Tips For Creating Ceremonial Space
Clean and tidy the room: Cleaning is a ritual of its own, and it’s a great way to change the energy in your space from everyday to ceremonial. Dust is layers of dirt and dead skin that build up over time, so dusting your space is a great place to start.
Tidying is also important. Your everyday things remind you of everything you need to do tomorrow and make it hard for you to be present in the here and now, which is the essence of ritual space. Put that pile of papers away and make things straight so you aren’t distracted.
If you have time, clean and tidy thoroughly. If you don’t, just do a quick one. Either way, the effort of making the room nice and changing it a bit prepares both you and the space for the transition into ritual space.
Cleanse the space
The freshness of the air plays a huge part in the feel of your ceremonial space. Open a window or the door, get a fan, or even simply move around the room to freshen the air as much as possible.
It is also highly encourage that you utilize silver sage and palo santo, two natural substances that have been used for centuries by indigenous people as space cleansers. In addition to essential oils, incense, candles, room spray, mapachos or other things to cleanse the space.
Lighting
Candles are also an easy way to change the lighting in your room. Maybe you dim the lights or turn them off completely.
Make an altar
Words like ritual and altar are strongly associated with organized religion and this can create negative associations in people’s minds — especially for those who were forced as children to subscribe to something they didn’t believe in. Making your own altar is a great way to transform this and reclaim the altar as something sacred and personal
An altar is a focal point for your ritual. You can use any objects to make an altar, as long as they feel precious to you. For example, if your ritual is about connecting with your partner, you might use a favorite photo of you together. If you’re remembering someone who’s died, you might gather a few of their favorite things.
Gather the things you need for the ritual
If the ritual includes a shamanic journey or meditation, make a place for each of you to sit or lie.
If you’re doing an intimacy ritual, get some mattresses, soft things and any toys you might use.
If you’re going to dance, make sure there’s plenty of space and set up the sound system.
Whatever you might need for the ritual, it’s great to have it on hand. It’s fine of course if you forget something and have to go to the next room to fetch it — however, this can break the spell and then it takes time to drop back in. So the more prepared you are beforehand, the deeper a ritual space you’ll be able to enter. And thinking about what you need is another good way to focus and become present.
Do something to transition into ritual space
Your space is ready. It’s time to drop into ritual space.
What you do at this point is very much up to you. For me, I like to call the four directions (east, south, west, north) and say a few words about what each element means to me. I also sometimes invoke Lady Cacao (the spirit of ceremonial cacao) and call in other energies to guide and protect me and the other participants during the ceremony.
This is a highly personal thing though, determined by what you believe in and what helps you to connect and be present. If something feels too weird and woo-woo, it’ll almost certainly have the opposite effect. Similarly, if you start using technical language that reminds you of your programming job, you will probably go back into your left brain and that won’t help.
If you are not sure what to do, a simple and effective way to transition into ritual space is to sit in a circle and take three deep breaths together. Breathing deeply calms the mind and brings you more into the here and now. Remember to inhale deeply and also to exhale fully. It’s with the exhale that you relax, as exhalation activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Deep breath in, big breath out. Repeat.
Creating ceremonial space
Newman Alexander
Tips For Crafting Intention
THE NIGHT/ DAY BEFORE GET CLEAR IN YOUR HEAD WHAT YOU WANT TO TRANSFORM ABOUT YOURSELF. MAYBE YOUR JUST SEEKING EXPERIENCE, THATS FINE. BUT MAYBE THERE IS SOMETHING YOU WISH TO GET OUT OF THIS EXPERIENCE. SOMETHING YOU WISH TO TAKE AWAY. A HABIT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ESTABLISH OR STRENGTHEN, A PATTERN YOU WISH TO BREAK FREE FROM, A CLARITY YOU SEEK, A CALLING YOU WANT TO CONNECT WITH.
