This blog is dedicated to finding, sharing and discussing a variety of topics around the struggles our clients and audience go through. Each episode we discuss a key concept that many humans struggle with. To give you a variety of perspectives for you to see the concept through so you can find one that makes it feel easier to deal with.
And if you prefer to listen, this episode is available as a Podcast or a Video.
Let Me Tell You A Story…
Instead of my usual blog posts with lots of information for you to read and use in your life, today I want to tell you a story. And this story is also being written / read / told live every Tuesday and Thursday at 8:30pm GMT on (hopefully!) YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn between 12th November and 24th December. Click these links to subscribe and join us for the next instalment!
Stories have been used for centuries to share wisdom and ideas within our species. And this idea for this particular story came to me a few months ago as a way of sharing some new ideas with people that can improve their life.
I find stories are the best way to get a message across. It is why we like to read books, watch TV series and films. Because stories are a great way to share a message by inviting the reader / watcher / listener to be a part of the story. To become the character in their imagination.
And that’s what this story will do. It will invite you to become the main character, Morgan, and become the hero / heroine of the story!
There will 13 chapters and this will constitute the first draft of this story before I send it to publishers and become a published author. Which has always been a dream of mine! So thankyou to you for joining me and holding me to account to get this planned, written, shared, edited and finally published! Without you, I would probably let myself off the hook (like I have effectively been doing all year since the idea came to me!) and this would never get done.
So I hope you enjoy these 13 blog posts, and if you want to send me any ideas or ask any questions to guide the story or to make it make more sense to you, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I look forward to hearing your thoughts, but for now let us carry on…
Read Chapter One HERE.
Chapter Two is HERE.
See Chapter Three HERE.
Chapter Four is HERE.
Find Chapter Five HERE.
CHAPTER SIX – Think Feel Act
Things plod along and go quite quiet for the rest of that week. I clean every morning, do the late shifts at the coffee shop and work all day Sunday as well. The older gentleman came in at 10:30 on the dot as usual on Sunday, and as it was quiet I sat with him for a while.
He asked me what I thought of the book he had given me, Think And Grow Rich. I am enjoying being honest and the results it is getting me, so I say that it is a little hard to understand and get my head around sometimes.
He laughs and tells me to just keep reading. And once finished, to read it again and again and again!
I mention a few of the other books I have read, and also the seminar I saw advertised at the university. He told me he is going to that seminar! I smile and tell him that I have asked to be working that day so hopefully I… He cuts me off abruptly.
“You will be there. Don’t hope to be there, confirm it and say it.”
“I will be there, helping with the drinks and the cleaning around the session. I am looking forward to it!” It feels weird to say it when it isn’t confirmed yet and the old gentleman smiles and takes my hand.
“Life is an illusion. Just like the book says, and it might be this that you are struggling with because it is a concept that is completely the opposite to everything we get taught in our lives. We create the world we live in. It is our thoughts, our feelings, our actions and our beliefs that shape the way we see the world and interact with it. We can change the things around us, simply by changing the way we look at them.”
He was right,
that is completely the opposite to everything that makes sense to me now. How can looking at something differently make it change? But then I think of my old job. I had shifted my thinking in the last two weeks of that job, when I was also working at the coffee shop, and the job did seem different actually! Better in some way. I say this to him, he nods, smiles and agrees.
“The perfect example! A job you hated actually became bearable and possibly even more enjoyable because you simply switched how you thought about it. And this situation you are in at the moment will also feel much easier to deal with if you simply focus on the outcome you want rather than what is going on around you. Again, that will feel really weird, almost like lying to yourself, but it is no different to when you were a child at play. Imagining all the lands you were exploring, or saving the teddy bear’s life on the operating table, or building the castle for you to live in in the tree in the garden.”
I smile as memories pop into my head of all the adventures I went on as a child. The things I built. The lives my toys lead. It was all so real! But yet, I can’t remember when it stopped feeling real…
“Keep reading Think And Grow Rich, and do what it says. Everything will all fall into place for you.”
He sat back in his chair and picked up his newspaper again as the door opened and a customer walked in.
