Category Archives: Momentum

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Instant Gratification vs Instant Satisfaction

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grat vs sat

Everything nowadays has to be “instant” – happening right now. I want it and I want it yesterday! Wait? You want me to wait? Why on earth should I wait? I’ll go over here where they offer something that gives me results right this minute.

According to the dictionary:

To Satisfy is to “fulfill the desires, expectations, needs or demands”.

To Gratify is to satisfy…lol. Also “To give pleasure to by satisfying desires”

The distinction we’re making here is “instant gratification” which is often used to label the satisfactions gained by more impulsive behaviors: choosing now over tomorrow. The key parts for us here are that there are  IMPULSIVE behaviors  and choosing NOW over tomorrow.  We live in an age where everything is centered around instant gratification. When I worked in the ER, people would come in and demand antibiotics because they had a sore throat and were “sure” they had Strep (this was before the rapid strep test). Considering there are over 100 viruses that cause sore throats and one bacteria that needs antibiotics, the probability that their infection was a virus, not Strep, was very high. But people didn’t believe that. They wanted antibiotics so that they would feel better NOW. I can definitely understand wanting to feel better NOW. But I also know that the body has a process it has to go through to, not only fight the current disease, but also to create immunity for future infections. So the first part is the instant gratification part but the second is, by analogy, the satisfaction phase. Satisfaction, huh? What I mean by that is that you are comfortable knowing that are doing the right thing for your body now and for the future even if it means it might take longer for you to feel better.

Anne used to tell people that they really didn’t want the Instant Gratification part because then statements we make like yelling at your kids “Get down from there. You’ll fall and break your neck!” would come true and your kids would fall and break their neck. We don’t have enough wisdom yet or we wouldn’t make statements like that.

We come across the Instant Gratification desire when people are saying “The Law of Attraction doesn’t work” or “The Law of Attraction doesn’t work for me”.  There are multiple reasons people say this or believe this. Either they are not congruelaternownt between their vibrations/feelings and what they are saying they want. When they are really focusing on the problem (like “gees I don’t have enough money to pay the bills this month”) and yet saying “I am prosperous”, they are incongruent. Their focus is on the lack, the poverty feelings. That is what they feel – the anxiety and worry over how they are going to pay their bills. So, simply making an affirmation, a statement that they are prosperous, won’t do squat because it’s not really what they feel. Their vibration is in the lack mode whereas their words reflect poverty. What does the Universe pay attention to? Feelings/vibrations or words? Of course, it’s feelings/vibrations.

There is also the Law of Gestation that governs how long it takes for things to come to pass. Just like when you plant a seed, it isn’t going to be a flower the next day. AND, it won’t be a flower at the same time as another type of flower grows. Everything has to abide by the Law of Gestation.

What will help you along and make your desire come to you sooner is the Satisfaction you feel. The key thing is to believe and feel BEFORE the manifestation appears. We’ve talked about momentum and getting in a space where you can change your momentum or bring it back up after the unwanted momentum has run its course. I continue to feel so satisfied and happy when I think about and “go to” the run across Tennessee in July. In reality, though, I have no idea whether I’ll be able to complete the event given the rigors of it and I know that it will not always be a pleasant time but I’m not even thinking about those things. I’m thinking about getting to the start line and then experiencing the joy that experiencing it is going to bring me. That will change my momentum in a heartbeat. It’s still months away but it gives me such satisfaction to think and feel about it. If I were concentrating on Instant Gratification, I would only feel good about my most current run or training run or how work went yesterday.  And most likely I’d be depressed because those things are over and done and those who need instant gratification need to have something happening RIGHT NOW.

Once you can go to the feeling of having the manifestation before it’s here, you’ll have the primary process conquered. It’s faith but based on knowledge of the laws of the Universe.

Go for the Satisfaction and put the Instant Gratification on the shelf for awhile and see what happens.

Let us know how it goes.

Terrie

 

 

 

 

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Momentum Monday

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momentum-monday1Yesterday was Easter and since most people are busy on that day, I saved my “Easter Message” til today – very fitting, too, because it’s all about Momentum!

A good friend reminded me last week that Easter is about New Beginnings and that was a great thought for me given the last 5-6 weeks. So I thought that everyone could benefit from thinking about what their new beginning was going to be and also how to start your new beginning. Everyone always thinks of Christmas or the New Year as the time to make resolutions and therefore a “New Beginning”.  But, we can actually make a new start, another “beginning” at any time.

One of the problems, though, is identifying what it is you want to change. In other words, identify where your momentum is right now and where you want it to be.  That’s the easy part. After that you might look at triggers and beliefs and what your feelings/vibrations are right now.

What is it that’s bothering you right now (if anything)? If everything is going as you like it in your life and you don’t want to change anything, that’s great and you just need to keep that momentum going – keep telling that story and build on it.

