| |
| Chapter One - Crushed By Life |
|
|
 |
Chapter 1 - Crushed By Life
I grew up on a small farm near the outskirts of town. A thirteen-year-old boy wanted my big sister to be his girlfriend, so he would walk all the way to our house any chance he got. Because my sister wasn’t interested in his pursuits, he spent his visits with me. I thought it was great; he was older and the attention of an "upperclassman" made me feel important. We talked about many things, but mostly he just wanted to talk about "her." My sister informed me that it was my job to let him down easy and get rid of him. But as much as I tried to tell him, he just did not want to believe it was over.
It was a week before Valentine's Day when this boy made his last visit to our home. I was sitting on our living room floor cutting out and addressing cards to my classmates when a knock sounded at our front door. When I opened the door, this boy asked to see my sister. She reluctantly followed him outside on to our front porch. That young boy, who had his entire life before him, pulled a gun from his coat pocket, put it to his head and ended his life forever. He was crushed by life!
Although this tragedy is intense, it fully illustrates my point. For reasons we shall never know, this young man faced a frustration that consumed all rational thought. More than likely, there were several factors at play beyond this one relationship. Nevertheless, like so many, he lost hope; he lost control and no longer wished to live.
Suicide is an extreme way to face defeat, but I feel by not reaching the full measure that God has to offer, you are in some ways committing suicide to your full potential. By failing to be all you can be in this journey through life, you have in essence destroyed the best part of your existence. That is why I use the term half-life. The vast majority of those I have counseled will bring up past events that "cause" them to be the way they are. Like a seed planted some time ago, past events become embedded into the subconscious. The fruit of that seed is what we are living with today. Perhaps you cannot consciously recall some of the events that still influence you today. They are there nonetheless.
When Jesus left this earth he gave us something very important. Remember, he could have given us anything, and given the chance to choose our 'present from the creator of all things', I would assume we could come up with some cool stuff. But Jesus said - I am leaving you with a gift . . . Peace I leave with you, My Peace I give unto you: Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." You've got to be kidding right? How about wealth, power, wisdom, or maybe even a cattle on a thousand hills….but peace? Yes, he gave us peace. Now, if Jesus gave us peace, then why don't so many Christians have it?
I worked for my father who owned an excavating company. He taught me everything about the business from the ground up, expecting me to take over some day. Early in the morning, Dad and I would meet for breakfast; more importantly we would go over the daily task list. I would head out for a day's work and unless something major happened, I was on my own.
What I did not realize at the time was my father was building in me a confidence that would follow me for many years. With my list in hand I would carry out my “supervisory” duties and it seemed that I could do no wrong. In reality I was just following orders, but I learned to believe in myself at a very early age. I was working with a net, but Dad never made a point of reminding me of that.
As time passed and I went my own way, everything changed. Faced with a few failures, my belief in my own abilities began to crumble. Finally, there came a day when I completely lost my confidence and unlike the youth who could do no wrong, I could do nothing right. It seemed that everything I touched failed. I became the exact opposite of that young boy working with his dad. What happened? I was crushed by certain significant events in my life and no matter how hard I tried to overcome the "failures" they remained to haunt me daily. These "new" events replaced my confidence with despair and created a hurtle that seemed impossible to overcome.
A woman I counseled had a sincere desire to lose weight and be healthy, but no matter what program she tried, the pounds refused to budge. I learned that her weight issues were relatively new. After exploring the subject further, I found out that she had recently gone through a divorce. During the initial break up of the marriage she began to have problems sleeping. She often felt depressed and eating became an escape from the harsh realities of her new life. She began to gain weight. Every time she felt sad or alone, she would eat. It wasn't long before the repetition of this behavior turned eating into a comfort blanket that shut out the problems stemming from her divorce.
Crushing events come in all shapes and forms. They come in the form of a father who constantly disapproves of a child. They come in stinging comments by others who occupy positions of respect or authority in our lives. A crushing event can be something as simple as jeering laughter when you have tried to do something and failed. Let’s face it; we have all had dreams that did not come true. The events of our life have a way of crushing our dreams. If you do not take control of the issues these events have generated, they can often become the basis for a future prison.
I challenge you to grasp the truth that the problem you face today is holding you back from a life of peace and fulfillment. Additionally, realize that even as harmful as your problem is, it is the pattern of failure in this area of your life that is even more devastating. I want to say that once more so that you understand how important it is to get started and stay the course. The failure becomes as much of an issue as the original behavior.
It may seem an impossible task to unravel the causes for your behavior. The human mind is the most complex organism in the universe. It was created by God when He created man in His image. And the human mind was created so that the incomprehensible God could be comprehended by His creation. Man had perfect understanding from the beginning. God gave him a beautiful place to live and work and plenty of good food to eat.
