SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS

I have just closed the last page of a life altering book entitled, SPIRIT OF CHAMPIONS, with a sub post on the cover, "Great Achievers Reveal How to Integrate Mind, Body and Spirit." The authors are Thorn Bacon and Lyle Nelson.

This is one of those moments when words are not adequate for expressing the depth of the impact of this material. I can only toss out the invitation to any who happen to stumble upon this message to have a leap of trust and partake of the message. For me it was a phenomenal read, and a part of a gathering testimony for me that when the student is ready the teacher will appear, or the testimony that there really is a divine order in life. I've had this book for years and have never opened it. The other day it fell off the shelf into my arms and spoke to my spirit and said, "Now, you're ready."

My gratitude to the Universal principles and the Power of Intention, and the Laws of Attraction, and the Divine System that makes it all work.

There is too much to share in a single post, but here are a few dangling carrots - [For you who are too young to know about the dangling carrot-- that is how we used to get the donkey to move when we wanted to ride him at Aunt Dode and Uncle Richard's house in Cottonwood, AZ. We'd tie a carrot on a string attached to a stick, and hold it out over the donkey's head just out of reach, and the little ass would go for the unreachable carrot and we'd get our ride.]

I'm not trying to liken any reader to a little "ass," but hopefully it will intrigue you enough to take the journey. The book is filled with interviews with accomplished atheletes, some who became authors. They speak of the experiences of being in the "zone." So many inspired writers are quoted and borrowed from that I've filled the front covers with the titles of books to be read.

Here's a thumbnail sketch of the "Self-Actualizers" presented in the book. [ Self-Actualization is a term we hear a lot about, but may not understand that being "self-actualized is defined as OPERATING AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OF PERSONAL POTENTIAL."

So here are the ways to accomplish this:

1. Self-Actualizer Number One: AFFIRMATIONS - Affirmations speak to our potential to perform, more than our current state of perfection, (and this performance is for anything we desire, not just sports.)

2. Self-Actualizer Number Two: CLEARLY DEFINE GOALS - Goal setting is indespensable to the achievement of the outcomes we wish for.......it is amazing how many opportunities our subconscious, with the help of the RAS, can "see" to make our goal(s) come true. [RAS = reticular activating system - we don't have control over the RAS, it silently functions to create what our conscious mind is focused on. Gives new meaning to "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," doesn't it?]

3. Self-Actualizer Number Three: VISUALIZATION - According to Dr. Maxwell Maltz, "Your mind cannot distinguish the difference between that which has actually happened and that which is vividly imagined." Information is loaded into our subconscious more effectively through images than through words... [Read on the "eye of faith" Alma 5:15; and Ether 12:19-20]

4. Self-Actualizer Number Four: PLANNING - As we plan, we are creating a goal or event; we are thinking about how to bring about the outcomes we want. Planning requires focus; and focus unleashes the potential of the mind.. When we have a plan, the Reticular Activating System (RAS) will alert us to all relevant information that could help us accomplish the plan.

5. Self-Actualizer Number Five: CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT THAT FOSTERS PRAISE AND ENCOURAGEMENT. "Often, the first big step to self-actualization is to turn your back on what is in order to participate in what can be. Remember, it is much easier to change yourself than to change somebody else."

6. Self-Actualizer Number Six: FOCUS ON THE REWARDS NOT THE SACRIFICES. "Everybody has to pay a price for success; that's how life is....Focus...on what you have accomplished, congratulate yourself on where you are, and make a point of creating new rewars as objectives to work toward..."

7. Self-Actualizer Number Seven: ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR SPIRITUAL NATURE - We will be able to regard ourselves in high esteem if we will develope these three traits:
1. An obligation to do the morally right thing
2. A belief that life has a purpose
3. A strong sense of individuality, but a realization that all
individuals are a part of a grander order.

8. Self-Actualizer Number Eight: MAINTAIN YOUR MAGIC CARPET - our bodies are our "magic carpet." "...It is bodily energy that allows you to transport your mental and spiritual strengths to where you want to use them for as long as is earthly possible."

"The brain only responds to positive or negative thoughts furnished by the mind. So make of yourself a sensational human by believing that you are."

The book is a life line to anyone who desires to change for the better. It has been incredibly inspiring for me; maybe it'll bless you as well.