Inspiring Speakers

I've been fortunate enough recently to hear two inspiring speakers who have both lived extraordinary lives in very different ways - Li Cunxin (wwwlicunxin.com) and John Maclean.

Li Cunxin (www.licunxin.com) is known as the author of the international bestselling book "Mao's Last Dancer" which details his childhood starving under Mao's China - 38 million people died in the three years before his birth in 1961 (yes, you read that right) - the long years training to be one of the world's best ballet dancers and his defection in America during a trip there. He married an Australian ballet dancer and is now a stockbroker in Melbourne. The movie of the book is going to be released in October. His is a story of intense love, vision, hope and complete dedication.

John Maclean won a silver medal for Australia rowing in the Beijing Paralympics. An accident left the budding sportsman a paraplegic but with his father urging him to see how far he could go and with friends supporting him he turned back to sport in a major way - being the first wheelchair athlete to compete in the Hawaiian Ironman, of all things. Seeing him struggling backwards up a hill in his wheelchair will be an enduring memory for me. Oh, and he swam the English Channel too! And went in the Sydney Hobart Yacht race - just to name a few things he's done. He persisted in getting back to what he calls the game of life. And now has a foundation to help kids in wheelchairs - www.jmf.com.au. You can find out more about him at www.johnmaclean.com.au. I love the title of his book - Sucking The Marrow Out Of Life. Do you do that?

Red Shield Appeal

As a member of my local charity "Communities for Communities" (www.communitiesforcommunities.com.au) I was invited to the launch breakfast of the Salvation Army Red Shield appeal. (www.salvos.org.au) It was great to be able to chat with some officers and learn more about the work they do in our community. I also then helped out on Sunday at area headquarters, happily not far from me. I greeted teams coming in from the doorknocking (lovely to see all the young people helping) and helped them organise counting and handing in their money and also did some money counting myself. I always thought counting money was a wonderful occupation but counting those $5 notes seemed pretty tiring!

It was a great community event and with everyone pitching in and with some very generous donations we were able to hand over $95,000. The gentleman from Rotary who cooked up a sausage sizzle for the collectors figured he'd cooked about 40,000 sausages during his sausage sizzling career! What are you doing to make a difference?

Gratitude

The movie project I am collaborating on - The Difference - has its focus this month on gratitude. Here is a quote by Geraldine P. Anderson: "There isn't a word in the English language with more magic in it than the word gratitude. Love makes fertile the soil for things to blossom and to grow, and love begins with gratitude."


My buddy in a workshop over the weekend was a man who had lost his leg 13 years ago. As far as I can think all my friends are totally able-bodied and it was quite an experience to see first hand what it's like to have only one leg. It certainly focussed my attention on the fact that I have two and never think about it much. I'm so grateful for my legs and to him for this experience.


This morning I noticed that my favourite check-out lady at the supermarket was back after what seemed like a long absence. She told me she'd been visiting family in Sri Lanka, about all the violence and how people didn't go out at night any more because they were afraid. I'm going out to dinner tonight, and I'm going out without fear. I didn't appreciate that before but I do now.


Here is some gratitude tapping for you:


Even though I feel the opposite of grateful, I choose to find something to be grateful for.
Even though I focus on what I don’t have, I now choose to focus on what I do have.
Even though I forget to be grateful, I choose to spend each moment in gratitude.
I choose to acknowledge what I have.
I choose to give thanks for each gift I receive.
I choose to recognise every person and every situation in my life as a gift.
I choose to offer thanks for all the positive features of my life.
I choose to let people (partners, children, relatives, boss, employees, colleagues, friends, service people) know I am grateful for who they are, how they are, and what they do.
Even though I can’t find much to be grateful for, I choose to look deeper.
Even though I think I’m on my own, I choose to express gratitude to all those who support me in different ways.
Even though I forget to appreciate others, I choose to remember on a daily basis.
Even though my life appears to be in lack, I choose to always find a point of gratitude.
I choose to express appreciation continuously.
I choose to live in a constant state of gratitude.
I choose to express my gratitude at every opportunity.



For more information see http://www.tangibleresults.com.au/

Hating our body

I met a middle-aged woman at a business meeting the other day. It was a hot day and the air conditioning wasn't working. She started to complain about how she needed to scrape her hair back in a pony tail. She then detailed all the problems she had with her hair, finally ending up saying she hated it and that it had been the bane of her existence all her life.

I was fascinated by this - wow, how much energy had she spent during her life on hating herself. I commented that many people in the world had wild fuzzy hair including our neighbours in PNG. She countered this by saying that their hair was evenly fuzzy while hers stuck out all over the place. She was simply determined that I get the message that her hair was wrong, and finally told me she'd been called scarecrow at school. That explained a lot!

In our society the ideas we hold about body can be so damaging. It can be hard to recognise that if we hate a part of ourselves or equally if we hate a symptom that our body is manifesting then we are hating ourselves. So make a list of all the things you mildly dislike to actively hate about yourself and start to tap.

Even though I hate _______(body part or symptom), I'm willing to learn to love myself.
Even though I don't like _______, I open myself to loving all of me.
Even though I wish I didn't have _______, I choose to love and accept my whole body.

If you were teased at home or school, or anywhere else for that matter, for a particular attribute tap on the incidents and the associated feelings.

Even though the other kids called me scarecrow (for example), I forgive them as well as myself for taking it personally.
Even though I felt humiliated when the kids called me scarecrow, I choose to honour and respect myself.

If you have a sense of shame about aspects of your body do tap on that:

Even though I feel shame about _______, I'm ready to release this shame right now.

Some straightforward affirmations while tapping can also help:

I'm OK with my skin.
I choose to love my hair. etc.

