The Palace of Possibilities

Using EFT to achieve one's potential

In this Section 9...

• The Palace of Possibilities 21--Be careful what you ask for
• The Palace of Possibilities 22--Megaphones on our heads, Divine Rights & Charging money
• The Palace of Possibilities 23--Repetition & Emotion: God bless my uncle Charlie
• The Palace of Possibilities 24--Visualization problems & Gramma Effie rides again

The Palace of Possibilities 21--Be careful what you ask for

Hi Everyone,

Mary Sheridan wrote me a thoughtful message entitled "The Palace of be careful of what you ask for." With gratitude to Mary, her message and my response are given below.

Hugs, Gary

GC RESPONSE: Thank you, Mary, for expressing your concerns about what you may be creating with your thoughts/affirmations. Let me suggest, however, that everything we create is a reflection of our thoughts. Affirming exact amounts of money is nice. However, it is unlikely that money affirmations and auto accidents go together. I, for example, have affirmed money goals many times and not once has an accident come about coincident with the creation of money. If auto accidents and more money go hand in hand then I should be dead or maimed by now.

Your auto accident, to me, is an opportunity, not a problem. It is evidence of tail enders regarding your rights to having money. There's no way for me to know that for sure, of course, because I don't dwell within your psyche. It wouldn't surprise me, however, to find some writing on your walls about not deserving money. Perhaps something like, "those with money deserve to be punished because____________." That's a guess, of course, and is only designed to set you, and others, on a search for EFT'able tail enders. Perhaps you have been given a big message. Say to yourself, "I may have deserved that accident because__________" and see what comes up. Then address those tail enders with EFT to clear the way to financial abundance. As long as you have writing on your walls that says, "more money means more accidents," you are not likely to live on Moolah Mountain. Accidents don't have to happen. Neither do things like poverty, overweight, loneliness, etc. These things are all realities born out of consistent thoughts.

You're right! This kind of thing can be scary until, of course, we understand what is going on. When we recognize the true power of our thoughts, it behooves us to learn how to harness and direct them. That's what the Palace of Possibilities is all about. Allowing our thoughts to unfold at random puts us at the mercy of our thoughts rather than vice versa. We have powers that go well beyond our three dimensional world. We need only harness and direct them in order to create personal realities that transcend our current beliefs. To me, this is an absolute truth that comes from my own subjective experience. It's not even debatable. To some folks, however, this is woo woo stuff that does not lend itself well to three dimensional scientific scrutiny. I don't care. It's true anyway. The true power of our thoughts is immense. We have glorious potential that is contained only by the "limits" written on our walls.

This subject gets my motor running and motivates me to tell you a personal story. As most of you know, I have no formal training in psychotherapy. Nor do I have licensing of any kind. I do have extensive training, however, most of which is self taught and highly practical. It has given me many insights and has allowed me to be a director of my own destiny. My training started at age 13 and I have intensely pursued it for over 45 years.

At age 13, my world revolved around baseball. I didn't know anything about affirmations at the time but I did receive many lessons regarding the power of daydreams. I daydreamed constantly about baseball. In my mind I threw pitches, fielded grounders, made spectacular catches in the outfield, hit home runs, stole bases and received endless awards & applause for my performance as a baseball player. My daydreams were specific. I imagined hitting Dick Farley's fast ball and Wayne Tennell's curve ball over the fence. I imagined exactly where the pitches would be. High & outside in one case and at the knees in the other. These things happened --exactly as imagined. Coincidence? The uninitiated might think so, but that is their limitation. The imagery in the dream and the creation in reality were identical. To me, coincidence had nothing to do with it.

At age 16, I was playing first base for the Riverside, California Colt League All Stars. We were about to play the final game in the West Coast All Star Tournament, the winner of which would go on to the world series in Chicago. The game was played at night so we had the whole day to wander about and, in my case, get nervous. I remember watching the Little League World Series on television that afternoon. In the middle of that game, a ground ball was hit to the shortstop who fielded it and threw the ball errantly to the right of the first baseman. The first baseman acrobatically hit the ground with one toe on the base and stretched as far as he could in an effort to catch the ball. It hit his glove and rolled about two feet from his nose. He alertly grabbed the ball with his bare right hand and held it up to show the umpire just in time for the runner to be called out. I was impressed and rehearsed (daydreamed) that scenario many times in my mind just in case that circumstance ever came about while I was playing.