Along with the ability to understand his creator, God gave man a will of his own. It was to be exercised immediately; he was given the opportunity to choose to obey or disobey. The consequence of Adam's choice is the sin nature. It has been passed on to every person who has ever lived.
Why discuss that here? Because the human mind is the root of our behavior. And the human mind was affected by the sin of Adam. Paul taught us in Romans that "those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." Did you see that? HAVE THEIR MINDS SET!
Our unique ability of self-consciousness (of thinking in terms of who we are and why we are alive) exists for a very important reason. This reason is for us to find God. And finding Him is not simply getting a ticket to go to heaven. It's not just about getting something in the future; it's about becoming someone different right here, right now.
The apostle Paul said, “For God who said, let light shine out of darkness, made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” The jars of clay spoken of here are our bodies. In this mind and body, we who have found God have a power (all-surpassing) available to overcome any destructive behavior.
The Bible also says: “For everyone born of God has overcome the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” and “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with our mouth that you confess and are saved.”
If you want God’s help, His victory, His conquering power, then take Him at His word and make the right choice. If you have never done so, take time right now to confess and believe this truth. Pray this simple prayer: “God, I confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and I believe in my heart that you raised Jesus from the dead as payment for my sins. I give you my life right now, and ask that you come into my heart as my Lord and Master.”
Some reading this may have prayed this long ago but still lead lives filled with problems. Don’t be discouraged, you are not alone. What you will learn in the next few weeks is to apply the truths contained in Paul’s statement to “forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead." The following system, developed through principles found in the Bible, will help to transform your future in ways you only dreamed.
Think of your body as a ship. It is very important to embrace the reality that you are responsible for what comes aboard your vessel. Nothing can board without your invitation. Although you cannot control every event in your life, you must realize this. You can control the effect and impact that these events have on your present and future.
I was one of those people who allowed crushing events of my life to destroy me. It seemed that everything I touched went wrong. I continually reinforced this new life full of failure by things I said to myself. The technical term for the comments I rehearsed to myself is “autosuggestions”. Whatever they are called, I was bathed in them. I was on a downward spiral. I allowed past failures to cut the power within me. I saw myself as a loser and began to accept this life under the dark clouds. I invited failure aboard my vessel and what do you know? I got what I asked for. I lived on my own personal Page One.
If you are reading this, chances are until now Page One has been your life. It encompasses everything from how you feel about yourself to how you feel about others. It affects all areas of your daily life. It's time to change this and move on.
It is important as you proceed that you do not believe anyone who seeks to convince you that you are a hopeless product of your past. As difficult as it is to believe today, I can assure you of this: the issue in your life that prompted you to buy this program will soon become so foreign to your thinking you will believe it happened to someone else. |
| |
|
|
|
| Chapter Two - Do You Honestly Want To Change? |
|
|
|
Chapter 2 - Do You Honestly Want To Change?
Given the opportunity to completely expose their inner thoughts, the vast majority of adults will tell you they have serious personal issues they confront on a regular basis. If you are like most people, you endure the pain of an invisible, bloodless wound. It is a pain deep inside. Maybe it's a lost dream or a terrible mistake you made in your life. Maybe it's some horrible thing that happened to you in your past that engulfs your present. Maybe it's a habit that seems to have control over you. Whatever it is, I’m certain you are acutely aware of its presence.
The wound that won’t let go may be evident when you look in the mirror and view an overweight body. Or, like many, you may experience this pain in the form of shame and guilt that follows the behavior you hate. Maybe it is a hangover or the dreaded after effects of a drug-induced high. Maybe you hate your job but don’t have the confidence to leave and move on. I’m certain you have heard or read the statement: “There is a place I live and nobody knows it but me.” We all have these kinds of thoughts that haunt us.
Each day we greet and are greeted with the question, “How are you doing?” The acceptable answer almost jumps from our lips, “Fine.” Yet in reality many should say, “If you only knew.” As a counselor, many I have talked with have said, “I’ve never told this to anyone before," and then they proceed to talk about that secret place of pain.
The next time you are in a public place, look at the faces of those around you. For the most part, you see people with gloomy faces, lined with concern, fraught with anxiety. Many fight the unseen battle; a silent war within. It is dilemma with no beginning and no end in sight. Because there are so many who are living this way, it begs the question: Do people really want to change? I don't want you to miss the importance of this. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO CHANGE? Give the question serious thought. It is the first and vital step you must take.
I have hypoglycemia. Sugar is the enemy of my body, along with many other things. I like sweets but the effect of sugar is extreme. I have had physical blackouts due to the wrong diet. The question for me was not, “Do I like sugar?” The question was, “What do I want?” Do I want change? Yes. I wanted health, not sickness. I had to train myself to deal with foods correctly. I have been asked, “How do you resist eating that big piece of cake?” It was easy to program myself to eat correctly by using what God taught me about the human mind. The hardest part for me was coming to the decision that I wanted to change. Now it comes natural to resist the temptation of eating the wrong foods.