But, if there are things you’d like to change (even if they aren’t “bad”), then this is the time to examine them and start changing your story. In reality all you need to do is stop telling the old story and start telling the story you want to be happening in your life. You can do this even if it seems foreign to you because it hasn’t happened yet. The more you tell that story and visualize the results you want, the greater likelihood that you will ultimately change your vibration which is essential for you to achieve what you want. It isn’t enough to just say you want something all the while you’re still focusing on the things you don’t want. That’s why telling the wanted story and visualizing your successes is so vital. You have to have the feeling of success and achievement permeate your being so that your vibrations do match your desire. If you want well being and health, you can’t keep saying “I want to be pain-free” or “I want to breathe better” or “I want my joints to stop hurting” or “I want to be healed”. All of those phrases are focusing on what you have now which is what you do NOT want. But the fact that you are focusing on the pain, the trouble breathing, etc, means that you will get more of that. Even saying “I want to be healed” means you are still focusing on being ill (or else you wouldn’t need to be healed, right?).

Instead, you would say things like “my joints move with such fluidity and carry me everywhere I wish to go”, “I breathe easily and deeply”,  “I am whole and healthy and my body can do anything I ask of it.” Visualize what each of your phrases square_onemeans to you. Use the 68 second process too. Talk to yourself or a loved one/friend for 68 seconds about how great you feel when you have these things.  If you’re a runner and your knees are hurting, say things like “I run miles and miles and miles and feel so free and happy. I am ecstatic with my speed and endurance. I love to run and it brings me nothing but pleasure. I am running in the Boston Marathon. I am completing my 100 mile run……etc.” Notice I did not mention anything about knees or pain or anything other than the joy I was experiencing. If you talked at all about your knees, it would bring you back to the pain in your knees.

Once you’ve identified the things that you want to change (health, work, relationships, etc), list each one on a piece of paper (or in your computer), then write down what you are feeling about that thing – are you feeling resentment, anger, fear, embarrassment or shame, disappointment, despair, etc. List them all.

Then beneath that list, write down the beliefs you have about that thing – do you believe you aren’t good enough to get another job, that all men (or women) cheat on their spouse,  that all the good men (or women) are already taken, that you can’t get any more income because you have a salary job, etc. What have you “decided” about this area of your life? Remember that a belief is a thought you keep thinking over and over again. So, if you’ve experienced similar results from certain activities in the past, you most likely have developed/created certain beliefs surrounding that activity. This is vital to identify because you most likely don’t even know you created or have that belief since it’s now embedded in your subconscious.

Once you have this table/list, you can look at it and start writing on another piece of paper what it is you want to believe and experience.

Then start talking about those things. Stop yourself when you find yourself telling your old story. Enlist the help of a friend to keep you from telling your story too. We often feel we have to tell everyone how we got to a certain point – often in excruciating detail. Yet, all that does is turn your momentum downward toward the thing you’re trying to change. No one needs to know all that history. You really can rewrite your legacy based on the story you tell. So from now on just tell the story that’s going to make your momentum fly you high and keep it going.

Good luck with your list and your new beginning. If you commit to doing this and especially changing your story telling techniques, you will change your life!

Terrie

 

 

 

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Momentum Monday

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momentum-monday1 Pick a feeling you’d like to experience more of this week.  Write it down somewhere – the action of writing is powerful and the Universe doesn’t care where you write it (napkin, back of your hand, notebook, post-it, scrap paper, etc).

Now associate some event you’ve experienced in the past where you felt this emotion/feeling.  Stop what you’re doing and sit back and really remember that event. See if you can recreate that wonderful feeling you had. That’s the key right now – to experience that emotion just as if it’s happening to you right now.

Once you have that feeling re-embedded in your mind, practice calling it up again. Practice that a few times right now. The point is to be able to feel that emotion almost with the push of a button. Some people find the use of an “anchor” helpful in recreating the feeling. I’m defining “anchor” in this situation as an action that will cement the feeling and bring it back to you immediately. For example, you see athletes clenching their fists and pumping them in the air sometimes with the word “yes” and sometimes without. The action of clenching their fist and pumping it cements the feeling they are experiencing. Usually it’s of some success. You can clench your fist without punching it in the  air, you could cross your fingers, tap your head, do something that you don’t normally do in your every day life. You don’t want to pick some action that you repeat all day long because it won’t anchor the specific feeling you’re looking for. Make it something unusual for you.

Once you’ve picked your anchor, practice using the anchor to generate that feeling you’ve chosen for the week. Practice that a few times right now.

Use this anchor to recreate the good feeling either whenever you just want to feel good or more importantly when you catch a story or events going in the wrong direction. By wrong direction I mean one that you don’t want. If things start going down the wrong road at work, use your anchor to bring up the good feeling and stop the negative momentum as soon as you can. As Abraham says – if you’re on a hill in San Francisco and you give your car a nudge, you could stand in front of the car and it would stop. But if you are at the bottom of the hill and you stand in it’s way, the momentum it’s gathered will not be stopped by you standing in front of it and you’ll be wiped out too.

Thus, our goal is to stop the momentum before it gets going very fast. Use the anchor-feeling method to try that this week. Do this consciously and see how it works. Let us know in the comments box.

Terrie

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Momentum Monday

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momentum-monday1 Starting a new feature called “Momentum Monday”.

