Week 10 – Cause and Effect

An ordinary man, who has no definite knowledge of cause and effect, is governed by his feelings and emotions.

Every effect is a result of a certain definite cause.

Abundance is the natural law of the universe.

Thought is the connecting link between the Infinite and the finite, between the Universal and the individual.

Thought is an active vital form of dynamic energy, which has the power to correlate with its object and bring it out of the invisible substance from which all things are created into the visible or objective world.

Universal Mind can be depended upon to find the ways and means for bringing about any necessary manifestation.

Nature testifies to the operation of the law by silently, constantly expressing itself in the law of growth. Where there is growth there must be life; where there is life there must be harmony.

If your thought is in harmony with the creative principle of nature, it is in tune with the Infinite mind, and it will form the circuit.

Wisdom, strength, courage and all harmonious conditions are the result of power and we have seen that all power is from within.

When any object or purpose if clearly held in thought, its precipitation, in tangible and visible form, is merely a question of time. The vision always precedes and itself determine the realization.

–Charles Haanel, The Master Key System

 Haanel also states that knowledge will not apply itself. We apply the above knowledge every day, whether we realize it or not.

Everything starts with a thought. Visualize what you want, hold that thought in your mind, and wait for it to manifest.

When we are children we might have thoughts of wanting a toy, visualize having it and then convince a parent to buy it for us, this manifesting the toy.

As teenagers thinking about what we want to do as adults we might visualize going to college or working in a profession. It all starts with a thought and then we manifest it.

As adults we might get a thought that we want to build an addition onto our house, or visualize a new and better job, or a business. To the extent that those thoughts are harmonious, in connection with the Infinite, those thoughts manifest into realities.

On a personal note we are working on a documentary film. Since studying the Master Keys and connecting daily in thought with the Universal mind, that documentary film has grown, changed and become so much better than it ever could have been. It is becoming the epitome of abundance. What started with a simple thought of “let’s make a film about this” has now become reality of actual film footage, of websites and blogs, of fundraising and non-profits with volunteer board members, all helping make this film a reality, all because of thoughts, connection with God, or as Haanel puts it, the Infinite, because of vision, all inspiring action, resulting in concrete creation, in this case a documentary film.

Week 9 – Reflections on Thoughts and Condititions

If you wish to change conditions you must change yourself.

 Your inmost thoughts will find expression just as certainly as the plant springs from the seed.

 Hold in mind the condition desired; affirm it as an already existing fact.

 Character is the result of continued effort.

Two things cannot exist in the same place at the same time—substitute thoughts of courage, power, self-reliance and confidence for those of fear, lack and limitation.

Positive thought will destroy the negative as certainly as light destroys the darkness.

Action is the blossom of thought, and conditions are the result of action.

Health, Wealth and Love are man’s most basic needs.

 To know the truth is to be in harmony with the Infinite and Omnipotent power. To know the truth is to connect yourself with a power which will sweep away every kind of discord, inharmony, doubt or error.

 Every cell in the body must manifest truth as you see it. If you see sickness; they will manifest sickness; if you see perfection they must manifest perfection.

Thought is a spiritual activity and spirit is creative therefore the result of holding this thought in mind, must necessarily bring about conditions in harmony with the thought.

The affirmations “I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving harmonious and happy”, will bring about harmonious conditions.

Visualization is a product of the imagination. It therefore possesses vitality; it will grow. The thing visualized will manifest itself in form. The mechanism is perfect, but unfortunately sometimes the operator is inexperienced or inefficient, but practice and determination will overcome this defect.

The more you give the more you will get.

We reap what we sow. If we send out thoughts of love and health, they return to us…if we send out thoughts of fear, worry, jealousy, anger, hate, etc, we will reap the results in our own lives.

The way to fight darkness is with light-the way to fight cold is with heat—the way to overcome evils is with good.

–Charles Haanel, The Master Key System

Affirm the good and the bad will vanish. –Frederick Elias Andrews

What amazing ideas! To be in charge of our own destiny, our own lives! Could this be true?

Of course it is true and deep down we know it is true. We know that we are responsible for the condition in our lives. Cause and effect. If we want to know our thoughts, just look at our environment.