There is much debate about why a woman who grew up with an abusive father marries an abusive spouse and then stays in the relationship. I knew a woman just like this. Her husband seemed a nice enough man from the outside. We even spent time with them socially, but unknown to me, there were serious problems. One morning when she came to work, I saw bruising on her face. I was finally able to get her to tell me the extent of what was happening at home. He was an extremely controlling man and became abusive when he drank alcohol. After several incidents, she decided to take their child and move far away from him. She obtained a restraining order, quit her job and moved to a different state to start life over again.
As you may have guessed, that is not where the story ends. Six months later I happened to meet her in a restaurant. I could not believe my ears when she told me she had returned to the abusive spouse. Apparently He could not "live" without her and promised to change. Months later I learned that things had not changed, she was still trapped.
One might ask why she doesn’t want to change and have a better life. This illustrates the difference between wanting to change and needing to change. It is easy to see that she needs to change. Does she know she needs to change? Of course she does. But the forces that seemingly compel her to endure the harmful lifestyle have smothered the capacity to realize what she needs to do. These forces seem stronger than dreams for a better life. She believes that she cannot escape and abuse will be her life. I say that what she believes is wrong. Life doesn't have to be like that.
It is not just that one must leave a Page One life because it is so painful, it’s that the longer the behavior is endured or repeated, the harder it becomes to get back up again. Every time the cycle repeats, it is more deeply embedded into who we are. In the case of an abusive relationship the reason to change is obvious. Your Page One may not be as openly hostile or dangerous as an abusive spouse may be. But the consequences to your real life, the life you want, are the same.
A woman I counseled found that one of her most destructive behaviors was the useless imaginary conversations she had with people she could not deal with in reality. Over time, family and friends had disappointed her expectations and thus her life was full of past failed relationships. Over and over again she would have imaginary conversations with these people, but in reality she rarely spoke to them at all.
Why was it absolutely necessary for her to change this behavior? “Because,” she said, “while I was busy with imaginary conversations, I was missing the most important part of mending relationships – real conversation – real communication!" Her reason to change became more important than her desire to hold on to resentment.
Years ago a college student came to me for help. “I am a mess,” she said. “Can you help me?” We spoke for a while and I began to identify things she could do to begin the change. After the session, I set a meeting for the following week. I also provided her a reading assignment to complete before our next meeting. She arrived early for her next appointment. I walked into the outer office where she was waiting and asked if she had read the materials I gave her. “I just did not have time, I was so busy this week” she replied.
I sent her away. I also told her, “When you finished reading the material, call and make an appointment.” She never called. Like so many people today, she did not want to change. She only wanted to talk about change. She actually enjoyed her problems because she gained a perverse sense of pleasure from the attention she was getting. Are you one of these people? If you are, then let’s change that. Wouldn’t you rather get all the attention you need from successes rather than failures?
A young man once asked Socrates how he could get wisdom. “Come with me,” Socrates said, and took the man to a river. He proceeded to shove the young man’s head under water and held it there until he struggled for air. Then he let him go. Once the young man regained his composure, Socrates asked him, “What did you desire most when your head was under water?” “I wanted air,” he replied. Socrates nodded slowly. “When you want wisdom as much as you wanted air while you were immersed in the water,” he said, “you will receive it.”
When you have an intense sincere desire to overcome a certain issue in your life, you have taken the first step. Confidently decide right now that you do want to change. Gene Kranz' autobiography is entitled "Failure is not an option." He headed Mission Control at NASA and his determination is credited with leading the effort that saved the lives of three Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970. There is no reason why you cannot adopt that same attitude toward saving your own life. You're worth it. Jesus proved that by dying for you. |
| |
|
|
|
| Chapter Seven - PageTwo Program Defined |
|
|
|
Chapter 7 -PageTwo Program Defined
The subconscious mind thinks in pictures and images. To test this theory, think of a train. You now have an image of a train in your mind. The image you have will not be the same as I have, for it will be the image that your subconscious uses. The same works with more abstract thoughts like love and hate, success and failure. Think of love. Your subconscious will bring a picture to mind of something or someone that represents love to you.
Pictures or images held in the mind over a long period tend to work out in reality. Thus people who see themselves as successful fulfill that mental picture and those who see themselves as failures make choices that fulfill the picture they have. The person who sees himself as an alcoholic cannot overcome the habit. The person who sees himself in control of whatever he puts into his body has control. In a previous chapter I shared the illustration of my financial trouble. The image I had allowed my subconscious to operate under was that of an impulse buyer. That is what my subconscious believed me to be and thus my daily actions fulfilled the image.
