A magician is an artist. Every trick is a masterpiece and every trick requires a lot of patience and time to learn. Here are some tips to help you improve your tricks.
Practice Makes Perfect
You’ve learned a new trick and have shown it to an audience and mesmerized them, should that stop there? No! A magician always practices his bag of tricks, no matter how much he has mastered them. Bungling up a trick in front of an audience is one of the most embarrassing situations a magician can ever encounter.
You should set some time to practice your magic. Two hours every day is more than enough to help you polish up skills you’ve learned. Remember that time spent in practicing is not time wasted.
Videotape Your Act
Videotaping your act will let you see how the audience perceives you. It is important that you look at your video camera as you do it and try to think of it as your audience. Watching how you perform will let you see simple mistakes you probably didn’t know you were making. It will help in your practice and in knowing if a trick is effective.
Ask for Help
Joining a group could help you improve your tricks. You could watch how they do it. You would also have the chance to show your tricks and receive feedbacks. Remember to ask for help if you think you need it and to heed advice when given.
It’s important to realize that there are better magicians than you and that others have more experience.
Utilize Your Free Time
Going away for the weekends? Perhaps you’re going on a camping trip or fishing. Why not bring your materials with you? There will be free time on your trips where you could practice your tricks or devise new ones.
The trick is to use your time wisely. Think of every free time as a chance to practice and you’ll see improvements on your tricks.
Learning another Trick
Don’t try learning another trick until you’ve mastered your current trick. You should treat it as a painting and practice your trick until it becomes your own masterpiece.
Ask for help if you need them and try your best to finish learning what you’ve started.
A magician will always find ways to learn new tricks. It is important that they realize that a trick is not something to be taken for granted. You need to practice, practice, and practice. That is one way to ensure success in this business.

I’ve spent many years in the corporate world and in the service and sales industry. Letting those learned and hard-work principles go to engage in a relationship with the divine has been one of the most difficult challenges I’ve ever faced. So why face it? Why not stick with the old ways?

Simply put, the mystical, the divine, the source energy, or God if you like, wouldn’t let me go. No matter how hard I worked, I simply did not see the results I desired. There was a transformation already underway and I would be embracing a new way of living. You cannot deny who you truly are. As I moved away from working hard and focused more and more on my gifts, passion & purpose, magical things began happening.

In spite of all my marketing and business focused activities, none of my prospects had become a client and none of my projects came to life. Strangely, people from across North America were finding me, and rarely through my website. As long as I engaged in a relationship with the source and exercised faith, clients began showing up. Clients that were looking for the gifts that I had to offer and the connection I had to share.

This has pushed me deeper into a relationship with the mystical, the metaphysical, the spiritual – so many words to describe the same thing – and practicing a new way of being in this world. It is much simpler, much more organic, much more peaceful, and in many respects, very easy. Well, easy when I get out of my way.

There have been times when I’ve been in a complete and utter panic over what was not materializing. I’d come close to reverting to an old pattern and headaches would show up and more resistance in mind, body, and spirit. Within 24-48 hours, I’d back off from my worries, unable to give-in and give up the dream. I’d trust and just as suddenly, abundance again made itself known.

I see this pattern, these ups & downs, as part of the training I am receiving. To deepen my relationship with the divine. To trust source. To trust my true calling, passion and purpose. To express more fully who I am and thereby be a much better guide and teacher to those who wish to engage in the same relationship with the source of creation.

Magic lives everywhere. Being pragmatic can work, but who wants to work?

When anyone is looking to make any kind of change in their life, often the approach they take needs to become attractive or appealing in order for them to maintain it and often it may not remain attractive or appealing for as long as we like. I get lots of people that tell me that they find it difficult to maintain enthusiasm or keep on investing the required levels of energy in order to make a real success of a project or a goal.

So, for that reason, I want to talk about enhancing creativity today. When you become more creative, you can begin to make more out of your every day experiences and perceptions of what it is that you are doing, you can make life more colourful and have more fun and joy when you are more creative.

