Category Archives: guest post

Guest Post & Book Giveaway: Why Change Can Be Difficult

Today’s guest post comes from New York Times Best Selling Author, Eldon Taylor. A few months ago, Eldon’s team reached out to me regarding his brand new book—Self-Hypnosis And Subliminal Technology. Since then I have had the opportunity to read the book and to become familiar with Eldon’s fascinating methods for self-improvement. Today, I am very excited to share a piece of Eldon’s work. Additionally, one lucky reader will win a copy of his new book! To enter, simply leave a comment below. I’ll pick the winner at random next week. (Don’t forget to include your email. U.S. readers only please.)


Everyone I’ve ever met or interacted with, everyone I’ve ever listened to or whose work I’ve ever read—in fact, every single human being from my experience—has, at one time or another, desired to change something about themselves. For some, the longed-for change may involve getting a better job,evolutionyou.net | Self Hypnosis losing weight, improving memory, accelerating learning abilities, or increasing charisma. Indeed, there are very few individuals who find nothing they wish to improve.

What Is Change?
What is change? The idea seems simple enough. To some, it’s a thing, often thought of as something like a commodity. For example, we desire more prosperity. The evidence of our success is money. So change in this instance is money, right? No, money is only the outer symbol that represents the shift.

Competing Strategies
Let’s say, for purposes of illustration, that our hypothetical individual who wishes to be more prosperous was also raised with the belief that money is the source of all evil. A subconscious strategy may therefore work to sabotage any effort he makes to achieve real monetary success. In other words, in this instance the ego perceives safety as avoiding evil—that is, money.

Our hypothetical person may believe, on the other hand, that only money matters. However, there could still be subconscious strategies that get in the way. For example, assume that this person seeks to build a large company but is afraid of public speaking. How will he build a large and successful organization without communicating? When will the fear (public speaking) strategy kick in and knock out the goal (large company) strategy? How will the two ideas compete?

Conflicting strategies exist in nearly everyone. They often underpin what psychologists call “cognitive dissonance,” the conflict that arises from holding two incongruent beliefs. Indeed, opposing strategies also lie beneath much of what’s called “sublimation,” or the acting out of unacceptable fantasies in a socially acceptable way.

The Subconscious Mind
The other challenge to creating real change in our lives lies in the subconscious mind. This part of us is basically indiscriminate in how it accepts information. The problem then is twofold: first, there are already years of uncritical acceptance in my mind; and second, I act in reliance upon this information.

All the statements that have ever been accepted are present in our subconscious minds, and for most of us that’s negative programming. Some psychotherapists have used numbers that indicate that for every input of positive messaging there are 100 bits of negative!

How many times have we all said to ourselves things such as, I can’t do it, or It never works for me? How many times has each of us heard statements such as, “You’re not old enough,” “You’re stupid,” “Money is the source of all evil,” “Life is difficult and then you die,” “Thank God it’s Friday,” “That will never work,” and “You’ll never amount to anything”?

Hypnosis and Subliminal Communication
The power of hypnosis and subliminal communication exists largely in their direct communication with the subconscious. The conscious mind is generally in abeyance during hypnosis, although our defense mechanisms can still play a significant role in the outcome. The advantage of sub-threshold (subliminal) communication is that it bypasses conscious awareness. Unlike hypnosis, where attention and conscious assistance are often necessary, subliminal messages aren’t attended to by the conscious mind in any necessary manner. Because of this, we can decide for ourselves how to “script” our subconscious mind with this technology.

You Can Rescript Your Inner Talk
Using hypnosis, then, it’s possible to access the hidden recesses of the mind to discover the source of a conflict and its solutions. Hypnosis also allows us to “seed” the subconscious mind with thought patterns and ideas that can serve us as opposed to sabotage us. But for me, the most exciting use of hypnosis is for deepening meditation exercises and using this to access information from my higher self.

As for subliminal communication, it works by allowing the positive messages or affirmations to eventually overtake the negative information contained in the subconscious. This new data rescripts our inner-talk, thereby priming positive self-beliefs, which begin the cycle of self-fulfilling prophecies. When this happens, the subliminal beliefs that formerly were self-limiting begin to change. As they change, so do we!

Are You Oblivious, Aware, or Getting It?

This is a guest post from my friend, Andy Feld.

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As I travel and meet new people all over our country, it seems most everyone falls into one of the three areas mentioned in this month’s title. What am I talking about? It’s the societal evolutionary change which is now in progress, although admittedly sometimes imperceptible. It is easy to see that violence rarely leads to anything but more violence. Overt materialism, absent integrity, brings happiness and abundance to very few. Additionally, centuries of male dominated insensitive energy added to a populace unwilling to take responsibility has us at a precarious tipping point.

