Master Key Experience Week 1

The first step is the hardest…

“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.”

— Jim Rohn.

I read that quote by Jim Rohn for the first time on Monday morning.

And I was suddenly hit with the awareness of the enormous weight of regret on my shoulders. It reduced me to tears as I realized I am in the exact place I promised myself I would never visit.

Amazing how the teacher appears when the student is ready…

This is Week 1 of the Master Key Experience, a journey I have committed to see through. And already, from the start of the program on Sunday, September 29, 2019, it is kicking my ass!

But I’ve been bogged down for so long in habits and routines that have not been serving me that starting something new just seems like it’s piling on another task.

And because my existing “existence” has me feeling overwhelmed and stuck, the anxiety of adding yet another routine put me in near panic mode.

But enough about me… Let’s talk about me.

I persist.

Because I know there is truth in the Master Key.

I know the secret is in there… intuitively. But I haven’t been strong enough (disciplined) on my own to find it.

I’m no stranger to Hill, and Stone, and Mandino. Heck, I was on Scroll IX when I was introduced to the MKE. I’ve already been reading the Scrolls since January.

But they weren’t sinking in and making any difference. And truth be told, I was just going through the motions at this point.

Obviously something was missing.

I’ve read Think and Grow Rich. The Master-Key to Riches. The Bible. Countless others…

But reading is not enough. Studying and internalizing is what it takes to start influencing my direction in life.

And we are NOT taught how to study!

That’s why I pushed through my fear and anxiety and applied for MKE.  It felt like the shift I need to break out of the daily patterns that have been destroying my life, one bad habit at a time.

Could this be the equivalent of a 12-Step Program to conquer my addiction to mediocrity and transform to the SUCCESS I’ve stubbornly dreamed of my entire life?

Thank you Mark, Davene, Staff, and Guides. You are giving hope to at least one soul that was on the verge of losing hope.

Seeing Perfection

I was struck this past week by the perfectness of the Universe.

It was early, before I had gotten to the daily reading of Haanel (Lesson Two), so I didn’t have that affecting my thoughts yet.

The thought came to me seemingly out of the blue…

The earth spins perfectly on its axis.

It then orbits the Sun perfectly.

The day starts on schedule, and all of Nature respond to that schedule.

Plants continue to grow. Birds and animals begin their days, set in their pursuits, regardless of, or despite, physical circumstances.

Plants and animals fully accept conditions as they are. There is no thought or worry. They don’t get bent out of shape with situations. They just go with the flow.

They follow the law of least effort.

You might say, “Sure, they don’t think about it because they’re incapable of reasoning,” but nature provides us a perfect example of how to live.

Nature continues on, mindless to the cares of man.

It is only in our minds that there is struggle.

Yes, we face challenges that require strength and endurance, but these events are only struggles if we allow them to be.

But here’s what was really interesting about that morning…

Within an hour of having those thoughts, I had opened up Master Key Experience Lesson Two and found this:

“The great task is to discover the laws of nature to which we are to adjust ourselves.”

Charles F. Haanel

There it was, the Universal mind at work, prepping me for the reading.

Isn’t it amazing that the forces at work never rest, that they are always operating in perfect rhythm, whether we realize it or not.

I’ll keep watching for these “aha” moments.

Master Key Experience – Week 24!

Master Key Life

Photo by Viktor Theo on Unsplash

What a ride!

It’s hard to believe this first leg of the journey is coming to a close. It’s got me a little down, tell you the truth.

Doesn’t help we’re on a global lock down, but “this too shall pass,” and we’re gonna be better for it.

Kinder, gentler, more loving and caring.

‘Cause it’s the RIGHT thing!

Obviously, this isn’t a class you check off the list on your way to graduation.

I’d say it’s actually one of those core requirements that should’ve been available for us all when we were in school.

I’ve committed to continuing on this path, to improving on the foundation that was started during these past 26 weeks.

I know I can improve on my execution.

