Timeless!
An enormously valuable set of reminders :
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"The key to success is movement, which creates: confidence, strength, flexibility, personal power, and fun. Stagnation comes from lack of movement. 'Old' is not a matter of age, it’s a lack of movement... and the ultimate lack of movement is death."
"Make feeling good your expectation. You don’t have to have a reason to feel good... you’re alive!"
"Emotions are an internal compass pointing you toward the actions you must take to arrive at your goals. If you don't know how to use this compass, you’ll be forever at the mercy of any psychic tempest that blows your way."
"Whatever you continually look for, you will surely find."
"Your past does not equal your future."
"The emotions you once thought as negative are merely a call to action. In fact, instead of calling them negative emotions, from now on call them action signals. They ask you to change :
** the way you think
** the way you perceive things
** your procedures for communicating/behaving
These calls to action are reminders not to be a fly repeatedly banging himself against the window, trying to get through the glass. If you don’t change your approach, all the persistence in the world will never pay off. "
"Depression is another call to action, telling you to change the perception that your problems are permanent or out of control."
"Begin to think of action signals as weeds in your garden. A weed is a call to action, isn’t it? It says, 'You’ve got to do something; you’ve got to pull this out to make room for better, healthier plants to grow.' ”
"Never try to contribute to others at your own expense
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"Commit to putting and keeping yourself in a passionately positive state, no matter what happens. Instantly change your physiology/focus into a resourceful one... regardless of your desires of the moment."
"It doesn’t take very much light to wipe out the darkness."
"We’re so accustomed to the miracles happening around us every day that we don’t even see them as miracles anymore. We covet the scarce, instead of appreciating the miracles that abound."
"Rewire yourself to experience pleasure more consistently. When people feel good all the time, they treat others better, and maximize their potential as human beings."
TONY'S ARSENAL FOR STATE-CHANGE :
• Physiology
• Focus (see below)
• Questions
• Submodalities
• Transformational vocabulary
• Metaphors
• Neuro-associative conditioning
• Beliefs
• Compelling future
• Values (see below)
• Rules (see below)
• References
• Identity
10 Emotional Seeds to Nurture
• Love/warmth
• Appreciation/gratitude
• Curiosity
• Excitement/passion
• Determination
• Flexibility
• Confidence (see below)
• Cheerfulness (see below)
• Vitality
• Contribution
On FOCUS :
- "Whatever we focus on determines how we feel.
- Don't jump to conclusions; choose what to focus on very carefully.
- Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear.
- Focusing on the solution will always benefit you.
- A change in focus won’t immediately change your direction. Often there’s a lag time between when you redirect your focus and when your body and your life’s experience catch up. All the more reason to start focusing on what you want immediately; spend no more time on the problem.
- Changing crying to laughter can occur in a heartbeat if our mental focus and physiology is interrupted strongly enough."
On VALUES :
"When we make a decision, our brain first evaluates whether that action leads to pleasure or pain. You constantly weigh alternatives to see what the impact may be based upon your value hierarchy. Your top values are those that bring you the most happiness. So set the day up so that you’re meeting all of your values. If you don’t, you’ll experience an inexplicable emptiness or unhappiness."
On CONFIDENCE :
"Consistently experience confidence - even new moments - through faith. As confident, you’re willing to experiment and put yourself on the line. In order to get yourself to do anything, it’s imperative to exercise confidence rather than fear. Remember: the source of success for outstanding achievers are nurtured beliefs for which that person had no prior references! Acting on faith moves the human race forward."
On CHEERFULNESS :
"There’s a difference in between being happy on the inside and outwardly cheerful.
Cheerfulness :
** enhances self-esteem, fun, people's happiness
** eliminates fear, hurt, anger, frustration, disappointment, depression, guilt, inadequacy
You’ve achieved cheerfulness when you realize that whatever craziness happens, nothing other than cheerfulness will make it better. Cheerfulness is intelligence. You know that life lived in a state of pleasure - one so intense that you transmit joy to those around you- will positively impact any challenge coming your way."
On WORRY :
"Many people worry. To accomplish this state, they dwell on the worst possible scenario, believing it will get them to act. In
truth, worry puts a person in an extremely unresourceful state. It rarely empowers us to take action, but causes us to be overwhelmed with frustration or fear."
On CALM :
"Every great, successful person remains centered, clear and powerful in the midst of emotional storms. How? Most have a rule: Never spend more than 10% of your time on the problem; spend 90 % on the solution. Most important, don’t sweat the small stuff. . . and it’s all small stuff!"
On GLOBAL BELIEFS :
"The global beliefs you have about the concepts of scarcity and abundance determine your stress level and your generosity of time, money, energy, and spirit. If you believe we live in a world with scarce resources—where there’s only so much money, so much time, so much love—then you’ll constantly live in fear that you won’t have enough. This stress will affect the way you think of your neighbors, your co-workers, your financial capabilities, and opportunities in general."
