The Palace of Possibilities

Using EFT to achieve one's potential

In this Section 8...

• The Palace of Possibilities 18--Working two days a week...
• The Palace of Possibilities 19--When we seem "stuck" in external circumstances
• The Palace of Possibilities 20--Questions & comments from Members

The Palace of Possibilities 18--Working two days a week...

Hi Everyone,

I'm juiced!

I just spoke on the phone with Christine Vincer from Austalia who gave me a living, breathing example of the Palace of Possibilities at work. Perfecto! She used a combination of EFT and daydreaming/goals to make impressive changes---AND---she did it BEFORE READING THE PALACE OF POSSIBILITIES!. That's what juices me. The Palace Principles are just plain common sense. She "fell into" the techniques quite naturally--without even having a name for them--and they moved her up the ladder of success effortlessly and without will power. Beautiful.

I want to tell you Christine's story within the framework of the Palace Principles that she was using (without knowing it). Here's how it came about. A few days ago I received this email from Christine....

"Also have been meaning to write and say how much I am enjoying and growing from the advanced videos. I have started public workshops and have worked with two golf pros, and am continuously amazed at the results people get. Thanks to your wonderful ideas, I am able to support my family by working two days a week with EFT and spend the rest of my "work" time studying and keeping in touch with other energy people."

I phoned her to inquire into the inner process that brought about her ability to "support my family by working two days a week with EFT." Of primary interest, at least at first, was how she was able to make a living from EFT so effortlessly when many others worked very long hours to eke out a living. What brought her to this place? I've spoken with many practitioners and heard their laments (beliefs) as to why their success is curtailed. Some claim that they cured their clients too quickly. Others claim that the clients thought it (tapping) was too weird. Still others point to competition, managed care and a long list of other *external* reasons for their lack of financial success. In my experience, however, the real reasons are usually the practitioners' "inside jobs."

I knew Christine's success had to do with the writing on her walls (her "inside job") and I wanted to know what that was. She told me that what triggered everything was our advanced videos (hint hint). Better stated, between her previous successes with EFT and the new material from the advanced videos, she became motivated to excel in this field. In short, she developed a dream. This was a want--a real want--spelled WANT. When we have a dream, a mission, we don't have to formally daydream or do affirmations. They happen automatically--in living color. Although formal affirmations and daydreams are an important aid in the process, the real driver is the dream. I speak here of the goal--the mission--the reason to bound out of bed in the morning. When we have dreams, they are ever present in our thoughts. We imagine them. We rehearse them in our minds. We talk about them incessantly and they serve to pull us into a new set of tomorrows.

What was so elegant in Christine's case was that her dream automatically brought up what we are calling her tail enders--the "yes, buts" that spoil so many "inner parties." She recognized them as being in her way and persistently addressed them with EFT. Her dream included leading EFT workshops but, as she told me, her competing beliefs were lifelong and formidable. Here are some of them...

"I'm not credible."

"People don't like me. They don't warm up to me. Thus they won't like me as a workshop leader."

"People don't trust me."

"I'm Methodist and thus must always be humble and self deprecating."

How's that for trash can material? It's really hard to get your balloon in the air with that much ballast holding it back. So she kept tapping and found many related aspects. She tapped on those as well. Erase! Erase! All the while, the dream was going on in living color. Replace! Replace! Eventually, her walls were rewritten and an entirely new self-image showed up to go along with the dream. The whole process took two or three months.

Now listen up while I beat this drum a little. I'm not talking about a wimpy little change where she's able to voice her opinions a little more freely. That's nice, of course, but I'm talking about something much bigger. I'm talking about a dramatic self image shift where none of the above deep set tail enders have any more hold on her. She is free. She is now credible in her own mind. That's big. A sense of congruence comes with that. That's even bigger. She no longer has a sense of being timid as a workshop leader. She looks forward to it. Workshops excite her. The humble, self deprecating Christine no longer exists because the reason for her existence is gone. The writing on her walls that created her former self has been replaced with new writing that allows a new, more confident, Christine to take her rightful place on the planet.