Thank goodness for Mark and Davene having the vision to create this AND make it their mission to ensure each of us found it at the exact perfect time in our lives to SEE it and ACT.

Isn’t that AWESOME!

Haanel says in Week 24 “you can get out of life exactly what you wish by first putting into life that which you wish…”

If you read past that quickly, you might miss it.

It’s very easy to dismiss it, but that is yet another way to explain the ’secret’ we’ve been learning along the way.

Give more, get more.

Haanel has certainly over-delivered! He’s provided massive value up to the very end.

It’s crazy that these truths have been hidden in plain sight to all of us, but I guess that’s another example of the world without pulling the wool over our eyes.

We are powerful beyond imagination.

We have the keys to the Ferrari life – the one that is perfect for our individual bliss.

We only need to accept the challenge and get behind the wheel.

To quote Spongebob Squarepants:

“I’m ready!”

Peace~

Rowing downstream (MKE week 23)

This is a must read!

Again, many thoughts and themes swirling through my mind from last week’s webinar, the readings, my meditations and masterminds. Of course so much of this is in relation to what’s going on in the world. I still have so many thoughts about going within and and knowing and acting from what’s true for me, as I wrote about last week. I’m also thinking about a theme from our most recent fabulous webinar; The Law of Least Effort, and how that relates to my gifts and how I can serve.

The Law of Least Effort, taken from Deepak Chopra’s wonderful book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, is about being in tune with Spirit, being in harmony and going with the flow or what we’re called to do. It’s about acceptance of what is, taking responsibility without blaming, and letting go of attachments or defenses about our views. Actually acting…

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Master Key Experience – Week 23

Service above self…

Photo by ATC Comm Photo from Pexels

Were we all chosen for this moment in time to be members of MKMMA?

Never before in the history of the world has there been a bigger opportunity to help our fellow man.

To serve.

To love.

Nor has there been a time that we’ve been more connected.

We are uniquely gifted and enabled to help people NOW.

This has been to overarching theme in The Awesome Nancy O’s Polo Group.

The polo messages are coming in fast and furious, so many that it feels like I’m in perpetual catch-up mode… again. (I swear I just listened to them all! 🥰 )

It reminded me of a scene from It’s a Wonderful Life.

The country was panicked with the Stock Market crash and there was a run on the banks.

Ol’ George Bailey stood by his community of Bedford Falls and gave up his honeymoon to take care of his friends and neighbors, giving all but the last two dollars of his savings to hold people over until the banks re-opened.

Maybe we don’t have a spare bundle of money to give out, but we do have our time and talents.

Each of us is blessed with unique skills and abilities to help other people, and never has there been a better time to offer ourselves to people in need.

“Service above self,” the motto of the Rotary Club, says it all.

This is a global reset.

A chance to reflect and really think about the direction of the future.

What can we DO today, in this moment, to begin moving towards a more ideal world?

“I have a very particular set of skills.”

Liam Neeson in Taken

Yo, I got skills! So do you.

How can we help our fellow man (without expectation of reciprocity) today?

As Haanel points out in Lesson 23, the law of success is service. As we’re finishing up MKMMA, we’re presented with one of the biggest opportunities in history to give of ourselves to the world in need.

Let it start with our attention, then our thoughts, and then our actions.

Reset

Earlier this week, my emotions had reached a tipping point as I thought of the countless people affected, this domino effect as stores close, the economic toll this will have on individuals and families, the fear and uncertainty, the stock market, and on and on.

Despite all of this, I’ve done well against the onslaught of news. I’ve been successfully using those Wonder Twin powers – Law of Substitution and Law of Growth – to tend to my mental garden, but I’m not a rock.

I feel, and I feel deeply, but the mental strength we’ve been developing in MKMMA is still a new tree, and with the winds of change, there’s a lot of bending going on.