At the end of the game, the last batter hit a ground ball to that same first baseman. The first baseman fielded it, ran toward first base, jumped high in the air and landed triumphantly on the base with both feet as a way to emphasize his team's victory. This, too, impressed me. What a glorious way to end a game, I thought. More daydreams.

That night, as our game progressed, both events occurred PRECISELY AS I HAD SEEN THEM ON TELEVISION AND PRECISELY AS I HAD DAYDREAMED THEM. In the middle of the game, Carl Chapman, our shortstop, threw the ball to me in the same errant way as occurred on television--low and to the right. I hit the deck and stretched for the ball. It hit my glove and rolled about two feet from my nose. I picked it up with my bare hand and showed it to the umpire who called the runner out just in the nick of time. Anyone who wants to call this coincidence is welcome to do so. Pshaw! What happened was the IDENTICAL creation in the real world of a vividly imagined daydream. The odds of that being a coincidence is a trillion or so to one.

At the end of the game the supposed last batter hit a ground ball to me just as occurred in the previous Little League game. It was even in the same place on the field. I got so excited that I muffed the catch and created the only error I had made all season. The runner was safe on first base, much to my embarrassment. The next batter, however, hit an IDENTICAL ground ball to me. This was astonishing. It was as though my daydream was being given a second chance. This time I fielded the ball, ran toward first base, leaped high in the air and landed triumphantly with both feet on first base. To call that coincidence would require a complete rewrite of our statistics textbooks.

The replay of both those instances was a mirror image of my previously detailed daydreams. It was as though I choreographed the whole thing and commanded it to happen with my thoughts. Is this REALLY what happened? It sure seemed that way, but who knows? I do know, however, that many people experience this sort of thing (including many reading this) and tend to dismiss it because it doesn't happen regularly. That's a mistake.

What we really need to do is study these vivid occurrences and learn what happened. The fact that we can do it in such a detailed way now and then should be heralded, not dismissed. If we learned how we do these things, we could do them consistently and create our realities with even more specificity.

From this early beginning I saw the link between my thoughts and my reality. It wasn't until later that I came up with the phrase, "our consistent thoughts become our reality." As a youngster and beyond, I kept noticing how I could take myself in thrilling directions by the consistent application of focused thought. I also noticed how my negative thoughts took me in directions, too. Until I was about 20 years old, for example, I didn't think I was very attractive. Why? Because I laid on my back a lot as a baby and my soft skull became flat in back. Kids called me "flathead" and I took it to be a personal defect. I thought the girls wouldn't like me and saw plenty of evidence for that. In retrospect, however, there was also plenty of evidence that I was attractive. But I just didn't see it (remind me someday, and I'll tell you about Sherry B.--a lost opportunity--oh sob!). My belief was that I wasn't attractive and so that became my reality. When I finally managed to land a girl friend I was so happy that I clung to her with desperation. I guess I was always waiting for her to discover my flat head. Eventually, however, my head rounded out a bit and I gave up that unattractive self talk. In either event, whether I thought I was attractive or unattractive, my consistent thoughts became my reality.

And they are still becoming my reality. What I think today is giving shape to my tomorrow's. My tomorrow's can be my choice. So can yours. We can establish any direction we choose OR we can continue to allow our existing thoughts to take us in our existing directions.

Hugs, Gary

The Palace of Possibilities 22--Megaphones on our heads, Divine Rights & Charging money

Hi Everyone,

Here are some insightful questions & comments from Peg Olson, Jan Burg and "Ben" (don't know his last name). They help us to zero in on some of the fine points in The Palace of Possibilities. My responses are interspersed within their messages.