“INTENTIONS ARE THE FUEL TO MANIFESTING YOUR GOALS AND VISIONS. AN INTENTION WILL HELP CREATE MORE CLARITY IN YOUR LIFE, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE SEED IS PLANTED RIGHT BEFORE YOU START YOUR MEDITATION. SETTING AN INTENTION IS LIKE DRAWING A MAP OF WHERE YOU WISH TO GO — IT BECOMES THE DRIVING FORCE OF YOUR HIGHER SELF. WITHOUT AN INTENTION THERE IS NO MAP, AND YOU'RE JUST DRIVING DOWN A ROAD WITH NO DESTINATION IN MIND.”
Tips for Crafting Intentions:
1) Keep It Positive
Get rid of fear” All your brain hears is “Fear”. Instead say, “I will find confidence.”
Your unconscious is brings you what you ask, if you ask “why is it i never get what I want”, “Why is it I always live in fear,” Then your brain will look for evidence to support this limiting outlook. When You make a question of statement that is limited then that's the paradigm your starting to call forth. Ask for the results you do want, not why your getting what you don't want.
2) Present Tense
You want the sentence to be relatively short and it needs to be phrased in the present tense, phrase it as though you’ve already got what you want.
Ex. “I have self love” instead of “I will love myself”
precise and clear in your meaning. Wording can make all the difference
Go for the final results, not the reasons the bring you there.
Also notice, it’s not “I WANT TO BE” or “I AM THIS AND NOT THAT”. Negatives in sigils are just negative! If you write “I WANT TO BE A MILLIONAIRE” look forward to a life of wanting to be a millionaire.
The PEAK TRANSFORMATION Experience
Primary human experiences such as sadness, anxiety, anger, and sex drive are routinly denied and bottled up due to the pressure of cultural expectation. Like other instinctual drives, when these negative emotional responses are chronically repressed, they become problematic, pathological, toxic and potentially dangerous to self and/or others.
The Bioenergetic techniques explored in this workshop offer a broader therapeutic approach sought to release these bound-up energies and facilitate their release through expression. This approach also includes the process of self-discovery and offers resolution for long-standing internal conflicts and traumatic memories.
We will also be playing with Quantum light breathing; a guided sensory meditation and breath technique that unlocks hidden potentials within the psyche to further explore the cathartic effects of the Bioenergetic practice.
10 Rules To Being Human
10 rules to being human
Rule One – You will receive a body.
You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your life on Earth.
Rule Two – You will be presented with lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called “life”. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or hate them, but you have designed them as part of your curriculum.
Rule Three – There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much as a part of the process as the experiments that work.
Rule Four – The lesson is repeated until learned.
Lessons will be repeated to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have learned them, you can go on to the next lesson.
Rule Five – Learning does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
Rule Six – “There” is no better than “here”.
When your “there” has become “here” you will simply obtain another “there” that will look better to you than your present “here”.
Rule Seven – Others are only mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.
Rule Eight – What you make of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you.
Rule Nine – Your answers lie inside of you.
All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
Rule Ten – You will forget all this at birth.
You can remember it if you want by unraveling the double helix of inner-knowing.
‘If Life Is A Game, These Are The Rules’ is essential reading if you are interested in behaviour, relationships, communications, and human personality. ‘If Life Is A Game, These Are The Rules’ is also commonly referenced book in the life-coaching industry. If you are interested in making the most of your life, and helping others do the same, buy ‘If Life Is A Game, These Are The Rules’.
- Dr. Chérie Carter-Scott’s Rules of Life
The Good Fairy (Trauma and Healing)
Fairy story
A number of years ago I was working with a client, who also had some exposure to meditation, and she shared a story that for her expressed her own experience. I want to tell you the story: It starts when she’s 7-years-old hiding in a closet, terrified after another unexpected attack from her drunken, enraged father. The little girl is praying saying, “Help, I can’t take it anymore.” And she opens her eyes to see a fairy in a haze of blue with a glittering wand. She lets the fairy know how her father has been beating her and that her mother doesn’t help, and how she believes they both really wish she was dead.
The fairy listens with tears in her eyes. She tells the little girl that while she can’t make all this pain disappear, she can help her get through this time. She can help her forget, then help her remember later when she’s able to handle it. With a wave of the wand, the good fairy says, “I’m going to send things into different parts of your body and they are going to hold them for you until you feel strong enough to let them move freely again.” And she explained she would dull her pelvis and her belly to block the sexual energy from moving, and she would constrict her heart and her throat so she wouldn’t feel the raw intensity of her fear and the need to cry out. The little girl wouldn’t have to feel the broken-heartedness.