That's how it works ladies and gentlemen. We live in a Palace of Possibilities. We have mountainous potential (and we know it) but we are held back by the writing on our walls--most of which is fiction. We believe that stuff on an emotional level even though we know that it is logical spoofery. I said at the very beginning of this series that our walls are made of cellophane and that the writing thereon is done in chalk. We are a few tapping sessions and a dream or two away from walking right through barriers that only exist in our imaginations.

Now, realistically speaking, skills are often needed to assist people in expanding into their Palace of Possibilities. This process may not always work as smoothly or as quickly as it did with Christine. Most people need help in locating their tail enders. They may even need help locating a goal. That's where the skilled practitioner comes in. The mechanical skills are certainly learnable and most experienced therapists already have them. However, the biggest skill we can possible display is (drum roll please) our own example. We must model what we teach. How are we going to teach someone else to move freely in this world if we aren't on that path ourselves?

Before I called Christine, I had emailed her regarding her success with the golfers. I was looking for more evidence that I could give our list Members about sports performance. This is what she wrote...

"Hi Gary, One of the pros was a lady who normally gets 42 on 9 holes. She only plays about 5 times a year because of her coaching and PGA commitments (she heads up the professional development division). The other was a guy who I was warned about the minute I got to the pro shop. Staff told me to be a bit cautious with him because he was known to be aggressive and had a "very short wick". He routinely "lost it" on the golf course.

I stayed pretty calm because I'd spent 15 minutes tapping on myself in the carpark! In fact, I felt like I was greeting old friends.

I spent about 20 minutes at the first tee-off explaining broad principles, PR, and the main tapping points. They were very aware of their own negative mental thoughts and able to identify good starting statements. They were a bit embarrassed at the thought of going through the whole thing in sight of everyone, so I explained they could just do the thymus thump, with a focus on the "problem". As we progressed around the holes, I noticed that the guy was really driving himself, and looked like he was trying to ram the points, rather than just working with them. I didn't think that would work, and tried to encourage him to be more gentle and just "let it happen". Got him to use the opening statement "Even though I drive myself way too hard" and that seemed to help. The lady did a shot that looked clumsy at one stage and I asked her what happened. She explained that she might have chosen the wrong club but that it was too late to change midswing. I asked if that meant she wasn't fully committed to making the stroke and she picked up on that very strongly. She was very happy after working on that one.

The end result was that she shot an unheard of (for her) 36, and the guy not only shot a bogey on every single hole (_fantastic_ for him at the moment), but actually _smiled_ his way around the course. When he hit into the rough, he just hit beautiful shots straight out and into the centre of the fairway or onto the green itself. They were both ecstatic and wanted to pay me then and there even though I'd said this was a free experiment. I refused of course, and besides, I'd had a lot of fun and learned a lot about golf and performance in general. They are organising seminars for me instead :-)

More love,

Christine

PS. EFT just gets better and better. I'm having the time of my life."

I include this to give emphasis to the use of EFT for sports performance. I have raised my voice about this on several occasions. Yet very few list Members have ventured onto the golf course. The potential is there. It is obvious. It is enormous. So, gee whiskers folks, I wonder why so very few have ventured in that direction. Are there tail enders that say...

"I don't have enough experience."

"I'm too busy now, maybe next month."

"Golfers won't pay any attention to a woman."

"I'm a therapist (while thumping chest), not an athletic coach."

"I don't belong out there. Those people are too rich."

...or some other expensive fictions?

A while back I wrote a business series which, to date, is still unfinished. I'll get back to it eventually. In the meantime, you might wish to read my web site article titled, "Building a Thriving Practice--Part III: Golf anyone?" As you read it, ask yourself, "why aren't I doing this?" and pay attention to the answers. They lead to your tail enders. Tap. Tap.