Cheers, Gary

GC RESPONSE: I really like this question because it points us toward the very important "art of delivery" feature of EFT. This, to me, is what separates the masters of these procedures from the rest. Discovering those tail enders is VERY IMPORTANT for some clients because, unless they are identified and neutralized, they will thwart any efforts the client wants to make toward taking their rightful place in The Palace of Possibilities.

Often we find clients who aren't able to identify a specific tail ender. In this case, it's possible to tap on the tail enders without knowing what they are. It's a sort of generalized approach. Metaphorically speaking, what happens when we tap for general issues is that we "top" the negative forest rather than cut down specific trees. As a result, progress is not as easy to see because it tends to happen gradually.

For the alert EFT'er, however, this is an opportunity to exercise the "art of delivery." Here's what I mean. During the course of generalized tapping, the client will often bring up specific incidents (usually they come "out of the blue") that give big clues regarding core issues. It's as if the generalized tapping takes the lid off of otherwise obscure (repressed?) memories. This opening typically becomes a huge sliding glass door behind which are written all the client's "limitations." I've seen this many times. Once the door has been opened, we can walk with the client down their own version of Limit Lane pointing out (and neutralizing) the fictions with which they have been living for decades. This can be a humorous experience because most of our limiting thoughts would make a great script for a Broadway comedy.

This Broadway comedy bit is true for all of us. Many of our thoughts are hilarious. I often wonder what would happen if we had a megaphone attached to our heads that broadcasted each and every thought, rationalization, etc. that we had. Hmmmm.

GC RESPONSE: Good thoughts. However, let me suggest that whatever we affirm (even if we add "that is mine by Divine Right"), the real affirmation is contained in the tail enders that follow. If a tail ender pooh-poohs the affirmation, including the Divine Right piece, it will thwart the original intention. This is not a problem. It is an opportunity because these tail enders are pointing to core issues. That is their hidden value. Be thankful for them because they bring with them the doorway to healing.

GC RESPONSE: I'm aware that some people have difficulty visualizing and so I tend to avoid that word (visualize)--at least in this context. I was curious, though, and ran a search for the word "visualize" on all the previous Palace of Possibilities articles on our web site. I found that I only used it once (when I was discussing a golf shot of mine). By contrast, I used the word "imagine" (or variations thereof) over 50 times. I like that word because people can "imagine" by using any of their senses. To me, this gives them freedom to imagine in "their way" (visually, auditorally, kinesthetically, etc.) without putting visual constraints on the process.

An interesting point about those who "can't visualize," however. Many people have told me of this "limit" over the years and so I frequently ask them if they can remember the color of their first car. They ALWAYS remember. How is that possible unless they visualized the color? I have a hard time believing that they heard, felt, smelled or tasted the color. Didn't they have to see it to know what it was? Perhaps they need practice visualizing so they can develop this skill more fully.

Regarding those who don't seem to be able to imagine in any manner. In my experience, this "inability" is likely a mask for some other issue (perhaps fear of the future). I would consider it an EFT'able problem and proceed accordingly. Start with an affirmation like, "I freely imagine a glorious me" and look for the tail enders. Maybe you will hear, "I like it right where I am," or "I shouldn't get too excited about anything. Otherwise, I might be disappointed."

Also, you might ask these "unimaginative people" if they can imagine disaster. I'll betcha they're quite good at it. If so, find out what prevents them from imagining positive things and you will likely be headed into some real core issues.

GC RESPONSE: As mentioned earlier in this series, the amount of money we earn is a mirror which reflects all the financial writing on our walls (both pro and con). For example, somewhere on your walls may be writings such as...

"Truly good people don't charge for helping others."

"People won't appreciate you as much if you charge them money."

"I don't want to be like_________, who earns a lot of money."

etc......

There are probably other writings, of course, which take the opposite position. They may say...

"Hey, I gotta eat too!"

"If I give this stuff away, people won't value it."

"If I don't earn more money, people will think I'm a nobody."

etc......