“You’ll have trouble feeling and being close to people, but it will be your way of surviving. At those times that the pain erupts, you will find your own ways to control it. Ways that may not look good to the world, but will be of temporary comfort. And you, my darling, will be fairly functional. You will be a functional human being in spite of all this because you have a strong mind and you can hold all this in. And I will be helping you.”
The child looked directly into the fairy’s eyes and asked, “How will you help? Will you come back to see me?”
The fairy replied, “You will not forget everything. I will leave a voice inside that will urge you to reconnect with your whole self. It may be a very long process, but in time, you will feel an urgent calling to step out of imprisoning beliefs, to unwind your body and release what is has been holding all these years. You will learn the art of sacred presence. There will be physical and emotional pain as you open, but you will have what you need: the compassion and wisdom, the support of loving others to be a whole person, spiritually awake, but still the same. It’s because your soul has always been there, just hidden by scars of this lifetime.”
The story ends as the fairy gently puts her arms around the little girl’s shoulders and leads her to bed. As the little girl finally relaxed into deep sleep, the fairy gazed tenderly at the small, innocent face and then whispered her goodbye.
“When you wake up, you will forget I was here. You will forget you asked for help. You will forget the sharpness of your daily pain. This is the only way I know to get you through this. You are a beautiful child, and I love you. In fact, your parents love you, although they are incapable of showing it to you. You will have to love yourself enough to heal so that when you are older, your life will be powerful, full, and free. One day you will know who you really are. You will trust your goodness and know your belonging. Until then, and for always, I love you.”
- Via Tara Branch
The Invitation
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, 'Yes.'
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
The invitation - Oriah Mountain Dreamer
The Story Of You (A Salmon)
Think about how amazing it is that a salmon will travel from an enormous ocean and find the one river it was born in. Out of all of the other streams and rivers pouring into this huge ocean it searches for one specific channel and finds it.
For a long time you swim through the ocean. For a long time you search trying to follow this all-consuming instinct, going far beyond the place you began.
Then one day you happen to swim upon a small, bubbling cove. You notice a strange feeling in the current splashing down from above. Curious, you swim closer. For a moment you feel the water moving through the current is somehow different. It gives you a sense of inner stillness and after a pause you decide it must be followed. The current will take you beyond the familiar world you can relate to and following it means you will be moving against the flow.
Think about how amazing it is that a salmon will travel from an enormous ocean and find the one river it was born in. Out of all of the other streams and rivers pouring into this huge ocean it searches for one specific channel and finds it.
For a long time you swim through the ocean. For a long time you search trying to follow this all-consuming instinct, going far beyond the place you began.
Then one day you happen to swim upon a small, bubbling cove. You notice a strange feeling in the current splashing down from above. Curious, you swim closer. For a moment you feel the water moving through the current is somehow different. It gives you a sense of inner stillness and after a pause you decide it must be followed. The current will take you beyond the familiar world you can relate to and following it means you will be moving against the flow.
Then, without thinking or expecting much, you push to follow it. It takes a great deal of effort. Every gain you make is threatened by the fear that if you stopped the current would suddenly push you right back to where you began.
Suddenly a giant shape crashes into the water from above. It is brown with swirling fur and long, sharp spikes that resemble teeth. You scream in shock and tighten up as the claw pulls you from the water! Then everything moves in slow motion and a feeling of incredible calm surges through your being. It urges you to relax, let go, and surrender. You listen to it as you, very gently, twist your body. Naturally, your body slips out of the claw. As you begin to fall you feel as if the world has stopped.
You look around and see the great, silvery stream shining in the sun. Except you are above it! You see it in a way you had never imagined before. It climbs far ahead of you with many other streams branching off and merging into one. Looking back you can also see it winding down into the great ocean where you came from.