For more information see www.tangibleresults.com.au

Slumdog Millionaire

I went to see Slumdog Millionaire last night and thought it was brilliant, taking me vividly right back to my time in India many years ago. It also made me grateful for the opportunity I have to serve with Communities for Communities http://www.communitiesforcommunities.com.au/ which is a group in my local area which holds events for the local community to join in - we have a golf day, trivia night, charity ball, women's lunch etc. - to both raise awareness of other communities and funds to assist them. We are involved in two projects at the moment helping build homes, schools and communities buildings for people who live on rubbish tips in the Phillipines and Vietnam.

Much of the movie is set in slums and there are graphic shots of the rubbish tips on which children work and how these children are abused. The visuals assault your eyes, the soundtrack fills your ears and the content breaks your heart but in the sanitised cinema there are no smells. I'm so glad that this movie is bringing to the eyes of the western world how other people live so we can be filled with gratitude for our own lives and called to action.

Breaking Through

I've been on a steep growth curve myself this week, which reminded me of of a saying I first heard as a Girl Guide. Lord Robert Baden-Powell, who was born in 1857 and the founder of the scouting movement, was a soldier of many talents who became a national hero through the Siege of Mafeking, during the Boer war. He was trapped in the garrison with a small number of men, wholly outnumbered by the 8,000 Boers outside, yet through enormous creativity, persistence and courage he and his men withstood the siege for 217 days.

The advice he gave was that "the darkness always comes before the dawn". I hit a dark spot in my quest to know myself more deeply, with a traumatic event that really shook me up. I have to confess I almost turned away, but I also remembered that the only way out is through and that true spiritual growth demands that you accept the unacceptable. It gave me the biggest breakthrough I could have imagined.

Strangely enough my aerobic dance teacher put out the same message today to the class - she said "let's do that again" and suggested that even if people were tired, if they lifted their energy and pushed through they might be surprised at the additional energy that was available to them that had been locked away.



For more information go to www.tangibleresults.com.au

Bush fire crisis - use EFT

As the bushfire crisis in Victoria continues, the death toll rises, and scenes of devastation, heartbreak and tragedy fill our screens, it is really important to monitor our own emotional state. Going into grief, upset and anger, while understandable, does not serve either us or the people in Victoria. It uses up our energy and does not support those people who are suffering so dreadfully.

The best way of supporting them is to keep ourselves emotionally strong and to donate goods and money - at this time they are in need of basic survival supplies. In case you don't have the links here is the Red Cross link www.redcross.org.au. At Our Community website you can learn how to donate everything from mobile phone chargers (people left with their phones but obviously without the chargers) to blankets - www.ourcommunity.com.au.

While you are watching, reading or listening to news of what is happening please remember to tap. You can do the continuous tapping on your fingers and if you are particularly upset by something then do some full rounds of tapping on it. You may have a issue with the fact that some of the fires were deliberately lit - if this is so then tap on the anger. Whatever is upsetting you then release it by doing some rounds of tapping.

It is also very important to tap with your children as they can be really traumatised themselves by the frightening and heartrending images they see. Either encourage them to tap themselves if they are old enough, and do it with them, or on them, if they are younger.


If you have any questions or need some help with this please contact me at margaret@tangibleresults.com.au.

Asking

I use this very simple asking exercise with clients. They give me something of theirs and then have to ask for it back. If they don't ask with integrity they don't get it back and have to ask again. It's fascinating how this simple exercise creates hell on earth! To say that many people do not like or enjoy this exercise is an understatement - and I can still remember the time I first did it about 25 years ago!

Why is it so hard for us to just ask - especially for what's already ours in the first place? Well I already had two clients today who feel they will be annoying or a burden if they ask for something. They don't want to upset or interrupt people. In other words they don't think their needs are important or worthy to be met. It's a self-esteem issue - which most issues boil down to anyway.

So if this triggers off an "aha" in you, get tapping on not being worthy, important or deserving. Affirm your right to ask for what you want and need.


For more information go to www.tangibleresults.com.au

Destructive messages

One of my clients told me a great story about one of her children today which she is happy to share, because she really understands how what someone says to you as a child can have a profound effect on your life. She herself is an exceptionally talented woman who has spent her life trying to prove she is good enough, because no matter how brilliantly she did, the focus was on what was lacking.

Her eight year old daughter fronted up to her grandfather (my client's father) bursting with pride to show him her 98% result at school. He was obviously filled with pride too but still asked her what my client knew was the inevitable question "Where is the other 2%?" Her daughter fixed her grandfather in the eye and asked him if he had ever got 98%. He was forced to admit that he never got anywhere near that - and also that he was very proud of her. She said "Well, I'm proud of myself too".

How wonderful it would be if we could hold on to our self-esteem this way instead of finding ourselves lacking and not good enough.


For more information go to www.tangibleresults.com.au.

EFT for Cricket Peak Performance

I love to celebrate the success of my clients. One young man who has used EFT to help him perform at his peak in cricket is Ben Trevor-Jones of Bathurst. Here is how a newspaper article about him started out - it was headed "Leg-spinner bowls up a storm".

"Of all the strong performances from the Bathurst contingent during the Michell under 19s tour of Otago in New Zealand, perhaps statistically the one which stands out the most was that of leg-spinner Ben Trevor-Jones in the opening match. Against the Otago under 17s team - which Trevor-Jones himself would qualify for based on age - the young tweaker bagged 6-30 from nine overs in a sensational first innings spell."

Are you using EFT to excel at what you do?


For more information visit www.tangibleresults.com.au

EFT Book Extract

Here is a short unedited extract about creating space in your life from my upcoming book entitled "The End of All Problems: How to Use EFT to Support Spiritual Growth". Take a look at what is happening in your own life and tap along to the suggestions.

Click here to view extract.

For more information visit http://www.tangibleresults.com.au/.