What Is The Purpose Of Your Life?

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Can you feel the excitement building? Starting on this Monday evening, March 3rd, Oprah and Eckhart Tolle will begin a 10-week online class exploring Eckhart’s book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. Hundreds of thousands of people have already registered for this, literally, earth-changing event.

And I’m excited to say that I’ve been asked to lead a conversation about the book and the class!

If you haven’t already registered, head over to Oprah’s site now to sign up. It’s free.

I’m still getting setup for the discussion group. Check back early next week for the details. And if you want to be sure not to miss the announcement subscribe to the Evolving Times Feed below:



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And if you’re wondering what this all about, check out these short videos.

Posted by Edward Mills | Filed Under Personal Growth, Upcoming Events, Workshops

Have You Seen Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture?”

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Just a quick head’s up in case you haven’t seen this video from Randy Pausch. Randy is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University where the professor’s have a tradition of giving their “last lecture:” the lecture they would give if they were dying. Well for Randy, this is not just an exercise. Randy is dying of cancer.

He gave this lecture on How to Achieve Your Childhood Dreams

I could tell you more about it, but I think I’ll leave it to Randy. However, I will encourage you to spend the full 11 1/2 minutes watching this first video all the way through to the end. There are some truly powerful insights at the end.

Here’s the 12-minute “cliff’’s notes version of the lecture he gave on the Oprah show recently:

And here is the full lecture he presented at Carnegie Mellon. This one is over an hour.

Posted by Edward Mills | Filed Under Death & Dying, Desires, Dreams, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Physical Body, life hacks

Best Seller Blueprint Registration Opens Tonight

Is The Law of Attraction REALLY A Law?

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Is the Law of Attraction REALLY A Law?

I’ve seen a lot of people asking this question lately: “Yeah but is the Law of Attraction really a Universal Law? You know, like gravity?”

hen there’s this question: Is it attraction or just coincidence?

Well for those of you who hate having a question answered with a question I’m going to annoy you right now because here’s my answer to both of those questions:

Does it really matter?

I mean, does it matter to you if Gravity is REALLY a Universal law? If you just slipped on some ice and are about to land on your butt, do you care whether gravity is a Universal Law? Let’s face it, your butt is going to hurt either way!

Long before the “law” of gravity was “proven,” people were falling on their butts after slipping on ice. Does that mean that gravity did not exist or that it was not a “law?” Of course not.

In order for something to be useful and effective it does not need to be proven or even provable as a Universal Law.

And in fact, I would suggest that entering into this debate is nothing more than a distraction.

Remember that one of the key concepts of the Law of Attraction is that energy flows where attention goes. In other words, wherever you focus your attention, you immediately focus your energy as well.. Now let me ask you this, would you rather have your attention and energy flowing towards the creation of the life you desire or towards determining whether or not the Law of Attraction is REALLY a Universal Law?

Of course controlling where your attention is focused is a challenge in this culture of information overwhelm. The other day I came across an online conversation that drove this point home to me, mainly because I discovered how easy it is to get drawn into this argument.

Back in November, Joe Vitale wrote a post on this subject, Is Attraction A Law? His post generated some very passionate debate with hundreds of comments. And it’s a very tempting debate to step into, and I did get sucked into it for a while before coming to my senses.

I had to choose where I wanted my energy to flow: To that debate or to some intention I have for some a positive change in my life?

So as difficult as it was – and it was difficult – I chose to pull my attention back from that debate and refocus on the specific actions I had planned for that day: Actions that I knew would take me closer to the positive change I am attracting in my life.

Here’s the bottom line: Does the Law of Attraction work? Absolutely. Is it a Universal Law? I don’t know, and honestly I don’t really care. It doesn’t matter to me because I know that it works. I’ve seen it working in my own life and in the lives of those around me.

Some will say that I’m deluding myself and that the Law of Attraction is nothing more than a bunch of hooey. Am I deluding myself? Perhaps. But again, I don’t care, because if I am deluding myself I’m doing so into a continuously better life!

