by Kenrick Cleveland

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” –Seneca, Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD

Whoa! Things seem to be in a state of flux at this moment in history, don’t they? Just turn on CNN and you’ll see how topsy turvy things are with doomsday and apocalypse on the horizon. It’s enough to turn even the most well adjusted, reasonable person into a confused, pissed off obsessive ready to jump off a bridge. I say, keep your rudder in the water and make life work.

I have a good number of real estate agents in my Elite Coaching Club and we’ve discussed the current housing situation at length. Huge mistakes were made on all sides. The banks were throwing money at people. People were accepting variable rates (regardless of whether or not they understood what that meant) and way overestimating what they could afford to pay. And now. . . somehow it’s everyone’s problem (even those of us who understood ‘fixed’ rate doesn’t translate to ‘crippling balloon interest’).

I can’t fix the mess the market is in. It has to right itself (whether that’s allowed to happen naturally and quickly or whether the government prolongs the pain). What I do understand and can advise upon is that we do not have to accept the misery and fear mongering that is coming at us from all sides.

I’m not very fond of the media. First of all, there’s not much to it beyond entertainment these days anyway, and it’s really just tidbits of “news” mixed up with salacious celebrity gossip (or even more salacious political gossip) but aside from that, I think it poisons the well for us to try to make positive change and have positive frames around our shared reality. As a collective conscious and collective unconscious, we have been duped into believing that we have no impact on the world around us, no power to make significant change.

In my quest to counteract the negativity, I read. The most recent book I picked up is called “Train Your Brain, Change Your Mind” by Sharon Begley. It’s about the transformational ability of the mind and combines neuroscience with Tibetan Buddhism, and mindfulness. I’m inspired and worked up over this book and I’m only on page ten.

Neuroscience is beginning to understand the powers we have to heal and adapt, just through thought, from accidents, head injuries, trauma, negative programming. Part of this has to do with intention and what we think about and includes setting our own frames for viewing the wold instead of accepting the frames that others (like the media) set for us. When we begin the work of self change, our successes ripple outward to family and friends and then to the world around us.

Science and spirituality are often at odds. Just look at creationism v. evolution. These factions have been passionately arguing with each other for a while now. Buddhism and neuroscience have discovered a way to act in concert with each other to cure diseases that science alone has attempted to drug and spirituality alone has required a leap of faith. If we look at the science behind the faith (or mind/body connection), things definitely come into focus and become more understandable.

Hmm. . . where’s the profit in us fixing ourselves? Where’s the profit in us rippling out positivity and undermining the negative things that are being spoon fed to us?

About the Author:

Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to earn the business of wealthy clients using persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in persuasion techniques.