This does not mean we control every little thing in each of our lives. We do not control if lightning strikes our house—or do we? Could we have installed a lightning rod, or cut down surrounding trees? We do not control if we get sick—or do we? Perhaps getting sick is our body’s way of telling us to slow down, rethink a little. Sometimes things just happen, yet overall, looking at our life’s conditions, it is very clear we have much, much control over our lives.

In our Master Key Course we have been practicing the mental diet. I LOVE the mental diet, because there is no doubt in my experience that those last few quotes are one hundred percent truth.

So how do we control our thoughts to make sure they are positive: visualize what we want with positive emotion—we do this in our Master Key course by reading our DMP, or Definite Major Purpose statement at least 3 times daily out loud.

How else do we control our thoughts: affirmations like “I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy.”

I love how taking the Master Key Course and doing its associated exercises is changing my life on a personal level, and the more I focus and visualize and affirm, the faster things come into being. Part of what I wrote down was that we wanted to complete a documentary film. Another part was we wanted to ski part of each year in magnificent mountains. We leave this coming week for a four-month stint as full-time ski instructors in Park City, Utah, enabling us to ski during the day and work on the film in the evenings.

It all started with a thought, a seed of a creative idea, then that seed was given an environment in which it could grow through visualization with positive emotions, and then that thought came into being.

We truly are in charge of our own destinies. Decide what you want, visualize it with positive emotions, and it will manifest.

 

 

 

 

 

Week 8 The Power of Thought and Imagination

Thought takes form and the law of growth eventually brings it into manifestation.

You may freely choose what you think.

Any line of thought persisted in cannot fail to produce its result in the character, health and circumstances in the individual.

If its manifestation in the objective will be a benefit…treasure it..it will grow and produce fruit a hundred fold.

If it is not, learn to keep the door shut, keep [it] out of our mind, out of your office, out of your world…

The cultivation of the imagination leads to the development of the ideal out of which your future will emerge.

                                       –Charles Haanel, The Master Key System

According to Haanel, constructive thought begins with imagination, and that our thoughts result in character, health and circumstances.

Last week during our filming for our ALS documentary we met someone. I will call him Phil because he asked that we not use his name. He had been diagnosed the ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis many years ago.

He was in a wheelchair, he was given six months to live because his neurologist said his disease was progressing extremely rapidly.

His father sent him to see a psychologist to help him “deal” with what was essentially a death sentence.

The psychologist suggested perhaps he created his disease, and that the good news was that if he created it, he could un-create it.

This made some sense to Phil so he thought about that quite a bit, he thought about the things he did in his life that might have contributed to him getting his disease.

The psychologist also suggested visualization and so Phil, since he was largely immobile, and home alone a lot, practiced this for six or seven hours a day, until he got really good at it.

He visualized, among other things, tiny robots rebuilding the myelin sheath around his nerves that the doctor had told him would be destroyed. He focused on this for hours at a time, visualizing tiny details, colors, complexities.

Around this time a friend gave him a book by Norman Cousins called Anatomy of an Illness and used some of his techniques to stay positive.

Then he read the Bible and realized that he could imagine Jesus healing him, so he visualized Jesus healing him. He had become very good at visualizing by this point and so he had feeling and color and sounds. Different scenes from the bible where Jesus was healing the leper, or the lame man he was that person being healed. He imagined it over and over again.

He kept up the visualizations of the robots working to heal his body, and of Jesus healing him over and over and over again.

Then, slowly, miraculously, his symptoms began to stop progressing then reverse. Slowly he began to regain his functionality.

This wasn’t a case of visualizing once, or for a few minutes. He visualized every day for hours and when he started to get better he kept visualizing.

Today Phil has very few signs that he was ever ill. He no longer needs his wheelchair. He can walk again. He is healthy.

What an amazing testament to the power of imagination, the power of visualization, and the power of concentration and focus.

Many years have passed. He recently went back to the university hospital where is original diagnosis was. They re-ran the tests. His old EMG and other lab tests clearly indicate he had ALS. His current tests clearly indicate he no longer has ALS.

Week 7 – Using Ominpotent Power

Visualization is the process of making mental images….

