Going Beyond What You Think is Possible

By Jim Holzknecht

If you would have told me over two years ago that I would accomplish a record setting yoga streak of over eight hundred and fifty consecutive days of Bikram heated yoga, I would have told you there was no way. Yet, somehow I did, one day and one posture at a time.

Similarly, if you would have told me that I’d co-interview many of the stars from the movies The Secret and What the Bleep Do We Know including Jack Canfield, Marci Shimoff, Bob Doyle, Joe Vitale, Amit Goswami and many others, I would not have believed you. But I did.

Co-producing the movie Beyond Belief (www.beyondbeliefthemovie.com) with Becky Hays, was a great opportunity for me to go beyond what I previously believed was possible. In fact, co-producing the movie was the main reason I initiated my consecutive day yoga streak. I wanted to challenge my perception of where I thought my limits were.

How often do we limit our potential by creating self-imposed ceilings on what’s possible? If you are like me, these limits can be found in every significant area of life such as relationships, money, career, health and creativity. These limits are made by a well-intending, reasonable mind which is hard wired for our safety, security and protection.

Millions of years of genetic coding pull for us to remain within the confines of a self-perceived veil of safety and to not venture beyond it. This is the machinery we’re born into. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, after all it helped get us here. The problem is that often the cost of playing it safe, and not challenging these comfort-zone limits, is we end up suppressing our vitality, and potential.

I invite you to take some action today that challenges a limitation you’ve created for yourself in an area of your life that is important to you. If you hear the cautionary voice in your head warning you to not start or pursue this activity, notice and be with it, without having to fix or change it.

Take the action anyway. Commit yourself to taking this action now, no matter how small you think it might be. You never know where it will lead you. Go beyond what you currently think is possible, go beyond who you currently know yourself to be.

By Darren Weissman

Good to Great! Why Settle for Less

History teaches us that unless we’re challenged, human nature has a tendency to settle for good. Good jobs, good relationships, good health, and simply a good time. However, as Jim Collins stated quite succinctly in his New York Times best-selling book, Good to Great, “Good is the enemy of great.” And on a certain level, just below the surface of the experience of good, exists a churning feeling of being unfulfilled and a mysterious longing for something more. Yes it’s nice to feel good, however there’s a part of you that knows that greatness exists in the very same moment.

Why is it then that so many people settle for jobs, partners, health, and the status quo of life’s circumstances? Some people use excuses of not having enough money, family support, or social privileges to explain or justify living in the mediocrity of good. Yes, there can be blessings of being born into money that holds the potential to have a wider range of opportunities, however as the Beatles sang in the year 1964 and still rings true today: Money can’t buy me love. Fulfillment and owning one’s power is an inside job and is the tethering vibration between good and great.

Within each and every one of us exists the same opportunity and potential for self-realization. Helen Keller is an extraordinary example of this. Helen Keller was the first deaf and blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Anne Sullivan – Helen Keller’s teacher – helped Helen bridge the gap and sprout her seed of greatness. Helen Keller is quoted saying, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.” Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure. The transformation from good to greatness is a journey whose power is discovered along the way.

In my experience the perspective you have about your present, past, or future holds the key to awakening your inner greatness. As Wayne Dyer so eloquently says, “When you change the way you view things, the things that you view change.”

So what is it that keeps people viewing through the same lens of good again and again rather than upgrading and changing their perceptual prescription to greatness? The answer resides within the subconscious mind.

In 1999 – all within a month’s time – my grandmother died in my arms, my fiancé chose to end our relationship and get engaged right after ending ours, my business almost went completely bankrupt, and I ruptured my left Achilles tendon twice. Little did I know that at the moment of complete darkness my light was just beginning to shine. These experiences were priming my spiritual engine to upgrade from living a good life to living a great life.

Fast forward two years to 2001 and I’m at the tipping point between faith and fear. I could settle and continue to live in fear – reacting to reactions – or awaken with faith to possibilities that only my imagination could conjure up. The shift for me occurred in an instant like a scene from Star Trek. One moment I’m pacing the floor in my home with fearful hamster wheel—like thoughts looping through my mind and in the next second I’m beamed up into a space of clarity and Divine vision. In a single moment – actually a swing from good to great – I was now able to perceive the blueprint or roadmap to helping others awaken to their own power.

