Monday, April 17, 2006

Achieving Goals & Releasing Attachment

RELEASING AND GOALS

"Society has perpetuated the myth that to get anywhere in life you have to work hard. My question for you is, "Have you ever worked hard?"

Your answer is probably the same as most people: "Yes!"

Well, has it produced the results you want in life?

If you are like most people, you answered: "No. No it hasn't. I'm tired, frustrated, angry, and just don't believe I can get what I really want."

Is the answer to work even harder? Is the answer to create even more stress in your life by taking bigger risks and spreading yourself even thinner?

I don’t think so!

“If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten.”

If this is true, and I'm sure at least some part of you recognizes that it is, then why do we continue to fall into the trap of thinking, "If only I worked harder I'd have everything I want"?

Would you rather work harder or would you rather just have what you want? It's an easy question for most of us to answer!

Setting and achieving goals can be effortless when you "let go" of the feelings that are holding you back from achieving them. When you do this, a world of opportunity that has always existed for you becomes obvious and easily available to you.

The following contains edited excerpts from The Sedona Method. Course. This course contains all the best of the latest advances in goal setting, as well as lots of new material previously available only through our advanced courses. These excerpts will help you to start to actually achieve your goals.

Wording a goal correctly can make all the difference between achieving it or not. In fact, simply writing down your goals is one of the keys to achieving them. Studies of groups of successful, goal-oriented people have shown that people who write down their goals are approximately 80% more likely to achieve them than people who just think about them.

KEYS TO WRITING EFFECTIVE GOALS

Phrase it in the now.

Most of us fall into the trap of thinking that we're going to create what we want in the future. And the future never seems to come. How many times have you said to yourself, "I'll do that tomorrow," and you didn't do it?

Whenever you're holding in mind, "I'm going to do this later, or tomorrow, or next week, or next year," you project your goal into the future and the future never seems to come.

Phrase it in the positive.

Focus on the solution. Avoid putting in the goal that problem which you're trying to get rid of. For instance, what if you would like to stop smoking? The goal would not be phrased, "I allow myself to stop smoking." The mind does not translate the words "not," "don't," "stop," or any of the other words of negation.

The mind thinks in pictures. Right now, try not to think of a white elephant.

What do you think of?

A white elephant! Put something in the goal that the mind can visualize. For example, "I allow myself to be a non-smoker." You can picture being a non-smoker. That's something you can see - other people who aren't smoking. So it makes a big difference to word your goals in this manner.

The goal should feel real or realistic.

Suppose you are making $1,000 a week, but what you would really like to earn is $10,000 a week. Upping your income from $1,000 to $10,000 might be too big a jump for you to accept in just one specific goal. So you might want to start with $2,500 a week. That's a stretch from where you are, but it may seem more real or realistic to you.

The more you make your goals attainable, that is, something that the mind can accept as at least a possibility, the more likely you will be able to release any obstacle you have within you to achieving the goal.

Include yourself in the goal statement.

In other words, if you want to clean your house, you might want to phrase your goal as, "I allow myself to clean my house," as opposed to, "The house is clean." If you say, "The house is clean," you might not believe it. You might also start waiting for a miracle to happen so that the house gets clean by itself. If you've had tremendous resistance to cleaning your house and then you release on this goal, "I allow myself to easily clean the house," you may just find yourself easily cleaning the house.

Be precise and concise.

Use as few words as possible while at the same time making sure you are enthusiastic when you hear the goal. In other words, you don't want to put everything but the kitchen sink in one goal. Years ago, there was a man in a class who set up a goal, "I allow myself to have an abundant income so that I can have a new car, a house in the country, the maids to take care of the second house, and the perfect woman to have a relationship with to share all this."

As you can see there are several goals in that one goal, and they are all pulling in different directions. So the instructor helped this person simplify the goal by helping him break it down into specific individual goals. Then they created an umbrella goal that was appropriate for the whole situation which was, "I allow myself to have the good things in life and enjoy them." See how that includes everything? It doesn't cause you to pull into all sorts of conflicting directions.

