How Did I End Up Like This?

What’s going on my friends??? I have to tell ya, I truly expect 2010 to be an OUTSTANDING year for all of us! I REALL REALLY do!

First off, I MUST thank all our new subscribers here and extended sincere appreciation for my friends who’ve been here all through 2009! You're ALL awesome!

So let's get into it shall we? We’ve all been on our own journey thus far in life and the sum of our experiences make us who we are today agreed? I honestly believe EVERYTHING happens for a reason. Sure, we may not like the crappy situation at the time, but upon reflection, after we survived, we have truly grown. Pushing past what you believe to be your end is where real growth happens. Work a muscle and it gets stronger!

With that, I want to talk about the conditioning process we’ve all gone through as part of our journey to get to where we are today. Miguel Ruiz, in his book "The Four Agreements" talks about the agreements we made with ourselves as part of being who we are today. Now, this is a long topic, but I will try my best to keep it concise so it doesn't go on forever

We pop into this world kicking and screaming and immediately what do we get? Yes, attention and lots of it! We quickly discover when we cry in octaves that only dogs can hear that somebody is right there trying to calm us the heck down! Whether it’s making us giggle, giving us food, or softly singing to make us feel safe and secure right? People just can’t get enough of us during that first 6months or so. But somewhere the newness wears off doesn’t it?

The next stage in journey is when we become a toddler. This is where we’re able to get ourselves around and into some fun…uh I mean trouble. With that, we got introduced to this little word that would be repeated LOUD and often - the word "NO!" Shrieks of "NO, don't do that!" or "NO, don't touch that" or my favorite “NO, get that out of your nose!” However, when we were sitting there being good little toddlers playing with our blocks did we hear “YES, what a good little boy/girl playing so nice and quietly!” Correct me if I’m wrong, but we probably received more negative reinforcement than we did positive right? So what did WE do wrong? We went from all sorts of loving and caring to being a pain for our parents. The conditioning process is already in full swing my friends.

So what’s going on in our minds? Rejection, disappointment, punishment, loss of love, fear? Honestly, I thought my name was “stupid” because that's what my mom called me more than my real name. Then, do some of us learn manipulation? If I cry louder, harder, and longer, will I get what I want? Do some people carry that with them into adulthood???

The point I’m trying to make is we are conditioned all along the path to becoming responsible or irresponsible adults – we’ve made conscious or unconscious agreements with what we learned. For many, we’re programmed with limiting beliefs that we continue to make true in our lives today. Why? Because that’s what we believe to be true. Ever wonder why at the circus the elephants don’t go running mad like Sarah Palin at an intellectuals retreat? Because, as little babies, they are tethered to a rope, they try to leave, but can’t…they aren’t strong enough. So they give up. So, they carry that with them their whole life – believing they can’t break free. Just like us. They have been conditioned

Over the next week or so, think about this and how it may apply to your life. Write down all the negative statements that still ring in your head from your youth and even the ones you might be hearing today. In the next article, we’ll continue on how we change this crappy programming. To begin unlocking the adversity chains and begin to Achieve Your Dreams!!!

Have a super week and as always, ALL my best to your happiness and success!

Christopher