Your mouth opens in awe as you realize it is all connected. The ocean where you began, the stream you have been swimming through and the very place you are seeking. This knowledge somehow empowers you and opens your mind as you begin to see a larger picture beyond just your lone search.
Your body hits the water and you drop into a swirling pool, back into the world.
There you see other fish and almost instinctively you know; they are like you, they know what you are seeking. Searching you find that many currents lead away from the pools but only one leads to the source. Knowing there are others who are seeking with you gives you a sense of comfort. Still, none seem to know the way and you consider that your search may be in vain. As before, it seems when you begin to accept defeat and surrender, your instincts rise to be heard.
You have a purpose that is calling to you. There are many obstacles on your journey and many dangers that await you. Against the greatest of odds, this purpose must be fulfilled.
Determined to fulfill it you search the pool until you find a current that has the strange water that seems to call to you. It is also moving through the strongest current crashing down from above. Thinking, you tell yourself it cannot be right, that you must find an easier path. Another part in you instinctually leaps out and you feel compelled to push up the fiercest stream.
Struck with amazement at how long you follow the stream you begin to question the sense in following such a thing. It seems illogical that you should work so hard to follow something that might not lead anywhere or serve any reasonable purpose.
Suddenly you push out of the strong current into a large quiet pool, the likes of which you have never seen before. Giant crystals, glistening and shining with brilliant colors protrude from the sides of the pool. Refracted light bounces and plays across everything. The entire pool radiates with a deep, cool current and an air of mystical beauty.
Wonder so fills your entire being that you have trouble breathing and cannot help but choke back tears of joy. Before, where your heart was troubled with doubt it now beats with renewed spirit and vigor. For a time you pause and much of you longs to remain in this place. It gives you hope and instills in you a sense of mystery about the world you have never felt. This experience, this discovery, fills you with encouragement to keep following your strange instinct despite the lack of any certainty that it will ever lead you to the place you seek. With a purposeful thrust, you continue on your way.
Your journey is long.
Many times, frustrated, uncertain and weary, you abandon your search. At these times you live quietly in the calm pools. Each time your memories of the crystal pool, and other amazing discoveries you found along your search, stirs you to continue on your journey. Your strange inner instinct leads you to new places, unique places, different from anything you have seen before. Each discovery pushes you onward with renewed vigor and intensity.
In time, you cease questioning where your instinct will take you.
You learn to trust it, even through the darkest of waters that are devoid of any light. Stranger still, you begin to sense that it is not taking you away into the unknown, but bringing you back to a place you have always known.
Whether by chance or some design of fate, when at last you cease questioning it, you push into a deep, dark pool whose bottom you cannot see. You can feel no current coming from any direction. Fear and shock begin to overwhelm you as you consider that it is a dead-end. You have failed. It is time to give up.
You are weary and while you fear defeat and ultimately your death, you accept it.
It is then the familiar feeling deep inside of you stirs slightly. Having learned through your long journey to trust this feeling, you take a deep breath and release your fears. Then, you quiet your thoughts and listen intently, trying to become aware of everything around and within you. It is then this feeling inside of you grows stronger and you have a sudden urge to look up.
All of this time you have been slowly sinking and you are floating near the bottom. You see shining flashes of silver, other salmon, strange and ethereal in appearance are there with you. Shining golden globes line the floor and you are filled with a feeling of great peace and joy.
You have reached the source. It is here that a part of you will die yet another part of you will be reborn.
Edited excerpt from “The Handbook of the Navigator” By Eric Pepin
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The Ultimate Guide To Reinventing Yourself - James Altucher
A) REINVENTION NEVER STOPS
Every day you reinvent yourself. You’re always in motion. But you decide every day: forward or backward.
B) YOU START FROM SCRATCH
Every label you claim you have from before is just vanity. You were a doctor? You were ivy league? You had millions? You had a family? Nobody cares.
You lost everything. You’re a zero. Don’t try to say you’re anything else.
B1) SURRENDER
Don't regret the storm that left you deserted here.
Don't be anxious about the life in front of you, although it's hard.
Surrender to the current moment. Serve the moment. It's the only master you need to listen to.