On LIMITED IDENTITY :
"Do you look to your past, your present, or the future to define who you truly are? Some time ago, my present and past weren’t terribly exciting, so I consciously fused my identity with the vision I had of who I knew I would become. I didn’t have to wait; I began to live as this man now."
On ACTION :
"Changing how you feel is the motivation behind virtually all of your behaviors. Now develop a proactive plan for dealing with the negative emotional patterns that you habitually experience. It’s equally important to expand the amount of quality time you're in positive states."
On SUCCESSFUL RELATIONSHIPS :
"The only way a relationship lasts is if it's where you go to give, and not where you take. Whatever we focus on, we experience ... so focus each day on making it better. Never threaten the relationship itself. Don’t ever say, 'If you do that, then I’m leaving.' Focus on where you want to go in a relationship, not on what you fear. Each day ask : 'How am I so lucky to have you in my life?' Become fully associated to the privilege of sharing your life with this person; feel the pleasure intensely, and continuously anchor it into your nervous system. Engage in a never-ending quest to find new ways to surprise each other. If you don’t, habituation will set in, and you will take each other for granted. So find/create those special moments to make your relationship a role model—one that’s legendary! "
On RULES :
"Our experience of reality has nothing to do with reality, but is interpreted through the controlling force of our beliefs, specifically the rules we have about what has to happen in order for us to feel good. Who do you think has the worst time ? Those with the most intense rules about what has to happen before they can feel good! If we structure our lives in such a way that happiness is dependent upon something we cannot control, we will experience pain."
"A rule is disempowering when :
* It is impossible to meet
* Its success is determined by something you can’t control
* It gives you only a few ways to feel good and lots of ways to feel bad
The solution is simple. Set up a system of evaluating that includes rules that are :
* Clearly achievable
* Constantly pull you in the direction you want to go, toward your values
* Make feeling good easy and feeling bad hard."
"Use criteria you can control personally. You will ring the bell instead of waiting for the outside world to do it."
"At the base of every emotional upset you’ve ever had with another human being is a rules upset. Somebody did something violating one of your beliefs. So if you ever feel angry or upset with someone, remember: it’s your rules that upset you, not their behavior."
Handling a "rules upset"
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a) Make the first move :
“I’m sorry I responded the way I did. It’s just that you and I have different rules about what we need to do in this situation. My expectations are that if you respect me, you’ll do_______ and _______ . I know those aren’t your rules. so please tell me what your rules are. How do you express respect/love/caring/concern?”
b) Once you’re both clear on the other's needs :
“Would you be willing to do _______ to make me feel respected? I’d be willing to do _______ for you.”
"Any relationship -business or personal- can be instantly transformed just by getting clear on the rules and making an agreement to play by them. After all, how can you ever hope to win a game if you don’t even know the rules?"
"Life is a variable event, so our rules must be organized in ways that allow us to adapt, grow, and enjoy. To some people, if someone frowns at them, then their rule is that the person is in a bad state and should be avoided. Other people's rule is 'If someone’s in a bad state, then I need to change their state.' Most of us have created numerous ways to feel bad, and only a few ways to truly feel good. An overwhelming number of people’s rules wire them for pain. They have a vast, intricate network of neural pathways leading to the very states they want to avoid, but only a handful connected to pleasure."
" 'Every day above ground is a great day!' This rule has become a favorite of the Date With Destiny staff, and now at every program we display it to remind each of us how successful we are the moment we pull back the covers each morning."
"Many of us fear that without intense rules, we won’t be driven, motivated, hard-working, and achievers. You don’t have to have ridiculously difficult rules to keep your drive! If a person makes their rules too intense or painful, pretty soon they’ll realize no matter what they do, they can’t win. They’ll experience learned helplessness. The power of goals -the allure of a compelling future - is important to pull forward... but make sure some rules allow you to be happy anytime you want. Develop rules that move you to take action, feel joy, and follow through—not rules that stop you."
"For some people to feel like they’re in control, they have to know 'x' will happen in advance. For others, they have to experience doing it. If this were my rule for confidence, I couldn’t accomplish most of what I’ve done in my life! My success came from my ability to get myself to feel certain I could achieve something, even though I had no references for it. My rule for confidence is, 'If I decide to be confident, then I’ll feel that way toward anything, and my confidence will help me succeed.' "
"The key to my happiness is : 'I will enjoy this day. No matter what happens, I’ll find a way to enjoy it.' You might say, 'Yeah, but you’re just lowering your standards.' Nothing is further from the truth! You're raising your standards. You hold yourself to a higher standard of enjoying yourself despite the conditions of the moment. It means you’ve committed to being intelligent, flexible, and creative enough to allow yourself the true richness of life. Maybe that’s the ultimate rule."
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