Modern Jedi NLP Mind Mastery

Archive for March, 2009

Through a typically strange series of events I found myself last night sitting in a class room at Amity High School in Woodbridge CT with Bernie Siegel. For those of you who may not know, Dr. Bernie Siegel was a pioneer in the medical field 30 years ago. His radical idea? Treating patients like human beings. Talking to them under anesthesia like they were still in the room. Using drawing and imagery. Connecting the Mind and The Body. Radical ideas 30 years ago.

He was reviled by the medical community. Research has proven his ideas to be sound.

In other words the guy is awesome! Every NLP practitioner and Hypnotherapist on the planet owes this Bernie Siegel a huge debt. As do holistic MD’s. If you ever need surgery and the surgeon talks to you and about you while your under as a human being, you owe him.

So I’m sitting there. Bernie asks the 20 of us why we are there.

We each tell our story a little bit. Bernie comments and acknowledges.

• Some are there because their well is dry and they need a shot of Bernie.
• Others are there because they are struggling with illness or the illness of a loved one.
• Others are there because they want to learn more, so they can help others more.

I wasn’t really sure why I was there. I think the healer needed a shot of healing. I’ve been struggling with some big questions in my life. Bernie told story after story that resounded in me.

His mom said all the time. “Do what makes you happy.”

That one hit a nerve. I’ve been working on that one. In spite of old beliefs and well meaning friends who say “Well, if you do something to pay the bills that might make you only a little miserable, then you can do what makes you happy on the weekends…”

His mother said “Do what makes you happy.”  My mother said, “You can’t always be happy.” My mother also said, “If at first you don’t succeed, give up!” (she meant it as a joke but my literal ears took it as gospel).

Bernie mentioned a cancer patient of his who said, “My mother’s words are eating away at me.”

For some reason through the 2 hour class my left eye keeps tearing up.

I am on the cutting edge in my life of doing what makes me happy. Writing songs. Recording them. Performing. Teaching NLP. Working with clients. Sometimes there is money. Much of the time there is not.

I keep moving forward anyway. Sometimes pissed off. Sometimes blissful.

I asked myself a big question in December. If I had only 6 months to live what would I be doing? The answer came. Music. Spending time with my family and friends. Simple.

So I’ve recorded all the songs I wrote last year. Learn more about it at MarkShepardSongs.com (Only 30 more volumes to go!) Along the way I discovered that the music business is in a delightful state of disarray. Everything is being reinvented. No one knows how to make a living from music anymore.

Do what makes you happy? How? Oh! I “get” it! It’s a new challenge. A natural Zen Koan for the student to solve.

As I clear each new challenge in my life old patterns bubble up. So I clear them. Next layer. Next layer.

Then a test to see if I can hold the shift…Sometimes I can. Sometimes I can’t. So what? Give it another shot.

We are never done people! NLP and hypnosis and Reiki and EFT and Time Line Therapy and every other approach offers the ability to clear through stuff that may have been holding us down for years. But it is not a magical pill. There is no such thing. You have to do the work.

Abraham Lincoln said: “If I had 8 hours to cut down a tree I would spend 7 sharpening the ax.”

These techniques of change and personal transformation and healing are equivalent to the ax. They are tools. Practicing the techniques is like sharpening the ax. But ultimately we have to get up off our “buts” and swing the damn thing at the problem. We have to take action. Sometimes we get blisters. Sometimes we slip and fall. Get back up. Give it another swing. and another. and another.

We have to put our money where our mouths are.

And that’s why I’m in the class. The coach needs a coach. The healer needs a healer. The teacher needs a teacher. No body is done. No one has all the answers. No one. Not even Bernie Siegel. He asks more questions than anybody.

I’ve been writing songs for 30 years. Couldn’t get them out. I tried back in 1979. Went to Greenwich Village expecting to be “discovered”. No one seemed very impressed. So “programmed” by my mother’s words.(if at first you don’t succeed…give up!) I gave up.

I got a job. I started a family. and ten years went by. When I started feeling like I was going to die. I had to get help. Studied with an Energy Healer named Mearah Marqua. 3 years later I was making a living as a kid performer. Added storytelling. Added Drums.

Another 10 years went by.

7 years ago I started to learn NLP, Hypnosis, Time Line Therapy, EFT, Energy Healing. I made a lot of progress and changes.Learning. Learning. Practicing. Experimenting. Having outcomes that were not what I wanted. We used to call them “failures”. Pulling myself back up from where I fell. Each time a little stronger.

It took some time. Life takes time. But I swung the ax. Now these songs are starting to get out on the internet and through projects like “Letters to Daddy” and “Together We Can Change The World“. I’m performing family concerts at schools.I’m taking action. There are a million more things I could be doing. But I’m taking action. Sometimes I do something and it doesn’t seem to generate any income.

