Day 20

 

Welcome to Day 20!

 

This is the final day to talk about envisioning.  It’s that important. 

 

I read somewhere that about 90% of what we worry about never happens. Yet we spend so much time using our imaginations to worry – about the economy, the weather, the world events, what our  neighbors are doing, our looks, our family, the most recent health threat.  Let me stop there because that’s more than enough detail to get the point across.  Remember, save the detail for when describing the things you want to happen not the things you wish didn’t. 
 

The latest strategy I learned about envisioning was from the Law of Attraction book.  It talked about something they called ‘setting the segment’.  What they were talking about is taking the time to imagine how you want the next segment of your day to go.  Say you’re going into a meeting at work that you’re worried about.  Instead of picturing everything that could go wrong, take a few minutes to see it going exactly the way you want it to go.
 

Now that you’ve already seen it in your mind the way you want it to go, tap into the rest of the parts of Star POWER.  Assume your strongest body position, take a deep breath or two,  and tell yourself you’ve got this  I know that all of that sounds so, so simple.  But it works.  By allowing your brain to see it the way you want it, you’re sidetracking the negative hormones.  Since you’re not radiating anxiety, you’re not attracting negativity.  Not sure this works?  Ever been in a space that seems just fine until someone shows up radiating an attitude?  The whole room shifts.  Don’t be that person.
 

Let me share an example when I used the idea of envisioning the outcome I wanted.   I used to own a flight school that I had to sell.  I had no choice because my wonderful business partner had passed away…without leaving a will.  I was torn because I loved that business, the employees, the customers.  I vascillated between wanting to keep it and needing to sell it. 

 

Luckily I was reading a book at the time called ‘Effortless Prosperity’ by Bijan.  At the bottom of every page was the message:  remember to keep your word.  It had a different meaning than I expected.  It meant to get clear about what you want and stay there.  Don’t go back and forth between what you want and all the reasons you think you can’t have it.  Just focus on what you want.  The book said the universe is waiting to fulfill our wishes (here’s that ‘ask and you shall receive’ again or Law of Attraction long before I had ever heard of it) once we get clear about what they are.
 

I decided as much as I loved the school, it had to be sold.  That became my sole focus. I visualized myself reaching across the table to shake the hand of the new owner.  I pictured the process going smoothly even though I had no knowledge to how to sell a business.  I even made up a number for the sale price although I had no idea what to charge. 

 

Here’s what happened.  I sold the company.  I wish I had sold it to someone else but I had not thought at all about what kind of person I wanted to sell it to, just that I wanted it sold.  The person tried to take advantage of my lack of experience at every opportunity but luckily someone stepped up who was the exact right person to do all the negotiating for me.  I couldn't have picked a better person if I had tried.  Not only did the sale happen almost seamlessly, I got almost the exact price I had listed.

 

What do you have coming up that could use some good envisioning?  The holiday season for many is challenging in many ways.  It’s not always the picture perfect feasts and events that we see on the Hallmark Channel movies.  For some, it’s a time of great lonliness.  For others it’s relatives who know all the buttons to push.  There’s the end of the semester stress for college students (and teachers) and seasonal affect disorders for those that struggle with the scant daylight.  We all have challenges in our lives, times that are tougher than others. 

 

Today’s mission:  think of the day ahead of you in segments.  They might include the ride to work, dropping off kids at school, a morning meeting.  Before you venture into each segment, take a few seconds to picture it going well.  I’m going to do it in a few minutes when I head out to do my business errands.  I probably won’t need to do it the rest of the day because today is full of things I already enjoy – lunch with my fabulous cousin, helping out a friend at the local Chamber of Commerce, writing and recording the next day’s lesson. 

 

I’ve practiced these strategies so often and for so long, I’ve created a life for myself where I enjoy most of the segments of my day no matter what I do.  It’s like I told my students years ago on the first day of school.  We have 180 days together.  It’s your life and my life.  Let’s make it the best we can make it, let’s enjoy the ride.   Even yesterday when I was very tired at my part time job, I had a good time despite a one hour battle with a chirping, defective fax machine.  We made the best out of it.  And  we overcame the hugely challenging fax machine.  Yippee!!

 

So set those segments and go!!

 

P.S.  Now you can choose to continue to the next day or wait until tomorrow.  Either way, here's a link to the next chapter.