So, do you sense what I say is true? Are you oblivious to these changes in the air, or are you ahead of the curve and already taking the steps necessary to not only survive, but thrive in the years to come? Frankly, I am often greeted by individuals with long faces who tell me they will be happy again when things get back to ‘normal’. Normal for many means simply getting back to a life dominated by financial gain and the purchase of new things, but those days may be long gone. Banks are not lending money, our population is increasingly unemployed or aging and dependent, houses are not selling, there seems to be an oversupply of everything and worldwide competition is greater than ever. What if today is the way things will be for the next 20-30 years or longer? What are you going to do to be happy, prosperous, and emotionally abundant?

Make no mistake, everything is changing and just about everyone is affected. Personally, my income does not approach what I once earned as a corporate CEO, my car is not as new and shiny as it once may have been, and I visit fewer restaurants, but my life has never been more pleasant. Would you agree that now is the time to not only re-evaluate, but also re-create our lives? If so, you are GETTING IT loud and clear, but if not, let’s look into what we can do about it.

1. We are all One, connected with a common thread of spirit. When I say WE, I mean ALL humans, animals, plant life, earth, and stars. We all are of the same source energy, and understanding and respecting this Oneness is a key to thriving in our new age. Allowing all else to be, with love and respect, and without judgment of unique individual differences will open our portals to Universal Light. One cannot mistreat another human, the earth, our vegetation, and the animals without also mistreating oneself. We are all connected and what we put forth to others is what will always come back to us.

2. Listen to our heart, our Inner Radar as I call it in my books, without the fear of judgment from others. We are all unique and different, and learning to reach within and hear that guidance we all individually brought forth to this lifetime allows us to grow and prosper in alignment with our life’s purpose. There is no better way to accomplish this than a regular practice of meditation and contemplation.

3. Understanding the process for manifesting our life’s dreams. It takes quite a bit of practice and self-discipline, and you may be getting tired of hearing me speak about it, but we are the product of our thoughts, emotions, words, and actions. Very little we desire will manifest without the alignment of these four elements. Believe in this, practice and have faith and you will embrace your life like never before.

4. Learn to appreciate all that you have. From hot running water, to clothes in your closet, and food in the refrigerator, most of us have so much to be thankful for yet rarely acknowledge. The beauty of nature, our relationships, our health and the list should go on and on. Write it down and truly rejoice in how many ways you are blessed.

5. Diligently work on balancing your male and female attributes. We are all a combination of both masculine and feminine, and the more we keep these two in balance the more we vibrate with the earth.

Yes, everything is changing. First, become aware and then jump on board, but it will always be the choice of the individual. No one, other than you is responsible for your rescue.

Whether it is a business, an organization, or individual, the time for changing the status quo in right now. How to go about it in this new environment is what I speak about and teach. I would love the opportunity to work with you or your group.

With much love and appreciation,
Andy

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Andy lives in Morrison, Colorado outside Denver. He travels the country as a frequent speaker on life inspiration and business sales. He is also a regular guest on radio programs across the United States and on local TV.

You can read more about Andy at his website, Simple Happy, and you can find his books on Amazon at the following links.

Is Your Resume a Hallmark Card?

This is a guest post by David Pinkley, The Resume Sage.

How do you describe yourself in your resume: team player?…quick learner?…detailed oriented? Do you really believe those self-proclaimed descriptions? Consider this: so does everyone else. That’s the problem. When it comes to describing ourselves we use the same words as everyone else. I know this because in 15 years working as a professional resume writer and executive recruiter I’ve seen nearly 40,000 resumes. Virtually all of them used works like: high energy, results oriented, uniquely qualified, detailed oriented, out-of-the-box thinker…and the list goes on. I call these Hallmark words.

What is a Hallmark word? Example: You go to the store to buy a greeting card for your Sweetie whose birthday is approaching. You are overwhelmed because there are so many cards to choose from. You select your first one and it says something like: “May you experience all things bright and beautiful on your special day. Happy Birthday.” It’s a nice try but the message is contrived so we put the card back and pick another. The second one says: “Here’s a card just for you. You’ve always been tried and true. Happy Birthday.” Again, nice words but the message isn’t meaningful. (Who writes this stuff!?) You repeat this process numerous times until you find one with a message that resonates: “It just always felt right…and it always will. Happy Birthday.” Found it. You’re done.