What we do about this--all of us--is earn enough money to satisfy both forms of self talk. We blend these thoughts together and earn the appropriate amount so we don't violate too badly any of these "truths" written on our walls. As a result, we are able to rationalize our financial status with great facility. We even use words like altruism. We may not like where we are but we aren't going to change any of it until we shift the balance between the positive and negative fictions that dictate our financial lives. We need to create affirmations and daydreams aimed at more abundant tomorrows and pay attention to the tail enders. We need to EFT the tail enders until they have minimal impact and then allow our imaginations to pull us toward financial freedom.

Seems like I've said this kind of thing before, eh? Repetition, I find, is a great teaching tool.

Love to all, Gary

The Palace of Possibilities 23--Repetition & Emotion: God bless my uncle Charlie

Hi Everyone,

I mentioned last time that many of the thoughts and "limits" we bow to would make great scripts for a Broadway comedy. This is true, very true, and it makes one wonder just how that stuff got written on our walls? I mean, did you every think about the details behind the process? I want to explore this with you because the insights involved will be helpful in future installments. It will also give us new insights into our uses for EFT.

When I was about age 10 my Mom's mother lived with us for several months. She was my grandmother, of course, and I called her "Gramma Effie." Now Gramma Effie had led a very hard life and was a very sour woman. She was, as it turns out, mentally ill (schizophrenia). I didn't know that, however. To me, she was simply Gramma Effie. She was an adult in my life who had, for me, a position of authority. What she said was the truth. Why? Because she was my Gramma Effie. How's that for rock solid logic?

Gramma Effie was filled with advice and admonitions. Both my parents worked so Gramma Effie and I spent a lot of time together. One of the things she repeatedly told me was the following...

"A gentleman never takes a lady's virtue, not even if she offers it."

She was forever saying this. I bet she said it at least 100 times. And there I was, an impressionable 10 year old, at the other end of this "wisdom." I believed Gramma Effie. I knew she had to be right even though I hadn't a clue as to what a "lady's virtue" was. She made me promise I would always be a gentleman and would never take a lady's virtue. I dutifully promised. It was an easy promise to make, of course, because I didn't even know where a lady kept the darn thing (whatever it was). It had to be important, though, or else Gramma Effie wouldn't have made such a big deal out of it.

Later in life, however, I discovered what a lady's virtue was and, as luck would have it, I had a few "romantic opportunities" that tested my promise to be a gentleman. Oh sugar! I would give just about anything to have those opportunities back. As it turns out, the only person concerned about my "gentlemanliness" was me. The ladies couldn't care less. Nonetheless, in most cases I reacted to the writing that Gramma Effie placed on my walls and acted like a @#%& gentleman. I walked away.

Do you see a Broadway comedy within that? To make matters worse, on the few occasions when I wasn't a gentleman and "took the lady's virtue" (as if I was really taking something) I got to experience guilt for my ungentlemanly behavior. What a box! The way Gramma Effie set it up for me, I could either deny my instincts or feel guilty. There was no other choice. All this over one of nature's most pleasurable experiences. Is that a useless limit, or what? Perhaps the ladies reading this will take some pleasure in the fact that at least one male on this planet (me) grew up with the rough equivalent of your "mandate" from society that says, "Nice girls don't do that!" What a hoot!

Now let's look back at what happened. Why did I buy Gramma Effie's belief and allow it to be written so boldly on my walls. It's because both REPETITION and EMOTION were present. These are the requirements to install a belief. She REPEATEDLY laid that "gentleman/virtue" thing on me and, because she was an authority in my life, I received her message with EMOTIONAL impact.

By contrast, if I had only overheard the statement once by someone I didn't know or respect, how much weight do you think I would have given it? Perhaps I would have given it some momentary validity but, as time went on, the many other beliefs that were being written on my walls with REPETITION and EMOTION would soon relegate that would be "truth" to some obscure corner of my walls. It would have been a non-event unless it was reinforced by similar beliefs through the use of REPETITION and EMOTION.