Make the mental image, make it clear, distinct, perfect;

Supply will follow the demand; you will be led to do the right thing at the right time in the right way.

Earnest Desire will bring about Confident Expectation, and this in turn must be reinforce by Firm Demand.

These three cannot fail to bring about Attainment, because the Earnest Desire is the feeling, the Confident Expectation is the thought, and the Firm Demand is the will…

…until the Law of Growth brings it into manifestation.

Concentrate on the things you want…think of abundance.

                                                                       –Charles Haanel, The Master Key System

 

What we think about comes about. The more clear we can make the picture of what we want and the more often we think about it, the more quickly it will come about.

This is all good in theory but how can we make it happen?

We have been interviewing people these recent weeks who have been diagnosed with a terminal disease ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and who have beat it. In other words, they have reversed the disease progression partially or completely and they are no longer going to die of ALS.

One of the tools that many of them used was visualization. They visualized themselves as healthy. Several visualized God healing them. One visualized little robots healing his nerves. Another visualized the nerves and muscles regenerating themselves.

ALL said that a positive mental attitude was a necessary factor in healing. Focusing on what you want, not getting depressed about what you don’t want is absolutely key.

Our minds are way more powerful than we realize. There is a force out there, a universal force one can call God or call it by another name. These people healed by using that omnipotent force in their healing by making a clear picture of what they wanted—health, focusing and concentrating on that picture with feeling, clearly expecting that picture to happen, and it did.

Haanel says you have to plant the seed, water it and be patient for the outcome, not dig it up before it has a chance to germinate and grow. These amazing people diagnosed with ALS planted the seed, and kept watering it for a long, long time with full faith that they would be healed, even when they continued to deteriorate. Eventually, the “seed” germinated, grew and their symptoms turned around.

Some have healed partially, some fully. None will die of ALS.

To see some of them: http://HealingALS.org

Week 6 – Living the Dream

Thought is mind in motion.

Our faith must be strong enough to generate a current of sufficient strength to bring our purpose into manifestation.

If the thought is sufficiently refined and concentrated, the substance finally yields and expresses perfectly.

Growth follows knowledge; action follows inspiration; opportunity follows perception; always the spiritual first, then the transformation.

 –Charles Haanel, The Master Key System 1911

It starts with a thought, an idea, actually to be more specific a creative idea. All ideas are creative by definition when you think about it.

Maybe it is just a thought like, “Hey, why not grab a pizza for dinner tonight?”

Maybe it is a small thought like, “Wouldn’t it be nice to make coffee for my wife?” or “Let me give my husband a kiss?”

Maybe it is a bigger thought like, “Wow, this is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with!” or “This is what I want to pursue as a career!”

Maybe it is a thought like “I want to volunteer at our local clothing giveaway”, or “I want to start a support group” or “I want to start a soup kitchen in our church.”

Maybe it is a thought like “I want to build a building” or “Let’s work to build a highway here.”

No matter how small or large, everything started with a thought.

Maybe it is a huge thought like, “I have a dream to solve world hunger.”

That one, that last one, was my thought, my idea, my dream when I was five years old. When my children were grown, I always imagined myself volunteering in Africa or Haiti or some development country feeding the hungry.

Then two things happened: First, I discovered the world actually has all the food it needs, and it is a matter of distribution, that political decisions often block that distribution both home and abroad, and that it is not just a matter of food but of clean, uncontaminated, pesticide-free and non-GMO food.

Second, when my children were getting ready to leave home and live their own lives, I asked God, “Where can I best serve?” Then I listened and waited. I even applied to some positions overseas (I didn’t get them). Yet that was not the service God intended for me.

Instead my mission, my purpose, fell into my lap from an unexpected place. My mother began losing her memory and was diagnosed with mixed Alzheimer’s/Dementia. This was a huge deal, and a big fear for all of us because my grandmother had died of it.

I had a passion for holistic health and I went online to see which brain vitamins–B vitamins, Omega 3’s, turmeric, fish oil, NAC, acetyl-l carnitine—were the most likely to help mom.

To my shock and surprise I found people who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s had reversed it! How was this possible? Why wasn’t it all over the news? As I researched more all of their recoveries were based on science! These were things you couldn’t argue with: a CAT scan showing significant brain shrinkage, then another CAT scan three years later that shrinkage was gone! In our journey we also found people who had reversed ALS, living, not dying from ALS.