Begin your week this week by paying attention to your momentum. Your momentum and your vibrations go hand in hand. And sometimes once you’ve gained momentum it’s very difficult to stop it – that can be good if you’re on a really positive, upbeat roll so to speak.

However, if you’ve begun on a downward spiral of momentum, ride it out (but don’t continue to add to i) and it will be over – at that point you can start over and create your own positive momentum.  Consider meditating or even taking a nap to end the downward movement of that type of momentum.

Think of things you love and talk to yourself about your feelings regarding them. For example, if I want to improve my momentum I’ll start thinking about one of my races that was very enjoyable and where I met great people – I would probably pick the Valentine’s Day Ultra or the 6 day race from last December. I would talk to myself about how much fun I had, how great it was to be outside for 6 days, what terrific people I met, how I met my goal mileage and how I felt about it and continue on.

The Universe responds to our vibrations and our vibrations are a product of our momentum.

When you catch yourself gaining (or preferably when you start) momentum, you can change it if you catch it early enough. Try to move to another “Momentum disc” (a spinning disc works for a visual – as if you’re standing on that disc and floating along. Stop talking and feeling about the things you do NOT want more of. Get your momentum going on the things you do want more of.

Til next Monday – comment below if you like Momentum Mondays.

Terrie

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How Do You Deal With Disappointment?

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iStock_000014869787SmallSo, I’m sitting here writing on my blog instead of being out in California running in a 100 mile race. Bummer.

Then, tomorrow I’ll be sitting here writing (or working) rather than going to a long awaited Publicity Summit in New York City. Double Bummer.

Plus, I have to unpack everything both for the race and for the conference since I pack a week ahead of time.  Triple Bummer since that’s reliving the preparations!

On top of that disappointment I have to deal with the concern and disappointment associated with the reason I can’t attend these events – medical issues that are as yet undiagnosed. So that would make it a Quadruple Bummer, right?

Sounds like an Olympic Event to me!

What should I do? What are my options?  Let’s see:

  • I could sit around and mope and tell everyone how miserable I am (I probably did enough of that already though 🙂 )
  • I could sit around and worry about what’s wrong with me and being that I’m a doctor, I could use my very active imagination to come up with some horrible choices.
  • I could sit around and be depressed that I can’t do any physical activity and I’m itching to run and add to that that maybe I won’t ever be able to run again (of course I don’t know that – it would be my imagination again).iStock_000013901371Small

Does all that sound productive, positive or even like any fun? Heck no!

Not only are those options not productive but they are also very damaging. Remember that you can imprint a concept onto the Universe in 17 seconds. Then when you add another 17 seconds and another 17 seconds the power of that thought and concept markedly increases. You HAVE to  interrupt that 17 second repeat cycle or Momentum gets going. Once the momentum starts, it takes a great deal of energy to reverse or stop it! Sometimes you just have to let it run it’s course because the more you try to stop it, the more resistance you are putting up and you’re apt to continue to fall into the Abyss of self-pity or whatever emotional roller coaster you’re riding on.

Newtons cradleIt’s hard for someone to be “positive” all the time – I’m not advocating Pollyanna behavior because that’s not reality. However, I am advocating doing anything you can to stop that 17 second process from proceeding directly into Momentum! This is the phrase that I use to interrupt my thoughts when they are going down a path I don’t want to follow (such as all the terrible things that could be wrong with me) – “That is NOT my TRUTH” – when I say that, it interrupts that 17 second process and it puts the skids on the momentum. Sometimes I have to repeat it to myself many times an hour (or even a minute) but as long as I remember to use it, I don’t head down into the abyss.  Saying that phrase also allows me time to think of something else that can get my emotions/vibrations on a plane where I want them. In my case, I switch from the “oh no, poor me” thoughts to visualizing my long anticipated run across Tennessee this summer. When I do that, I feel happy and my vibrations are raised to a level that puts me in a much happier state and those are the vibrations I really WANT to put out to the Universe. I don’t want the Universe answering my “poor me” phone. I want it answering the “I am fine and dandy and can do anything” phone.  It’s pretty simple to think of something that makes you happy. It can be in the future or in the past – but it’s a memory associated with a happy feeling.

We’ve all heard stories of the Prisoners of War who survived because of their imagination and thoughts and ability to put themselves somewhere outside of their actual environment. That’s what we have to do when we experience disappointment.

Another thing to do to face the disappointment and prevent the momentum of feeling “down” is to put your energy into some other activity or hobby. Preferably something that will engage you so that you won’t have time to travel down that other path.  If you’re not feeling well, you can read or even write in a journal (being careful about what you’re writing though – try to focus on the good things).

A good friend gave me this advice (without knowing that it was advice) yesterday – “I try to appreciate each day”. I like that approach and it really hit home for me. It’s great when friends just say stuff and it rings your bell.

Do whatever you can to stop the momentum and raise your vibration. That is the key to recovering from disappointment. Then just “rinse and repeat” – it’s a slow process and there may be many steps you have to take but just take them one at a time and you will get there. You just want to be moving in the upward direction.

Terrie