When someone (a client?) shows up with beliefs that "people are bad," "God is going to punish me," "I'm worthless" and so on, we can easily assume that these beliefs were installed through REPETITION (being consistently told that) and EMOTION (with a beating, deprivation, rejection, etc. by someone who "counts" in their world). In the past, conventional therapeutic techniques had a hard time erasing this writing because it seemed etched in stone. Now, with EFT and other energy techniques, we can erase them in relatively short order. Basically, we collapse the emotional components which have served to contain the beliefs and keep them so vivid. This allows our basically positive nature to bubble up to the surface. It also clears the way for us to install new, more useful, beliefs and enter The Palace of Possibilities.

I didn't have EFT to rid me of Gramma Effie's stuff. I wish I had. It would have faded much sooner and I would have a few more good memories to share. I got over it, though. As I grew up, competing writing was written on my walls by "locker room talk" with other fellas and by my uncle Charlie (also an authority) who would tell me...

"Get what you can, as often as you can, whenever you can. You are only young once."

God bless my uncle Charlie.

With this in mind, we can see how best to install new "stuff" and put new writing on our walls. We simply do it the time honored way (after erasing the walls with EFT), through REPETITION and EMOTION. The affirmations provide the REPETITION and the daydreams provide the EMOTION. This is basic stuff, I know. But often, we forget the basics.

Next time we are going to discuss in detail an entire industry that hasn't forgotten the basics. It is arguably, the largest industry in the world. It is called advertising. Think about it. Weren't all those jingles and slogans that echo in your head put there through REPETITION and EMOTION? You bet! The advertising industry spends $billions in this manner so that their writing is put on your walls. And they spend all that money for one reason and one reason only. It works. This is obvious and we would do well to borrow from those highly paid Madison Avenue "shrinks."

Why not advertise to ourselves?

Hugs, Gary

P.S. I'm still a gentleman, by the way. I just have a different definition for it nowadays.

The Palace of Possibilities 24--Visualization problems & Gramma Effie rides again

Hi Everyone,

Here are some more useful questions, insights & comments from our Members regarding recent "Palace" ideas. My comments are interspersed within them.

Cheers, Gary

JERRY QUOTES GC FROM PALACE #22: I used the word "imagine" (or variations thereof) over 50 times. I like that word because people can "imagine" by using *any* of their senses. To me, this gives them freedom to imagine in "their way" (visually, auditorally, kinesthetically, etc.) without putting visual constraints on the process.

JERRY QUOTES GC AGAIN FROM PALACE #22: An interesting point about those who "can't visualize," however. Many people have told me of this "limit" over the years and so I frequently ask them if they can remember the color of their first car. They ALWAYS remember. How is that possible unless they visualized the color? I have a hard time believing that they heard, felt, smelled or tasted the color.

GC RESPONSE: Here's what I wrote to Jerry back channel.

Jerry, I stand corrected. However, you might try EFT on, "Even though I'm not able to visualize.....". I'm a great believer in your ability to visualize. I know you haven't done it so far and it is frustrating. Perhaps I am wrong. But I am more inclined to ask "what's blocking the ability?" rather than to conclude "I can't do it."

Just some thoughts.

Best, Gary

Then, after sending this to Jerry, I received the following message from Rolland Fellows. I thought everyone, including Jerry, would find it interesting.

GC RESPONSE: Throughout the EFT course I repeatedly suggest that we "Try it on everything!" Why not try it on the "inability" to visualize. Chances are we can remove the blocks and open new vistas for our non-visualizing friends.

FROM "LYNNE" who shares her version of my experience with Gramma Effie.

GC RESPONSE: So, Gramma Effie rides again. Hmmmm. Like I said, the writings on our walls would make a great script for a Broadway comedy. Sometimes we beat ourselves up for buying into these fictions. That, I suggest, is a mistake. We've all bought into boatloads of baggage that we have taken quite seriously. In fact, we should be laughing about the ludicrousness of it all. When we can, indeed, stand back from all this foolish folly and see it for what it is, the writings on our walls will fade. That's the goal of this series. The skillful use of tapping and reframing (which is displayed profusely on our advanced videos will pay great dividends in this regard.

Hugs to all, Gary

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