The "M" Factor

Hi, Steve Barnes here, still in my home office in the new house. I just, I can't wait to keep moving into this house and just make this feel more like my space. But I'm sharing my process with you, so I'm not going to worry about that. What I want to know is, are you tired of minimal results and traveling in a circle? Or even worse than downward spiral feelings? A little more tired every day. Then I beg you to listen to the following thoughts. Just empty your cup, take what is useful and discard the rest. What is the life cycle of your chosen activity? The single thing that is most important for you to do, or truthfully, anything that you want to do. I mean, if you understand the process by which you create something or produce a result in your life, what is it and where are you on that cycle? And if you're not successful at the thing that you're interested in doing, what is the element under your control? That would be the greatest issue. If you look at what we call the magic formula, which is essential to the fire dance process. The very first letter is M. And M means the map or model of your activity or process based upon the behaviors, attitudes and emotions of those who've actually achieved it. How does it you understand what that is? I mean, just what is the recipe for the dinner you're trying to cook? How clear is your map? How confident are you that your chosen model could solve your problems if you handled it correctly? If you have a model of someone, a person who could do the thing that you want to do, this should be the kind of person who, if they had your problem, they would simply solve it. They've solved problems like that in the past and you can see that they would be able solve in the future. Can you analyze what their processes would be? Their. Their problem solving, their emotional control, their pace of action? There are limited number of things that I think are paramount to success. And one of them is traveling in the right direction. You know, say your intention is to have a vacation at Disneyland. You'd have to know that Disneyland is northeast or southwest of where you currently live. You, you research and interview people who've actually been there. In order to know a bunch of things. Its exact location, the likely routes of travel, the cost of that travel according to a car, plane or train, however you're going to get there, the cost of entering the park and how much money you're likely to need once you're inside. The cost of living in Anaheim while you enjoy the perks. What value do they expect to get or do they actually get cause that will help to motivate you motivated them to do that? If I go through this trouble, I go there, I'm going to get all of this joy? What tricks and tactics do they use to decrease the time, money or energy necessary to get there and get the value? What tricks and tactics do they use to build up the energy, time and money necessary to pay the price of visiting Disneyland and having a wonderful experience? How much physical stress can you expect while traveling within the park? How much rest are you going to need and do you maybe need some exercise? How do you deal with the unexpected events, the problems, the unknown but predictable issues that will happen as you begin to travel between where you are and Disneyland? In other words, do you understand how they used their bodies, emotions and minds to get there and have fun and get home safely? Is this clear to you? And how do they prepare themselves with resources so that those inevitable problems don't cripple their fun? If you will take the time to clarify your goal, Be honest about your current status. Research. Discover what it costs to get there. Get clarity about the gap between where you are and where you need to be. And this clarity is essential. It's critical if you're dishonest about this. If you let your fear or discomfort stop you from looking directly at the gap, you might lack a critical belief. That belief is I can learn anything I need to get anywhere I want to be. In other words, you might not be able to do it now, but that just means you have defined what you need in order to learn to be able to be the person you need to be, to do the things you need to be to get where you want to go. Does your role model have that confidence? Have you observed them learning their way? Do you read their biographies and see the struggles that they went through? What behaviors did they practice in order to get there? Did they have a sense of joy as they accomplished? Did they gain the resources they need to get the thing they wanted to get by providing honest service to their community? Do they have enough connection to their own survival drives to protect themselves from cheats and predators? Look, no matter which of the three basic arenas you want to deal with, your mind, you know, your body, your heart, you know, in life writing, that's writing, relationships and martial arts, this principle applies. And the beautiful thing is, if you will do the sober work of building the right map or discovering the right model, you can simply visualize them. Feel your way into that model. Ask what would they do in this situation? You can Visualize them standing in front of you and literally step into their bodies. Meditate that your energy in theirs is vibrating together like a pair of tuning forks. You can ask them questions and listen quietly until you hear their answers. I mean, heck, Napoleon Hill suggested the creation of a inner mastermind group where you build an entire cabinet, a crew of excellent men and women, and you consult with them daily in your imagination. You study their biographies, not only which shows. Not only shows you their process, but also their flaws as human beings. It's so childish to reject a potential role model for a basic human