So what actually is Creativity?

Good question. We can all be creative; creativity is about making new connections – and that is literally physiologically true within our neurology. Creativity is the mind’s growing edge. It often involves a lot of discovery. By creating new connections you build your brain power and develop mental and interpersonal flexibility which can begin to heighten your ability to do a huge array of things with more and more ease.

Imagine this; every time you link two things together, you create a third entity. That new connection can itself then connect with other ideas, additional possibilities. Imagine the impact this can have throughout a system like your brain!

Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the moon in 1965. That event changed our beliefs and thoughts about the universe. It also altered thoughts and beliefs about human inventiveness and skill: this event helped us to recognise that if we want something enough, we can find ways to do something that we may have believed to be impossible before. I reckon this gave may people some powerful and liberating thoughts and beliefs about human capability. I heard on the radio recently that there are also plans to land on Mars now! I always fancied being an astronaut.

Being creative on an individual level has the same potential: when you connect things together, you go beyond both of them; and you have the possibility of forming new beliefs about yourself and your potential. I remember when I was first learning about NLP, hypnosis and my other beloved subjects, I was so excited, I would read so much material that I felt like my brain was literally growing and stretching. That’s not too scary is it?

I love working with children. They have such a vivid imagination, I can remember when I used to play football for hours and days on end as a youngster, I was not just imagining scoring in the World Cup final, I really was actually

there at Wembley Stadium scoring that goal, I am telling you I was there! Children are amazingly creative, each of us has been a child (some still are!). Children show their creativity in the way they discover their environment and make their own meanings of it. Many children create new worlds while playing with toys, they don’t need elaborate or sophisticated toys, equipment or props, the meaning comes from within them; the meaning comes from out of themselves.

You need to give yourself permission and time (and energy) to make new connections and links which is what creativity is all about. It is about the process rather than the outcome or the final product. You can be creative at home or at work, when changing habits, updating behaviours, resolving issues, or just making life happier in any way you can. You can be creative with words, ideas, thoughts, materials, food and the kind of fun you have. You can be creative with your surroundings or with your internal world.

In addition to this, creativity creates something new. That’s right, even if every ingredient is already known to you or is familiar. An insight for example, is creative because the new conclusion is gleaned from information you already had; it is the new perspective that makes the difference.

Above all, being creative returns us to that state where we are scoring goals in World Cup finals. It is about being absorbed and enjoying doing what you are doing, paying attention to detail, having a grand vision, being excited and playful, wondering what would happen if…

Some people’s creative abilities are closer to the surface and one can easily see the manifestations of them. People say that their creativity is “inborn”. For others, expressing creativity takes more time and cultivation. The important thing to note is that we can all be creative. You just have to take steps to extract it from within you. Try the following:

1. Change your perspective.

You might have heard the phrase ‘Think outside the box’. You should try looking at the situation from a different point of view. Change your perspective. Consider all factors that are affected by your problem or your concern. Try to breakdown the problem into several elements then shuffle them. Think of what would happen if an idea is replaced. This aspect is important in enhancing creativity because it helps you remove possible fixations that may hinder creativity.

2. Mentally move away from your current location.

Imagine how another person would react if subjected in the same situation. Picture how different situations would continue when dealing with the same problem. Application in different settings can be also be done; and then from there, adapt a solution to the current setting.

3. Let your imagination run wild.

Exercise your imagination. Modification can trigger creativity because you see things in a different light. You can also try to exaggerate or think of the extremes, be it magnification or minimization of something. Thinking of the possible differences between these two situations could produce ideas. This is the ultimate brain exercise.

4. Your comfort spot.

The environment has to be right. You should have somewhere you can focus without being unnecessarily disturbed so you can give a problem your full attention. This should extend to the people you are with. You tend to do better at something when you are with like-minded people. To put it simply, hang out with creative people to help enhance your creative abilities.

