Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ Abundance for Life, Effortless Success Daily Disciplines

Hi All,

I want to get a discussion going about Daily Disciplines. I've been at it for 5 days now. I started by doing a morning Gratitude Journal before doing Jack's "Creating Your Day" meditation, then in the evening doing the "Daily Review" meditation followed by a log of successes, misalignments, realignments and ending with an uplifting thought or insight.

What I'm noticing, in general, is that I like the sense of creation and pro-activeness that comes with the practice, but it takes me more time than I'd like, at least at this early stage.

Today, I did the "Mirror Exercise". I found it quite potent, much more so than I expected (although my nervousness beforehand was certainly a clue).

How are other people doing with their Daily Disciplines? What's working? What isn't working? What are you doing differently that is working better for you? What else are you discovering?

Let's jam with this!

Stevers

Good move, Stevers.
I too have worked at coming to terms with what I should actually be doing with the daily disciplines. In the end I transcribed Jack's advice and so have a much clearer idea of what he suggests we do.
I too love how simple things become when one sees things through the lens of successes, alignment in all its forms, experiencing my day in advance and a night time review. It catapults me to the cutting edge of life - so to speak.
Initially I felt overwhelmed as my time is so short - I already get up at 5 a.m. and I Holosync, so don't want to add hours and hours to my program.
I think the essential thing is to actually do it. Each time I actually do one of these exercises that Jack suggests, I gain huge wins. There is nothing particularly new in the disciplines, nor is it complicated, it is just that up to now I have never graduated on to actually DOING it. The task remained THEORY.
When I started to write my victory log, I became aware of just how much I was manifesting and within a short space of time. Writing a success log made all the difference. Previously I simply didn't notice how much of what I think about comes about. When I started to write it down, I got a whole new perspective on my success - I am successful already, Stevers!
What am I doing regarding daily disciplines?
1) I visualise my perfect day as I drive to work (saving time).
2) In the mornings - or at least once a day - I release (via Sedona Method) anything that is limiting me. I find this changes my perspective on everything and I enjoy it tremendously.
3) My husband and I discuss our day using the Daily Review format. Again this saves time and it brings someone else into it, making it more real.
4) I have bought a lovely book in which to log my successes - but have yet to do it systematically [a confession].
5) Mirror exercise is one of those things I have not attempted. Again it is so simple as a concept that I have just put it off. Reading about your experience of its value, I shall schedule a session asap.
In conclusion, I wholeheartedly agree that ES and its practises have made me feel pro-active and as THE CREATOR rather than a quasi-passenger in my life's affairs.
Looking forward to your continued sharing, Stevers - and others too -
Adieu
French Claire

Good comments, French Claire and Stevers!

I believe that some programs like ES get a person very involved, if s/he is determined to get the most out of it and follows it diligently. I think this excludes using other programs, which also require constant application, as opposed to occasional one like Paraliminals, Sedona, etc. I think the big word for all of this is COMMITMENT!

Hi there folks,
May I offer an observation and suggestion?
[permission assumed }
Observation: Getting going with a new daily discipline is a pretty big leap for most of us. And when you make it several new daily disciplines, it is even bigger! They all seem to be great ideas, and they do, indeed, feel great and help a lot when you do them. However, I have found from my experience that making a commitment to daily practice of just one new behavior can be setting myself up for failure. I have generally been keeping my life very full. Even when the new behavior is something that I will be able to multi-task into my current schedule or something that takes next to no time, it takes energy just to remember to do it. Soon I will come to a day that has extra challenges in it of one kind or another and I am bound to skip the new behavior. Then, of course, I get down on myself or see the program as something that just won't work for me because I really 'can't fit it in.'
Suggestion: Follow the 'baby step' approach to change. Choose one of the new disciplines to start with - i.e. either the mirror exercise, or the plan your day, or the review your day, or the journaling. Plan to do it at least once (or maybe twice) during the week. Celebrate your success when you do it. As you repeat it more often, and as you add other disciplines to the first one, you can have more bonus celebrations and feel better and better about yourself!
Or start with the 'baby step' of space-clearing. Make some room in your day by choosing a current behavior to let go of (at least for a while) to make room for the new one.

Personally, my first choice discipline is the mirror exercise. It can be done very quickly and it essentially does much of what the daily review does, leaving me with a wonderful positive self-affirmation. - then it motivates me to work from a task list of sorts, which gets me to set one up (plan your day) in the morning (or even the night before).
Some other pattern may work better for you. You know yourself best. I would encourage you to create a pattern that reflects the things you know about yourself - what you like doing (talking or writing), what motivates you (personal approval or others' respect), what is important to (or resonates with) you.
You may find it effective to work with a coach or an accountability partner to develop your own successful road.
Happy traveling!
Margaret Ida
Resolutions2Reality.com

I totally agree with you as making massive changes all at once is very hard since our lives have daily challenges of different sorts. We have coped with these challenges in some form or another, even if not too successfully.

The baby step is more likely going to be successful, but I believe persistence and continuity will make the difference in the end.

