Just Another Magic Monday

Do you remember The Bangles hit 80′s song Manic Monday?  I love changing the lyrics to Magic Monday and let me tell you why.  I used to work at a swank LA restaurant and, like most LA restaurants, its employees were a talented group of individuals with big aspirations.  Each of us dreamed of living our ideal careers and wished we didn’t have to serve food to earn our income. (Ever feel like this?)

One Monday night we decided to press “pause” on our serving frustrations and “Fast Forward” to the ideal lives that we each yearned to live. We huddled at the hostess stand as I invited everyone to join me in a fun little exercise I call…

LIVING WITH THE END IN MIND

I chirped, “Imagine that we are two years into the future and tonight we are each coming back from our successful lives and careers to catch up with each other and to share how far each of us has come since our serving days. At this special reunion, the owner of the restaurant has agreed to let us wait tables and (because we are all extremely prosperous) we have chosen to give our tips to charity.”  A few people laughed, but everyone agreed to play along. 

As we prepared to open the restaurant, each of us imagined our lives two years into the future.  I then encouraged everyone to share out loud.  James confided that he was putting the final touches on the solo music album that he just recorded.  Shelley had written an inspiring children’s book and Hugh was acting as a series regular on a network TV show produced by his favorite playwrite. I disclosed that I had flown in from my mountain home where I coach my clients and write books when I’m not traveling and speaking to audiences around the world.  Everyone shared, with great detail, how beautifully their life had unfolded.

GAIN CONTROL OF YOUR MIND

That night at the restaurant, we were each Living With The End In Mind. When you live with the end in mind, you are actually programming your mind for success and setting in motion a powerful chain of events. Everything we see in our lives starts in our minds.

“You see, things are always created twice: first in the workshop of the mind and then, and only then, in reality. I call this process ‘blueprinting’ because anything you create in your outer world began as a simple blueprint in your inner world.” ~ Robin Sharma

By living with the end in mind, you are strengthening your belief in the successful outcome of your goal.  The more you focus on the successful outcome, the more you believe it.  The more you believe it the more you feel it, and the more you feel it the faster it unfolds.  This is also known as the law of attraction. 

Shakespeare said, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” In other words, it is our thinking that makes something so.  And that is what we were doing at the restaurant.  We were imagining our successful futures and blueprinting that into our conscious and subconscious minds.  

“Formulate and stamp indelibly on your mind a mental picture of yourself as succeeding. Hold this picture tenaciously and never permit it to fade. Your mind will seek to develop this picture!” ~ Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

FEELING GOOD, NOW

Another powerful side effect of using your imagination to see yourself achieving a goal, as if it is happening right now, is that you summon forth the qualities and feelings that you secretly wish to experience by attaining that goal.  So, without having to actually reach the goal, you get to feel as though you have!

Research has proven that the mind and central nervous system cannot tell the difference between a real event and one that has been imagined. When you picture an event vividly in your imagination it is recorded as if it is a real experience in your mind and body.

The result? You feel great! You bring all those great feelings of Joy, Vitality and Confidence forward into the present moment. Plus, in this good-feeling state, you often receive flashes of insight and inspired ideas that support the successful manifestation of your vision or goal.

 

SHIFTING FROM “GETTING” TO “TAPPING IN” – A GIFT WE GIVE OURSELVES

Of course, manifesting something that we want does not guarantee our happiness.  In fact, the “getting” of the goal has little to do with our sense of fulfillment.  That’s right, you heard me!

You see, most of us spend our energy frantically attempting to reach goals in the hopes of experiencing certain qualities such as love, joy, peace, harmony, etc…  However, the reality is that no circumstance, person or place holds those qualities that we yearn to feel. These qualities are inside each of us (in abundance) and they are eagerly seeking to express through us. 

However, we often don’t allow ourselves to experience those qualities unless or until we reach our goal.  Why withhold that from yourself?  That’s like walking to the end of your driveway to get your your mail and refusing to breathe until you reach the mailbox.  What would you do if you didn’t get to the end of the driveway quickly?  You would collapse, because you were withholding (from yourself) the necessary oxygen you needed to actually achieve your goal.