Most of the time, people tend to be more creative when they are with people who are doing the same thing. It was also found that if you wish to be more creative, you should try hanging out with creative people.

5. Time, time, time.

You can’t rush creativity. Hurrying does not help in the outflow of ideas. Your mind tends to go into a state of slight disarray when you are trying to force things. Studies show that results produced in this state are generally lacking. If you are low on time, then keep a list of activities like this one close to you. Go over each of the activities and exercise each one. Give it time.

6. Get help…communicate your ideas to others.

A different view of the problem could help. Better yet, many different views! Never be shy to ask. Diversity is very helpful in relation with creativity. Organize a brainstorming session. The spontaneous generation of new ideas helps in formulation of more ideas. The products of brainstorming can be the raw material in the construction of the idea.

Remember that in brainstorming, 4 rules are followed for it to be successful:
- There should be no criticisms. Criticism hinders the free flow of ideas. This can be postponed until the session has ended.
- Combining and/or modifying ideas are encouraged.
- Quantity is preferred over quality in brainstorming.
- Weird or strange ideas are encouraged.

These are just some ideas to get your creative juices going. They can be adapted to suit each individual. A large amount of it is down to you. How inventive can you be? How open are you? Remove the boundaries from your mind and you will find your creativity will increase.

When you are presenting the business, it is very easy for you to get very factual and completely lose the interest of your prospect. When you tell a story about the success of someone who is using the product or have a person give a live testimonial about how much they love being a distributor, you will keep the interest of new people who are listening for the first time.

For most of us, the first time in our lives that we were ever presented with the concept of a live audience was back in kindergarten when we played “show and tell”.  Everyone was always interested in what you were saying because you were simply telling a story.  We have all heard of the famous K.I.S.S. rule:  Keep It Simple Stupid.  When presenting your business or product, the key play is to tell a story and keep it simple.  Everyone can relate to the grandmother, who can talk about their grandchild as the most beautiful, precious child in the world.  She will make you feel as if her grandchild would be such a gift to own as your own.  You need to take that same simplicity and utilize it during your presentation and create the same result – ownership of your product.

As you tell stories, people will remember those stories versus all the facts in the world.  “FACTS TELL, BUT STORIES SELL.”  They should want to get involved in your business or purchase your product because all of the success stories that you told.  People love to be part of a winning team.  Storytelling keeps people tied into you and your presentation.  I always say when in doubt during a presentation, tell a story in order to bring people’s attention back to you.  When I present, I ALWAYS tell many stories because when I was first introduced to direct sales, what perked my ears was a story of a young lady who had a lifestyle I wanted.  The personal story of her lifestyle is what made me decide to get involved in the business.  In that business, I went on to build an enormous organization and all I did was tell my story and tell the company’s story over and over!

Combining the key strategy of storytelling along with the correct mindset, you can achieve your wildest dreams!

Find your WHY and Fly!

1. Think Like A Child. As adults we tend to think in a conditioned way aimed at showing how clever we are. Yet, as children, we were simply spontaneous and far more creative in our thinking. To re-capture your childhood curiosity, allow yourself to just wonder at things, to be completely present in the here and now, and to detach yourself from what you thought was real.

2. Make New Connections. To be innovative doesn’t require a university degree; it simply requires making a connection between existing ideas. For instance, did you know that ice cream was invented in 2000 BC yet it took another 3900 years for someone to come up with the idea of a cone? It’s when you take two seemingly unrelated items and use the spark of creativity that genius happens.

3. Be A Little Illogical. It is a peculiarly Western trait to want to tie things up in neat bundles. We prefer solutions to problems, and answers to questions. To be creative, you need to be comfortable with things that don’t fit. The Eastern tradition is more in tune with incongruence. As in this Zen koan, or problem: what is the sound of one hand clapping?