So I get frustrated. I replace the negative failure thoughts with the chant, “Why does it work out better than I can possibly imagine?” I ask the Universe, God, Atman, Allah, All That Is, whatever you want to call it, for help. Help me! Guide me! What do I do next? How can I get this stuff out into the world where it can do some good? How can I be a healer? How can I earn a living doing what makes me happy? Writing songs makes me happy. Singing them makes me happy. Recording them makes me happy. Helping people grow and transform their lives makes me happy.

You think God doesn’t answer prayers? Why then does a friend call me and say “Mark, I signed up for this Bernie Seigel class…oh and BTW I signed you up too.” ?

At the very intersection of our fears, doubts, struggles, wounds, and deepest desires lies healing.

In the next few days I’ll be sharing more thoughts from Bernie’s class.

As I re-read my notes and the handouts, my left eye starts to well up with a tear…One question he asks is this: “If you had only 15 minutes to live what would you do?”

If it’s warm today I will take my guitar and play on the street in Downtown New Haven.

Here are a few questions for you:

What are you going to do today that you’ve been stopping yourself from doing?

What would you do if you knew you could succeed?

Please leave a comment below. I want to know.

Are You A Victim or Are You A Volunteer?

This video by Robert Smith does an absolutely fabulous job of explaining how we create our pain and problems as well as how we explain our screwed-up-ness to ourselves and how we maintain it.

Please watch this carefully and take notes. Let me know your thoughts. - Mark

This video is just awesome. Let me know what your best failure was in the comments below!

Okay, I'll go first. My Biggest Failure?

Bought 4 houses for nothing down at the top of the 1980's real estate bubble. Ended up losing everything. Declared bankruptcy. Got evicted. When all my grand schemes went poof! I ended up doing kids music for local nursery schools for $75 bucks an hour. That led to school performances and adding storytelling...created my DrumSongStory programs...which are keeping me going during this little economic "challenge" we're having now.

Your turn!

My Dad forwarded an e-mail to me today with an article from the Health Sciences Institute News letter. It was a story about a panic attack sufferer who got a major amount of relief by taking a supplement called Inositol (a natural substance found in the human body). Interestingly, she also used a specific mind control technique to take command of her thoughts.

"I came to realize the panic attacks were not uncontrollable once I understood how they started and grew. I was basically creating my own panic by bouncing back and forth between past guilts and fears, to future non-existent terrors. Back and forth, again and again.

"Now I anchor myself in the present. I force myself to think about what I'm saying, force myself to stop recalling past 'nasties' and force myself to stop imagining them as even nastier future outcomes. I stay right here, right now, in the present. It takes determination and effort, but it works."

Read the Full Health Sciences Institute News Letter Article

In my experience the more tools you have at your disposal the greater your chances of drug free relief. If a small dose of a supplement can help I'm not against it. I am against the pattern in our culture of treating the symptom but doing nothing for the cause.

The work I do with clients one on one and in my "Crush Anxiety" calls is all about clearing the root cause and having a full arsenal of easy to use tools to master your mind for a change. Using the NLP and Time Line Therapy™ processes I teach as well as Self Hypnosis and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) it is often possible to eliminate phobias, anxiety and panic attacks in a very short period of time. Everything I do is designed to put the client in a place of power where you are in charge of your own mind. Another point I want to make is that by working with your unconscious mind instead of fighting it, you don't have to necessarily use "force" to control your mind.

A recent example of this is the client I worked with on Friday. Emily had been physically attacked in a public place some 14 years ago and up until Friday, whenever she went anywhere she fully expected to be attacked and hurt. Here's the voice mail message she left me a day later:

"I feel great! I walked to the bank today and had no feeling of fear about getting shot. And I owe this to you. The old pattern is just a distant memory. I'm feeling really excellent and really happy."

Notice she did not say, that as she walked to the bank she forced herself to think positive thoughts. The changes we make sometimes require conscious awareness but almost never "force". The beauty of NLP and hypnosis is that once the changes are made on the unconscious level things just become different.

BTW Emily and I had a great time doing her foundation breakthrough session from 10 am-4 pm. The way i work is relaxed and safe. She has agreed to write about her experiences working with me so watch for a several part article by her in the near future.

If you or someone you know needs help with panic attacks, anxiety, phobias, self sabotage, procrastination, PTSD etc. I can be contacted at: mark[at]markshepard.com or 203-495-8808.

I'm also doing two "Crush Anxiety" teleseminars this week Wednesday at Noon and Thursday Evening at 7:00 pm US Eastern Time

The cost is $97 and comes with my "Crush Anxiety" e-book and audio series. There are also a few scholarships available so please contact me by phone or e-mail if cost is an issue for you.

Register for this month's CRUSH Anxiety Call
Wednesday, March 11 at Noon Eastern Time

or

Thursday Night, March 12 at 7:00 pm Eastern Time

For a one time fee of only $97 you get to work with me over the phone in a small group as well as get my Crush Anxiety E-book and complete audio set as my gift ($197 value). If you've been on one of these calls before you are welcome to come back any time or as many times as you want for free. Lines are limited so register now.

Courage!