Here’s a powerful exercise to begin your journey of transforming your perception of good into great!

1. Connect to something or someone that causes you to feel stress. Regardless of what or who it is, simply observe where your mind and heart takes you. Acknowledge the stress by appreciating the emotion that it brings up in you. Write this emotion down on a piece of paper.
2. Rating this emotion on a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 being nothing at all and 10 being off the charts will help you to appreciate the level of stress you’re currently under. Now ask yourself this question pertaining to the stressful circumstance. Given the opportunity would you ever choose to create your life, a day, or a single moment feeling or attracting this emotional stress? (The answer to this question is universally and discernibly no!)
3. Knowing you would never consciously choose this stress helps you to appreciate that the source of its origination is reactive in nature. Only the conscious mind chooses and if you wouldn’t choose the stress then its source is the subconscious mind.
4. Now we’re going to guide and influence your subconscious mind into the land of greatness by focusing on what you do choose. From a place of love and the desire of your heart, imagine that you have a menu of infinite possibilities to choose from. What do you choose to feel? Remember, we’re going for greatness! Write this feeling down on a piece of paper.
5. Now put the words I Am _______ in front of this feeling and say it out loud 3 times. Put a smile on your face for extra credit and feel it send ripples all through your body as you declare it to the world!
6. I encourage you to make a daily commitment to yourself by looking in the mirror deeply into your beautiful eyes while declaring your I Am ______ statement. Perform this exercise 10 times in the morning and 10 times in the evening. Writing your statement on a sticky note and placing it on the mirror will help you to remember this important act of self-love each and every day. Go for it NOW, your destiny of greatness awaits you!

 Check out Darren Weissman’s new online course called The Now Program
  The NOW Program: A Professional Certification Course by Darren Weissman

Dr. Darren R. Weissman is the developer of The LifeLine Technique, an advanced holistic system that discovers, releases, and interprets the root cause of physical symptoms and stress—emotions trapped within the subconscious mind. His mission is world peace through inner peace. Darren is an internationally renowned lecturer and has helped thousands of people awaken to their infinite potential and The Power of Infinite Love & Gratitude. Website: www.infiniteloveandgratitude.com

Excerpt from interview with Marci Shimoff for Beyond Belief:

One of my favorite tools is a very simple system developed by a woman named Byron Katie.  Katie, they call her. is one of the happiest people I’ve ever met, and Katie discovered one day that is wasn’t her circumstances in life that were causing her to be miserable but it was her thoughts about those circumstances.

She just naturally started to question her thoughts.  You know we have this belief that just because we have a thought means that its true.  Silly, just because you have a thought doesn’t mean that its true.  It’s very important to learn to question your thoughts.

Katie has developed a system called the work.  It’s a very simple system for asking yourself four questions, that allow you to really see if in fact your thoughts are necessarily true, and they allow you enough distance that you are able to dissolve some of those thoughts that are robbing you of your happiness, of your success, of your greater purpose and passion in life.

The four questions that are involved in the work are very simple.

The first question is:  “Is that true?”

So I have a thought, my thought is, my friend should be nicer to me.  Well,  is that true?  You might on first guess say yeah, that’s true!  Then you say.  Can I really know that that’s true?

That’s the second question:  “Can I really know that that’s true?”

The third question is:  “How do I feel when I have that thought?”

Generally when you have a thought like that you are going to feel contracted, you are going to feel less energy. you are going to feel judgemental.

And then the fourth question is:  “Who would I be without that thought?”

You know without that kind of judgement I might have more freedom in life.   I might be able to be more accepting, more loving of my friend,  I might not be so contracted.

So you ask those 4 questions.  Then there is a very interesting twist and that is: You do a turnaround statement.

So you take the original statement and you turn it around in some way.  So the thought:  my friend should be nicer to me, well, one possible turnaround statement is: I should be nicer to my friend.   Could you find a way that that could be true?

Another possible turnaround statement could be, I should be nicer to myself.   I think for most of us that one could be true.

It sounds like such a simple process, but it makes profound difference in peoples lives.   I have seen so many people who have had amazing changes, just by, on a regular basis, practicing this simple system called the work.

