Dr. Wayne Dyer once said these words that change everything about our reality. He told his audience: “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

Take a second to read that again and then tell me you are not at least a bit curious about this statement. I know I was when I first heard it. Does this mean I can actually have a say in what happens to me? Better yet, can I control ‘MY OWN’ reality?

And indeed that’s what he meant, because once you understand the profoundness and the depth of this truth, it will change your life and turn it upside down. When was the last time you felt that all things are pointed against you. Did you ever think that there is nothing you can do to change the world around you because you are just ‘one’ person and there are so many unknown factors?

What if I told you that against the seemingly staggering odds of you affecting anything in this world, there is a surprising and simple way to change what you experience ? Would you be cusrious to know a bit more ?

Of course you would.

Reality is a subjective experience for each of us, which explains why one and the same objective experience can prompt people to have completely different labels for that experience.  Let’s take a simple example to illustrate my point on that: Imagine you are waiting at a bus stop and the bus is late. That is a common experience most of us had in our lives. Now imagine that one person is putting the label on this event that says: “I hate the fact that the bus is late because it will cause me to waste my time here while I could be doing something else. ” The other person looks at the SAME event with a different label and thinks positively: “I don’t mind that the bus is a bit slower today because I have an interesting book with me and since I’m in the middle of the chapter, I’ll probably get a chance to finish this one while I am waiting. ”

As you can see from this example, the choice in the label is what decides whether we have a positive or a negative experience. Let me give you a quick story from my own life that just might convince you. A couple of years ago I rented the two top floors of a large old house in an area that had some problems with frequent break-ins. It wasn’t really a bad area of the city, but because most houses had lots of lush greenspace and there wasn’t too much street-lighting, it was an easy neighborhood for thieves.

In that house there also was a basement unit that had a seperate entrance around the side of the garden. That unit waqs home to the teenage son of the homeowner and a friend of his and shortly after they moved in they ended up with a puppy. It wasn’t a small dog either, they had gotten a Rottweiler. Within a few months the dog had grown and slept outside in the yard. All along the dog was fairly noisy at night, scratching, whining and at times barking at a squirrel in the bushes. At first that bothered me since the favorite area where the dog slept was right below my bedroom window and sleep was only possible with a few interruptions. So what to do about the noisy dog ?

One day, I decided to reconsider my options in the matter and looked at the situation in a different way. I no longer viewed the dog as a nightly nuissance because of the noise, and instead I was thankful that we had such a large dog to guard the property at night. Suerely, if I can hear the dog, everyone else could too, and no burglar would be dumb enough to climb over a gate straight into the yard of a male Rottweiler. And here is the amazing thing that happened right after that decision. 

I never once had a noise issue with the dog again. It was in the yard every night and did it’s rounds, but there was little barking, scratching or other disruptions to my sleep. I actually slept much better than before becaue my mind was made up that we were not going to have a break-in at this place due to an attentive watchdog that I had embraced as part of the household.

There is an element of the subconscious mind that makes a switch and suddenly you see the world around you with a different filter. You may argue that nothing has changed to the outside observer, but I am here to tell you that it doesn’t even matter because the only reality that will matter to you is the subjective experience of it.

I suggest you make a list of things that are currently weighing on your mind and then see if you can’t find a shred of good in each of them. Once you have that anchor, rewrite each with the new label and then throw out the page with the old issues. You will be amazed at what regular practise of this simple strategy can do to improve your life every day.

Over time, the new way of thinking will take hold in your subconscious mind and you will default to positive interpretations of your reality shedding the burden of being a victim of your daily life and taking control of your reality.

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Money makes the world go ’round, and it also is on most people’s mind for one reason or another for the better part of the day. I would be willing to bet that most thoughts we have with regard to money are in a negative context. We worry that we don’t or won’t have enough of it to be happy or simply to pay our bills and have a little left over at the end of the month.

Do all of us feel that way, or is there a person that doesn’t have those worries? If there is, they surely must be ‘filthy’ rich and that is why they can afford not to worry about it. Or maybe they were given a lot of money by their parents and thus if they should run out, they can simply go back to them and get more.

I am writing this post today to dispell that thinking and show you the most important difference between those worried about money and those that re not. You will be surprised to find out that it has nothing to do with how much you already have or who is supplying you with it.

If I look at my own experience of interacting with rich people and poor ones, there is a consistent pattern that both groups have. I have never met a rich person that is truly worried about money, but almost all poor people are. You may think this is an obvious statement, but hear me out first.

So does this mean that those worried about money are poor because of it, or are starting to worry about it precisely because they are poor in the first place? And , likewise, are those comfortabble with money rich because of it, or are they somehow rich first and simply have grown so used to it that it makes sense to stop the worry?

I am here to argue that the state of mind preceedes the appearence of the reality we live in and that is particularly true about money. If you are comfortable around money and are open to making more of it - guess what, that is what will happen to you. On the other hand, if you are constantly worried about the lack of money, you are programming your mental computer (your subconscious) to keep you in that lack of things.

Thus you will not find the same opportunities for making money as an abundant thinker. Should such a person happen to come across a large amount of money, chances are they would manage to loose that amount which puts them right back to square one. After all, isn’t this were they are comfortable ?

Now what would you say, if I told you there is an easy way to accustom your subconscious mind to think in the way the rich do? What if I further told you that you can actually get yourself into the state of ‘being welathy’ without having to make any changes to your current income level or even spending a dime? Would you be interested in following this plan? I bet you would.

So here is what I need you to do:

1) Take a piece of paper and a pen and write your current income from your paycheck per month (after taxes) on the top of the page. (Don’t worry about writing down the cents for now! )

2) Next I want you to add one (1) additional zero after the last digit you have written down. So if you are currently bringing home $ 1,800 per paycheck the that becomes $ 18,000 for you.

