Last night I was with my son at a pitching and conditioning workout, and when the session ended, I was asked a question I’ve never been asked before, in quite the same way.
“When did you have your awakening?”
Woooh, such a direct question, it caught me off guard. I paused for several long seconds.
“Well,” I said. “I cannot claim to be fully awake. I believe there are different levels of awakening. I’ve been through a number of those layers, but I think it would be presumptuous to say I’m awakened.”
“Okay, when was your first awakening?”
“In 1987, when I began my first business.”
“And how was that an awakening?”
“Real simple. When you go into business, you confront your fears in a big way. For me, it was realizing that I didn’t know ANYTHING about business, yet I got started. And when it dawned on me that I didn’t know anything, I had to get myself to a place where I believed:
‘This is no different than sports. If I was able to figure out what it takes to win a national title in college, then I can figure this out. All I need to do is discover what I’m supposed to do, then do it.'”
“Really, so you saw business as if it was a sport you’re working to succeed in?”
“Pretty much. I believed if I knew what to do and was willing to work my ass off, I’d succeed.”
“Interesting.”
“And because I had this belief, I was fortunate enough to enroll a couple businessmen who offered their suggestions. I did everything they advised. One of them, whose name was Jack, told me about the book, Psycho-Cybernetics. He asked if I’d ever read it. When I said ‘no’ he told me that it was ‘like the Bible of self-help books.’ As soon as our session ended I went to the bookstore and picked up a copy.'”
“Okay, and what did the book help you learn?”
“It taught me to stop focusing on my failures. It taught me to think of my successes instead. It taught me that by doing so I would change my self-image and the self-image was the blueprint for who I was as a person.”
“Okay, okay.This is great stuff. Keep going.”
“When I first started in business I was still carrying a feeling of failure about my college wrestling career. I won the national title as a junior. As a senior, despite being far better technically, I took fifth. I was crushed afterward. I felt like a total loser. When I read Psycho-Cybernetics, I realized I could go back and relive my junior year and discard the senior season. I was making a choice each day as to what I was focusing on, failure or success.”
“This is awesome. I know a lot of people who could apply what you’re talking about.”
“Well, that’d be most people,” I said. “I’ve even taught this to professional athletes, and you’d think they are beyond the feeling of failure stage.”
“So what did you do with your positive memories?”
“I started to relive them with a technique called Theatre of the Mind. I’d go back onto the mat and see myself getting my hand raised. Or any other success I liked to recall, including getting an ‘A’ in a class. Then I’d carry this imagery and the positive feelings it gave me into my business. Doing so gave me a feeling of confidence that I would succeed, even though I didn’t know what I was doing and had much to learn.”
“Very cool.”
“Pretty soon the phone began to ring with new prospects when no one was calling before. Some seemed to come from ‘out of the blue.’ It was ‘cosmic.’ That’s when I began to realize there’s an unseen Field or Force that our emotionalized thoughts tap into. It’s not positive thinking as much as it is positive remembering and positive projecting.'”
We continued to talk for another 30 minutes before it was time for a well-deserved meal. While eating I kept thinking about our conversation and the word “awakening.”
When you overcome those feelings of failure, when you let go of mistakes from the past, when you come to grips with the fact that ALL of us have mental movies of success – and all we need to do to get the ball rolling is start playing those positive movies – well then, you AWAKEN. You tap into MORE of who you really are and what you can become.
There are many techniques that tell you they’ll turn your life around – but none are better than Theatre of the Mind. I encourage you to get a copy for yourself or for a friend, today. Start reliving your positive memories, then stand back and observe how they start bringing more positive experiences into your life.
Best,
Matt Furey
