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6 Steps to Infinite Resources…
By Ben | July 25, 2008
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Everybody has challenges. Everybody has times where it’s hard to continue.
Some manage to work through the tough spots…
Others don’t do this, and they sometimes give up their dreams all together.
So how do we navigate through challenges? How do we stay motivated? How do we hold onto dreams in the face of severe adversity?
We start by remembering an important principle:
We all have access to Infinite Resources!
We have all had powerful experiences:
- states of high motivation
- situations where we overcame the challenge
- states of deep happiness
- situations where we found our best in spite of the circumstances
- moments of real loving
- places where we brought a little bit of joy to the lives of others
One of the problems we have is not recognizing all the powerful experiences we already have. Sometimes we think that it has to be an epic situation to be a resource state (joy, satisfaction, motivation, excitement, etc.) or a powerful positive experience.
This simply isn’t true. It doesn’t matter if you headed up the negotiations that prevented World War III, or if you just mediated an argument between friends or loved ones, the resources of understanding (acceptance) and diplomacy are the same.
What if you were to think of all the times, big or small, in your life that you did well. Practice it right now:
- Pick a few different feelings you would like to be able to experience whenever you want (happiness, relaxation, motivation, focus, etc.).
- Now find a time in the past where in some small way (or large) you exemplified that mind-body state.
- Get back into the feeling of it… what did you experience in your body?
- Mentally replay a visualization of what you saw while in the powerful state.
- Mentally replay anything you heard while in this state.
- Once you have a good idea of what the components of this resource are, you can begin to intensify it…
You can find some resource or value in virtually any experience in life.
I remember qualifying with the M-16 rifle while I was in Army basic training. There were a total of 40 pop-up targets. The trainee has a total of 40 rounds (bullets). In order to qualify as “expert”, a soldier had to hit 36 out of 40 targets (it only took 23 or 24 to pass, but I wanted to be an “expert”). The trainee would fire at the first 20 while standing in a foxhole. The trainee would fire at the second 20 pop-up targets in the prone position (firing while laying flat on the ground).
It was my turn to qualify. I had trained the skill. Good Marksmanship requires:
- relaxation (not tense, but ready),
- target acquisition (see the target),
- appropriate alignment of the rifle (aim),
- and smooth trigger squeeze (fire)… all done in a rather short period of time.
I was a bit nervous, but I felt good because one of my Drill Sergeants was standing next to my foxhole while I fired my first 20 shots. I missed 3 targets while I was in the foxhole. My Drill Sergeant said “Good Job!” then left to speak with someone in the tower.
Now I was worried. I had always done better in the foxhole than I had in the prone. I only hit 17 out of 20 in the foxhole, and now I didn’t even have the nearby support of my Drill Sergeant. How was I going to make “expert”?
I decided to relax, pay attention, and hit as many targets as possible…
It almost seemed like it wasn’t me firing from the prone. But when I was finished, I had only missed 1 target. 19 out of 20 in the prone + 17 out of 20 in the foxhole = 36 out of 40… I had fired “expert”!
Looking back, I realized that rather than benefiting me, I had allowed my Drill Sergeant’s presence to be a distraction. The increased accuracy while in the prone position was due to increased focus. Whenever I need more focus in my day to day life, I can remember this experience, let go of distractions, and begin to pay more and more attention to the components of the task at hand.
As an amusing footnote to this story, after basic training I continued to always fire “expert” when I arrived at my unit (Fort Carson). But the last time I qualified, my Commanding Officer questioned my technique. He showed me how he fired the M-16. He had been an officer at a Ranger Battalion, and the implication seemed to be “this is how Ranger’s do it!”
I said “Yes, Sir!” meaning ‘I understand’, but I had no intention of changing my technique. I just decided to turn up the focus a little bit more (which may or may not be the same thing as ‘turning down’ distractions) as I qualified.
That was the first time I ever hit 40 out of 40… a perfect score. Shortly after, my C/O approached me again with an odd smile on his face. “You have an unorthodox style of shooting, but obviously it works for you…”
Since then, I bring the feelings, images, and sounds of these two experiences back to mind frequently as an exercise in focus.
With enough focus, you can shoot 40 out of 40 whether your Drill Sergeant is there or not. You can perform your skill adequately (whatever it may be) in spite of discomfort, distractions, etc.
Where else in life would you like to ’shoot 40 out of 40′ in spite of circumstances?
In addition to focus, what other resources do you need to get everything you want out of life?
Once you know what you need, all you have to do is
recall your resources and reactivate them!
keep smiling,
ben
Topics: -Mysticism, Change Your Neurology - Extreme, -Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Change Your Neurology - Mundane |