I find that programs like ES and others of similar nature teach us how to live again as what we learnt along the way did not prove to be helpful. If it had been, then we would not seek personal development programs.

Thanks French Claire, Margaret, and Unique Soul for your thoughts. Unique Soul, the persistence and continuity piece you mention is what seems to be front and center for me. Margaret, although I have always appreciated the "baby steps" philosophy, I tend to be one to "bite off more than I can chew and chew as fast as I can" - like the Paul Hogan quote from the course. In this case though, I have introduced individual daily disciplines one by one (OK, sometimes two at a time) over the past two weeks - not quite the way you define baby steps, but relatively small for me. Still I appreciate the reminder to look for ways to chunk down.


Right now, my list of Daily Disciplines looks like this:

Morning:
- Gratitude Journal followed by saying affirmations for my 6 Core Goals
- Create Your Day Meditation followed by Mind-Mapping my day on paper

Before Bed:
- Daily Review Meditation
- Mirror Exercise including successes, where I was out of alignment, recommendations for future re-alignments, and one positive inspiring thought

As I do each of these, I monitor my feelings, dowsing for a sense of resonance and engagement with what I'm doing: Am I really feeling the energy of gratitude? Am I excited/inspired to start my day? Do I feel supported by my inner coach in the Daily Review/Mirror exercise?...that kind of thing. All of this is moving me toward what Margaret calls, "creating a pattern that reflects the things you know about yourself."

The Mirror Exercise seems to be really doing it for me. I seem to integrate things better when I speak them (at least initially) than when I write them, and I am realizing that the person I most need to talk to right now is me. In the past, the approval of others had at times been a motivating force (with both positive and negative consequences) for me, but these days it's my own opinion of myself that has the most influence. It's as if I have so thoroughly internalized all those needs (for respect, for acceptance, for approval, and bottom line - for love) that the person I most need to hear from is me, face to face and eyeball to eyeball. I think I'll call it "De-constructive Narcissism"!

I have only done the exercise twice, and yet it is already crystal clear to me that this is something that I have been truly needing to galvanize these daily disciplines and to anchor my relationship to the whole ES course. What I am noticing is that in the same way I am able to see through others facades (although I have learned not to draw attention to them without the other person's permission), I am able to see through my own pretense when I look in the mirror as I give voice to appreciating what I have accomplished for the day. I am giving myself permission to both see through my own facade and, likewise, to reveal to myself what is underneath that mask and receive the appreciation and positive feedback being offered, all within the context of talking about how it went for me today. French Claire, I love that you are doing a kind of Daily Review in conversation with your husband, and I can imagine doing something like that with my partner down the road, but right now it seems the conversation needs to be between me and "the man in the mirror."

One last discipline that I've been doing the past two weeks is taking a 5 minute relaxation break at least 5 times a day. What I do is set my watch-timer for 55 minutes. When the alarm goes off, I take a break and do some form of deep relaxation (I have a number of options to choose from). Sometimes I am in the middle of doing something (like sitting in a staff meeting or cooking dinner) so it isn't always practical to drop what I'm doing, but typically I am able to do it at least 5 times a day. I am finding a marked difference in my overall disposition, to be sure, and I am also beginning to use the breaks to ask where to put my attention and intention next. My goal is to gradually foster more of a constant conversation with both my body and my inspiration, but right now I'm happy with just being less "wired" during the course of the day.

Enjoy yourselves!

Stevers

Dear Stevers, Margaret Ida and Unique Soul,
I am getting so much out of reading this. Thank you sincerely for your sharing your experiences.

I agree absolutely with the baby steps concept. Problem is I have an inner knowing that this is what I should be doing, so I want to get right in and start doing my disciplines - I WANT CHANGE. I'm ready to change.

I found so many wonderful tools in ES that I don't know what to include and what to leave out. [I would have skipped the face-to-face mirror exercise, but have reviewed this since reading your experience, Stevers.]
I have whittled the array of possible disciplines down to these:
1) Create your ideal day meditation (I took Jack's spoken meditation down, typed it up including alterations that I want (e.g. got rid of that white light ritual and instead plugged into the energy of the universe where I draw down what I need for the day.... energy, courage, a feeling of having more time...)
2) Ensure continuous focus [a visual approach via photos, dreamboard,visual prompt cards as I believe my true self is non-verbal and accepts visions readily. This is just scattered about my house, workspaces.]
3) Lifting those downbeat vibrations - doing this via Sedona Method any time I'm in a down-state, as needed, and for two hour stints at weekends. Finding it extremely effective as I am just blowing away limitations as they arise and this rapidly changes my perceptions of what I want and how to get it. For me, not having any particular feelings equates to total peace. I love that.
4) Attitude of Gratitude - haven't worked on this yet. Just a bit now and again, recognising the good stuff when I notice it, but not a discipline of any kind yet.
5) TAKE ACTION. Now this is the biggie for me. My time is so limited. I know well what I want to do, what I should be doing, but as I am supporting the family alone (husband in education and without income).... I am trying to take some steps, but it is no where near the Five-a-Day quota. Two a week if I can. Come July I will be free of the school hum-drum (not where I want to be at all, but need the money, plus the Dept of Education are determined to keep me so keep throwing out opportunities.)
Basically I realise more than ever through ES, that ACTION must be taken.
6) Acknowledge it is working - use Success Log for this. Quick, easy and it has amazed me how successful I am at manifesting. ES works. I can create things and fast.
7) The Evening Review - a work in progress to slot it in as a discipline - do it when I can but I'm often tired. Great to do on walks with my husband.