Make sure you word it to facilitate letting go.

One area where you could get yourself into trouble is in the area of relationships. If you make a goal stating: "I allow Mary (or Joe) to love me," that could get you into trouble. First of all, you'll be running around doing all these things to try to get them to love you. And what if they are not even the right person for you?

This could tend to get you really stuck. Whereas if you phrased your goal, "I allow myself to have a loving relationship," then the goal is more open and inclusive. It might be with the person you're having a relationship with now, or it might not.

Eliminate the word "want" from your goals.

We talk in detail about how 'wanting' prevents 'having' in the audio course. But in general, would you rather want to have a lot of money, or would you rather just have it? Would you rather want the perfect relationship, or would you rather have the perfect relationship? Would you rather want good health, or would you rather have good health? "Want" equates to the feeling of lack, so avoid putting the feeling of lack in the goal.

Phrase it so you're focusing on the end result, not your means of achieving it.

For instance, go back to the earlier example of having a net income of $2,500 a week. Don't put how you're going to get it. I've heard people word goals like this: "I allow myself to make $2,500 a week by working 18 hours a day, 6 days a week," and a whole list of other actions that they thought they needed to take in order to achieve their goal.

What you will discover is that very often the actions you think you need to take in order to get the goal have absolutely nothing to do with the goal. They are only limitations or artificial obstacles that you're putting in your way. Also you'll notice as we work on goals that we'll specifically release on the action steps that you can take in order to get the goal. Always allow for the unexpected. What if someone gives you a large amount of money? What if you win the lottery? There are so many things that could happen to allow that goal to come into your awareness.

Word it in either courageousness, or acceptance, or peace.

"I allow myself to..." or "I can..." is a good way to start a goal in courageousness. "I have... " is a good way to start a goal in acceptance. And "I am..." is a good way to start a goal in peace. We've talked a lot about the "I allow myself to...," which is a very good way of wording a goal.

If you're not in courageousness about a particular topic, getting into courageousness is already a great step forward. And you can always reword the goal later to raise the energy even higher to acceptance or peace. Allow the mind to start using its creativity to start generating possibilities of how this goal can happen.

ONCE YOU HAVE WORDED YOUR GOAL

Simply write your goal at the top of a clean piece of paper. Then allow yourself to explore letting go of your inner obstacles to achieving it by reading the goal silently to yourself and then writing down underneath the goal the first thought or feeling that comes to mind. Next allow yourself to use the simple releasing questions we sent you about a week ago which are:

Could I let this feeling go?

Would I let it go?

When?

Remember you are simple letting go of the feelings that are preventing you from achieving your goal, not the goal itself. Also, allow yourself to answer these questions with an open mind and heart and as truthfully as possible. Keep letting go using these questions until you feel better. Then repeat this process until you fill more positively about your goal."

These notes are taken directly from the Sedona method. If you are interested in finding out more contact www.sedonamethod.com

Releasing Unwanted Emotions

As we all know emotions resonate at different frequencies and Law of Attraction is in part raising our vibration to a higher frequency.

In order to attract the kind of life we wish, it is necessary to acknowledge and let go of non-supportive thoughts, beliefs and emotions.
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"The following is a short excerpt from the workbook that comes with the Sedona Method Course. If you follow these simple instructions, you will get a small taste of what releasing using the Sedona Method is about.

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY 'LETTING GO'?

We teach three ways to "release" or "let go" of unwanted feelings , the first is by choosing to let go of the unwanted feeling. Do not be fooled by the simplicity of this process. It is a powerful, effective and portable process that you can use anytime, anywhere.

Pick up a pen, a pencil, or some small object that you would be willing to drop without giving it a second thought.