We had to get this out to the world! I knew that this was my mission. I was passionate about it, it felt right. It was no accident that my fiancé at the time had 30 years experience with NBC, CBS and ABC news as a journalist, photographer, editor and producer.

The more we dug the clearer our mission got. It started with an idea. Let’s make a documentary film about those who have reversed ALS and another about those who have reversed Alzheimer’s, and when those are complete, MS and Autism.

Fast forward: what started out as a small thought, an idea is becoming a reality. With focus, with attention, with strength and faith and purpose, 2 films and now 2 books, 2 websites and 2 non-profits to spread the word are now happening. Our website: http://HealthAdvocatesWorldwide.com.

We are, at this moment, living the dream that started out as an idea, creating films that started out as a thought. This past week we were traveling. We just had three more interviews for our ALS documentary film and two more for our Alzheimer’s film. And here is part of the physical manifestation of that thought:

Our ALS website: http://HealingALS.org and the trailer for our first documentary film, Healing ALS, to be completed by the end of 2015:

Our non-profit’s Alzheimer’s website: http://SharpAgain.org and the trailer for our second documentary film Sharp Again: Healing Alzheimer’s, to be completed 2016-17:

 

 

 

 

Week 5 – The Creative Mind

• Our thoughts create everything we have. Thoughts create matter.
• Mind shapes and controls matter.
• You can create for yourself anything you desire.
• At least ninety percent of our mental life is subconscious.
• The subconscious can and will solve any problem for us.
• We can consciously allow the desirable and refuse to allow the undesirable to manifest.
• We are today the result of past thinking.
• When we build a home we are so careful with every detail, yet why are we so careless with our mental home?
• If the character of the material in our mental home is only courageous, optimistic, positive thought, then the results will be firm and solid.
• With mental, moral and physical cleanliness comes rich, abundant possession.
• Power over circumstances is its reward, health, harmony and prosperity.
• You must earnestly desire it. You must assert your claim. You must take possession.
• No human heredity comes close to matching the divine heredity, and herein lies the secret of all power.
• Build firm foundations for your consciousness and undreamed of power is at your disposal.
• Power is the result of the keeping the doors of your mind open to the Infinite Source, The Universal Mind, God.
• The source of all light and power is from within.
• We cannot receive this power unless we give it.
• All possession is the result of the accumulative power of the mind.

These are but some of the thoughts in this week’s chapter of the Master Keys. One would think, at first glance, “If all of this were true why isn’t it taught in every home, in every school and university from the moment we are born?”

Yet upon deeper examination, these thoughts ring true. Deep in our minds, we know instinctively that these words reptrsent truth. And for those willing to examine their lives they will find, every step of the way, if they are willing to take honest self-examination, that these words are true.

From a personal standpoint, the thought that I have created my circumstances, is both empowering and very sobering. I love thinking about all the things that I created that are good in my life. I can see how, with God, with right thinking, and with that solid clean mental mind, they came into being.

Yet I see also how I created the things in my life that I am less proud of, that the negative circumstances in my life were often of my own creation. It is not what we are given in life, it is how we handle what we are given, and I could have handled things better.

Many say that we each have a purpose in life, and that we choose, before birth, what our major life challenges will be. Our mission is to overcome these challenges, and find and live our purpose.

The wisdom and knowledge contained in the words of the Master Keys, of Mandino’s Greatest Salesman, of Emerson’s law of giving, are powerful tools to meet all obstacles and live our purpose with love, passion, grace and power.

 

Week 4 – Things are Shifting

This is week 4 of the Master Key Course. Things are shifting. Yet another item in my DMP (Definite Major Purpose) seems to be taking shape. I have written things down in my DMP statement and they are beginning to happen. All of this repeating out loud 3 times with “enthooosiasm” seems to be getting that subconscious mind into 24/7 gear. Magic.

The 3x/day readings of the Greatest Salesman scroll are going more smoothly too. Following the course directions, doing the tasks, feeling the changes happening in my life. Today there were a few more small miracles, small things changing that precede an impending bigger shift.