C) YOU NEED A MENTOR
Else, you’ll sink to the bottom. Someone has to show you how to move and breathe. But don’t worry about finding a mentor (see below).
I wrote this post for myself.
Why? Because I knew I would need it. Because I know that this idea for reinventing myself has worked over and over for me.
Because I knew I would need guidelines to look at when I was most scared.
Because for the next 60 years I will reinvent myself many times.
Since I first worked on these ideas, I've seen many things happen.
I've seen these guidelines work for others. And I've seen them working for me again. And I've interviewed 100s of others to see how they reinvented themselves.
Because I was curious.
Any advice it seems I give is really just me saying my autobiography.
Here are the rules:
I’ve been at zero a few times, come back a few times, and done it over and over. I’ve started entire new careers. People who knew me then, don’t me now. And so on.
I’ve had to change careers 15 times.
Sometimes because my interests changed. Sometimes because all bridges have been burnt beyond recognition, sometimes because I desperately needed money.
And sometimes just because I hated everyone in my old career or they hated me.
Sometimes because I fell in love. Love is a map that changes.
There’s other ways to reinvent yourself. Take what I say with a grain of salt. This is what worked for me.
Now that I've interviewed 100s of people for my podcast, I've also seen what reinvention looks like at every stage of life, in every career, in every part of the process of well-being, which is hopefully my goal.
A) REINVENTION NEVER STOPS
Every day you reinvent yourself. You’re always in motion. But you decide every day: forward or backward.
B) YOU START FROM SCRATCH
Every label you claim you have from before is just vanity. You were a doctor? You were ivy league? You had millions? You had a family? Nobody cares.
You lost everything. You’re a zero. Don’t try to say you’re anything else.
B1) SURRENDER
Don't regret the storm that left you deserted here.
Don't be anxious about the life in front of you, although it's hard.
Surrender to the current moment. Serve the moment. It's the only master you need to listen to.
C) YOU NEED A MENTOR
Else, you’ll sink to the bottom. Someone has to show you how to move and breathe. But don’t worry about finding a mentor (see below).
D) THREE TYPES OF MENTORS
– Direct. Someone who is in front of you who will show you how they did it. What is “it”? Wait.
By the way, mentors aren’t like that old Chinese guy in “The Karate Kid”. Ultimately most mentors will hate you.
– Indirect. Books. Movies. You can outsource 90% of mentorship to books and other materials. 200-500 books equals one good mentor. People ask me, “what is a good book to read” and I never know the answer. There’s 200-500 good books to read.
I would throw in inspirational books. Whatever are your beliefs, underline them through reading every day.
– Everything is a mentor. If you are a zero, and have passion for reinvention, then everything you look at will be a metaphor for what you want to do.
Don't be stuck inside of yourself. Look at everything. See what it has to offer. Even if it is nothing, that's something.
E) DON'T WORRY IF YOU DON'T KNOW YOUR PASSION
You have passion for your health. Start there. Take baby steps. You don't need a passion to succeed.
Do what you do with love and success is a natural symptom.
When I love, I'm happy. When I debate, and wonder, and want, and control, and believe, I'm not as happy.
F) TIME IT TAKES TO REINVENT: FIVE YEARS
Since I first wrote this I've probably seen 500 examples of this.
All the same: five years.
Here’s a description of the five years:
Year One: you’re flailing and reading everything and just starting to DO.
Year Two: you know who you need to talk to and network with. You’re Doing every day. You finally know what the monopoly board looks like in your new endeavors.
Year Three: you’re good enough to start making money. It might not be a living yet.
Year Four: you’re making a good living
Year Five: you’re making wealth
Sometimes I get frustrated in years 1-4. I say, “why isn't it happening yet?” and I punch the floor and hurt my hand and throw a coconut on the floor in a weird ritual.
That’s ok. Just keep going. Or stop and pick a new field. Changing is never bad. It means you learned enough from one thing and now you are ready for the next.
Life is not made of consistency. That's how you die one day at a time. Life is made of changes, memories, and evil plans, and the pleasure that comes from freedom.
It doesn’t matter. Eventually you’re dead and then it’s hard to reinvent yourself.