Hallmark words are words that look great on paper but don’t have any real meaning. It’s the same with resumes. Certain words look great on resumes but they are meaningless. If everyone says they’re a quick learner those words become diluted. (Whether it’s true or not is irrelevant.) Using Hallmark words on your resume will make it seem just as contrived as most greeting cards. The reader (i.e. hiring manager) won’t believe your message and will continue reading other resumes in search of one that resonates.

The reality is we really don’t know how to describe ourselves. So we borrow words from other resumes and convince ourselves that these words really describe us. We don’t realize they have no meaning. Great resumes find authentic ways to communicate familiar themes. How do you do that?

If you are really honest with yourself – you probably don’t know what you really do anyway. The only way to discover exactly what makes you unique is to look closely at your job. This takes introspection and self examination; a process most people dread because it seems like hard work – hence why most resumes are homogeneous. This is difficult to do for yourself. Self examination is much easier if you do it with someone else. But that’s another post.

Blow the dust off your resume and take a look at the words you’ve used to describe yourself. Are they Hallmark words? If they are, you need to recognize that you are not saying anything unique. And no matter how true they are, they are not as meaningful or impactful as you think.

Have questions? Contact David Pinkley at (704) 358-6000 or david@theresumesage.com. To learn more visit: www.TheResumeSage.com

David Pinkley is the founder of The Resume Sage, a custom resume writing service. The Resume Sage critiques and writes resumes for accomplished professionals and executives. Those who work with The Resume Sage are purposeful about navigating their careers. They need more than just strong writing skills; they are seeking insights about how to differentiate themselves from their peers/competitors.

David is a sought-after public speaker and has been featured on local news and NBC’s national news. He earned a B.S. degree from the University of Michigan and started his career in Chicago as a CPA at Ernst & Young and at Bank of America. He has lived and worked as an executive recruiter for 15 years in Charlotte, Raleigh, New York and Hong Kong.

Take Back Valentine’s Day

Yes, I know – merely mentioning this Hallmark Holiday to some results in sneers and eye-rolling, while others simply feel sad and left out, or perhaps pressured to make precisely the right purchase to prove their devotion to a sweetheart. I’ve certainly experienced all three of those reactions myself, most often the sneering and eye-rolling and ranting about how stupid and made-up this little holiday is. In recent years, though, I’ve had something of a change of heart; I still despise the consumerism and the pressure and the showcasing of romantic love as though it were the only kind – but at the core I think there might be something fundamentally important, or at least beautiful, about making sure to celebrate love in the midst of some of the darkest and dreariest days of the year.

Don’t get me wrong here – there is still no need for blood diamonds, pesticide-drenched flowers, or unfair-trade chocolate. There is still no need to exclude the single or to limit your love to your partner instead of letting it shine to the whole world. You don’t need to spend a lot of money or even have a lover to have a fantastic February celebration of love! Here are some of my ideas:

  • Write yourself a love letter. Detail all your glorious quirks and stunning capabilities. Celebrate your glorious creativity and accept your flaws. Bask in your own sweet love.
  • Make Valentines! You don’t need a lover, great (or any) artistic skill, or perfect penmanship. Just gather up whatever supplies you can find, sit down, draw some hearts if you want, and maybe write a few words to your friends &/or parents &/or pets &/or great aunt &/or crush &/or whoever you like. You don’t have to say much, but I guarantee this little expression of affection will absolutely make the recipient’s day. If you really want to get creative you can incorporate embroidery, watercolors, glued-on macaroni, feathers, quotes about love – the sky’s the limit!
  • Read some love poems. Rumi and Pablo Neruda are great starting points. Here are just a couple of my favorites:
  • Bake mouth-watering cupcakes or delicious cookies and bring them into school or work or give them out to your pals. (Bonus points if they’re heart-shaped!)
  • If you are a lady (or even an adventurous man), wear red, sparkles, pink, or anything with hearts. Dress up, paint your nails, accessorize fabulously!
  • Write a list the people you love and the people who love you. Write another list of all the things about your life that you love. Reflecting on these things will surely make you smile.
  • Surprise an old friend with an email, Facebook message, or text, just to let her know you’re thinking of her and hoping she’s enjoying her own celebration of love.
  • Cook a beautiful dinner for yourself and maybe a partner or friend, if you want. Set the table, savor each bite, and discuss or muse about love until you’re blue in the face. Make a love playlist to enjoy during your meal (bitter brokenhearted songs are allowed too, if absolutely necessary).
  • Whatever you do, don’t let the cynics get you down! Smile and offer them a cupcake instead, or ignore them altogether. You will have more fun than they will, I promise.