I smiled, nodded my head at the older gentleman and walked back to the counter to serve them.
For the rest of Sunday, I allowed my mind to wander. I am pretty good at the coffee shop job now, so can almost get through the day on autopilot. Which gives my mind the freedom to wander away every now and then.
I kept going over what the gentleman had said, and reminiscing over my childhood adventures. Reliving them in my head and seeing them as clearly as if I were there again. When that started to feel really natural and easy to do, I started to think of things that I want going forward. A better paying job for a start, but still with the option to work at the coffee shop as I love the atmosphere and the people.
The image of the seminar poster popped into my head, so again I took the gentleman’s advice. I started picturing myself serving teas and coffees from behind a small table at the top of the seminar room. Then moving down the sides of the rows, picking up rubbish that had missed the bin, and also emptying the bins during the break. And in between working I am able to be there, and listen to what the speaker is saying.
Think Feel Act.
The image of that little stickperson comes into my mind, and I start to think about what I was reading in Think And Grow Rich that morning. It is quiet at the coffee shop, so I finish wiping down a table and get the book out of my bag.
“Through the medium of the ether, in a fashion similar to that employed by the radio broadcasting principle, every human brain is capable of picking up vibrations of thought which are being released by other brains.
In connection with the statement in the preceding paragraph, compare, and consider the description of the Creative Imagination, as outlined in the chapter on ‘Imagination’. The Creative Imagination is the ‘receiving set’ of the brain, which receives thoughts, released by the brains of others. It is the agency of communication between one’s conscious, or reasoning mind, and the four sources from which one may receive thought stimuli.
When stimulated, or ‘stepped up’ to a high rate of vibration, the mind becomes more receptive to the vibration of thought which reaches it through the ether from outside sources. This ‘stepping up’ process takes place through the positive emotions, or the negative emotions. Through the emotions, the vibrations of thought may be increased.”
So… When I am happier, excited, angry or frustrated my brain creates more thoughts and can pick up the thoughts of others. I guess that makes sense when you think about it. The protesting crowd that is peaceful until a few individuals decide to add anger into the mix and before you know it everyone is angry. Or when someone enters a room really happily and you instantly feel happier.
Those are more emotions than thoughts though… What about when two friends are chatting together, both are really happy and all of a sudden are finishing each other’s sentences and thinking the same thing as the other? Maybe this book does make more sense than I thought!
I continue to read a bit more. Think Feel Act.
“On the other hand, when the brain is vibrating at a rapid rate, it not only attracts thoughts and ideas released by other brains through the medium of the ether, but it gives to one’s own thoughts that ‘feeling’ which is essential before those thoughts will be picked up and acted upon by one’s subconscious mind.
Thus, you will see that the broadcasting principle is the factor through which you mix feeling, or emotion with your thoughts and pass them on to your subconscious mind.
The subconscious mind is the ‘sending station’ of the brain, through which vibrations of thoughts are broadcast. The Creative Imagination is the ‘receiving set’, through which the vibrations of thought are picked up from the ether.
Along with the important factors of the subconscious mind, and the faculty of the Creative Imagination, which constitute the sending and receiving sets of your mental broadcasting machinery, consider now the principle of autosuggestion, which is the medium by which you may put into operation your ‘broadcasting’ station.
Through the instructions described in the chapter on autosuggestion, you were definitely informed of the method by which desire may be transmuted into its monetary equivalent.”
I do remember reading that chapter, it’s near the front of the book, but I can’t remember what it said so I flick back to it.
“Autosuggestion is a term which applies to all suggestions and all self-administered stimuli which reach one’s mind through the five senses. Stated in another way, autosuggestion is self-suggestion. It is the agency of communication between that part of the mind where conscious thought takes place, and that which serves as the seat of action for the subconscious mind.
Through the dominating thoughts which one permits to remain in the conscious mind, (whether these thoughts be negative or positive, is immaterial) the principle of autosuggestion voluntarily reaches the subconscious mind and influences it with these thoughts.