G) IT DOESN'T TAKE LONGER THANT FIVE YEARS AND IT WON'T TAKE LESS
Many people look for life hacks. That's fine. But there are no shortcuts. People ask, "if you can tell yourself at 20 what to do, what would you say?"
I would say, "age until you are my age and that's ok and then you will know the answer."
H) IT'S NOT ABOUT MONEY
But money is a decent measuring stick.
When people say “it’s not about the money” often they are really saying, "I'm really scared it's ALL about the money."
“What about just doing what you love?” they say.
There will be many days where you don’t love what you are doing. If you are doing it just for love then it will take much much longer than five years.
Happiness is just a positive perception from our brain. Some days you will be unhappy. Our brain is a tool we use. It's not who we are.
I) WHEN CAN YOU SAY, "I AM AN X!" WHERE "X" IS YOUR NEW CAREER?
Today.
J) WHEN CAN I START DOING X?
Today. If you want to paint, then today buy a canvas and paints, start buying 500 books one at a time, and start painting.
If you want to write do these three things:
Read.
Write.
Take your favorite author and type your favorite story of his word for word. Wonder to yourself why he wrote each word. He’s your mentor today.
If you want to start a business, start spec-ing out the idea for your business.
Reinvention starts today. Every day.
K) HOW DO I MAKE MONEY?
By year three you’ve put in 5000-7000 hours. That’s good enough to be in the top 200-300 in the world in anything.
The top 200 in almost any field makes a living.
By year 3 you will know how to make money. By year 4 you will scale that up and make a living. Some people stop at year 4.
In the meantime, don't be afraid to take any jobs for money. Learning from different fields, even ones you hate, is what makes the unique intersection of YOU.
Don't hate yourself for doing things you hate.
L) By year 5 you’re top 30-50 so can make wealth.
M) HOW DO I KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO?
Whatever area you feel like reading 500 books about. Go to the bookstore and find it. If you get bored three months later go back to the bookstore.
It's ok to get disillusioned. That's what failure is about. Success is better than failure but the biggest lessons are found in failure.
When you make mistakes fast, your brain learns. But when you get stuck, with no ideas, and no health, and nothing to push you forward. You atrophy.
Changing fast, creates more intersections, makes you the best in the world at those intersections.
Very important: There’s no rush. You will reinvent yourself many times in an interesting life. You will fail to reinvent many times. That’s fun also.
Many reinventions makes your life a book of stories instead of a textbook.
Some people want the story of their life to be a textbook. For better worse, mine is a book of stories.
That's why reinvention happens every day.
N) THE CHOICES YOU MAKE TODAY WILL BE YOUR BIOGRAPHY TOMORROW
Make interesting choices and you will have an interesting biography.
N1) THE CHOICES YOU MAKE TODAY WILL BE IN YOUR BIOLOGY TOMORROW
Environment, culture, food, sleep, move === how you feel today. How you see the world today. How you see yourself today.
O) WHAT IF I LIKE SOMETHING OBSCURE?
Like biblical archaeology or 11th century warfare?
Repeat all of the steps above and then in year 5 you will make wealth. We have no idea how.
Don't look to find the end of the road when you are still at the very first step.
Dorothy couldn't see Oz when she first walked on the yellow brick road.
P) WHAT IF MY FAMILY WANTS ME TO BE A DOCTOR?
How many years of your life did you promise your family? Ten years? Your whole life? Then wait until next life.
The good thing is: you get to choose.
Choose freedom over family. Freedom over preconceptions. Freedom over government.
Freedom over people-pleasing. Freedom over societal morals.
We only have this life to be free.
Q) MY MENTOR WANTS ME TO DO THINGS HIS WAY!
That’s fine. Learn HIS way. Then do it YOUR way. With respect.
Hopefully nobody has a gun to your head. Then you have to do it their way until the gun is put down.
R) MY SPOUSE IS WORRIED I WON'T BE ABLE TO HELP WITH SUPPORTING THE KIDS?
Then after you work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week being a janitor, use your spare time to reinvent.
Someone who is reinventing ALWAYS has spare time.
Part of reinvention is collecting little bits and pieces of time and re-carving them the way you want them to be.