4. Laugh More. Tom Peters says that the creativity of a workplace can be measured by a laughometer, ie how much it laughs. Humour is one of the greatest creative devices. It jolts us out of our normal patterns and puts ideas together that shouldn’t go together. It has been found that after listening to comedy tapes, students’ ability to solve problems rises by 60%.

5. Think Outside Your Limits. Many of the products we take for granted today are the result of people thinking outside their limits. John Lynn recalls attending a computer conference in the 1980′s at a hotel when someone joked that the next thing they’d be thinking of would be computerised doors. When he went back to the same hotel 20 years later, all the doors used computer-programmed key cards.

6. Adopt and Adapt. To be creative doesn’t require blue-sky thinking. You can still be creative by adapting what works elsewhere. An American airline that wanted quicker turnarounds on their flights adopted the techniques of Formula One pit crews. Another source of ideas is nature. Georges de Mestral adapted the way certain seeds stick to clothing and invented Velcro.

7. Remember Your Dreams. Dreaming and day-dreaming can create a rich seam of ideas, because that’s when we relax and let the subconscious mind work by itself. The Roffey Park Management Institute calls this “washing-up creativity” because most flashes of inspiration come when we are walking the dog, sitting Archimedes-like in the bath, or doing the washing up.

Apply these 7 creative thinking techniques and make them part of your daily thinking and I guarantee that new solutions to your problems will open up to you with ease and speed.

Did you know that it always helps to set a time limit to your personal goals? Set yourself up so you can accomplish the most tasks in record time. For example, mowing the lawn in an hour before the big game on TV. A correct and positive attitude in whatever you do will make things easier, and even enjoyable.

It’s simple. If you begin to allow yourself a bit of positive thinking then you will begin to realize things that you never thought possible. Thinking big is indeed the American Way and that what made our country prosperous. You can follow other great Americans who tapped into their creative mind and began to thing big..

Discover some tips to make it through your first week of possibility thinking even if you’re just sitting in your favorite couch. Your mind is constantly at work for you. Tap into it’s great resource while doing everyday activities.

1. Act. You must take passionate action towards living your life by design. Talk is cheap. Action = deposits in the bank of a passionately authentic future. My mother (probably quoting someone else) always said, “Action speaks louder than words”. Without action, passion is void.

Dreams become reality when you simply start by tinkering with your mind, then with your hands. And if the idea weakens or falters you can always go back to it later until you finish it. Thomas Edison and his Dream Team had to go back to the idea of a light bulb and recalculate it over 1,000 times before the first working light bulb begin to light the world.

2. Love. Commit to yourself. Then commit to those you love to powerfully create a life you can love. Instead of reacting, commit to creating from your heart and soul, out of love rather than fear. The American Dream will always be there, but a dream will still be a dream without motion. Be amazed as the transformation begins.

3. Live. Embrace moments and opportunities. Recognize and embrace the thought that each moment is perfect regardless of its outcome. Every time you hit on something that may appear too extreme why not give it a shot anyway. See if it will work. You may be surprised with the results. If you are not then decide to use that moment to learn from it and make the appropriate shift. Learning and growing from mistakes and failures is a part of living.

4. Be grateful. Dwell completely in a place of gratitude. Learn to utilize what you have in your hands and make use of it in the most constructive way. Necessity is the mother of invention. Have you ever been stuck without something you needed and had to make do with something else? (MacGyver,from the famous tv show, was famous for that!) How grateful were you that you had the means to solve your situation? Slipping into neediness will become less of a habit when you repeatedly shift towards gratitude and away from poverty consciousness.

5. Be Passionate. Use a Passion Formula of Recognize/Reevaluate/Restore in place of the Shoulda/Woulda/Coulda whirlwind. The former is based on increased knowledge and abundance while the latter focuses on scarcity and lack. As you face people or tasks that may seem harder than scaling the summit of the Himalayas, allow yourself to realize that the task is just as important as giving out orders to your subordinates. You would rather be richly passionate!