No thought, whether it be negative or positive can enter the subconscious mind without the aid of the principle of autosuggestion, with the exception of thoughts picked up from the ether. Stated differently, all sense impressions which are perceived through the five senses, are stopped by the conscious thinking mind, and may be either passed on to the subconscious mind, or rejected, at will. The conscious faculty serves, therefore, as an outer guard to the approach of the subconscious.
Nature has so built man that he has absolute control over the material which reaches his sub-conscious mind, through his five senses, although this is not meant to be construed as a statement that man always exercises this control. In the great majority of cases, he does not exercise it, which explains why so many people go through life in poverty.
Recall what has been said about the subconscious mind resembling a fertile garden spot, in which weeds will grow in abundance, if the seeds of more desirable crops are not sown therein. Autosuggestion is the agency of control through which an individual may voluntarily feed his subconscious mind on thoughts of a creative nature, or, by neglect, permit thoughts of a destructive nature to find their way into this rich garden of the mind.”
After speaking with the gentleman this morning, and rereading this bit, it now makes more sense. We can choose what we think about something that we have seen, heard, smelt, touched or tasted. It also explains why sometimes we don’t hear or see something that someone else has, because our mind has filtered it out and rejected it as unimportant.
I guess if everything we saw, heard, smelt, felt or tasted went into our mind it would be very overwhelming!
Imagine not being able to filter out all the detail in a picture, we wouldn’t even be able to see the picture as we’d be too focused on the individual brush stokes or pixels. If we couldn’t filter out our sense of touch, we wouldn’t be able to process even walking across a room because our mind would be full of the feel of the individual carpet fibres.
It would be sensory overload! It would be like the computer, Deep Thought, in Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy that took 7 and a half million years to computer the answer to a question. 42. It would be impossible to process all the information we receive through our senses and still be able to function!
But equally, we seem to be programmed somehow to focus only on the negatives in life. To focus on the problems we have rather than the solutions.
Think Feel Act comes to mind…
A customer walks in and I put the book down, and for the rest of the shift I continue to mull over what I had read and the thoughts it had spawned in my own mind.
After closing the shop, I went home via the park. It was dusk, the shadows were long across the grass, but I simply wanted to stand in nature for a moment and marvel at their brilliance. I don’t know why. I just felt the need to! The need didn’t last too long though as the first drops of rain started to fall and after enjoying a few on my upturned face I decided to head home instead of getting soaking wet.
For the rest of the evening, I continued to read Think And Grow Rich and focus on the images of me helping at the seminar, before getting an early night ready for my cleaning shift tomorrow.
Monday morning came with heavy black clouds and a persistent rain.
I still haven’t got round to deciding if I should buy myself some new boots or not, so I made sure I had a change of clothes and spare socks in my bag in case I got really wet while walking to the university.
The rain didn’t let off, and on arrival I was soaked from head to toe. Even my jacket now seems to have given up on the being waterproof front! I quickly get changed and hang my wet clothes over a radiator in the changing room, before heading to the office to put on my pinny and grab my feather duster and vacuum cleaner.
During the shift, as I pass by the poster for the seminar, the manager comes up to me and asks if I am still available Wednesday for the later shift. I stop in my tracks. Most definitely I say! And they give me all the details and what I need to wear. Something a little smarter, more like a waiter or waitress, with black shoes and nothing too bright. I say thankyou and get back on with cleaning as they walk away. When they are out of view, I stop briefly.
Wow… I smile and do a little happy dance. Think Feel Act!
This thinking about what you want really does work then! I nod towards the poster and continue dusting along the corridor.
The rest of the shift and the afternoon I start to think about the other things I put on my list and building the images in my head of a life with those things included. I don’t even notice the rain dripping down my neck and soaking me to the bone again as I walk home. I do feel the warm water of the shower once home though, as feeling seeps back into my numb skin, but I have nothing else to go out for this afternoon, so I put on some warm pyjamas and spend the rest of the day job hunting and reading.
Tuesday comes and goes,
less rain at least, and the coffee shop was fairly busy with some new faces. A few I can tell are in town for the seminar as I pick up bits of conversation as I serves customers, clear and wipe tables, and deliver orders to tables. There is a real buzz in the air all evening, and it only builds my anticipation of what is to come tomorrow.