Like the Starship Enterprise, my ‘shields have been up’ but the strain of continuous mental battle has them weakened a bit. Scotty is diverting power from the main engines, and they’re holding for now, but WOW.

Thank goodness for the MKE lessons and the guidance of our incredible teachers, guides and staff!

Now is the time for silence. Now is the time for calm reflection and and assessment.

Time for gratitude and thankfulness for what we DO have and how fortunate we are.

Another testament to my Polo group: unofficially deciding to focus on peace and getting immersed in the perfectness of nature.

It’s time to be intentional.

Time to reflect on how this global situation can be a benefit and opportunity for us all.

What can we learn from this? How can we grow? How can we be a bigger service to all?

We’ve been gifted with a global reset. I’m looking for… and finding… peace in that.

Master Key Experience – Week 22A

Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash

The week has floated along, a bit fuzzy around the edges and compressed.

I traveled to my parents home over the past weekend to spend time with them and have been playing catch-up since.

My visit was overshadowed by an accident my mother had, followed by some complications that remind me to “live this day as if it is my last.”

I kept up my daily habits with my readings, sits and index cards, but felt adrift in some ways.

Part of it is the impending close to the class. Part of it is being out of my environment for the weekend and the logistical changes that were involved. Part of it is the work to maintain the mental gains I’ve made when exposed to the raw negativity of the world without (that I’ve consciously avoided for a long time)…

My mom has her routines, as we all do.

Her first, as she starts the day, is to turn on one of the national morning ‘news’ shows.

Oh, the humanity!

It’s like hearing a knock at the door and opening it to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!

“Keeping us informed” has become the “rally cry” instead to induce panic and distrust.

And humans, being the inquisitive creatures that we are, have a hard time resisting the sensationalism and hysteria, as we’re seeing shelves being emptied in stores across the country.

The news outlets seem happy to be there for us, ready to give us a little shove over the edge if we have any hesitation to accept their assessment of the situation.

“The suspense is terrible… I hope it lasts” ~ Willy Wonka

I’ve often said people are bovine.

As a kid I spent summers traveling the countryside with my grandfather as he treated various farm animals.

I was always fascinated by the behavior of dairy cattle. When the time came for milking and the farmer called out to them, the lead cow started her way towards the barn, with everyone following behind.

No need to poke or prod – they knew it was time to get their feed and drain their udders, and as long as someone was leading them, it was easy to go with the flow.

But there were always one or two cows that didn’t seem to follow the crowd, so they required a bit more effort for them to come in.

Later, in junior high school, I observed we’re really no different.

The bell rang, we all got up from our desks and made our way to the next class, no real thought about why, just that that’s what we were told to do.

Yes, some of us had other ideas and ‘rebelled’ against following the herd (I’d guess there are quite a few of us here in MKMMA!), but for the most part people are content following the path of least resistance.

Even as I write this, clients are closing their offices and having their staff work from home. The cruise I was scheduled for in May has been cancelled, and the cruise line is suspending all cruises for two months.

And toilet paper has become more valuable than gold!

As Haanel points out, the only way to combat these ’sicknesses’ is to change the prevailing thoughts. Change the fear and anxiety to motivation, compassion, and excitement for the opportunities that may arise.

Use the Laws of Substitution and Growth to see this chaos for what it is – just course corrections that are perfect for right now and for what will manifest.

One by one, we can affect those we come in contact with and show them how to live through our example.

I’ll quote another famous line:

“It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.” ~ R.E.M.

I’m fine, and I know you’re fine. Because we know things the world without doesn’t know.

But we’re a small and growing army, and they will know!

Peace~

Master Key Experience – Week 22

Celebrate!

Photo by Ambreen Hasan on Unsplash

I’m extremely fascinated by Week 22’s discussion about vibration.

Because music is my primary creative outlet of choice, I’ve studied the fundamentals of sound creation, and at its most basic physical property, we see vibration.

Sound is the waves that are created by vibration – of everything. EVERYTHING!

