In Search of your true self….Walter Staples

Here is an odyssey into self awareness and self mastery by Walter Staples. In the book ‘In Search of your true self’ you will find a myriad of inspiring words, ideas and concepts, which helps you understand that you are born rich, and the immense treasure lies buried deep within you.

The message put forth by the author through his Renaissance program is: It matters only who we think we are. For if we change who we think we are, we change who we are!

You make a difference by giving something of yourself for the betterment of others. Dare to dream big, and in the process: Set yourself on fire!!
Insights through various illustrations given were:

1. We are responsible for our life:
The price of greatness is responsibility.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
To be what we are and to become what we are capable of being is the only end of life.
There are three major challenges that we face: To master the subject matter, apply the concepts, and teach them to others.
Remember three things:
i. Life is a series of thoughts.
ii. We become what we think about.
iii. We can choose what we think about.

Seven main elements of the Universal Achievement Process that must be considered when pursuing a goal of any consequences are:
I. Desire
II. Clear, focused goals.
III. Unquestionable belief in both ourselves and our goals.
IV. A plan to implement our goals.
V. Taking consistent action in the direction of our goals.
VI. Assessing our results, and changing our approach.
VII. Keep on taking action, all the while focusing on the desired outcome.
Leaders are in the business of empowering others, and need to develop key communications skills that relate to motivating, goal-setting, directing, team-building, planning, delegating, monitoring, training, appraising, counseling and rewarding.


2. Our thoughts are our choice:
The relationship goes something like this:
i. Successful results, come from
ii. Persistent, focused effort, comes from
iii. Clear, meaningful goals, come from
iv. Positive feelings about self (representing high self esteem), come from
v. Strong core beliefs, come from
vi. Individual thoughts and experience
The hardest sell in the world is: You selling you on yourself!
Thoughts plus faith creates form. Sooner or later the one who wins, is the one who thinks he can!
To think, is to SELECT, thoughts from a wide range, EXERCISE CONTROL ON THE THOUGHTS, DECIDE, to be happy.
Strive to become excellent at something you think is important and that intensely interests you.
Know the answers to the Five Ultimate questions:
1. Who am I?
2. How did I get this way?
3. Why do I think, feel and behave the way I do?
4. Can I change, improve for the better?
5. And the most important question of all-HOW?


3. We create our own reality:
The enemy of excellence is good. Our potential is a function of three primary ingredients: our natural talents, our personal belief system, and our inner desire. Our outer world is a reflection of our inner world. Either we see what we believe, knowing we can control what we believe; or we believe what we see, knowing we have no control over what we see. The world itself is a neutral place. No single event in and of itself is either positive or negative. It just is!

4. Think, Re-think, then think again:
There are three real limitations inherent in the sensory perception process of accessing information. Viz.
• limited,
• inconsistent and
• biased.
Because of this it is impossible to get a realistic sense of our True self from looking solely at the physical world. Three critical elements in managing our mental state, that comprise all new thought creation is A-C-E:
• Affirm
• Conceptualize and
• Emotionalize
We think in three dimensions:
• Idea
• Image
• Emotional
And therefore the three pillars of the self are:
• The self concept
• The self image and
• The self esteem

FIVE FABULOURS FACTS:
I. Success is not an accident.
II. Success leaves clues; so does failure.
III. Success is the result of cause and effect.
IV. Our thoughts are the cause, and our behavior and circumstances are the effect but
V. We can choose our thoughts, and hence control their effects.
As a result, we can all learn to become more successful at anything, anytime!
We must first change the state of our inner world if we want to change the state of our outer world.

5. Self-esteem is everything:
It is a person’s judgment of himself, the kind of friends he chooses, how he gets along with others, the kind of person he marries, and how productive he will be. It is the mainstream that slates each of us for success or failure as a human being.

Negative thoughts bring about:
Fear, Anger, Anxiety, Guilt
Other examples of negative behavior brought out by low self-esteem include:
Blaming and complaining, need for constant attention and approval, need to always be right, and fear of failure and fear of rejection.

Here are some suggestions you may want to consider to bring about significant change in your life:
i. Forgive anyone and everyone who has ever done you any harm at any time in your life, including yourself. It annoys your enemies.
ii. Stop blaming any external factors or others for your current state of affair.
iii. Take the approach, ‘My future is in my hands. I am responsible. I accept the challenge.
iv. Accept what has happened, for a reason and a purpose, and will serve you in the future. Learn from the experience and move on.
v. Results don’t lie.