Now, hold it in front of you and really grip it tightly . . . . Pretend this is one of your limiting feelings and your hand represents your gut or your consciousness. Now open your hand and roll the object around in your hand. Notice that you are the one holding onto it and it is not attached to your hand. This is true with your feelings, too. Your feelings are as attached to you as this object is attached to your hand.

We hold onto our feelings and forget that we are holding onto them. It's even in our language. We don't usually say, "I feel angry or I feel sad." We say, "I am angry or I am sad."

Without realizing it, we are saying that we ARE the feeling. We often feel that the feeling is holding onto us. This is not true. We are always in control– but we don't know it.

Now, let the object go.

What happened? You let go of the object and it dropped to the floor.

Was that hard? Of course not!

That's what we mean when we say "let go." You can do the same thing with any feeling.

Sticking with the same analogy, if you walked around with your hand open it would be very difficult to hold onto the pen. When you allow or welcome a feeling you are opening your consciousness and this allows the feeling to drop away all by itself. Like the clouds passing in the sky.

Keep this analogy in mind as we go through the process together.

The following description is designed to help you use this process on your own. This process will really shine as you use it in life when you need it the most. In fact, you will find that in order to get the maximum benefit from this course, it is very helpful to practice this process in life whenever possible. The more you use it, the more you will get out of it.

Step One:

Focus on your issue and then allow yourself to feel whatever you are feeling in this moment. This may seem simplistic, but it needs to be. Most of us live in our thoughts about the past and the future rather than being aware of how we actually feel in this moment. The only time that we can actually do anything about the way we feel (and, for that matter, about our business or our life) is NOW. You don't need to wait for a feeling to be strong before you let it go. In fact, if you are feeling numb, flat, blank, cut off or empty inside, these are feelings that can be let go of just as easily as the more recognizable ones. Just do the best you can. The more you work with this process, the easier it will be for you to identify what you are feeling.

Step Two:

Ask yourself the following question: "Could I let this feeling go?"

This question is merely asking you if it is possible to take this action. "Yes" or "no" are both acceptable answers. You will often let go, even if you say "no."

As best you can, answer the question with a minimum of thought, staying away from second-guessing yourself or getting into a debate with yourself about the merits of this action or its consequences. All the questions used in this process are deliberately simple. They are not important in and of themselves, but are designed to point you to the experience of letting go. Go on to step three no matter how you answer this first question.

Step Three:

Now ask yourself this simple question: "Would I?"

In other words "Am I willing to?" Again stay away from debate. Also remember that you are always doing this process for yourself, for the purpose of gaining your own freedom and clarity. It doesn't matter whether the feeling is justified, long-standing or right.

If the answer is "no," or if you are not sure, ask yourself, "Would I rather have this feeling or would I rather be free?" As long as you choose the feeling over being free (which is okay), the feeling controls you and your ability to be, do and have what you want.

Step Four:

Ask yourself this simple question: "When?"

This is an invitation to just do it now. You may find yourself easily letting go of the feeling, permanently, now. Or you may choose to hold the feeling for the next three years, two months and a day. It is your choice to hold this feeling for as long as you desire. If you decide to let it go now, you can!

Step Five:

Repeat the preceding four steps as often as needed until you feel free of the feeling. You will probably find yourself letting go a little on each step of the process. The results at first may be quite subtle, but very quickly, if you are persistent, the results will get more and more noticeable. You may find that you have layers of feelings about a particular topic. However, what you let go of is gone for good.

Important Reminder:

Please remember that these questions are purposely simple. As you work with these questions repeatedly you will find that even if there is some initial resistance to the repetition of these questions, their simplicity will grow on you . . . making it easy to incorporate releasing into your life. These questions are just the first step in the process of letting go.

You will not fully appreciate how easy and powerful releasing can be until you have given yourself some time to use it repeatedly in your life."


These notes are taken directly from the Sedona method. If you find this information useful and would like to learn more please inquire further at

www.sedona.com