flaw. One ends up feeling that no one is useful to model. Were that true, most of us would not walk, talk, read or ride bicycles because everyone we modeled for those things was flawed. Learning how to filter out the negatives is an adult responsibility. A brilliant math teacher can be modeled for their mental process in math, even if they're unlucky in love. If you have a crew of models, you can look for the common aspects that produce excellence. For my own study, these are all people who had clarity on what they wanted, found teachers and models of excellence, humbled themselves, emptied their cups to learn, took action consistently every day, noticed their results and adjusted their actions accordingly, continued on the path after most other people quit. They found ways to be joyful every day, and they sought ways to be of service to humanity. My own internal models are people like Larry Niven, Steve Muhammad, Bks Iyengar, Sri Chinmoy, William Shakespeare, Octavia Butler, Dawn Calladin, my own mother and father. I give thanks to them every day, visualizing them while I am performing my Tai Chi form. I made sure that I had models of success in all three major arenas. Body, career, relationships, all had essential skills or accomplishments or major contributions to my being. When I have a problem to solve, I can pull together a sub team who would laugh at this problem and research them or visualize and let them talk to me. I might do this first thing in the morning. Like, what do I need to do first today or last thing at night? Did I finish everything I needed to do today? What were the important lessons I learned today? What is the most important thing for me to do tomorrow? Just by visualizing my crew during my morning ritual, I am continually improving my clarity of map, my consistency of action, the amount of gratitude, positive, positive emotion, the clarity of my goals and intentions, and the amount of courage and conviction I have that I can and should take those actions. Let's back up. Because you cannot predict what will happen from your actions, only the average results over Time, it is critical to enjoy the journey. Further, to select goals will motivate you to be a better person, a pure version of the person you are or wish to be. When you ask who would I have to be to be a successful writer or to be a black belt or to find a generous and passionate relationship, the answer has to be a person who you would want to be, who you would be proud of being. If there's any part of you that says, ouch, I don't want to be that kind of person, to succeed, I have to be someone I don't want to be, you will sabotage your own efforts. Either change your goal or change your attitudes about the actions necessary, the quality of character necessary to accomplish it. You might also need to change that belief about whether or not you can learn what you need to learn and be who you need to be. In other words, your real goal is to be the person who can do the things that will lead you to the destination with joy and service. The crew you visualize needs to be people who could climb that mountain, write that book, have that love, build that body. And you know this because they did it. They need to be people who are or were enjoying life. And one has a major flaw, say alcoholism. Be sure to balance that with someone who was a fanatic about physical health. Do this and you'll see. Ah, they had serious emotional flaws. Pains that they self medicated with alcohol. This eventually destroyed them. But what they got right was constantly working, studying, learning, growing and teaching. They managed to do this in spite of their flaws. I have flaws I too can accomplish in spite of those flaws. But more, I will stand on their shoulders and see how their life could have been even better if they'd had a good yoga teacher. I will introduce this flawed and magnificent human being who I am imagining to BKS Iyengar, arguably the most famous yoga teacher who ever lived, and let the two of them work it out. There is so much depth to this single step. Finding the right models to navigate the right map, Envisioning a role model and stepping into their shoes is an incredibly powerful technique. All children understand instinctively, but adults are often terrified of it. Challenges their egos. But the truth is that the ego is trying to protect you from a fear that if you empty your cup, if you admit you aren't good enough, you will have nothing. I'm not enough yet. Is the belief that's your solution? Just this step? Clarifying the role model who can build and follow the map, the that will motivate daily actions that will lead to increased results. This is a powerful path up the mountain, a reliable way to get to Disneyland. Not every time, but vastly more often than if you were just driving randomly and not asking directions. Just visualize someone who can do the things you want, who exemplifies the state you desire, or a team of people who could accomplish what you want. Make it real in your mind and heart. Anchor them by feeling grateful for their presence in your life. Parents, teachers, friends, mentors, gurus, partners, whatever. Build your internal family. Then let them talk to you and to each other. Study them until asking them for advice is tapping into your own deeper wisdom. Or if your belief patterns allow the akashic records or some other form of universal mind. In one sense, it doesn't matter. Either is better than limiting yourself to your conscious mind and ego. The first step of the magic formula combined with movement will change your life. Combine it with profound movement like Tai Chi or yoga, and it's another level of magic altogether. I invite you to join the Fire Dance Tai Chi training program@firedance tai chi.com or but until I see you again, Namaste. Have a wonderful day.