Unfortunately, this is how many of us operate when it comes to our deepest desires.  We withhold our loving, peace and joy from ourselves until we achieve our goal.  This is why many people give up on their dreams or experience burn-out: They hold back (from themselves) the natural life force that’s trying to emerge from within them! Living With the End in Mind breaks this cycle and supports us in tapping back into our Power Source and experiencing the love, peace and joy that resides within us. 

BACK AT THE RESTAURANT… 

Within minutes of opening the restaurant, the phone lines flooded with reservations. People were walking inside and commenting, “It looked so inviting that we had to come in…” What started as 12 reservations, skyrocketed to over 60 within a few hours.

Each of us tried to hold back our excitement as we continued acting as though we were already living our ideal lives.  We joked with tables and shared about the prosperous happenings in our careers and personal lives (after all, we were living as if we had already achieved it!)

Can I tell you how much fun I had?  Never before was I so confident and sure of myself.  I was comfortable and relaxed and I had no concerns about what the guests thought about me.  I was so sure that they were enjoying themselves that I could feel their gratitude for having me as their server.  In fact, many of them expressed that gratitude to the management saying, “We don’t remember when we have had more fun than tonight.  The service and atmosphere was incredible!”

The aura of the restaurant was electric and the Joy each of us experienced was greater than any other night at the restaurant.  It was palpable–and our tips reflected it. This Monday night was more prosperous than any other night of the week!

As we ended our shift, we vowed to make every Monday night, “Magic Monday” and we joyfully looked forward to supporting each other in Living with the End in Mind. It was a truly magical time and the restaurant’s popularity grew rapidly.  Mondays became one of the busiest nights at the restaurant–and working at the restaurtant become one of my favorite things to do.  Imagine that, I went from resenting my job to looking forward to coming to work because I loved how good I felt on “Magic Mondays.”

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

If you are wondering if this process had any long-term effects on me and my fellow staff members at the restaurant, you may find it interesting to know: Hugh is now acting as a series regular on the popular network TV show, The Unit which was created by his favorite playwrite, David Mamet.  Amazingly enough, Hugh is now working closely with David on several other projects.

James (jameswhelan.net), who has completed another amazing solo album, has also scored several Hollywood films with his original music. Shelly has written a beautiful children’s book and her artwork is being sought after by galleries across the country. And in this moment, as I write this blog, I am looking out the bay window of my beautiful home that stands above a river in the Rocky Mountains where I coach my clients and write the speeches that I share with audiences around the world.

START YOUR OWN MAGIC MONDAY

What could you create in your life if you began to practice Living With The End In Mind? Imagine if you took a little time each week to see the successful fulfillment of your vision or goals.

Each week I have my own “Magic Monday” and I follow the exercise of Living with the End in Mind that we practiced at the restaurant.  How would your life change if you regularly imagined and felt your ideal life as if it were happening now? How might your beliefs shift to support you? Come on, let’s have a little fun.  I’ve typed the process of Living with the End in Mind below.  It will only take 5 minutes. Let’s do it together. 

TRY IT!

All you need is 5 minutes to enjoy this little exercise.

1. Find a quiet space to sit comfortably and be present with yourself without interruption.
2. Close your eyes and breathe deeply as you quiet your mind.
3. Imagine yourself, as if you are in the future, experiencing the fulfillment of your ideal goal or situation.
   • See yourself doing it. Watch your hands beneath you.. Feel yourself breathe… smell the smells… notice the feelings you are feeling. Breath in those feelings.. let them fill you… Experience how great if feels to be doing what you love. Notice how nice it feels to know that your journey has indeed led you to this joyful moment of experiencing what you love so much. You’re doing it. Feel it. Breathe it in and soak up all the good feelings that are present.
   • If any distracting thoughts come up, gently take yourself back to your vision of success and continue playing there. Do this for 5 minutes.

 Great job!  How was that for you?  I’d love to hear your experience of that exercise. 

WANT TO JOIN ME?

Feeling a little resisant to trying this on your own? Then join my “Magic Monday Manifesting Circle” and be powerfully supported in experiencing the reality of your ideal life–now.  (Like taking a yoga class, you’ll experience deeper and faster benefits with the added energy and focus of the group). Each group is limited to 8 participants as I provide group coaching designed to get you feeling the reality of your ideal life… and seeing it unfold right in front of you.  To register for an upcoming 4 week Manifesting Circle, Click here!

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