Love love, celebrate love, and most importantly give love – Valentine’s Day and every day!

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This guest post comes from Leeann Drees.  Leeann studies, works, plays, and dreams big dreams in Michigan.

Self Responsibility, Integrity, Capitalism

I met Andy Feld last week at a conference in Atlantic City. Andy’s sessions touched me in a deep & profound way. Andy travels the country and speaks to people about how to create success, happiness, and abundance in their lives. I am honored to share this guest post from Andy.


photo credit

Conservation & Love Are Not Contrary to Capitalism
Do you think that taking better care of our planet Earth, and its people, is contrary to the principles of Capitalism? Believe it or not that is the message some people give to me. Frankly, I do not believe that having a heart and being a capitalist are mutually exclusive. In addition to being an author and speaker I have been a businessman and entrepreneur in the fields of commercial real estate and mortgage banking for the past 30 years, and I believe I speak from a platform of direct experience as I have competed in a fiercely competitive business environment. The picture I see is that capitalism and free enterprise have built the wonderful economic structure of this country, but this same financial freedom has also caused the current “economic crisis” that most of us have never seen before.

The search for abundance is a healthy undertaking, but when we lose our integrity, this search for abundance becomes greed, and the byproduct of greed is uncomfortable for most. The loss of jobs, loss of retirement funds, and physical decay to the planet is what we are witnessing today. Frankly, I never thought I would say this, but a little government oversight along with some inspirational guidance from spiritual leaders may be just what is needed. We are in the midst of a planetary wake-up call where we are all coming to grips with the idea that happiness, joy, and abundance involves a lot more than the next purchase of things. We are also starting to understand that maybe this time there will not be a quick economic recovery and we will need to find new ways to create our personal happiness and abundance. We, the earth, the people, and the animals are all one connected with a common spiritual thread held together by love. Helping another and assisting our physical planet does not in any way take away from personal self responsibility, free enterprise, and most capitalistic principles.

As I speak to various audiences around the country it is obvious we are all searching for new ways to create our personal and business joy and abundance in a rapidly changing world, and the answer always starts with individual self-responsibility. Please do not get fooled into thinking that someone else will take care of you.

Painting Our Life’s Picture
We all are personally responsible for painting our life’s picture, and if we refuse to do so, then we abdicate this power to others, which in turn typically leads to our displeasure. How do we create and manifest what we desire? We do it by taking control of our thoughts, emotions, words, and actions and wrapping them up with faith and love. Is this easy? No, it takes a great deal of self-discipline, willpower, and practice. We all agree that we do not always get what we want, but what we do get is always the sum of our current thoughts, emotions, words and actions.

Being from the heart (walking with grace) and having integrity does not contradict the principles of free enterprise and capitalism; it only enhances them! Self responsibility, free choice, and free will remain the order of the day while remembering that we are all in this together.

Twenty years ago Andy began his ongoing study of happiness and success. In August of 2005 on a hiking expedition to Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, he was inspired to write his first book, Simple Happy: Finally Learning to Listen to Yourself. Andy’s new book WAKE UP! YOUR LIFE IS CALLING!: Activating Spirit, Happiness, and Abundance gives his readers the tools and inspiration to create their lives exactly as they desire during these tumultuous times.

Andy lives in Morrison, Colorado outside Denver. He travels the country as a frequent speaker on life inspiration and business sales. He is also a regular guest on radio programs across the United States and on local TV.

You can read more about Andy at his website, Simple Happy, and you can find his books on Amazon at the following links.

Overcoming Addiction Through Spiritual Growth

evolutionyou.net | wheat

On March 12, 2006, two things became perfectly clear: I did not want to die after all, and I was scared as hell to go on living.

The next day I entered rehab for the third time in as many years. I have not had a drink or mind altering drug since that day. My name is Jared and I’m a grateful recovered alcoholic. Grateful? You mean you’re grateful you’re an alcoholic? Yes, but I’ll get to that a little later. Right now I want to concentrate on the word “recovered.” And you know what: this is really going to be amazing because it just “hit” me the depth and meaning of that word, recovered. It means today, right now, I’m recovered. I’m not practicing alcoholism and I have no obsession and desire to drink. And as long as I follow a few simple rules, I can stay that way.