So I’m going to keep using it to create the life I desire.

Remember that Henry Ford said, “If you think you can or you think you can’t, either way, you’re right.”

If you believe the Law of Attraction works or if you believe it doesn’t, either way you’re right. Whether The Law of Attraction is a Universal Law or not is irrelevant. So you need to decide if you want to believe that the Law of Attraction has the ability to help you create the life you desire or not. Again, either way, you’re right.

The choice is yours.

Posted by Edward Mills | Filed Under Deliberate Creation, Law of Attraction, Personal Growth

Personal Growth Resource Roundup #12

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It’s time for another roundup of the best Personal Growth Resources on the web. This one has some interesting and unusual resources for you. So be sure to check them all out.

First, lets take a trip over to visit Oprah. Last week when I went to check out the Law of Attraction Carnival posted at Living The Law of Attraction, I noticed a link to an Oprah Book Club discussion on Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose. I thought, “You’ve got to be kidding.”

But no, it’s for real. Beginning on March 3rd, Oprah and Eckhart will be hosting a 10-week webinar exploring the ideas in A New Earth.

Having been a huge fan of Tolle’s since reading his book, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment several years ago, I jumped at the chance to read A New Earth when it first came out in 2006. It’s an amazing, life-changing book. Get it! And then get over to Oprah’s site and register for the Eckhart and Oprah Webinar on A New Earth.

Next up is a new program from my friend, Adam Kayce, of Monk at Work. For the past week I’ve been checking out his new Inner Peace Audio program. I’ll have a full review in a week or so, but if what I’ve heard so far is any indication, this program is definitely worth checking out. I’ve already gotten great insights through using the Inner Decision Making process. Go check out the Inner Peace Audio program and watch for a full review soon.

This next resource struck a chord with me the moment I (literally) stumbled-upon it. I admit it: I’ve been a procrastinator for much of my life. It’s a pattern that has held me back for much of my life. And I am actively looking at the opportunities for growth that this pattern holds for me. But this article on Structured Procrastination by John Perry provides such a unique way of looking at this habit, and provided such a powerful way to leverage procrastination to actually get more done, I just had to share it with you. I’ve started looking at how I can use Structured Procrastination to accomplish more. And if you have a tendency toward procrastination, I highly recommend you check it out.

And if you haven’t read Mark Joyner’s new report, Rise of The Author, I HIGHLY recommend you go download it now. Even if you have no interest in becoming a published author, there is some truly paradigm busting information in that report! Go check it out.

And finally, let’s end with a powerful, positive message from Alex Blackwell at The Next 45 Years. If you’ve ever wondered how to keep your forward momentum going, his post, Nine Ways to Keep Moving Forward, will give you some great ideas.

Well that’s it for this roundup. I hope you enjoy these resources and I’ll see you next time.

Posted by Edward Mills | Filed Under Personal Growth

The Law of Attraction Blog Carnival Is Posted

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Well after a hiatus of a few months, the longest running blog carnival dedicated to the Law of Attraction is back. The newest edition, #28 is now posted at Living the Law of Attraction. This edition is on relationships.

I am so pleased the Ellie and Dean of Law of Attraction for Beginners have stepped in to make sure that this carnival continues!

So go check out this edition of the Law of Attraction Carnival and the excellent articles. And if you want to catch up on some past editions you can check them out at the Law of Attraction homepage.

Posted by Edward Mills | Filed Under Deliberate Creation, Law of Attraction, Personal Growth, Relationships

The Italian Driving Method of Personal Growth

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Did you ever see the 1970’s super-cheesey movie, Gumball Rally? Alright, I admit I probably watched it about 20 times back then. It was fun, when I was ten.

Well, for some strange reason, a scene from that movie popped into my head the other day. (This might give you some insight into my state of mind!)

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of seeing this cinematic tour de force, The Gumball Rally is an illegal New York to LA car race with absolutely no rules. The winner, in addition to all the glory, gets to take home the coveted Gumball Machine! And I’m sure you can imagine the creative sorts of mischief that the drivers get up to as they attempt to arrive before everyone else at that finish line.