Hugs, Gary

The Palace of Possibilities 19--When we seem "stuck" in external circumstances

Hi Everyone,

A thank you for Rosa Smith who poses a financial query that is common for many of us. She speaks of the times when we seem to find ourselves "stuck" in a set of circumstances that preclude us making big money. Examples might be people who say….

"I’m a classroom teacher and am limited to whatever the school system pays."

"I’m a therapist and must only charge so much an hour."

"If I make a lot of money my family/church/friends/God will think poorly of me."

"I’m in a wheelchair and so have limited opportunities."

Pshaw to all of this. It is nothing more than the writing on someone’s walls. Who says the teacher has to teach in a classroom or, for that matter, be a teacher at all? Why does the therapist limit her/himself to so much an hour in individual sessions? Why not do the work with whole audiences or do it through books, radio or television? Is it really true that others will think less of you if you make a lot of money? How do you know that? What would they think of you if you made less money? What is the exact amount of earnings necessary to please all your friends and God? Is a wheelchair really a financial handicap? You may never make the Baseball Hall of Fame, but where is it written that one must have legs in order to run a company, be a speaker, entrepreneur or Internet guru?

I know these "limitations" seem real. It seems as though external circumstances are forever impinging upon our lives and creating limit after limit. It is easy to buy into this kind of thinking even though it is all an "inside job." Sure, the circumstances are there but as long as our consistent thoughts perpetuate these "stuck" circumstances, they will continue to be our reality.

Rosa poses a dilemma something like the ones above and it applies to almost every working mother. It goes like this…

"In order to be successful, I must sacrifice time with my children."

Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? How can a mother truly be a business Titan without ignoring her children to an unacceptable degree? Here’s how she describes the "conflict" in her letter to me…

First, for perspective, my mother worked consistently throughout my formative years. During World War II, when I was a toddler, she put rivets in airplanes and, after that, she worked for many years as a grocery checker. It wasn’t the quantity of time that Mom spent with me. It was the quality. Frankly, if she had been around all the time I think I would have resented her intrusion on my independence.

Next, Rosa appears to be on the right track in that she is pursuing her dream. She decided to turn her hobby (dream) of personal and spiritual growth into her career but has not yet earned enough money at it. Interestingly, she is stepping into what I consider to be one of the biggest business arenas of the next century. What greater product or service could Rosa give than to put people in touch with their own potential? When we learn that we are far more than the bogus writings on our walls, we can take up residence in the Palace Penthouse. From there, all else becomes possible.

Now, Rosa’s challenge involves turning her dream into a lucrative paying business while allowing quality time with her children. As long as she has written on her walls that earning money must be done at the sacrifice of quality parenting, she will surely see evidence of this. And, as long as this belief is part of her "truth," she will be limited. Like all of us, her consistent thoughts become her reality. Until this limiting thought changes, she is likely to walk right by the many "hows" that await her.

Our Antennae are among our greatest attributes. If we will but make purposeful use of them, they will find for us many creative "hows" to do just about anything we want. Most of us try to figure out the "how" before we venture into new and exciting territory. That’s doing it backwards. Why limit ourselves to whatever "hows" occur to us in the present moment when, if we will only use it, our antennae will give us a long list of rich alternatives to choose from? Limiting ourselves to the skimpy list that our left brains create is like confining ourselves to only one aisle in a supermarket.

Rosa’s current affirmation is "Money is abundant in my life." That’s good as far as it goes but it doesn’t specifically address the money vs. children "limit" she faces. If she will expand her affirmation to include this challenge, her antenna will go to work on this specific issue. For starters, I suggest the following affirmation…

"I earn, easily and consistently, $____________ within a loving and nurturing family environment."