Our prehistoric man evolved by:
• Adapting (furs for clothing, caves for shelter)
• Innovating (bones and rocks for utensils and weapons)
• Experimenting (fire, growing and eating different foods) and
• Communicating

Natural success formula that exists to date is:
I. Decide what you want
II. Take action
III. Assess your results
IV. Change your approach.
V. Keep on taking action…all the while focusing on the desired outcome


6. The comfort zone complex:
Discomfort is a fact of life for anyone wanting more. Yet we must learn to live with it, accept it-we must even seek it out. For discomfort is a sure sign of growth, of wanting to improve ourselves and our situations in life.

Mastery over life cannot be achieved through domination over our physical world. It comes through an understanding of the inner workings of our mind.

Here are some ways we can use our mind to much greater effects:
SUSPEND ALL DISBELIEF: Act as if it were impossible to fail. Take a quantum leap in faith, and you will have a quantum leap in result. If anyone can do it, you can do it.
USE FEAR AS A POWERFUL TOOL: Most fears are only False Evidence Appearing Real. Use it as an useful device. It can be controlled and directed for positive results if we learn more about its origin and features.
(FEAR: Feel Energetic And Act for Result)

7. The power of Belief:
If you want a quality, act as if you already had it, try the ‘as if’ technique. Having ‘faith’ is not a simple business.
All success must include three essential elements:
1. Know what you want.
2. believe you can get it – have faith, and
3. Take action in the direction you want to go.
Our mental attitude is defined as our habitual manner of acting, feeling and thinking that shows our disposition, opinions and beliefs about life. The three key words are ‘habitual’, ‘thinking’ and ‘beliefs’. Therefore the attitude we have is a direct result of the beliefs we hold.
(It is our attitude that determines our altitude)
We’re engineered for success but programmed for failure, and its absolutely true.
When we were born, we didn’t know anything about anything and hence didn’t have a bunch of beliefs about anything either. Our mind was simply a blank slate. Then we experienced something of life, and learned things about ourselves and our world. And if we validated this same information often enough in our later experiences, we accepted it as ‘true’ and it became part of our reality profile.
Consider each of the following beliefs and make them a part of your life:
1. Winners are made, not born.
2. The dominant force in our existence is the thinking we engage in on a daily basis.
3. We are empowered to create our own reality of who we are and what kind of world we live in.
4. There is some benefit to be had from every adversity.
5. The personal belief system we now have is total choice.
6. We are never defeated until we accept defeat as a reality, and decide to stop trying.
7. We already possess the ability to excel in at least one key area of our life.
8. The only real limitations on what we can accomplish in our life are those we impose on ourselves.
9. There can be no great success without great commitment.
10. We need the support and cooperation of other people to achieve any worthwhile goal.

Where do thoughts come from? It is not something that we make, they represent universal intelligence that each of us can access through our subconscious mind.

We are all impacted by events in our life, some controllable, and some not. It is our response to an event that determines its impact on us. It is only thoughts that can stop us from moving into a new direction. We want control- and control comes from exercising our ‘response-ability’. Life is a harsh teacher if we let it consume us at will. We have to stand up and be counted.

8. How to Change core beliefs:

Steps to creating new beliefs:
I. Practice original thinking
II. Change the words you say to yourself
III. Change the pictures you have in your head about yourself
IV. Change your physiology
V. Change the information you expose yourself to
VI. Associate with other successful people.
VII. Take action.
VIII. Act the part

9. Have a dream bigger than you.
Develop a sense of urgency. What people lack most in their life is a vision of a compelling future, a burning desire that stirs their emotions, and gives meaning and direction to their very existence. Do it now! What do you want to be remembered when you are gone? If you have only one year to live? We must literally sparkle inside if we want to be vibrant and full of creative energy. Be in the active mode-think, dream, do. We should have a purpose (an overall direction, which only you can discover all by yourself) and a goal (which is tangible), which is consistent with our deepest values. If you don’t know what your values are, you need only look at your actions, to see what they are, for actions don’t lie.

It isn’t so important what amount of money you earn-it is what you do with what you earn, that is important.