6. Laugh. Keep humor at the forefront of thought, laughing at and with yourself whenever possible. You may find yourself quite entertaining when you loosen up! I have yet to see a comedian ever go hungry even though his jokes are as ‘old as great-grandma’. Life has too much to offer to allow yourself to mope around in self pity. Humor is very attractive, very passionate: life-giving.

7. Discover Your Purpose. Believe that you are the architect of your destiny. Realizing how you wish to be remembered when you pass from this life is a truly driving force. Your purpose for being can be a seemingly simple as being a great parent to as elaborate as discovering miraculous cures.

When you have a strong purpose no one can take your passionate future from you except for you! Truly, as long as there’s still breath in your body, there is no end to how much you can accomplish in a lifetime. Discovering and following your purpose will enable you to enjoy your work. Celebrate in the discovery that acting on your creative mind’s thoughts is fulfilling your purpose. Watch everything flow into place with perfect, passionate precision.

Activate your positive thinking. Stretch your imagination. Think bigger than you feel comfortable. Act on your thoughts. The number one tip here is action. You want to start practicing these steps.

Think about this: It is unfortunate that so many people still do not use a computer because it appears too complicated to begin using. Or maybe they just keep putting it off till a more convenient time. These are just a couple of limitations one can set up for themselves. Limitations and failure to act on ideas and opportunities leave many as a dim bulb in a dark corner.

Alert! You are not doomed to darkness. You are interested in living a life of purpose and love. The wonderful, creative idea in you is about to be released. You are interested in doing this because you are reading this article. Fortunately if you truly desire something, the will to attain it will open your creative mind to find a way.

Now you need only to begin to act on your desire to create. Act now! Make your path to creativity and follow your purpose. Take your first step today with a positive attitude.

• Family & Friends
• Places I know
• My Studies & Work
• Languages
• My Hobbies & Pastimes

Try to make your own list now. It doesn’t have to be similar to the one I made or even have the same logic or structure. Just try to think of the major things that make up the person that you are.
Next, I added more details to each major category – ending up with many of the things I consider to be my sources of power and knowledge. This is what it looked like by now:

• Family & Friends
  • My wife
  • My children
  • My mother, sisters & brother
  • My friends
• Places I know
  • Israel
  • Europe
  • South America
    • Argentina
    • Chile
    • Peru
    • Bolivia
    • Brazil
  • South East Asia
    • India
    • Nepal
    • Thailand
• My Studies & Work
  • Human Resources
  • Management skills training
  • Thinking, Innovation & Creativity
  • Philosophy
  • Computers
    • Web programming
    • Database planning
    • Online & computer games
  • Myself as an employee
• Languages
  • Hebrew
  • English
  • Spanish
• My Hobbies and Pastimes
  • Capoeira
  • Diving
  • Board games

Seeing all that I have in my favor, I already started to feel stronger!
If you want to get the same feeling – take a few minutes to list many of your own sources of power.

Turning power maps into creative action

Now it was time to start thinking how I could turn all those resources into something I could make or contribute. In other words – come up with new and useful things I could do with all I have. What I came up with was consisted of things I did before and could do better or on a larger scale; things I haven’t done before but believed I could do; and some other creative ideas that just came up.
In order to distinguish these action ideas from the resources I already listed, I use an undeline for the action items. I am sharing some of these with you:

• Family & Friends
  • My wife
    • Help your wife pursue her dream
  • My children
    • Write children’s books
  • My mother, sisters & brother
  • My friends
• Places I know
  • Israel
    • Knowing what it’s all about
  • Europe
  • South America
    • Argentina
    • Chile
    • Peru
    • Bolivia
    • Brazil
  • South East Asia
    • India
    • Nepal
    • Thailand
• My Studies & Work
  • Human Resources
  • Management skills training
    • Tools for planning
    • Small Business Handbook
  • Thinking, Innovation & Creativity
    • Improved Memory Techniques
    • Building a Personal Thinking Center
  • Philosophy
  • Computers
    • Web programming
    • Database planning
    • Online & computer games
      • Principles of development
      • Review best games on the web
  • Myself as an employee
• Languages
  • Hebrew
  • English
    • Translation tips
  • Spanish
    • Learning tips
• My Hobbies and Pastimes
  • Capoeira
  • Diving
  • Board games
    • Playing tips
    • Designing & Inventing

Now I had something I could work with. There were other things on the list – this is just to show you the general idea. I am sure that if you try to complete your own Power Map now – you’d have many action ideas.