S) WHAT IF MY FRIENDS THINK I AM CRAZY?
One thing I notice about friends is that they change. Some stay with you, some drift away.
When you reinvent yourself, you'll be constantly changing the people around you. This is natural.
T) WHAT IF I WANT TO BE AN ASTRONAUT?
That’s not a reinvention. That’s a specific job.
Broaden it out.
If you like “outer space” there are many careers. Richard Branson wanted to be an astronaut and started Virgin Galactic.
U) WHAT IF I LIKE TO GO DRINKING AND PARTYING?
Read this post again in a year.
V) WHAT IF I'M NOT KEEPING HEALTHY, WRITING DOWN IDEAS, BEING AROUND GOOD PEOPLE, AND NOT BEING GRATEFUL?
Read this post again in two or three years when you are broke and jobless and nobody likes you.
W) WHAT IF I HAVE NO SKILLS?
Read “B” again.
X) WHAT IF I HAVE NO DEGREE OR A USELESS DEGREE? Read “B” again.
Y) WHAT IF I HAVE TO FOCUS ON PAYING DOWN DEBT OR THE MORTGAGE?
Read “R” again.
Mort = death. Gage = Pledge. Mortgage = Death pledge.
That's where they want you. A pledge till death. But don't listen to them.
Z) HOW COME I'M ALWAYS ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN?
By definition, if you are a little bit weird and a little bit creepy, and a little bit scared, and a little bit happy, then you are an imposter in everyone else's life.
Now is the time to live your life.
Albert Einstein was on the outside looking in. Nobody in the establishment would even hire him.
Everyone feels like a fraud at some point. When you feel like that, say, "this is the moment I'm being born."
AA) I CAN'T READ 500 BOOKS. IS THERE ONE BOOK I SHOULD READ?
Give up.
BB) WHAT IF I'M TOO SICK TO REINVENT?
Reinvention will boost every healthy chemical in your body: serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin.
Keep moving forward and you might not get healthy but you will get healthier. Don’t use health as an excuse.
Finally, reinvent your health first. Sleep more hours. Eat better. Exercise. These are key steps in reinvention.
CC) WHAT IF MY LAST PARTNER SCREWED ME AND I'M STILL SUING HIM?
Stop litigating and never think about him again. Half the problem was you, not him.
I lost a lot of money a few months ago on something that wasn't my fault?
Or was it - for burying myself so deep into something no good.
It doesn't matter. Opinions are for delayers. You and I are reinventers.
DD) WHAT IF I'M GOING TO JAIL?
Perfect. Reread “B”. Read a lot of books in jail.
EE) WHAT IF I'M SHY?
Make your weaknesses your strengths. Introverts listen better, focus better, and have ways of being more endearing.
FF) WHAT IF I CAN'T WAIT FIVE YEARS?
If you plan on being alive in five years then you might as well start today.
Important: the best reinvention happens when you celebrate every small success every step of the day.
Today, for instance, I've had a small success. Today I'm going to celebrate. Else, what if I die before I appreciate myself?
GG) HOW SHOULD I NETWORK?
Make concentric circles. You’re at the middle.
The next circle is friends and family.
The next circle is online communities.
The circle after that is meetups and coffees.
The circle after that is conferences and thought leaders.
The circle after that is mentors.
The circle after that is customers and wealth-creators.
Start making your way through the circles.
HH) WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I HAVE EGO ABOUT WHAT I DO?
In six – 12 months you’ll be back at “B”.
It's a cliche. But "beginner's mind" is the mind of reinvention.
II) WHAT IF I'M PASSIONATE ABOUT TWO THINGS? WHAT IF I CAN'T DECIDE?
Combine them and you’ll be the best in the world at the combination.
I want to write a novel. I want to do stand-up. I want to help people.
What if I write a funny novel that shares my experiences and helps people?
JJ) WHAT IF I'M SO EXCITED I WANT TO TEACH WHAT I AM LEARNING?
The only way to really learn is to teach. I write about reinvention and interview 500 success stories because I want to learn. But then I teach what I learn.