The scene that popped into my head takes place at the beginning of the movie and the starting line of the race. It’s our first introduction to the driver of team Ferrari, Raul Julia, who is sitting in his Ferrari convertible with his co-pilot, a much less experienced, and if my memory serves me, non-Italian, driver. Raul turns to him and says:

“And now my friend, the first-a rule of Italian driving…” Here he reaches up, rips off the rear-view mirror and tosses it, with much Italian flare, out of the car. “…What’s-a behind me is of no importance. ”

Now certainly don’t recommend that you rip the rear view mirrors off of your car and start driving around with that attitude. However, when it comes to personal growth, I think this rule has some validity.

There is an approach to personal growth that goes something like this: “Until I uncover all of my past wounds and heal each and every one of them, I will never be happy, fulfilled and abundant in my present life.”

This attitude is rarely that explicit, and it’s almost never conscious. But there are many people (and I speak from my own personal experience as well as my observations of others) who, on some level, believe they can not have a great life until they have “handled” all of their past wounds. They seek answers to the questions: “Why am I the way I am now?” “Why do I always act this why?” “What happened to me?” “Who did this to me?”

That approach to personal growth has the potential to suck us down the rabbit hole into a never-ending search for the “cause” of what is “wrong” with us. We can end up traveling back in time to heal our past more often than we spend rooted in the present, focused on creating a better life now! At that point, our journeys into the past are not longer about finding answers that can help us improve the present. Those journeys become a way of avoiding the work that will create the positive changes in our lives.

And that’s never a good thing!

Here’s something I’ve discovered, something those voices don’t tell you when they’re suggesting that you take another journey into your past to find another wound to heal. You ready?

Balancing a bit of Raul Julia’s attitude can often create a more healthy relationship with the past and lead to a better life now and into the future.

I’m not suggesting that you completely throw away the rear view mirror when it comes to looking at your past. I don’t think that’s even possible. But maybe spending a bit less time looking in that rear view mirror would be helpful.

Certainly there is a lot that we can learn from exploring our past, including (and perhaps especially) the painful parts. But if we are to truly grow, the information we discover must be used to empower positive change in the present. In other words, we must act in the present on what we learn from the past.

So the next time you find yourself heading down memory lane, before you go there, remember the young, suave Raul Julia, sitting in his Ferrari and repeat these words: “What’s-a behind me is of no importance!”

Posted by Edward Mills | Filed Under Fun, Personal Growth, Well-Being, life hacks

If You’re A Writer You’ve Got To Read This

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Author books Blogging is great. But let’s be honest with each other: Most bloggers, myself included, would love to have a published book. I mean, we can call ourselves “authors” and there certainly is some truth to that. After all, we are “authoring” our blogs. We are publishing written content. But when you come down to it, most people apply the term “author” to someone who has written and published a book.

Even ebook “authors” have a hard time getting recognized as authors outside of the world of internet marketing. For the vast majority of people - yes even business people - the Internet and especially the blogosphere remains uncharted territory.

Want proof? When I was promoting a blogging course to my business networking group, I asked, by a show of hands, how many members knew what a blog was. You ready for this?

Out of 50 business people in that meeting, fewer than ten hands went up! I was amazed.
Now this was certainly not a statistically valid sample. But if it’s even close to the reality, it means that less than 20% of business owners know what a blog is. Which probably means that the percentage in the overall population is even lower than that.

And why is this important?

Because if you are just blogging or just writing ebooks, you are missing out on as much as 80% of your potential market. (Unless your target market is the internet marketing or blogging crowd). And not only that, you’re also missing out on the credibility that comes along with a published book. (Yes, I’m hearing this too!)

