff and of course to also get his point across, he asked me the following questions which I thought would benefit my blog readers greatly.
Question 1:
If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she have an abortion?
Question 2:
It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote
counts. Here are the facts about the three candidates.
Candidate A:
Associates with crooked politicians and consults with astrologists. He has had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 Martinis a day.
Candidate B:
He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.
Candidate C:
He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never committed adultery.
He then asked me which of these candidates I would choose?
I wasn’t quite sure what to answer, as I was certain these were trick questions and for sure they were! Because when I heard the answers, my jaw dropped!
Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt. Candidate B is Winston Churchill, and candidate C is Adolf Hitler.
And, by the way, regarding the answer to the first question: since I had answered YES, I had just killed Beethoven ;))
This small conversation helped me to remember to never judge too fast anything and to make sure to dig deeper and to learn more about any situation that I am facing.
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