3) Now I want you to go and spend that money in your mind by writing out exactly what you would buy and how much that costs you. Be creative and use realistic prices that you may see in a store.

At the end of that little exercise you should be looking at a sheet of paper that has a starting amount at the top and close to zero left at the end of the month near the bottom. You subtract each purchase from the total and you cannot spend more than you have. You can save some or invest some but as a rule of thumb, at least 80% should be spent on your sheet.

Now I can hear you asking: What is this gonna do to make me rich? The short answer - this is one of you most important lessons that build a foundation of wealth. Rich people are not afraid to spend their money, not all of it but certainly a lot. The more your mind gets used to this ‘imaginary’ spending, the more it will ease up on the lack mentality and shift over to wealth thinking. Wealthy people know that spending money creates more money flowing to them in turn.

The other aspect of this ‘money game’ is to trick you subconscious into operating a budget with larger numbers than you are currently used to. The mind cannot distinguish between actually spending that money or simply pretending to do so. Over the course of a few weeks and months that you play with this game, you will be surprised at the changes your mind makes towards money.

Try it out for yourself and let me know what happened for you.

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Yesterday morning was unlike most other Saturday mornings in the summer. I woke up completely refreshed and ready to jump into my day. It would be exciting for sure since I was looking forward to my ride on the floatplane to visit my family on nearby Vancouver Island.

It is the Canada Day long weekend, and with July 1st falling on a Tuesday this year, most workerbees stamped out early and left town either the Thursday or Friday. The reason I am stressing this is because I have never in the 10 years I lived in Vancouver had such a surreal exparience roaming through downtown because it was like an empty movie set.

Imagine a blue sky without any trace of a cloud, perfect high twenties temperature and NOBODY here to distract from enjoying it. It felt like sneaking into DisneyWorld before the park opens and having all the rides to yourself. Awesome experience! I was wandering from the bus stop over to the floatplane terminal which is about a 20 minute walk and it was serenely quiet. Sitting on a cool shaded park bench I looked up at the amazing architecture and the sun rays bouncing off the ocean less than one block away. Life moves in slow motion or so it seemed and you can hear yourself think and breathe.

So, next time you get a chance at going to a place when all the people have left to line up elsewhere, just try it and you will thank yourself by having the most amazing day. I promise it works…

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Have you ever wondered what distinguishes successful people from the ones we often view as ‘not so fortunate’? Is it some privilege they were born with, such as money, a network of connections or special talent that only exists in them?

I am here to argue that none of that matters in the long run, because your mentality towards success and abundance is the primary factor in deciding which direction you are heading to.

Take for example the average person, making ends meet, but always struggling to have a bit of money left over at the endof the month. You know who I’m talking about, don’t you? It could be your co-worker, a relative or friend or maybe even yourself.

So what if that person all of a sudden got a large sum of money handed to them from an inheritance or from winning the lottery? Do you think they would be set and happy for the rest of their days? Well, most of them would not. They would quit their job, live like royalty for a year or so and then suddenly find themselves at the very place they started from.

And then, there are others, sometimes called ‘dreamers’, who start with very little and seem to have it all stacked against them. I met many such people in the past 10 years, and would like to share the true story of one amazing individual with you today.

His name is Arash, and we lived on the same dorm floor at freshman year university. Being a native of Afghanistan in a pre 9/11 world was difficult enough, but he managed to get a study permit to come to Canada andget enrolled in the Arts faculty. From day one I noticed that something was different with him, compared with our peers from around the world. He felt that he was meant to be there and therefore nothing could stop him from getting ahead.

And so while most of us majored in getting drunk and spent as little time as possible over our books or in a classroom, he went to study every evening for his first midterms. After getting straight A and A+ marks on all his exams he decided that it was time to reduce the studying and focus on social andnetworking opportunities outside of class. Needless to say, most of his peers had bombed their first round of tests, but at least had a formidable lineup of hangover stories to share for it. Not so Arash.

He just got started and when time came to apply for a specialization in 2nd year, he choose a tough course load, convinced it would get him into the legal field which he came to North America for.

So here is a guy from a poor family that fought for a chance to study at a world-class university, not knowing if any of his labor would bear fruit and if he would be able to stay and find a career after his studies. He never let go of the belief that he belonged here and this played a very significant role in where he ended up. He viewed the world as filled with an abundance of opportunities, and surely a few of those would present themselves to him once he was ready for them.

Today he is a top-flight lawyer thanks to his belief that there is a place for all those who are willing to try and give it their all to fulfill their dreams. Many students applied, a few hundred got accepted, and fewer even made it to the top. It doesn’t have to be this way.

One of the things I can definitely recommend for anyone who wants a better life, a better career or whatever it is you are looking to improve, is to take a look at your beliefs and find out if you are on track to success or to mediocrity. It’s not the outside world that imposes limits, it’s the scarcity within our mind that keeps us from becoming what we want to become.

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Last week I stumbled accross an old book on my shelf that I hadn’t been aware of for a long time. It suddenly almost seemed to beg to be picked up and so I opened to a page that was dealing with everyday gratitude.

Now I understand that this may seem to be almost too easy, but just allow yourself a few seconds of suspending your disbelief and follow along here.

I am convinced that the quickest way to unlock what is blocking you from success is to allow the success to happen by being in a state of simple gratitude for what you already have. This can be as simple as being grateful for waking up every morning, or more complex if you are going to be grateful for a specific event or talent you have experienced.

But no matter what, just trying it out for about 90 seconds every day, will do miracles for you, so long as you are getting in the habit of it.

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