Wednesday morning, I am awake before my alarm. I had a very early night and slept really well so I get everything ready for my cleaning shift and for the seminar. I iron my clothes, pack my lunch and some other snacks to last the evening. I’ve already decided that there wasn’t much point in coming home for an hour, with the half hour walk each way, between my cleaning and the time I needed to back to help set things up. If the rain held off, I would head over to the library, which wasn’t far from the university campus and pick up some more books. Or I would find a quiet corner and continue reading Think And Grow Rich.
It is going to be a good day!
The clouds are still threatening but not releasing their payloads as I walk, and I fill my mind with the images of my future life that I have been working on all week. On arrival, I hang up my clothes for later and get on with my cleaning.
At 12, the rain is still holding off and the skies look much clearer.
So I take my lunch and walk to the library, stopping on route in a nice open space to eat. At the library I speak to a couple of the advisors and thank them for their help the other day. I tell them about the cleaning job and the seminar this afternoon and they suggest some other books for me to have a look at that might be of interest.
One is Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, which looks really interesting. Written by a plastic surgeon, he is talking about the fact that how we see ourselves in our mind can actually dictate how we live our lives. So, if someone saw themselves as ugly and shy, they would hide from the world and not interact. Or, conversely, if someone was made to believe that they couldn’t fail at something they would give it their all regardless of what was going on around them.
Another book is The Science Of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles. This one catches my attention as Jen Sincero mentioned it in her book You Are A Badass.
I check these out, two is enough for now as I am also still reading Think And Grow Rich, and I start the walk back to the university.
The rain is still holding off and the sun is trying to break through. Creating small moments of that lovely warmth you get when the sun shines on your face and body. I love that feeling. Maybe I was a tree or a plant in another life… Like in the film The Odd Life Of Timothy Green, when he puts his arms out and practically glows when the sun light falls on him and the leaves growing on his legs.
Think Feel Act
I smile, my mind wandering back to days of running through the sunny fields by my house when I was younger.
On a picnic with my family, by the little stream, at the edge of the cow field where we also saw those feathery cows… I am really enjoying the memories as I approach the university campus and head back in. Taking a deep breath and refocusing my mind on the job at hand.
I drop my bag off in the changing room and head to the seminar room to help. I’m early and there is no one else around so I head to the front of the room, at the bottom of the steps to see what it is like looking up. I imagine the room filled with people all eagerly awaiting what I have to say and feel nervous. Even though there is no one actually there.
Wow, its scary in my imagination, I wonder how others manage to do it!
“Wondering what it’s like?”
I jump slightly and turn around. Someone familiar smiles, but I can’t place where I know them from. They are well dressed and they smell amazing.
“Oh, I was just um, I mean, yeah. A little! Even using my imagination, I feel nervous looking up at a sea of imaginary faces!”
“I’ve heard that you are supposed to imagine them all naked and that then makes it easier. But I can’t see anyone most of the time as the lights are in my eyes.”
I smile and introduce myself, offering my hand.
They shake it warmly and ask my role here, not offering their name. I tell them I am helping out today with the drinks and cleaning up. They nod, “a worthy role, and thankyou for doing it.” I thank them and their phone rings. They excuse themselves; I nod my goodbye as the manager arrives at the top of the stairs and I head up to meet them.
I help with the table set up for the hot drinks and am given the job of ferrying jugs of water from a sink to the boiler on the table. Once done we arrange various paper cups and different types of teabags and sugar pots, and then a filter coffee machine arrives to go next to the hot water boiler. It doesn’t take long and then the manager explains the order of the event.
People start arriving in about half an hours’ time, we will offer them a drink, with a lid, and then they will be shown to some seats. There are reserved seats at the front and then everyone else is to fill up from the front and middle of the rows to make sure no gaps are left. Anyone late will simply have to stand at the back! It has completely sold out, and everyone is very excited to have such a big-name speaker in our area.
I am given one of the handouts with all the timings on and then head off to get changed and smarten myself up.
A few people start arriving early,
and it seems that that is so they can get front row seats! I overhear others say they have heard this speaker before, and they hold the audience in the palm of their hand the whole time. I’m starting to get nervous for them with this much expectation!