Please note that I put a specific dollar amount in there to make the affirmation more tangible. I would augment this by daydreaming consistently. At first she might just imagine the state of being in this position. No specifics. Just get a sense of how would it feel. She might imagine a bank account with $100,000 in it as well as a supreme sense of connection with her children.

She doesn’t have to know "how" this might all come together yet. That’s the point. Once her awareness is activated, the "hows" will eventually appear. Maybe she will specialize in children’s issues using her own parenting as a model. Maybe she will develop the first "EFT for children" program in the country whereby, over the phone, she would have a worldwide clientele made up of parents who need help with their children’s anger, learning disabilities, etc. Maybe her own children will be an integral part of this as they provide advice and rapport with the children Rosa is helping.

Maybe Rosa will notice an intriguing newspaper article she never saw before or overhear an exciting idea in someone’s conversation. Thoughts will occur to Rosa. Help will appear. Some avenues may be dead ends. She may well stub her toe a time or two. Remember, dreams don’t necessarily come true, but they DO take us in directions. Entirely new avenues will open up to Rosa that she had never dreamed of before.

I emphasize our antennae here because it is so under-used. We have been conditioned to solve our problems with our left brains—to figure out the "hows" first and then proceed toward our achievements. But it’s our right brains that find the creative solutions. These are the solutions that count. They are the ones that sing to our souls and take us from mundane meanderings to the Magic of a Mission.

Hugs, Gary

Palace of Possibilities 20--Questions & comments from Members

Hi Everyone,

Several list Members have offered comments and questions regarding the principles put forward in this series. I list them below, including my comments. They are well worth studying because they serve as refinements to the Palace Principles.

Hugs, Gary

GC RESPONSE: In my experience, using "want" in an affirmation (such as "I want to be wealthy") will, indeed, set up your system to be perpetually in the state of wanting the goal rather than actually achieving it. My affirmations are always stated in the first person, present tense as though they are already a reality. This sets up the system to expect the goal and allows the antenna to search for the "how." It's a form of conditioning our current thoughts so they find a way to become our new reality. When we have truly installed new consistent thoughts, our systems naturally and normally (no will power) bring our thoughts and our reality into alignment.

GC RESPONSE: This question is of particular interest to me since I spent much of my vocational career running an investment firm. The stock market is influenced by the decisions of millions of people daily. Some believe particular stocks are going up while others believe they are going down. They place their bets accordingly. I doubt seriously if the beliefs of one person will override all the other beliefs but I am open to the possibility. In over 30 years of experience, though, I have yet to see anyone do this consistently.

If, indeed, your stocks consistently go down, then please let me know. Why? Because there are ways to profit from stocks that fall in price (going "short" or buying put options). Thus, when you choose a stock to buy I will bet on it going down and invest accordingly. You could do the same, of course, and, if you are REALLY capable of overriding all those other beliefs, you will profit handsomely by investing counter to your stock choices. So will I. Interesting reframe, eh?

Let me speculate and "suppose" a bit here. It may be, Taylor, that the real issue centers on whether or not you "deserve" financial success. Your stock market experience may be just a metaphor for that deeper belief. We have a lot of insidious writing on our walls regarding the presumed "sinister" aspects of accumulating money. They are laughable fictions, of course, but invade our pocketbooks anyway. They "remind" us such "truths" as (1) making money is not spiritual, (2) only greedy people get rich, (3) money is the root of all evil, (4) you must work long, hard hours for your money like your father did, etc. etc. etc. This is a yawn to me and is a core reason why I am presenting this series on the Palace of Possibilities.

To address your belief that your stocks are "destined to go down," you might seek some perspective by asking yourself questions like....

"Why are *my* stocks destined to go down even in a bull market when most stocks go up? Do I invest hastily or with inadequate knowledge? Am I inexperienced?"

"If I can cause stocks to go down, then why can't I cause them to go up?"

"What would my family, friends, parents, etc. think of me if I made a lot of money?"