Bringing it all together

With such a detailed Power Map, you can start looking for practical ways to harness all that power to interesting development possibilities. The strongest creative ideas would be those that combine as many strengths and action items as possible. Consider the creative ideas website I have built (see resource box below) – it combines my power at: English, Internet, Creativity, Management training, and more.

I truly hope this can help you become stronger, more creative, and ultimately happier. If you liked this article and the Power Map tool, you should check out the Resource Box Below for a constantly growing source of ideas and creativity tools.

Others just couldn’t say yes, just couldn’t give themselves permission.

What does it mean to have permission to do something? My thesaurus tells me that other words related to permission are: consent, sanctioning and authorization.

Consent signifies agreement, validation that what you’re doing meets with specific expectations, criteria and guidelines. It sounds solemn and like someone has faith in you. Sanction is an even more formal declaration of acceptance and faith.

<b>Authorized to Create</b>

Authorization – well, that implies that you’re something special. That not just anyone is meant to be painting this painting, writing this song or designing that jewelry. You have been specially authorized to do it.

And why? Because you have the unique gifts that are necessary to bring that creative project into being. Who authorized you? The same power that granted you those gifts and skills – whether you choose to think of that as God, the universe, Spirit, or another name. As we read in the Science of Getting Rich [link], we’re not given the desire to do something without also giving you the skill to carry it out.

Why is it so difficult to authorize ourselves, grant ourselves permission and consent, to sanction our own creative work? Sometimes we seek this permission from others, unconsciously (or consciously) hoping they’ll deny it, so we won’t really have to venture into the scary world of living up to our potential.

A lot of these words symbolize that external permission is needed. And sometimes it is.

<b>Permission from Others</b>

Whether you want to attend an artist retreat day, meet a deadline or just develop a new idea that came to you overnight, you’ll sometimes need permission from the people you share your life with to take the time for your creative work.

It might mean delegating household work or child-care or rescheduling a date or planned event. All of you might also need a willingness to be flexible and to accept that sometimes things don’t get done right away.  It also means ensuring an environment of support for your work.

Will others give you permission? Of course you can’t control what anyone else thinks, says or does, but consider this: our loved ones will take cues from us about how serious our creative work is to us. If we’re constantly putting it on the back burner, putting our work down, and letting it be the first thing to go when things get stressful or busy, we’re teaching others to treat it the same way.

If we don’t take our creative work seriously, why should they?

<b>Permission from Self – Artist at Work</b>

I think what’s even more important is the permission we give ourselves. There are so many reasons we deny ourselves permission to pursue our creative work. Fear tops the list. Fear of success, fear of failure, fear of what people will think of us, fear of being good, fear of being terrible, or fear we’ll let someone else down, to name a few examples.

Sometimes we hold on to earlier instances when we were denied permission, denied access, not sanctioned or authorized, or when our work was criticized or belittled. Some of us have even been told, directly, NOT to pursue our creative work (“don’t give up your day job”, “find another path”, “you have no business doing this work”), which hung a big UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS sign on the door of our creative hearts.

So hang a new sign on your creative heart – one that reads “Artist at work”. And in fine print, “This work has been sanctioned by _______” (the name of your source of Power).

<b>10 Signs That You’ve Given Yourself Permission To Be A Creative Artist</b>

1. The first words out of your mouth when someone asks “and what do you do?” are “I’m a songwriter/artist/sculptor/writer, etc.”.