I smile and welcome people as I prepare drinks in cups with lids, and I’m loving the energy in the room. The table is set up at the top of the room so I will get a great view of the whole thing! Obviously, I will be in and out a little, refilling the water boiler and coffee machine, but I’m not paying to be here (I’m actually being paid!) so I don’t mind at all!
The room is filling up now, 15 minutes before the introductions start. They are doing a final check of the technology at the front and there is the same picture as the poster displayed on the screen. Some music starts to play, and people take their seats. There is a low rumble of conversation and a hum of expectation across the room and then the lights dim across the seats and the spotlights come on.
Somebody comes onto the stage, welcomes everyone and thanks them for coming, and then starts to build the interest in the main speaker. Giving their list of accolades and a bit of their story before handing the floor over to them.
It was the same person I spoke to before we began setting up!
I knew they looked familiar! The room cheers and claps and the seminar begins. They even thank the staff for their support, and it feels like they are looking directly at me. I remember what they said about the lights in their eyes, but it makes me smile regardless.
The seminar really did capture the rooms attention and hold it. Yes, I was in and out, as quickly as I could and whenever I was asked to. No job was too big for me to go and do, and I did it all instantly. I was grateful to be there, and I looked forward to being able to do more of these events in the future!
My main takeaways from everything I heard was to do with the little stickperson graphic. Think Feel Act.
It seemed to make everything I had read recently make so much more sense! Think, feel, act basically referred to the fact that what we think creates our feelings. When we allow thoughts to grow and hand them over to our subconscious mind, like it said in Think And Grow Rich, it creates our feelings. So, if we think something negative, it creates negative emotions. Sadness, anger, worry, guilt, regret, frustration… But if we think something positive then it creates positive emotions. Happiness, excitement, contentment.
These emotions in turn create the vibration our body is in. And it is this vibration that we can sense in other people. Like when someone in a really bad mood enters a room, you can just feel it. Or when someone says they are fine, but you can tell they’re really not. This vibration also causes the actions we take. If we take action while thinking negative thoughts and feeling bad, the action will be fuelled by negativity. The speaker gave the example of when you ‘get out of bed on the wrong side’. You stub your toe, spill your coffee, toothpaste down your clothes, bump your funny bone, then every traffic light goes red on the way to work… It all has a compounding, knock on effect for the rest of the day. The entire audience nod and agree. And I can relate to that as well!
The same can be said for when we are thinking positive. We get things for free, the traffic lights all turn green, everyone is nice to you.
But what they said next really grabbed my attention.
If it is our thoughts that create our feelings, then it makes sense that we can shift how we are feeling by simply shifting our thinking.
I had to pop out just after this bit and I was gone for a fair while, helping the caterers to set out the snacks for the end of the seminar. I can’t believe it only lasts an hour! And then the attendees are able to enjoy some food and discuss the content, which I think is a nice touch.
When I came back into the room, the speaker was holding up a card. On one side, it said “The Problem”. On the other side, it said “The Solution”. And what they were just finishing up explaining was that you can only see one side of the card at any one time. So you can focus on the problem, or you focus on the solution. And again, just like your thoughts, that’s a choice.
That was really quite something as well. And the whole room, absolutely ate out of the palm of their hand for the whole hour.
It felt like 5 minutes.
It was over and done with in seconds was what it felt like!
But so so worth it.
So so good!
When the speaker finished, everyone was on their feet. Rounds of applause, cheering, asking for more… And they simply just took it. Smiled. Said thank you. Nodded their head. Waved to a few people. Then disappeared off, out of the side door, out into one of the backrooms where they were able to just chill out for a bit, I guess!
All the attendees just start having their own conversations. It got very loud, very quickly, but the general noise was just that of excitement. Of understanding and growth. It was amazing to be a part of it, and I hadn’t even seen all of it! I am so, so, so happy that I was there.
I head out of the doors before most of the attendees start coming up the stairs, and I help the caterers to guide people to the tables where they could pick up their food. A few tables and chairs had been set out for people to sit, but most of the space outside the seminar room was just open space where people could stand and chat.
