Living Life Abundantly

Have you ever gotten really excited about an incredible sale, only to get to the store and find you’ve been tricked? That unbelievable sale item is not available, but surprise! There’s another deal, which of course, is going to cost you a lot more money!

It’s called the Bait and Switch game of marketing. We’d like to share a different, more enlightening game, called the Subconscious Bait and Switch! Here’s how it works.

You “BAIT” those hidden memories, thoughts, and feelings – at a time when you are not emotionally attached to them – when you can evaluate them objectively and dispassionately – like after some meditation time at Headquarters, or when you are doing some journaling. You “Bait” your subconscious by saying or thinking key phrases that are incomplete, allowing your subconscious to fill in the blank.

Here are a few examples of phrases you can finish:

“I am just no good at ” (singing; marketing; managing money; meeting people..) “I would be so much better off, if it weren’t for” (parents; my boss; some past event) “The one thing I fear most is” (failure; looking silly; being taken advantage of; being alone; health problems.) “When I look in the mirror” (OK – no examples necessary!)

Got the idea? Your subconscious immediately completes the blank. This is your cue to pull the “Switch!”

You “Baited” the unhealthy awareness to come to the surface, but instead of nurturing that belief, and supporting it with your thoughts, words, and actions, you move into the process of Truth Transformation! You write your thoughts down, and then set the intention to replace that self defeating thought with a more empowering Truth about who you are.

For example, let’s use a non-threatening, low-risk one: “I’m just no good at singing!” Let’s evaluate that thought for Truth. Says who? Who am I comparing myself against: my friends or Celine Dion? What if I sang for fun? What if I asked a vocal coach to give me an honest appraisal of my singing? How is claiming that I can’t sing serving me?

Now for the big part: When I catch myself saying this, what could I say instead? Create a replacement phrase for yourself. We’re not talking about lying to yourself, but some replacement that moves you to a better place in your subconscious about this issue. In this example, you might say instead, “I enjoy singing for fun!” or “I like to sing in the shower!” Can’t you already feel the cobwebs being swept away? Try the Subconscious Bait and Switch to get acquainted with your hidden limiting thoughts and beliefs, and transform your thinking and your experience!

One of the most difficult words to handle is NO, especially when we desperately want something, or feel it is necessary for our success and happiness. According to sales research, NO is the leading cause of ‘fear of rejection’ complex that causes so many people to get out of business!

In thinking back on our years as consultants, we remember that NO was a difficult word for us to hear when we generated amazing proposals, only to find someone else was selected to do the job. But we discovered a fascinating way to hear the YES in NO.

We started saying “Thanks for saying no!” The moment we heard that we weren’t selected to give the opening keynote, for example, we would immediately follow up with a little note, thanking the potential client for giving us the opportunity to be considered ~ and our affirmations for them having a great conference.

Then we offered our services for future events, and also indicated that, should something occur at the last minute where they found they needed a speaker, to feel free to contact us. Finally, we included a copy of one of our books as our “Thanks for saying no” gift.

Incredibly, we discovered that quite often we were contacted immediately to confirm dates next year’s conference! And we can pinpoint three specific instances where things went awry with the selected speaker, and we got the call to replace them! We learned how to find the YES in NO by looking at a more long-term response.

How often do you run into obstacles that seem to wave a big red “NO” in your face? It seems so easy to just give in, and say, “Forget it!” But in Mark 10:27, Jesus makes an incredible statement: “With God, all things are possible.”

What exactly does that mean? It tends to conjure up all kinds of debates, like “Yeah, possible, but how probable?” Or “Sounds good on paper, but it won’t work in the real world!”

So let’s look at the Unity perspective of what this verse is really talking about, we get a whole different view. It tells us that as we make that connection with the Divine nature of who we are, our God center, we are open to the Divine Flow of all the substance and ideas we ever need. But until we spend that time in Headquarters, in meditation and prayer, our human self sees the appearance of obstacles, of “NOs.”

Here are three keys to discovering the YES in every NO you seem to encounter:

* Spend dedicated time in the Silence, strengthening your connection with Spirit.

* Greet every appearance of NO with a big “Thank You for saying no!” Then identify ways to send positive energy to the situation or people.

* Recognize that there is no being out there in the sky saying NO. We have the power to Divinely order our experience, and create the life we choose. Refuse to let the appearance of NO have power in your life!