2. You work steadily at your craft, whether it’s working on or re-working pieces or promoting your work.

3. You teach your loved ones to treat your art seriously.

4. The materials and resources that you need to create with are part of your budget and are planned expenses every month.

5. You’re committed to your learning, growth and development, participating in artists groups and discussion forums and seeking out mentorship and coaching.

6. You don’t let mistakes or criticism stop you from taking your next steps.

7. You’re building the resources you need to support yourself financially, emotionally and spiritually.

8. You’re conscious of your physical lifestyle habits and choose the ones that won’t interfere with your creative work.

9. You find opportunities to pass on your knowledge and support wherever possible, to someone who’s had less experience than you have.

10. You consistently say no to requests for your time, energy and commitment that will take you away from your creative work.

One lateral thinking puzzle you can try right now involves nine dots, layed out three by three. You have to connect them all with four straight lines, and without lifting the pen or pencil from the paper. Figure this one out and you’ll appreciate the expression “thinking outside of the box.”

Mind Games For Groups

Some group mind games are especially good for long trips in a car. For example, someone looks out the window and randomly chooses an object. Everyone in the car then tries to imagine a new way to make money with it. Street signs become places to advertise, trees are sold with names, and a truck becomes a traveling grocery store.

The “change of perspective” technique can be used as a problem-solving game. Pick any topic, and see who can come up with the most unique new perspective. Could there be a world where jobs weren’t necessary? How would a virus define morality if it was conscious?

Another creative game for a group uses a specific technique, called “concept combination.” Simply combine random concepts or things in interesting ways, and see who has the best idea. A chair and a microwave? Maybe an easy-chair with a built-in cooler, microwave and television, or microwavable “couch potatoes” – a potato snack in the shape of a couch.

More Mind Games

Some lateral-thinking puzzles use a scenario, real or imagined, with a selection of things you have to use to accomplish something. Imagine a ping-pong ball in an iron pipe that’s set in cement. The pipe sticks up two-feet high, and has almost the same diameter as the ball. With only a box of frosted-flakes, and a t-shirt, how many ways can you find to get the ball out of the pipe? You could also set this up for real, to know if a proposed solution will really work.

Riddles are just mind games or lateral-thinking puzzles. You move laterally in your mind, away from your usual line of thought, to solve a riddle. What did his friends do when the canibal was late for dinner? Gave him the cold shoulder. Keeping your brain in shape doesn’t have to be a matter of serious study, does it?

This is a fundamental key to understanding, to know that how you perceive the universe is how it is to you. If you feel it is full of fear and hatred, then it will be. If you think it is full of love and happiness, it is. Using some of the techniques discussed in this, and other articles, you can start to reprogram the way you perceive the universe and change your life!

Think about how many times you have feared something happening and then it has. For example, you might be worried that you are going to bump your car, and then you do. Was it a premonition or did you create it? Compare this to the amount of times you have looked forward to something and then it has happened. Usually the fear is a much stronger emotion and focus, which causes the object of that fear/thought to manifest much more quickly.

Of course, thought and belief does not just create the universe on an emotional and psychological level, but also on a material level. We may fear that we are not good with money and hence we are not. You can use your will and focus on manifesting items that you want to further your life with. Remember that you can only manifest things you believe you can have. You may wish for a million dollars, but unless you really believe you can have it, you will not get it.

You need to be aware that things are not just going to fall out of the air and land on your lap, though on occasion they may well do so, literally as well as figuratively. It sometimes takes a little while for what you want to manifest to appear. Sometimes it requires faith and patience on your part. It might be the Universe is testing you to see if you really want it and will really dedicate yourself to getting it before you get it. You cannot sit back and wait for what you want to manifest.

There is a saying “God helps those who help themselves”. This is true. When you are manifesting it is essential that you listen to your intuition and follow your instincts. It often also depends on whether what you are trying to manifest is in tune with your life’s purpose or not. If it is not then you have an uphill struggle to manifest it. Also, if you manifest for selfish needs and with your ego then it is not likely to work. It works best when you manifest for the greater good, selflessly, and from your higher self.