Each day I wake up with untreated alcoholism. The moment my head comes off the pillow, I’m a raging alcoholic. I’m likely to drink today if I do not follow a few simple rules. I prefer to break the rules down into a list of three: 1. Trust God, 2. Clean House, and 3. Help Others.

Trust God
Trusting God sounds complicated, spiritual, and/or religious. It’s not. Simply, it reminds me that I’m not in charge. Before I leave the house every morning I get on my knees and say a simple prayer, known as the third step prayer,

“God, I offer myself to Thee–to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!”

Then I wash that down with a simple request, “God, Show me what you would have me do today, and give me the strength and willingness to carry it out.” That’s it, that is how I start everyday, and have for the last (as I write this) 1,319 days. If I feel myself rushing through it, I stop and get back into gratitude and the moment. If I think I don’t have time, I ask myself a simple question, “How grateful am I for my sobriety?” That usually get’s me on me knees pretty quick! Get on my knees, or get drunk. Trusting God becomes easier as experiences prove that life is working out for the better when I get out of the way.

Clean House
Cleaning house is known as performing a moral inventory, keeping my side of the street clean. As I pray each night before bed, I run through the day in my head. (Hey that rhymed!) Again, on my knees, I review my day and seek out situations where I could have done better or possibly any wrongs I may have done to myself or others. Are there any amends that need to be made? As I grow spiritually, there are fewer instances that need further attention, or amends. Most are handled in the current moment and thus allowing me to move on, staying in the moment and practicing the spiritual power of now. I learn to avoid commitments I know I cannot keep, become honest about my motives and intentions, and sincere in my actions. The result being my daily inventory is void of regret and remorse for I know I have been true to myself and others in this day.

Help Others
Helping others means I try to be of service whenever possible. This mostly involves sponsoring other alcoholics. But remember in my morning prayer I asked “God, how me what you would have me do today, and give me the strength and willingness to carry it out.” Throughout each day I’m given the opportunity to help others in any capacity, and then I get a chance to see if I really meant it. As a sponsor, my duty is to share with other alcoholics how I have recovered. Pay it forward so to speak. I try to keep this simple, trying to keep my opinion and ego out of the way. Thankfully, I have an instruction manual and support program through Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12 Steps. Step 12 states, “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” My spiritual awakening has been slow and steady, the significance of events and experiences are often not realized until much later. If I want to reap the benefits of an amazing life tomorrow, I need to be doing the work today!

“It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God’s will into all of our activities. “How can I best serve Thee – Thy will (not mine) be done.” These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will.” –From the Book Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 85

OK, now to the grateful recovered alcoholic part. The part of the 12th step that says, “practice these principles in all our affairs,” tells me that I can apply the spiritual principles I’ve learned in all areas of my life. Had I not been an alcoholic, I would have never learned how to live a spiritual life. My life prior to recovery was a mess and would eventually kill me. In my early twenties I had resigned to the fact that I would never be fully satisfied and happy with life, ever. Today, I am. It’s just that simple.

I’d like to make a note about all this spiritual talk. Spirituality has nothing to do with religion. The fact that I use the term God, is what I call a power greater than myself. My relationship with a Higher Power has come through action, as a psychic change developed in response to living my life on basic spiritual principles. These principles are rooted in the four absolutes of Honesty, Unselfishness, Love, and Purity. I learned how to live a spiritual life through working the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. This is not the only way. However, I am convinced that we cannot fix a broken mind and soul with a broken mind. To discover how to live a spiritual life, we need help, which means finding someone who has what we want spiritually, and asking them to show us how they got there. And most importantly, it is the result of action. I’m a big believer in that nothing spiritual or of great transformational importance, ever manifested itself by simply reading and talking about it. To initiate significant, life transforming change, we have to put ourselves out there and interact with the world around us.

“Religion is for people who are scared to go to hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.” —Bonnie Raitt

I am only granted a daily reprieve from my alcoholism and character defects. I must work each and everyday on spiritual growth. For me, if I’m not growing spiritually, I’m headed for trouble and drinking. And for me, to drink is to die. Each night I go to sleep a recovered alcoholic, and wake the next day with untreated alcoholism. It does get easier over time however… or as my sponsor would say, “It’s easy, except when it’s not.”


Jared is a web developer from Lee’s Summit, MO. He enjoys spending time with family, reading, writing music, and traveling with his wife. He also enjoys helping others in recovery as much as he can.

I have been a fan of Jared’s writing and his incredible story since I discovered his blog several months ago. I am honored to feature Jared as Evolution You’s first guest blogger.

Please check out Jared’s inspiring blog How To Be Happy.