And the 15 minute daily sit, the “listening” instead of being so busy with tasks, seems to be producing little ideas, little hints that take me even further in my purpose and make day to day life easier.

Some of my favorite pieces of this week’s reading:

• Every transaction must benefit every person who is in any way connected with the transaction.
• The individual is part of the universal.
• I can be what I will to be.
• If you make up your mind to do something, do it.
• When you have learned to control yourself you will have found the “World Within” controls the world without.
• We cannot give unless we get, we cannot be helpful unless we are strong.
• To get it we must give it; the more we give the more we shall get.
• Power comes through repose; it is in Silence that we can become still, and when we are still we can think, and thought is the secret of all attainment.
• In order to express, power, abundance or any other constructive purpose the emotions must be called upon to give feeling to the thought so that it will take form.
• Mental strength is secured in exactly the same way that physical strength is secured, by exercise.
• You must succeed in dismissing, eliminating and completely destroying those negative and destructive thoughts.
• There is nothing truer than that the quality of thought which we entertain correlates certain externals in the outside world. This is the Law from which there is no escape.

So those of you reading this who are taking the course, if you have not yet seen as shift yet be patient. Do the readings with enthusiasm, do the tasks. It will happen.

 

Week 3 – Realizing your mental resources

There are some things in chapter 3 of the master keys that I found particularly compelling:

Eliminate, therefore, and possible tendency to complain of conditions…

Understand your power and persist in your object…

Each action is the result of conscious thought, the habitual actions become automatic, then subconscious in order that the mind again may be freed…

 Chapter 3 then goes and talks about the interaction between the conscious and subconscious mind, the interaction of the brain, and the gut, and that the conscious mind directs and the subconscious mind simply obeys, yet the real power comes when we use the interaction between the two.

The subconscious mind can accomplish whatever it is directed to. We simply need to direct it correctly with our conscious mind. With this knowledge essentially we have unlimited power.

The chapter goes on to discuss resistant versus non-resistant thoughts, that when we have pleasant, courageous, confident thoughts we expand our power and when we are in fear or have negative thoughts our power is constricted.

It is our attitude of mind toward life which determines the experiences with which we are to meet…

 I know this is true without a doubt. With practice, like the athlete, we get better.

Mentally concentrate on the object of your desire; when you are concentrating you are impressing the subconscious.

I know from experience this is absolutely true too.

The subconscious mind is part of the universal mind….creative power is absolutely unlimited…

 Our exercise this week is to physically relax during our meditation. Physical relaxation enables the blood to circulate freely to and form the brain and body.

I recently watched a video that shows absolutely scientific proof that the simple exercise of mediation, 20 minutes per day, twice a day, has a significant positive impact on health and on the reduction of the disease state.

This video is only 18 minutes, but is shows absolutely the power of simply relaxing our mind and body:

Week 2 – The Power of the Subconscious Mind

The subconscious mind is way more powerful than we realize. The deep subconscious keeps our hearts beating, our bodies sweating during exercise to keep us cool. It allows nutrients to energize our cells, it takes oxygen from the lungs and oxygenates the cells of the body.

The subconscious part of our mind is responsible for skills. When we first learn to drive, everything is conscious and awkward. Then it becomes smooth and automatic. That smoothness is the subconscious mind at work. We do not need to think about each step. Our conscious mind gives a command and our subconscious mind carries it out. We love to drive because we can enjoy the scenery without having to think about the specifics of our hands, arms, legs and feet doing the mechanics.

I love to ski. I love steep slopes, the steeper the better. I love to go fast. Part of the bliss of skiing is that it is automatic. My conscious mind doesn’t have to think about all the little steps. “Muscle memory” takes over, which is really the subconscious mind at work. I can enjoy the white snow, the blue sky, the green trees and the grey rocks, the cool air against my face, the feel of this body God gave me working, obeying my mind’s commands automatically.

The reason steep slopes and speed are so appealing is that they add a little challenge—you have to think faster–the conscious mind has to work with the subconscious mind at a higher level in a more perfect orchestration. The conscious mind might decide to begin the

Skiing with family in Utah–it’s actually steeper than it looks!

turn sooner or put a little more pressure on, and the subconscious mind obeys, all the time keeping you balanced. The exhilaration when speed and steepness bring the conscious and unconscious mind to a perfect orchestration, and the joy of the speed, the cool wind against my face, making split-second decisions to go around a rock or tree or navigate a steep drop-off, my body and mind working perfectly together without having to think about it, is bliss.