Now the reason I’m writing this today is because I just read something that shook the foundation of my business model. The ultra-refined, Cliffs Notes version of which is:

1. Use blog to build platform.
2. Use platform to attract publisher.
3. Use platform to market book.

What I just read blows that theory out of the water for a number of reasons. Here are just two of the key reasons:

Current technology makes it possible for anyone -yes ANYONE - to become a bestselling author.
The window of opportunity during which published authors will continue to receive increased credibility is closing. (Perhaps very quickly).

Rather than tell you more, I’d rather have you go read it for yourself. It’s a free report called Rise of The Author.

And by the way, you don’t have to be a blogger to benefit from this report. If you have ever wanted to write a book, this report could very well be the spark that lights the fire for you.

Download the free report here.

Posted by Edward Mills | Filed Under Books, Personal Growth, blogs

How To Become A Bestselling Author

How To Leverage Punctuated Equilibrium For Personal Growth

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Roller Coaster Have you heard of the Term Punctuated Equilibrium? It’s the term evolutionary scientists use to describe a widely held theory related to evolution. According to this theory, evolution happens mainly in short bursts of rapid and sometimes massive changes that “punctuate” long stretches of “equilibrium.”

It’s also sometimes, and affectionately I’m sure, called Punk Eek! (I think it’s safe to say that those evolutionary scientists have a darn good sense of humor and maybe a bit too much time on their hands!)

Here’s the official Wikipedia definition:

Punctuated equilibrium is a theory in evolutionary biology. It states that most sexually reproducing populations will show little change for most of their geological history, and that when phenotypic evolution does occur, it is localized in rare, rapid events of branching speciation (called cladogenesis).

Got it?

This theory is not accepted by all scientists: Another school of thought embraces what they call Phyletic Gradualism (these guy s don’t have a catchy nickname) which states that evolution happens gradually and continually.

Here’s the Wikipedia definition:

Phyletic gradualism is a macroevolutionary hypothesis rooted in uniformitarianism. The hypothesis states that species continue to adapt to new challenges over the course of their history, gradually becoming new species… During this process, evolution occurs at a slow but constant rate; for this reason, it is known as “evolution by creeps” (as opposed to punctuated equilibrium, or “evolution by jerks”)

Phyletic gradualism has been largely deprecated as the exclusive pattern of evolution by modern evolutionary biologists in favor of the acceptation of occurrence of patterns such as those described on punctuated equilibrium, quantum evolution, and punctuated gradualism.

Note that this theory “has been largely deprecated,” meaning it is no longer accepted by a large portion of the scientific community.

And that makes sense to me, because in my personal experience and observation of others, personal growth and evolution seems to happen more like Punctuated Equilibrium than Phyletic Gradualism. And it makes sense that our personal evolution would follow a similar pattern as our macro or societal evolution.

There are times, most of the time in fact, when we are coasting along, making gradual, incremental changes in our lives. We are in a homeostasis or equilibrium state. There’s nothing wrong with this. In fact, these times are important because they allow us to rest and integrate and prepare for the next round of punctuation!

Because, once in a while, our equilibrium is punctuated by something that throws us into a rapid state of growth. It could be a job loss or a divorce, an illness or the death of a loved one. Or it could be something internal that just bubbles up to the surface ready to be acknowledged and healed so that you can move to the next level of your life.

So if you accept that personal evolution flows in a pattern of Punctuated Equilibrium pattern how can you leverage this knowledge to accelerate your personal growth? Here are some suggestions:

1. Learn to recognize when you are in a phase of equilibrium or homeostasis and when you are in a phase of punctuation or rapid growth.
If you want to leverage this pattern to accelerate your personal growth the first step is to become aware of which part of the cycle you are presently in. Begin to recognize the symptoms and signs of equilibrium and of punctuation. There will be physical, mental, and emotional patterns indicative of each phase. In general, if you notice you are having more resistant emotions than usual, it is a sign that you are either in or moving towards a period of punctuation.

2. Ideally, learn to recognize the signs that you are beginning to move from a period of homeostasis into a period of rapid growth.
A more advanced form of awareness provides you with an early warning system. You begin to recognize the signs and signals that indicate you are preparing to head into a period of rapid personal evolution.