The manager comes over to me and asks me to just start doing the sweep of the rows.
No one was going to go back into the seminar room, and most people were already out or getting some extra drinks. Meaning no bags were left. So I took one of the bins and I started at the top and I worked my way down picked up rubbish as I went.
As I got towards the bottom, the speaker actually came back into the room. It was almost like they had forgotten something, so I welcome them back, said a massive thank you. That was an amazing thing to be a part of, and hopefully one day I’d be able to take part fully as an attendee rather than a helper. They laugh. They smile. And I ask them if I could get them anything. A drink, a plate of snacks from the top or anything like that. They say no thankyou as they are going up to join the others shortly.
But what they did next, took me by surprise.
They pulled the problem / solution card out of their pocket. And they gave it to me.
“What did you think of this?”
“It was mind blowing… It made so much sense that you can only focus on one thing at a time.”
They nodded. And then they said that when they had seen me standing at the bottom, at the very start of the seminar before it had even begun, they could tell there was something. Something in my energy. That was different to most people.
I smiled.
“Have you ever done anything like this before? Have you been to any seminars? Are you reading anything? What is it that you do?” So I gave them the brief, brief, history. I mentioned the books I’ve been reading, especially Think And Grow Rich that the old gentleman had given me at the coffee shop, who was actually at the seminar. I hadn’t managed to see him at that point, but I was definitely going to catch up with him on Sunday!
The speaker smiled.
They said to keep immersing myself in the material. And then, “Oh, just one minute…” Went to their bag over by the lectern where they had given the speech and pulled out a book. Then they handed it to me.
Two books… I’ve never really been given anything! And now, in the space of a month or so, I’ve been given two life-changing type books.
This one was called You Were Born Rich, by an author called Bob Proctor. The speaker explained that Bob Proctor was a Canadian. Spent time in the Navy. Was in dead end jobs. Then fell upon Think And Grow Rich (which was made the speaker think of the book in their bag), and changed his whole life around. Just simply by following the information in Think and Grow Rich.
I was astounded. Somebody 60 years ago had been given that book, in much the same way as I had, and had completely switched their life around to become one of the top personal development consultants in the world. Considered by some to be the grandfather of the personal development world we know today.
I thanked the speaker massively, and again offered, could I do anything for them. And all they said was to…
“Simply just keep being you. Never give up, and just keep heading for the things that you want.”
And everything made so much more sense now! With just that little graphic. Those two little circles with all the lines. The little stickperson that represented the Think, Feel, and Act.
My mind was blown!
The speaker bid me goodnight and went up the stairs to join the rest of the attendees while I finished cleaning. My mind buzzing with everything I had learnt. It was amazing… And that night, was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in a long long time! I was out for the count. And because I had worked late Wednesday, I wasn’t expected to go in to clean in the morning.
By late, I mean I didn’t get home until nearly 11pm. Dropped off by a taxi that the university provided so that I didn’t have to walk home in the dark. Which was awesome because it was still raining… Even though it looked like it was going to clear up, it didn’t. It kept raining!
So I got home and into bed around 11pm (11pm!! I never go to bed that late!), so energised that I didn’t even think I was going to be able to sleep! But I did and it was the most amazing night’s sleep ever… And as I said, I wasn’t expected in the next day because I’d worked the night before, and it was even at an overtime rate!
So maybe with my time off tomorrow, maybe I will go and sort out those wellies. And possibly a new coat. Because this one? It’s just not going to cut it…
What Do You Think Feel Act?
So what do you think? Comment below with your feedback and where you would like to see Morgan’s story go or where you think it will go! I only have a rough outline plan so far so your input could guide it in another direction…
If this story resonates with you and you want to discuss this further, then get in touch today. Either here or through any of my social medias or schedule a call to discuss it with me directly.
I look forward to speaking with you soon.
To your success,
Jaiye
PS.
Don’t forget to come and join me live if it hasn’t gone past the 24th December 2024 yet! I go live with a new chapter every Tuesday and Thursday on my Linked In, Facebook and YouTube channels and you are more than welcome to join me. Register now!