When I ski my subconscious mind makes over 99 percent of the decisions, my conscious mind less than 1 percent. I believe our lives are the same way.

When we get a major illness, I believe it is our subconscious mind that is involved. No one consciously wants to get sick. I started reading a little book this evening by Louise Hay entitled Heal Your Body. Louise was diagnosed with cancer and she realized that it was her subconscious mind that created it. She healed her cancer holistically. She had to detoxify her mind as well has her body. She had to give proper nutrients to her mind, as well as her body, and in six months the doctors pronounced what she already knew in her mind and body: she was healed. Louise had succeeded in training her subconscious mind for health instead of illness.

Week 1 – Why the Master Key Course?

As I begin the Master Key Course 2014 I am full of hope. I am inspired. I know how powerful this course is because I was privileged to be part of the Master Key Course in 2013. Mark, Davene and Trish are master teachers. Derek, Heather and Dayna as staff members are right there in that same energy. This is a special group of people. Their heart is in the right place and they are all living their own DMP doing their part to change the planet. I was privileged to meet all six in-person last spring in Kauai. They are the real deal. They live what they teach. They are all outstanding people you want to be around and work with.

DMP stands for Definite Major Purpose. I saw a movie today and it had a quote from Mark Twain: “The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.” Writing a DMP helps us figure out our “why”. Or, if we already know our why it helps us solidify it, make it crystal clear, full of emotion, in vivid color with sounds and smells and touch and taste.

So why do I feel so inspired and hopeful and positive right now? Because doing the work in 2013 brought our lives up to a new level, we made huge leaps towards achieving our DMP. I know that the Master Key Course 2014 aka MKMMA 2104 will result in another huge leap. Even better, this year my husband is joining me doing the course. “When two or more are gathered in My name….”. This course is powerful with one member of the family doing it. With two, well, miracles happen. A mastermind is two or more people working in alignment—well I can’t imagine a better mini-mastermind than a couple working together on their DMPs in perfect harmony.

A note for those of you who have an unsupportive spouse or significant other: mine was unsupportive last year. I got “You’re being brainwashed.” “That Mark guy, why do you listen to this stuff?” I kept going because it felt right, in my body and my spirit I knew that the Master Keys and what Mark was teaching was truth. And I was getting results. Slowly my husband saw those results and has done a 180.

Some key truths in Chapter 1 of the Master Keys:

• That much gathers more is true on every plane of existence and that loss leads to greater loss is equally true.
• We must “be” before we can “do” only to the extent which we “are”, and what we “are” depends upon what we “think”.
• There is a world within—a world of thought and feeling and power; of light and life and beauty and, although invisible, its forces are mighty.
• The world within is governed by mind. When we discover this world we shall find a solution to every problem.
• The world without is a reflection of the world within.
• Harmony in the world within will be reflected in the world by harmonious conditions, agreeable surrounding, the best of everything. It is a foundation for health…

I could go on, but the best way to truly take in all of this wisdom is to read the Master Keys by Charles Haanel yourself, in the prescribed way, reading each chapter daily for a week before moving on to the next, with each reading session followed by a 15 minute meditation.

Last thing: the other reason I am excited about the Master Key Course 2014 is that the more I learn in this course, the more its truths manifest in myself, the more I can pass this wisdom on to others. What starts with Mark and Davene and the team, continues on to us, and through us to others. We can not only change our own lives, our own health, our own happiness, accomplish our own purpose, we can help others do the same. We can bring more light and hope and beauty and health and accomplishment into others’ lives along with our own.

You think all of this isn’t true? I challenge anyone reading this to take the Master Key Course, do the work that is asked, and see for yourself. If you are already in the 2014 Course you are privileged. Make use of that privilege, do the work, and watch your life transform. If you are not enrolled, you will have a chance in September 2015 to participate in a philosophy-course-resulting-in-an-extraordinary-life-changing-adventure.