Even when you can’t hear it, sound waves are being created from the vibration of objects around us.

When the object creating the vibration moves faster, the pitch of the sound gets higher.

We call that frequency – specifically, the number of times a vibration occurs in one second.

For example, when you hear a note played, the ‘frequency’ of that note is the number of vibrations that happen within one second.

A guitar string moving back and forth pushes the air, which creates ripples. Those ripples are the sound waves that our ear drums pick up.

Everything that creates sound does so by vibration.

The lower the sound, the slower the vibration, and the lower the frequency. As the vibration gets faster, the frequency gets higher. Pretty simple to understand.

There are other factors in play that shape the sounds we hear – density of the materials that are vibrating, tension and scale – but it still comes down to the vibration itself.

Humans can only hear sounds within a certain range of frequencies – from 20 Hertz to 20 Kilohertz.

But sound vibrations occur outside of that range in both lower and higher ranges. Just because we can’t hear them doesn’t mean they’re not there, happening all the time.

And here we have our good friend Haanel telling us that everything that happens in our life – E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. – can be attributed to vibration.

If we want to change something in our life, change the vibration.

Of what?

Our emotion.

Because yes, even emotions have a frequency. The lower the frequency, the ‘downer’ we feel.

Pump up your attitude and excitement, and you’ve increased your vibration.

An excellent conversation was started in our Polo group this week around this idea of increasing your vibration by boosting your excitement level.

The beauty is you can easily do this by celebrating every win.

Finish your service card for the week? Run down the driveway hooting and hollering like you just won the Lottery, declaring your win to the world.

You will instantly change how you feel. Adrenaline will pump, and you’ll find yourself becoming addicted to that feeling.

That creates more motivation to act on your goals.

Just like the peptide addiction our body has for the negative habits we’ve been working to change, your body gets addicted to the new peptides of successful habits.

I’ll admit I still have hesitation to run down my driveway screaming and waving my arms, whopping it up for my win, but I’m warming up to the idea. (Some of us are slower than others 🙂)

Peace~

Master Key Experience – Week 21

The secret IS consciousness of our power…

Isn’t the Universal Mind awesome?!

It brings to us exactly what we need, when we need it.

MKE Week 21, Scroll V, other books I’m reading, courses I’m taking.

I am awash with creative ideas this week.

I’ve taken MKE 21.4 to heart and tapped into the Universal Mind with my subconscious – the electricity immediately charging my brain and jump-starting the idea flow.

Of course, the mental diet is helping.

I watched Finding Joe and almost immediately started seeing my world in a different light.

This tied in nicely with some discussions on Marco Polo this week that have helped solidify the major lessons from this week’s reading.

Life is.

Every day we have living to do that doesn’t move us any closer to our DMP. In fact, as the Pareto Principle proves out, 20% (or less) of our activities will account for 80% of our successes.

We experience annoyances and routines that are a part of life. Every person has to take care of themselves. We all have ’stuff’ we must do every day.

It’s just day-to-day living that is part of the human experience.

Every encounter could have glitches, because nothing is static or set.

There is constant evolution and change, so instead of getting annoyed or irritated, I’m learning to roll with it, look at it for what it is, use it or drop it, and move on towards my vision.

Our choice of reaction determines our contribution to the art of living as a human being.

It determines the power we have.

And the Power comes from awareness – the consciousness of that power (MKE 21.1).

Another epiphany from Finding Joe is this:

Every event, every day is a mini hero’s journey.

Every tiny thing we do has an element of inquiry, struggle, revelation and transformation, and resolution/victory as a return to a stronger, more confident Self. One that we now know better.

Maybe I’m being a little dramatic (as I’ve been known to be sometimes). Of course a struggle won’t occur every time, but it will happen eventually, even in the mundane.

For example, you’ve brushed your teeth a million times. Most days it’s routine, but eventually you’re gonna run out of toothpaste.

Shazam! You’ve got a struggle.