When working on manifesting remember to keep your mind open as to how it is going to appear in your life. For example, many of us may want to manifest more money. We have a mental program that says, “more money means I have to work more”. This is not necessarily true. You might manifest more money from a promotion, a raise at work, a change of job or career, from a competition win, an inheritance, and many other ways. You need to be open to this because if you mentally limit the ways the Universe can provide to you then it is going to be much harder for what you want to come into your life. Listen to your intuition too because it will help guide you. You might get the urge to buy a newspaper suddenly. You buy it and notice the exact car you want for sale in it. Our intuition is from our higher self and will guide us if we listen to it.

You can use decrees, affirmations, and positive visualisation to help you create what you want in your universe. This does not just have to be limited to material items, but you can work on bringing more love, more joy and many other things into your life and the lives of those around you. When you are working on manifesting things such as these into your life look to the root cause of what you are lacking. For example, you might feel you are lacking love in your life. Examine the cause and you might see it is because of a lack of self-worth or self-love, or because of something in your childhood. Once you are aware of why you can work on dealing with the issue and healing yourself. Then you will find it much easier to bring, and to keep, what you desire in your life.

Another exercise you can do to help you manifest is to realise the abundance of the universe. Abundance will be the subject of another article, and is dealt with fully within the course, but take a walk outside some time and look at how abundant nature is. See how freely nature gives and how much is given. Think about this and how abundance can be a part of your life.

You can use affirmations such as:

* I am worthy of love and respect from others and myself

* I have an abundance of money in my life

* I am good with money and spend it wisely

* I open myself to the abundance of the universe

* I am in tune with my higher self

* I accept that I am a good and worthy person

Finally, remember these points:

Believe in what you are trying to manifest

Listen to your intuition

Manifest from your higher self and in harmony with your life’s purpose

Manifesting is not just limited to material items. You can manifest more love, happiness, peace, and much more

Manifest for others, not just yourself

That YOU create the universe you live in, so changing your perceptions of it, changes the universe

Believe in yourself and what you can achieve. You can manifest anything you desire in your life, good or bad. Harness the power of your sub-conscious mind in manifesting your desires through the Manifestation Audio CD at http://www.stateofhypnosis.com/audio/abundance/ma.php

Keeping this in mind, many people end up regretting the tattoo that is inked on their body.  Most of the time, these people did not take the time to really think about why they choose a particular tattoo and look at other tattoo designs that are available.  This is why picking out the right tattoo design from the start is important.  Being impulsive has disaster written all over it.

The removal of offending tattoos is painful and expensive.  Learn this lesson now or pay for it later.  That is all I am going to say about this!

Here are some suggestions how to get started finding your dream tattoo design:

·    Don’t shop around for the cheapest studio or artist.  Do shop around for the best artist within your driving range.

·    Why do you want a tattoo?  Remember, lovers come and go.  Rosie isn’t going to like “Kim” emblazoned on your chest.

·    A lot of people have tattoos to remember someone who passed away.  You can choose a symbol or design that has meaning to them.

·    You may have some idea what image is special to you.  But don’t worry, most people are visual and there are many tattoo design resources to browse to find the tattoo design that you really like.

·    Go to your local bookstore and find the tattoo books, design books, theme books and magazines.

·    Your local tattoo artist will have a portfolio of tattoo designs to leaf though.

·    Check out the web.  There are sites that have 1000’s of designs to choose from for a small fee.  You can print them out and give it to your Tattoo artist.

·    Choose the color.

·    Relax.  Think about it a little.  Toss it around in your brain for a few days.  Be patient.

·    Word of caution … Tattoos can direct a negative perception of you during job interviews.  So the placement of the tattoo on your body is a good idea.

Good luck getting the dream tattoo design that you want.  They say ink acquisition is a way to express yourself to others, but I would also add that getting good body art is going to make you special and unique!