Marci Shimoff is one of the experts in the documentary Beyond Belief.  Get the DVD at:  www.beyondbeliefthemovie.com

by David Hamilton Ph.D.

If you ask someone for help, more often or not they will. When you visualise something happening in your life, it is like sending out a call for help that is picked up unconsciously by people. Then, people who can help you are unconsciously drawn to you. Have you ever noticed that someone new has come into your life after you started hoping, praying, or visualising for something in particular to happen, or that someone you knew gave you new information or assistance. You also attract intuitions and suddenly get inspired with new ideas.

Quantum physics has revealed an interconnectedness to all things. And Carl Jung suggested that we share a collective unconscious mind. It has parallels with the Internet. Computers are separate from each other as they sit on our desks, but they are connected via the Internet, which is a shared repository of information. Similarly, the collective unconscious mind is a shared hive of information that all of us are connected to. When you hope, pray, or dream of something you want, your intention is felt by people at an unconscious level. Then the people who can help are drawn to be in the same place at the same time as you.

I often describe it using the metaphor of a spider’s web. How does a spider know that a fly is trapped in its web? It feels the vibrations. So in the same way, people feel the vibrations (at deep unconscious and quantum levels) of your hopes, prayers, dreams, and intentions, as you do theirs.

So when you want something in your life, imagine it clearly. And imagine it as if it is happening now. Your thoughts will attract it, either as intuitions and ideas or as people showing up in your life.

Most of us are experts at what I call the law of repulsion. I was a master of it for years. Whenever I wanted something, I must have invoked the law because I always seemed to get the opposite. Things got worse. It led me, when I was growing up, to conclude that if I wanted something there was no chance I could have it. I could only have the things I didn’t want, which was a bit of a bummer.

But the law of repulsion is really the law of attraction in disguise. We sometimes repel our goals because we spend more time complaining about how bad things are at the moment or that ‘ it’s not happened yet ‘, than we do actually imagining what we want. And just as energy flows to where attention goes inside the body, so reality flows in the direction of what you put your attention on in your life too.

The key is to keep your intention, periodically, on what you want instead of the opposite, which is what is happening now. When faced with current reality, just affirm that it is changing. What you want is coming to you. Play pretend, like a child does, every day or so for a couple of minutes.

For some people, change is rapid when they do this. For others, it’s a more gradual process and it takes discipline. But it’s worth it.

You can even wish the best for other people. I have noticed that good stuff happens in their life when I do this. People often show up in their life too, or little miracles happen in their life. All you are doing is giving them a little unconscious mental assistance, like you’re an angel I suppose.

I am a great believer in using the power of intention to make a positive difference in the lives of others, and in the world. I believe that we are far more powerful than we have ever believed ourselves to be. I believe that we have the ability to change the world. All we need to do is try.

Every act with a genuine heartfelt intent behind it sends out vibrations throughout the web that attracts new realities. So it’s not so much what you do, it’s the heartfelt intention behind it that’s matters. In other words, it’s the Thought that Counts!

www.drdavidhamilton.com

David Hamilton is one of the experts featured in the documentary Beyond Belief. Get the DVD:  www.beyondbeliefthemovie.com

by Sandra Anne Taylor

Balancing the activity of the heart and mind is a very important factor in your energy projection and an important step in changing what you attract to your life.  So many people live their whole life in their mind, always analyzing, thinking about their problems, and worrying too much.  If this is the type of energy your mind engages in most, it’s time to make a shift to a heart-centered consciousness.

The function of the mind is to contemplate and analyze what is or could be valuable in one’s life, yet the function of the heart is to experience value and appreciate all the value that’s already present.  The heart feels joy while the mind spends much of its time searching for it, and wondering why it always seems so elusive.  This is the constant schism in which we find ourselves.  We’re always so busy worrying about how to be happy that we’re dismissing our power to find happiness in our heart right now.

But you can break this pattern and start to develop a joyous, heart-centered consciousness, one that will create a much more positive and magnetic vibration in your life.  An easy technique can shift your negative mental focus almost immediately.  Try this process and you’ll see a real difference in how you feel – and soon you’ll find a real difference in the results you’re attracting, too.