You’ve got to get a new tube of toothpaste – how annoying!

But you travel through the desert and make it to the other side, with new tube in hand. Hurray!

A very silly, elementary example, but it’s all the same.

And I don’t mean to minimize the hero’s journey at all. Instead, I want bring it into constant awareness/consciousness.

Like a muscle that has to be flexed and stretched and stressed in order to strengthen it, I want to see the hero’s journey in everything I do.

I want it to be in the forefront of my mind all the time so that it drives me towards the best ME I can be.

I must be watching for and aware of it, like in MKE Week 21. Because the consciousness of power IS the power!

And when my obedient mind is aware and striving for what is best, it’s only a matter of time before the Universal Substance manifests.

Peace~

Oh, I almost forgot…

Loved this:

Class act!

Master Key Experience – Week 20

Victory is MINE!

Photo by Vlad Chețan from Pexels

What is right in this world?

I AM.

What a message! Now consider, the premise behind the film was to seek out some of humanity’s greatest minds and ask them two questions:

1. What is wrong with the world?
2. What can we do to fix it?

I won’t spoil the plot for you, but suffice to say, the quest revealed some very cool information and hope, and I’m glad to say our involvement with MKMMA is certainly part of that sense of hope!

Of course, requiring us to watch this film ties in beautifully with MKE Week 20.

Right from the start, Haanel comes out swinging with this powerhouse fundamental truth:

20.1. The spirit of a thing is that thing; it is necessarily fixed, changeless and eternal. The spirit of you is — you; without the spirit you would be nothing. It becomes active through your recognition of it and its possibilities.

20.2. You may have all the wealth in Christendom, but unless you recognize it and make use of it, it will have no value; so with your spiritual wealth: unless you recognize it and use it, it will have no value. The one and only condition of spiritual power is use or recognition.

20.3. All great things come through recognition; the scepter of power is consciousness, and thought is its messenger, and this messenger is constantly molding the realities of the invisible world into the conditions and environments of your objective world.

“All great things come through recognition.”

But the real nugget to be excavated is this: “… molding the realities of the invisible world into the conditions and environments of your objective world.”

I am already enough, but until I recognize it, it is invisible to me.

My Spirit is my thought. It is the creative principle of the Universal mind (God). It is my individuality, yet I am part of the Universal, so my spirit is part of the whole Spirit.

But if I don’t recognize that Spirit, that power, it remains invisible, unknown, and I remain oblivious to its potential in my life.

Every week, more scales fall from my eyes and the cement continues to crack and break away.

More epiphanies emerged in Part Twenty.

From MKE 20.20:

We can live more abundantly every time we breathe, if we consciously breathe with that intention. The IF is a very important condition in this case, as the intention governs the attention, and without the attention you can secure only the results which every one else secures. That is, a supply equal to the demand.

We can increase the supply simply by increasing our demand…

When that hit me, I have to say I got excited. Increase the inflow by expanding the vessel that will hold it.

Breathe deeper to get more air in, more abundance, more life.

The not-so-subtle message was not lost on me.

I tested it. During my sits, I paid attention to my breathing and made sure I was taking deep, expansive breaths.

As I drew in extra oxygen through each breath, it begin to affect my body. I felt expanded, like I could do more, be more. Like there was more room in me to take on more.

I had increased the demand for more air internally, which made room for a larger supply of oxygen in my lungs. And that demand was given to me freely without any extra effort!

But it also seemed to crack the window open to that conscious connection with All Life, All Intelligence, All Substance (MKE 20.24).

I felt a calmness with my desires for the first time, and a clarity that I need to make some further changes.

This experience also caused another tumbler in the lock to fall into place.

Increase my demand for more creativity, and the ideas start coming…

Increase my demand for greater finances and the opportunities will begin to appear (quit playing small, breathing shallow – there’s MORE than enough for EVERYONE!)…

But I must give more, in order to get more.