That cements the learnings. Teach what you learn and you've just learned more.
KK) WHAT IF I WANT TO MAKE MONEY WHILE I SLEEP?
In Year 3, start outsourcing what you do.
The first time I realized I could do this, my life changed.
It's like suddenly I was 50 people combined into one.
LL) HOW DO I MEET MENTORS AND THOUGHT LEADERS?
Once you have enough knowledge (after 100-200 books), write down ten ideas for 20 different potential mentors.
None of them will respond. Write down ten more ideas for 20 new mentors. Repeat every week.
Put together a newsletter for everyone who doesn't respond. Keep repeating until someone responds. Blog about your learning efforts. Build community around you being an expert.
MM) WHAT IF I CAN'T COME UP WITH IDEAS?
Then keep practicing coming up with ideas. The idea muscle atrophies. You have to build it up.
It’s hard for me to touch my toes if I haven’t been doing it every day.
I have to do it every day for awhile before I can easily touch my toes. Don’t expect to come up with good ideas on day one.
NN) WHAT ELSE SHOULD I READ?
AFTER books, read websites, forums, magazines. But most of that is garbage.
OO) WHAT IF I DO EVERYTHING YOU SAY AND IT STILL DOESN'T WORK?
It will work. Just wait. Keep reinventing every day.
Don’t try and find the end of the road. You can’t see it in the fog.
But you can see the next step and you DO know that if you take that next step eventually you get to the end of the road.
The only thing worth thinking about is taking the next step.
PP) WHAT IF I GET DEPRESSED?
First, let me hug you.
Second: eat, move, sleep.
Be around people you love. Laugh. Write down ideas.
When you are depressed, all of this is hard. It's hard for me. But that's when it's most important to do it.
The sharpest sword is made by fire, not water.
QQ) WHAT IF I GET SCARED?
Being human means feeling fear.
Fear can always be felt somewhere on the body. Find it. Say hi to it.
Eat. Move. Sleep. Take the next step.
Be around people who love you. And who you love.
Write down ideas. Because ideas are the helicopters to take you out of your fear.
Be grateful for what you have. Else, you'll always be searching for things you may never have.
SS) WHAT IF IT SEEMS LIKE NOTHING EVER WORKS OUT FOR ME?
Spend ten minutes a day practicing gratitude. Don't suppress the fear. Notice the anger.
Anger is never inspirational but gratitude is. Gratitude is the bridge between your world and the parallel universe where all creative ideas live.
Can I tell you something stupid I do? When I get that "nothing ever works out for me" feeling (which is often, no matter what my successes are), I it my chest and say out loud,
"Abundance!"
Like I said, it's stupid. But for me it works.
TT) WHAT IF I HAVE TO DEAL WITH PERSONAL BS ALL THE TIME?
Find new people to be around.
Someone who is reinventing herself will constantly find people to try and bring her down. The brain is scared of reinvention because it might not be safe.
Biologically, the brain wants you to be safe and reinvention is a risk. So it will throw people in your path who will try to stop you.
Learn how to say "no". Even it's so hard at first.
Learn how to Ask. Even if it's so hard at first.
UU) WHAT IF I'M MOSTLY HAPPY AT MY CUBICLE JOB?
Good luck.
VV) WHY SHOULD I TRUST YOU - YOU'VE FAILED SO MANY TIMES?
Don’t trust me.
WW) WILL YOU BE MY MENTOR?
You’ve just read this post.
https://jamesaltucher.com/2015/10/ultimate-guide-to-reinventing-yourself/
A Surefire Recipe For Transformation In 13 Steps
Ingredients required:
- Lemons 6-8, Apple cider vinegar (Optional)
- Smoothie ingredients: (Kale/spinach, Carrots, Beets, Chia seeds, Coconut oil/ MCT, Protein of choice (Onnit Recovery protein) ginger, turmeric, Onnit earth grown nutrients (Optional), Banana, blueberries, mixed fruit)
- Ceremonial grade cacao (+ cinnamon, cardamom, powdered ginger, cayenne pepper, Pure cane suger)
- Mushrooms (Optional: marijuana, kratom, adderall)