Stevers, I like how you whittled it down to four, two a.m. and two p.m. Feels just right to me and do-able. I just love your mapping the day - nice and visual - also easy to get into details without having lists (lists just seem like so much to do before one even starts the day!). With your permission and blessing I would love to adopt that practise.

Like you, Stevers, I am taking time through the day to disconnect from everyone else's issues and reconnect with my goals. I have found the 10 minute supercharger paraliminal quite helpful for this. It feels like a rest and time out just for me AND it is short.

Enjoy today, your ideal day, and may tomorrow be perfect too.
Adieu,
French Claire

French Claire,

It certainly appears to me that you're covering all the bases with the daily disciplines you're doing. In my book that classifies as a massive amount of attr-action. Maybe not the "rule of five" kind of action, but the way I see it, you are laying a very solid foundation for whatever actions naturally come to you to do within the time that you do have to do them. As I first got into the course, my intuition was to make getting all the daily disciplines firmly in place as habit/inclination a top priority. I agree that taking inspired action (and lots of it) is pretty darned important in this Effortless Success game, and yet, for myself, integrating those foundational disciplines stacks the odds in favor of having the taking of action be something that is both enjoyable and truly sustainable. This was something that was definitely lacking in my past attempts to "create the life of my dreams", and I am curious to see how that can be different this time around.

That said, I am also appreciating the value of tinkering with and streamlining the process, not to avoid doing the work but to find ways that work best for me in the shortest amount of time in order to free up more of the day for the kind of actions that can serve to make those dreams come true. But I first made sure to do the long version of each of Jack's recommended daily disciplines (it ended up being about a weeks worth) to get a solid sense of them, before beginning to prune and modify (despite my resistance to some of his approaches and phrasings). I imagine the forms will continue to evolve over time, as I make these practices my own.

The one area I have not been able to access fully (yet) is what you are calling "Ensuring Continuous Focus". I am consistent and verbally affirming my "Super Six" goals (I do EFT while I say and visualize them as having already happened), but I have not made a vision board, book or cards, nor have I had any success with the Clear Vision exercise (which I did today for the first time and felt a tremendous amount of fear and resistance). I have more to say about that, but I think I'll start another thread for that one.

Anyway, one of the things I am appreciating about your entries, French Claire, is that you are most definitely doing the course. Sometimes it isn't clear to me from the entries I read whether people are actually working the material, but with you there is no doubt, and I am grateful to be able to talk about the things that arise as the rubber meets the road. Thank you for playing full out!

And now its time for a little De-constructive Narcissism before I bed down for the night.

Blessings,
Stevers

I really appreciate the great input from both of you, French Claire and Stevers. From your experience it looks like Effortless Success is a misnomer! You are putting lots of effort in applying what Jack teaches in his course. Of course, you are also reaping the rewards.

G'day Unique Soul,

I wouldn't say Effortless Success is a misnomer - just it is chock-a-block with exercises, it is an entirely practical approach to becoming successful.

You really get to the kernel of things on this course. It may be obvious, but how do you live the life of your dreams if you aren't perfectly sure what you want? Likewise, how can you be blissful if you aren't in touch with that which gives you bliss. Much of the ES course to date has been about clarifying..... writing one's Life Purpose. Generating 101 goals and then selecting those which are key. Getting daily disciplines done.

For me, ES is a journey of "how to get to where you want to be". This is why it is sometimes exhilerating and sometimes scary. There are no excuses. ES has a tool for dealing with every stumbling block I have yet encountered. I am now using Sedona for releasing limitations, fears, old stuff that is hampering my progress....

It may sound like a lot of effort. Perhaps it is but it doesn't feel like it (to me). I can honestly say that I am enjoying the whole process more than any other course I've done in a while.

In a way I am glad that I'm not in dissonance about really wanting to have a SUCCESSFUL LIFE. You see, there are no excuses. I think Canfield knows (through personal getting down and doing it himself) all the excuses and stumbling blocks. If motivation falters, there are tools supplied to motivate. If it is a case of resistance or fear, there is a tool for that. Etc. Etc.

I feel that I have a blue print from here to exactly where I want to be. To get there, all I have to do is take the necessary steps, do my daily disciplines, loose the feelings and beliefs that stand between me and my goals.

Regarding reaping the rewards..... as Stevers says, that is material for another thread.

Thanks for the feedback guys, and Margaret too. Keep it coming!
Adieu from a beautiful, hot, sunny east of France,
French Claire