I first have to expand me and my offers in order for the supply to show up to fill that extra space (the demand) I have created.

MKMMA is helping us to overcome the stigma Society has placed on us: that expanding our wants is a bad thing. Why is it bad?

Because if we become what we really want in life, that we are somehow taking something away from someone else?

NO!

By becoming ALL we can be based on our greatest desires, we become like like the tide, raising all ships equally.

We’re not taking anything away from anyone else because there is an unending supply of Universal Substance available to ALL people in overflowing abundance.

All this talk of expansion and demand, I’ll close with this…

Something subtle happened this week as I was getting my Thursday started. I’d had a SUPER-creative brainstorming session with myself, and I was really excited about it. I mean, I couldn’t turn the ideas off. It was astoundingly awesome!

Well, I had to set up my work computer on my desk (I telecommute), and I got this overwhelming visual feeling that I was putting all my creativity into a beat-up cardboard box, sliding the lid on it, and stuffing it under my desk.

Covering my bliss…

That stopped me cold. In that moment of clarity I just knew I was on the right track towards my DMP.

The ideas kept flowing. I couldn’t shut them off.

Peace~

Master Key Experience – Week 19

The battle within…

Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

O. F. T.

One. Freakin’. Thing.

ONE. F$%#ING. THING!

How many times do I need to remind myself of my Achilles Heel?

That I cannot put my attention on any more than ONE thing?

Apparently, at least one more time.

Probably more…

Definitely more…

Yeah, the old habit of trying to do everything I want to do concurrently is as strong and unrelenting as Michael Myers in the Halloween film franchise.

As this week has worn on, my to-do list has gotten progressively longer. Part of that is because things are not getting checked off the list.

Important things.

Not for the lack of trying, though.

Each time I return to the list, I immediately go for the ‘quick win’, the routine tasks that I’ve ingrained into my mind as things I need to do every day, because I said I would do them.

You know the ones, the habits, the routines, the chores.

But not the “do this scary, uncomfortable, ball-buster of a task and your business is going to catch fire like lightening strike in the desert” task.

These slacker tasks are not moving the ball down the field to the greater accomplishment of my DMP.

And many of them are hold-overs from life before MKE.

Yes, they need to be done, and I’m the only one that can do them (for real, not just clinging), but they’re not the single most important game-changing, business-building tasks that are going to make an impact at this moment in my big, hairy-monster goal.

Thing is, if I don’t do them, I’ll feel like I’m letting myself down.

But I’m realizing – – in Week 19(!) – – that this is just another tactic Subby is using to “keep this brotha down.”

I put too much pressure on myself… and I would suspect you do, too.

The old blueprint is STRONG.

But I am F&$%ing S.T.R.O.N.G.E.R!!!

There is no question MKMMA and MKE are the REAL deal, the catalyst for personal growth and change. These are the guide book, and our journey, clearly a progression, custom-made by each of us along the way.

However, as self-directed individuals, we still need to guard against the old blueprint and pivot when necessary.

As Haanel points out this week, “… appearances are deceptive.”

When I look at my daily routine (lulled into the deception that these habits are getting me closer to my S.M.A.R.T. goals), I now recognize the rut of the old blueprint.

It changed its tactics, put its arm around my shoulder and told me “you’re doing GREAT! Keep up the good work.”

Ugh! Betrayed again!

Anything that isn't contributing to the positive growth needs 
to be severely analyzed and dropped like a 'hot tater.'

Because keeping them puppies around is putting me right where Subby wants me:

Sucking down peptides like a sailor on shore leave!

So I’m picking up my sword and getting back to slashing and hacking at that old dragon.

Clearing up and refining/revising the habits I thought were serving me…

Removing the ones that definitely aren’t.

So the good ones start turning towards my guiding star… instead of looking at the ground three feet ahead of me.

Oy.

Peace~

P.S. Sorry for the ‘R’ rating…

Week 16: The Challenge is On!

Here’s a great idea!