"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."
– Albert Einstein
Monday, March 14, 2011 marks the 132nd anniversary of Albert Einstein's birth.
The world-famous genius has long inspired many to tap their inner genius within and build extraordinary lives.
Something that often surprises people about Einstein is that he reportedly did not speak until about three years of age. Einstein told his biographer Carl Seelig, "My parents were worried because I started to talk comparatively late, and they consulted a doctor because of it."
While he may not have been talking, you can bet little Albert was learning—and at an accelerated pace, just like most every child. A massive amount of learning takes place in our earliest years. Just think, Einstein began puzzling over the nature of the magnetic field after seeing his first compass when he was five years old.
Even though an inflexible, rote learning environment frustrated him in school, Einstein managed to excel in his own independent learning. By the time he was ten, he was reading key texts in science, mathematics, and philosophy.
The Wounded Learner
Unfortunately, early learning experiences lead many people to become "wounded" learners. It's a challenge in traditional classrooms for one teacher with a particular teaching style to meet the needs of a roomful of students with very different learning styles. Have you ever said to yourself, "I'm no good at math" or "I read so slow I can't finish a book" or "I'm a terrible artist"?
If so, you've adopted a belief based on a perceived failure somewhere during your schooling. And, once you believe the self-negating suggestion that you cannot do something, it is highly unlikely that you ever will—unless you know a way to change the perceptions that decided your fate years ago.
Brain research highlights the power of negative suggestion. Brain scans of people undergoing hypnosis for amnesia, for example, showed how regions within the brain close down when given the suggestion "you can't remember." It appears the brain aborts the procedure to remember information even though the information is well known by the subject.
The good news is you can change the mental programming of any "I can't statement" into "I can and I must" with this simple formula:
1. Envision the end result you would like to accomplish but inwardly believe you cannot attain.
2. Go forward in your mind to a future time when you have already achieved the success you desire.
3. Step into the scene of your success. Create a full-sensory experience of being there and enjoying the benefits—seeing, hearing, and feeling as if you were there.
4. Imagine looking back from the future success to observe the path you took to attain this outcome. Notice several major achievements and breakthroughs along the way to your success.
5. Return to the present moment and write out three to five positive, affirmative statements that capture your inner knowing that you can achieve this goal. Add images that reinforce and remind you that you can succeed.
This switch in your thinking allows an immense amount of resources within you to suddenly become available.
So how do you develop and summon the autonomous motivation to keep you on track to your goal?
Try these visualization and acceptance steps from the "Seven Step Creative Process" in the Abundance for Life course.
Visualization
Imagine what you would notice if your goal were to manifest. Create a full sensory internal representation of the desired result in your mind. It is essential you use as many senses as possible.
Repeat your visualization two more times. With each representation increase the number of details you imagine. The practice of repeating the representation makes your vision part of your intention and expectation, part of your life on the mental level. The physical or material manifestation follows in accordance with your clarity about the choices you have made.
Acceptance
Open up to receiving the abundant flow of energy and resources that will manifest your choices. At this point, you'll need to discover how you actively create what you do not claim you want. This Discovery Exercise can show you how to reclaim your power for creating the life you choose.
First, make a list of anything that comes to mind that could possibly keep you from creating your desired goal. For example, I hate to exercise and always lose interest in working out.
Second, change the detriment into a positive belief that coincides with what you want to create. For example, I enjoy taking daily walks with my spouse. They are healthy for my body and good for our relationship.
This exercise elevates unconscious beliefs into the conscious realm, where you can change them by choice. As you gain autonomous control over your choices and decisions, you will find an internal well of strength and determination to help you succeed.