10. The five great wonders of the mind
When we change our thinking, we change our beliefs;
When we change our beliefs, we change our expectations;
When we change our expectations, we change our attitude;
When we change our attitude, we change our behavior;
When we change our behavior, we change our performance,
When we change our performance, we change our life.
It’s simply this, when we change our thinking, we change our life.
We are here to see what we can add to, not to see what we can get from life.
Coming to the five great wonders of the mind:
1) We think in pictures, that are activated by words,
2) We always act out the pictures in our head,
3) We can change the pictures in our head to whatever we want, (it’s the only one over which we have control)
4) The mind cannot tell the difference between fact and fiction,
5) The mind can imagine things for us that we cannot begin to contemplate.

11. Focus on Contribution
When we lose ourselves in giving, we find our reason for living. The only one who literally ‘makes’ money is the person who works in a mint operated by the government. The rest of us must EARN it. We earn it by providing others with goods and services they need and want. Money is a medium of exchange.

Some of the elements of a self-initiated and self-directed program to develop personal and professional excellence are:
1. Develop an appreciation of what excellence is in the area in which you want to specialize.
2. Understand that excellence is not a destination, it’s a journey.
3. List the many benefits that will accrue to you as a result of becoming excellent in your career.
4. List the things you need to do and the obstacles you must overcome in your quest to become excellent.
5. Commit to these steps, no matter what, knowing that this is the price you have to pay to reap the rewards you want.

We need to organize our time and focus on our resources, on a daily basis. The great wheel of life comprises of six key areas.
I INNER FITNESS
i. Physical
ii. Mental
iii. Spiritual
II OUTER ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
iv. Financial
v. Career
vi. family

1. The wheel is strong, only if all six spokes are present and are significant players. If one ore more spokes is missing, the wheel is distorted in shape and wobbles when put in motion.
2. Our very own senses of self lies at the core of the wheel and directly affects all the other parts.
The key then is to ensure that we are making constant improvement in each of these areas, and have a proper balance among all six areas, such that each area is nurtured and enhanced.

Philippinas 1:6 says “ Be confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a great work in you will complete it”.

12. Exploring our spiritual dimension
Summarizing our key findings:
1. BASIC DRIVE: We can sink, simply survive or succeed according to our basic drives. We each have the means to fall to the depths of despair or rise to the heights of greatness. Human nature, if left unchecked, unchallenged and uncharted will destroy us all.
2. COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS: It is our understanding of ourselves. It represents our sense of self in relation to our world and what we see as our possibilities in it.
3. BIFOCAL SENSING CAPABILITY: The human mind has it. During the early life, it looks outward, and later it looks inward. One or other perspective always predominates.
4. SIGHT: If our focus is outward, we tend to see negative, and if it is inward we tend to see positive.
5. UNIVERSAL INTELLIGENCE: Is present all around us, we are it, and it is us.
6. LIFE: Is not a physical thing; but a mental construct.
7. OUR TRUE SELF is who each of us in fact is.
8. OUR BELIEFS, VALUES AND ACTIONS, help us achieve things.
9. TOOLS: Our ability to contemplate, conceptualize, introspect and imagine are the tools we can use to discover who we really are. It is by first changing our inner world, that we can change our outer world.
10. CONTRIBUTIONS: How we thing, behave and give.

Mastery of life has as its very foundation knowledge and understating- of ourselves and our world, of others, of our profession, of our primary purpose in life, of the cause behind all things.
Thought is first cause. In the beginning, we are. Pure consciousness.
As we are, we thing. As we think, we believe. As we believe, we imagine.
As we imagine, we become. As we become, we do. As we do, We contribute.
As we contribute, we receive. As we receive, we become fulfilled.
All in search of our True Self.

Key elements that define our ability to keep, ‘on purpose,’ to keep focused and moving ahead, a sort of driveability quotient or unstopability index is HRR factor:

H – HAPPINESS: Being positive and enthusiastic, despite what the world is telling us.

R – RESILIENCE: Being able to cope, indeed, overcome. Any obstacle or adversity, and still move ahead.

R – RESOURCEFULNESS. Being able to find the insight and energy to seize opportunities in order to achieve the results that are important to us.

Remember:
Life is a series of thoughts.
We become what we think about.
We can choose what we think about.

These are the primary connecting links in the personal empowerment process. We empower ourselves by gaining control over our thoughts and actions in order to get the results we want, the emotional and material rewards we all so desperately seek in our life.

Our greatest responsibility, then, is simply to act as we know we should. Take us personal responsibility and only then rise your expectation, then you will be happy.