3. Take full advantage of your time in the equilibrium state.
For leading edge thinkers, the equilibrium state is not a time for twiddling your thumbs. This is a time of integration, rejuvenation and sharing. During these periods of homeostasis you put into action the insights and new awareness you have gained from the last round of punctuation. This is also a time for sharing and modeling what you have learned with others. And finally, this is a time to truly enjoy and appreciate our life experience.

4. Don’t rock the boat of equilibrium.
This is a tough one for me. I was affectionately given a charter membership in the “Gluttons for Growth Group” while working through the Master of Intuition Program I was going through the Academy of Intuition Medicine. For some of you, like me, the equilibrium times will be the uncomfortable phase. If there is no crisis or upheaval or rapid growth happening, you’ll want to shake things up and jump right back into a period of punctuation. Don’t do it! Both phases, equilibrium and upheaval, are necessary for your personal growth. And trust me…your equilibrium will be punctuated without your help.

5. When your equilibrium is punctuated, ask for support.
Let go of the Lone Ranger approach to personal growth. It doesn’t work! When you find yourself in a period of rapid growth or approaching one, call in the cavalry. When you ask for and allow support into your life during these times of rapid growth, you can dramatically accelerate your return to equilibrium. It’s important to have support systems in place before you enter a period of punctuation. I just launched a new program, the Rapid Evolution Mentorship, for times like this.

6. Just say “NO” to the sweep it under the rug school of personal evolution.
During times of rapid personal growth, crisis and upheaval, it is tempting to do whatever you can to return to homeostasis as quickly as possible. During these times of potential growth, issues will most likely come up that are uncomfortable and downright painful. Sweeping them under the rug does not make them go away. It just causes them to go back into hiding and regroup for the next round. And when they come out next time you can bet they will be even more potent! And even if you are able to return to equilibrium it will be at the same level as before. You will not have stepped up to the next level in your personal evolution and will have, therefore, wasted the time you spent in the punctuation period.

7. Mine the moment for gold.
It is during these periods of upheaval and rapid evolution that you will find the true gold in your life. Carl Jung called this the “Gold hidden in the shadows.” During these periods of rapid evolution higher levels of personal awareness are available to you if you’re willing to do the work. In this case, doing the work means being willing to look at and explore whatever is coming up. When you dive into the underlying elements that are bubbling up from your subconscious mind, you will facilitate a faster return to equilibrium AND a higher level of personal awareness. In other words, you will bring that gold back with you into your next period of equilibrium. And that gold will help you create a better life for youself and for those around you.
8. Know that it’s all good!
This is a tough one for some people. Most of us want to claw our way out of those periods of punctuation as quickly as possible. A few of us slightly strange folks (yes I’m one of them) can’t wait to dive back into the punctuation. In reality the most enlightened approach to Personal Punctuated Equilibrium is to enjoy both phases. Think of it this way: At an amusement park you’re not on a ride the entire time. You walk around, grab a snack, wait in line, and then get on a roller coaster for a short, thrilling ride. Punctuated equilibrium works the same way. You need both of them if either of them is to be truly effective.

Both the periods of punctuation and the periods of equilibrium are necessary for our personal growth. And if you judge either of them as bad or negative, you will minimize your ability to grow and the overall quality of your life.

So enjoy all of it and always be ready for your next ride!

Posted by Edward Mills | Filed Under Comfort Zone, Life Coaching, Personal Growth, life hacks

What Is The Purpose Of Your Life?

Have You Seen Randy Pausch’s “Last Lecture?”

Best Seller Blueprint Registration Opens Tonight

Is The Law of Attraction REALLY A Law?

Personal Growth Resource Roundup #12

The Law of Attraction Blog Carnival Is Posted

The Italian Driving Method of Personal Growth

If You’re A Writer You’ve Got To Read This

How To Become A Bestselling Author

How To Leverage Punctuated Equilibrium For Personal Growth

Personal Growth Resources

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