The answers to these questions (and others you may think of) point the way to your tail enders which can then be addressed with EFT. Also, do you have difficulty imagining financial abundance? If so, find the reasons for the difficulty and you will have discovered more tail enders. Once these tail enders are efficiently handled, the notion that your stocks are "destined to go down" won't even be an issue. In my experience, you are more likely to create abundance through your own enterprise/thoughts than pinning your hopes on what, to most people, is a gambling arena.

Finally, Taylor, whether or not this "deserving" issue is appropriate for you, it is certainly an issue for many readers. Our consistent thoughts become our reality and do so in a very powerful way. For example, I have a good friend that built a company and sold it several years ago for $11 million. He was so unaccustomed to this "windfall" that he began spending his money lavishly and piddled it away on stupid investments and horse racing. He is now looking for a job. His consistent thoughts about having (or deserving) that much money were not in line with the windfall. The inevitable course was for the money to fall to a level consistent with his thoughts.

GC RESPONSE: This question echoes a rather common inquiry from many Members. There appears to be some confusion regarding the affirmations used with the EFT process and the affirmations used with the Palace of Possibilities procedures. The affirmations used within EFT have different purposes than those within the Palace of Possibilities. The EFT affirmations tend to have a negative slant because they purposely point toward the *problem* (headache, fear, guilt, trauma, etc.). This is because attunement to the problem is necessary for EFT to give its relief. By contrast, affirmations under the Palace of Possibilities are very positive in nature because they point to a desired new reality. They serve to pull us into more abundant and fulfilling tomorrows.

Differently stated, the EFT affirmations point toward the negative because their purpose is to erase the negative writing on our walls. The Palace affirmations point toward the positive because their purpose is to install positive writing on our walls.

GC RESPONSE: Like you, Mary, one of the useful skills that I have developed from practicing Palace Principles is the ability to "pick up limited thinking in more refined ways." Once I really bought that my consistent thoughts become my reality, my antenna started to see evidence for it everywhere. It became easier to hear the "limits" of other people and, just as important, it became easier to hear my own "limits" as well. Our beliefs (consistent thoughts) dominate our self talk and show up in our ordinary conversation. They roll right out of our faces with great regularity and, if we are attuned to them, we can use EFT to start erasing them from our walls. I've had conversations with many people where we pick up on each other's "limits." This is an illuminating (and entertaining) experience. As I'm sure you can appreciate, some of the writings on our walls would make great scripts for Broadway comedies.

GC RESPONSE: I'm not sure how you know this is cleared. To me, the ultimate evidence is if the client begins losing weight, without will power, by responding to the proper affirmations and daydreams. You might ask him/her to finish these sentences....

"The problem with losing weight is......"

"In order to lose the weight I would have to......"

"I resist giving up (ice cream, pasta, etc.) because......"

GC RESPONSE: We must always take people where they are. If their focus is on how to pay last month's telephone bill, rent, etc., they are not likely to respond to an affirmation that says, "I earn, easily and consistently, $100,000 per year." This will probably be abandoned quickly because it is beyond their existing beliefs. Remember, our affirmations & daydreams don't necessarily come true, but they DO take us in directions.

We don't always get instant success but we DO get new directions. I would suggest the client do what they need to do to take care of the current problem and use EFT to reduce any inhibiting stresses. Then, I would have them affirm some new level of financial abundance that is within their beliefs. Perhaps something like, "I have a steady paying job with an employer who considers me essential." or "I attract clients who are eager for my services and am very comfortable asking them to pay up front."

GC RESPONSE: I love your metaphors, Peg. Thanks.

Yes, it is "easy to give up and think that the affirmations are not working." This is an error many people make. In fact, we are affirming our current beliefs all day long. We would do well to listen to our own conversation and our own self talk. Those are affirmations. They are the consistent thoughts that have brought us to our current realities. Proper affirmations always work. We just need to know what we are really affirming and how to erase those competing tail enders from our walls.

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