When you catch yourself worrying about something or when you’re annoyed or dissatisfied, use your power of choice to shift your consciousness from the anxiety of your head to the peace of your heart.  Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and relax your muscles.  Visualize your problem lifting up and floating away like a cloud on the horizon.

Take another deep breath, and as you inhale, sense the energy of your mind quieting down; feel your awareness slowly dropping down into your heart center. Just relax, keep letting go of all concerns, and focus your consciousness on your heart.

Then, as you continue to loosen up, let yourself think about something that makes you happy, that you appreciate.  Whether it’s a bright memory, a person you love, or a beautiful place that you’ve visited, let yourself picture that now.  Visualize all the details, and put yourself right in the center of the picture.  Bring it up close, and make it vivid and colorful, immersing yourself in that happy situation.

Feel the joy and let yourself smile.  You’re so relaxed, happy and peaceful.  This is the state of heartfelt appreciation, the warm feeling of grateful acceptance.  Hold on to it.  Know that its ultimate form is loving your life, and when you go back to your daily activities, choose to find gladness and peace in all that you do.

Joyous appreciation is the heart’s most magnetic vibration.  It is such an important energy that it can’t be overemphasized.  It brings serenity in the release of striving and allows you to rejoice in what you already have – opening your heart to receiving even more.  Every moment spent in this resonance creates a highly attractive vibration and a powerfully creative consciousness.  Along with self-honoring, it’s one of the most life-changing things that you can do!

I often tell my clients that there’s more than one meaning to the word appreciate.  The one we’re talking about here is in the present moment – in your heart right now.  But when referring to commodities such as real estate, the term means “to increase in value” – which is an absolute energetic truth.  Your life will have greater worth when you choose to appreciate it.  When you create a real consciousness of the quality of your days, you bring more value there.  And choosing to experience joy in the present moment means that your jubilant energy will magnetize much more to enjoy in the future.

Affirmations for Heartfelt Appreciation:

• I have so much to be grateful for!  I look around myself and am satisfied.
• I live with joyous and heartfelt gratitude.  As I appreciate my life, I attract more and more to appreciate.
• I value my life and myself more and more each day. I deserve my own self-appreciation.
• I always take responsibility for my own happiness.  I find many wonderful things to be happy about each day.
• I am choosing to increase my focus on appreciation and self-acknowledgment.  I become more and more conscious of all that I have to be thankful for, and I take time to acknowledge it each day.

Sandra Anne Taylor is one of the experts featured in the documentary Beyond Belief.  Get the DVD at:www.beyondbeliefthemovie.com

Exerpt from interview with Elaine Hendrix:

For me, when I know when I’m living my life’s purpose because I feel very solid in my body.  It’s a very visceral experience, where my senses are alive! I hear clearly and crisply, I see vibrant colors, I feel my feet on the ground. For me it’s far more of a body and kinesthetic experience than it is intellectual or philosophical.

in finding commitment to your purpose, for me, I dealt a lot with anxiety, and learning to recognize anxiety, and the obstacles that brought.  Rather than running after something because I thought it was going to bring me a certain result I want, bring me money, because it was going to pay my rent, or whatever, those are anxious moments.  The more that I can trust, have faith, be in the here and now, I don’t move so anxiously, clamoring after something I think is going to get a result.  I start focusing more in on what do I truly want in my life, and then set forth actions towards that.

Along the path there are going to be setbacks, and if one just accepts that, when storms come, you’ll be prepared.  Every single day as an actor I work on my craft, my tool, my passion.  I do things to build my self up everyway possible, so that emotionally I’m strong, physically I’m strong, so when these setbacks come up I’m ready for them as much as I possibly can be.  I’ve learned to navigate through them, versus ever thinking that I’m going to be stopped by them.

One thing that I learned that was actually pretty shocking to me (during her role in the film What The Bleep Do We Know) was how our emotions are chemical reactions, and how we can become addicted to them.  I found that particularly interesting because I am in a career that deals all about emotions and re-created emotions, and making them very real for a scene in a movie.  A lot of my work is about mastering emotions, learning they are chemical, they are tied to my thoughts, and they don’t have to run the show.

To see the trailer, or get the DVD with Elaine Hendrix in the film Beyond Belief go to: www.beyondbeliefthemovie.com