PageTwo is a program that helps you change the images triggered in your subconscious. Once the images are changed you will be influenced through your own mind to live by those new images. For instance, I worked with a very dear friend who could not get control of internet pornography. Like most problems, it seemed harmless at first, but before long he could not control himself. It was stealing valuable time from his business and destroying the relationship with his wife. He had tried with all his will power to stop, with only short-term success. He went as far as going to group meetings with others who had the same problem with very little results. Although he had just about given up he decided to try this program. His subconscious changed and he became free from this harmful behavior. The switches that once caused him to fail now cause a completely different response. He could not believe how easy the change was. His new life just started happening as part of his daily walk, created first in his subconscious.
By answering the questions at the end of each chapter, the software is automatically creating several personalized tools that illustrate the mental image pertaining specifically to your issue. That is what makes this process so very powerful. You are the person who knows more about yourself than anyone else alive. You are the one that is going to decide what you are going to program into your subconscious. You are uniquely qualified to build the "mental pictures" that your subconscious mind will use. I will provide suggestions along the way, but you determine what to write.
Incorporate as much sensory information as possible into your answers. Let your answers build mental images complete with light and sound! The more senses you can incorporate the better. You can easily change your answers at any time as you go along. The more mental imagery you can create, the faster your subconscious will reverse directions.
Once you have finished reading and answering the questions you will be ready to begin reprogramming. It’s not a lot of work and may seem insignificant, but the key is consistency. You will be given very straightforward assignments to do each day for twenty eight days. Be careful to do the assignment every day. Briefly the assignments are:
First thing in the morning, at noon and right before you go to bed, read through your Page One, Page Two or Self Instruction. This takes less than 5 minutes and will be one of the good seeds you are planting in your subconscious mind.
Each day you will also have a short reading assignment from your Personalized PageTwo book. This can be done at any time. The purpose of reading will be to reinforce the facts contained in this material. It is much like reviewing information for a test. By reviewing the material, you are planting more good seeds in your subconscious.
The final assignment will be to reprogram the switches with new images. The amount of daily time needed to do this will depend on what you are working on and the number of switches you must reprogram. Every time you are confronted with a switch, you must read what ever the assignment is for that particular day. Doing this will interrupt the subconscious with a force that it must deal with. This process of interrupting will cause a change in the subconscious.
For example, smokers have certain events during the day when they want to smoke. A common one is right after a meal. Let’s say that their assignment for this particular day is to read their Page Two when confronted by a switch. After the meal and before lighting up they would take their Page Two and read through it. After doing this they can do whatever they want. If they still want to smoke, light up. That’s right! All they must do is take the time to review their Page Two before they go into the behavior. Over a period of time the forces that drive the habit will change. Rewire the switch and you turn on a different light!
The remaining chapters are shorter and will take only a few minutes to complete. Don’t get discouraged. As soon as you finish the remaining chapters and questions you are ready to begin reprogramming. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Learn in a short time:
How to build a blueprint for change in your life.
How past experiences affect present day living.
How crushing events cause present-day failures.
Why you can not gain control over present habits.
How to change the pain of past experiences.
Why so many self help systems fail.
Why you fall back to the same problems over and over.
Why you can not reach your dreams and goals.
How to reach and even exceed your dreams and goals. |
|
|
Habits
Alcohol
Diet (bad)
Drugs
Internet (too much wasted time ‘surfing’)
Laziness
Lying
Overeating
Overspending
Pornography
Self Control (lack of)
Sleep (can’t get to sleep)
Sleep (want to sleep all the time)
Sex (unhealthy)
Smoking
Stealing
Television (too much wasted time)
Video Games (too much wasted time)
General |
|
Relationships
Boyfriend
Children
Co-Worker
Employer
Girlfriend
In-law
Parent
Sibling
Spouse
General |
|
Relationship Issues
Break-up (of a relationship)
Co-Dependent
Death (Grief)
Divorce
Forgiveness
Hate (toward a certain person)
Sexual Abuse
Sexual Problems
Spouse Abuse
General
|
|
Personal Growth
Anger
Anxiety
Bitterness
Communication
Depression
Despair
Discipline (lack of)
Employment (need to find a better job)
Exercise (at home)
Exercise (at a Gym)
Failure
Fear
Financial Stress
Frustration
Guilt
Hate My Life
Healing
Health
Housework Overload
Leadership
Paranoia
Pessimism
Procrastination
Salesperson (be a better)
School (getting better grades and good study habits)
Self Confidence (lack of)
Self Control (lack of)
Self Pity
Starting a New Venture / Business/Job
Stress
Success
Time Management
Worry
General |
|
|