Mark

p.s. If you or someone you love is suffering from phobia, anxiety, or panic attacks please stop waiting to contact me. In light of our economic crisis I am willing to consider payment plans, barter or any other creative way to value the help I offer and create a fair exchange that is a win/win for both of us.

E-mail: mark[at]markshepard.com

Telephone: 203-495-8808

This Week the economic meltdown is all around us. The Stock market is at 1980's lows. Companies world wide are falling like bowling pins. Millions of people are out of work or facing imminent layoffs. The news is full of grim experts like "Dr. Doom" predicting the end of the world as we know it. As I checked my yahoo e-mail this morning I was greeted with this headline:

Even 'Dr. Doom' Is Scared: Economy Much Worse Than Roubini Predicted

Don't follow the link above! I only put it in here to improve my search engine ranking. )

So a few thoughts and some options that I am using myself to stay hopeful and positive

1. STOP LISTENING TO THE NEWS! or at least use a grim news story to improve your search engine rankings like I did above. After all that's what the news folks are using to make their businesses prosper. Think about it! What businesses do you know are still doing really well? Who benefits if you are freaked out? The more eyeballs the News media can get the more advertising they can sell. So I'll say it again. STOP WATCHING AND LISTENING TO THE NEWS! BTW do you know what city is booming and growing in these hard times? Washington DC! Talk about thriving in a crisis!
2. Listen to positive, hopeful stories and music. I posted a special, hopeful song for you this week at www.MarkShepardSongs.com called Rose Colored Glasses. Download it FREE to your mp3 player or burn it to a CD and play it all day. Burn it into your Rostromedial Pre-Frontal Cortex. While you're there check out some of the other tunes I'm giving away free for your spiritual refreshment. I've also posted a hilarious "Trickster Tale" called "Monkey & Leopard" at www.DrumSongStory.com
3. Make a list of the miracles in your life and all the abundance you have right now. I've said this before but it bears repeating. You did not have to mine your own salt eh? You have people who do that for you! If you are reading this that means you have a computer and access to the world wide web! You are RICH. Focus on right now. At this very moment do you have clothes? Do you have running water? Do you have enough food for today? Do you have heat? Got shoes? Socks? It sounds simple but it's all about shifting your focus from one of lack to one of abundance. Speaking of the internet, there are huge opportunities for people who understand the new Web 2.0 social media and how to connect to prospects and customers on line. BTW if you are interested in learning what I've spent the last year absorbing and implementing in order to get the word out about my various projects, let me know. To date I've had over 50,000 views of my stop anxiety series as well as thousands of visits from 53 countries to my music site. I'm thinking about offering an affordable weekly coaching club for small business peeps so you can avoid all the dead ends and time wasters I had to work through. Web marketing costs almost nothing and can take your business or career to the next level despite the gloom and doom boys dire forecasts. Interested? E-mail me at mark [at] markshepard.com or call me at 203-495-8808
4. Say this to your self and write it out by hand 100 times (yes 100 times): "Why Does It Work Out Better Than I Can Possibly Imagine?" This will begin to re-program your unconscious mind to filter for good news rather than bad. Go ahead. I dare you. No. I double dare you. No. I double dog dare you! This is one of my own most used anti-anxiety practices
5. Go to www.ClearFear.com and watch the How To Stop Anxiety in 10 Minutes or Less Video. It's Free and it works: 50,000 people have already viewed it . The whole thing takes a little over 10 minutes. What do you have to lose? In addition to the video I have a lot of other info there that might be of help to you.
6. Register for this month's CRUSH Anxiety Call
   Wednesday, March 11 at Noon Eastern Time 

   or

   Thursday Night, March 12 at 7:00 pm Eastern Time

   For a one time fee of only $97 and get my Crush Anxiety E-book and complete audio set as my gift ($197 value). If you've been on one of these calls before you are welcome to come back any time or as many times as you want for free. Lines are limited so register now.

7. If you need serious help ask for it. Either from me or from another NLP practitioner. Sometimes a big part of making significant changes is simply the act of asking for help.Even though most of my focus these days is on my Life In Song Project and my DrumSongStory performances, I am still working with a select few clients one on one over the phone. Many of my clients have learned how to destroy their fears and anxious thinking patterns and gone on to double, triple and even quintuple their incomes (even in these scary times). If you need help I can often get people significant relief in just one or two NLP phone sessions. Some folks need more support. I charge either by the hour or a flat fee. I will also consider barter. So please do not let your current beliefs in "lack" stop you from getting help. E-mail me at mark[at] MarkShepard.com or call my office at (203) 495-8808

So just a few thoughts and resources for you. Please take advantage of whatever feels right for you. Remember:

• We can not change the world but we can change how we respond to the world.
• We can change how we perceive the world.
• We can change how we interact with the world.
• We can use these challenging times as a motivational tool to think outside the box of our old patterns and routines.
• We can use these times as opportunity triggers.
• Are there problems you can help other people solve?
• Are there talents and abilities you've always wanted an opportunity to use?
• Now's the time to start giving yourself permission to explore them.

I love you all and send you my best wishes and hopes for you all day every day!

Mark