Friday Story - November 18, 2011 by Michael Harris, PhD

It's been a while since I posted I've been working on a few things that I'll say more about in future posts.

For today I thought I'd repeat a great story I heard my friend George tell me on our last Mastermind call.

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A traveling salesman was on his regular route to see his usual customers and decided to go visit a guy whom
he hadn't seen in quite sometime.The man lived in a dilapidated old house, down a dirt road but this customer was very friendly and had always paid cash.

As was usual, the old man was sitting on his porch and "whittling" on a scrap of wood when the salesman arrived. They talked about this and that and were enjoying the visit. Every now and then, the old dog laying on the porch would lift his head up and howl for a couple of seconds, lay back down and go back to sleep.

The conversation continued about the old man's children and grandchildren, how the crops were doing and what type of summer and winter the old man thought he was going to have. Once again the dog lifted his head up and howled for a few seconds and then layed his head back down.

This interaction between the two men and the dog continued for while until the salesman asked finally had to ask the old man "what was wrong with the dog?"

The old man looked at the dog for a couple of seconds and said, "he's laying on a nail and I'm pretty sure that it hurts, but it doesn't hurt enough for him to get up and move".

The next time you hear someone complaining about their life, their situations or challenges ask them this "if it hurts so much why don't you get off that nail"?

have a great weekend
Michael Harris, PhD

M.C. Hammer, world's greatest hypnotist!

I don't know if anyone can really know how much fun my job really is. I was working with someone the other day and we were doing a pattern interrupt on a unresourceful emotional state (aka bad feeling).

Part of the process is that when the person is right at the beginning of the (bad) feeling you say "STOP".

and then you have them access a resourceful feeling. The process continues again and again until a new response is conditioned in place of the "old" less resourceful feeling.

The fun part was everytime I said "STOP", I kept hearing M.C. Hammer from the old 80's video. I was thinking what a great way to interrupt a automatic unresourceful state and turn it into a something much better.

Listen to this crazy video and the next time you feel yourself slipping into something other than a great feeling... JUST STOP AND HAMMER TIME. The people around you may be wondering what you're smiling at but they don't really need to know now do they?

About the Author:

Michael Harris, PhD is an expert in language of communication of Sensory Stacks and Transition Coach and internationally known hypnotist, speaker and author.
He is active locally and nationally, including private and public speaking on the nationwide pandemic of “Adult Children Moving Back Home (or never leave)”. This national issue affects 40 to 75 million people each year. Listen to Michael Harris, PhD live on his BlogTalk Radio Show.

Friday Story... Tribute to Steve Jobs

(re-posted from insightoftheday.com and big thank you to Bob Proctor)

Steve Jobs gave this as his second story of his Commencement Address at Stanford University on June 12, 2005.
Love and Loss

I was lucky. I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started?

Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT.

I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple.It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers.

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking.

Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Steve Jobs
1955-2011

my final thoughts on the life and times of Steve Jobs are that it doesn't matter who is on or off your side while you live your dream... what matters is the value that living your dream brings...


Michael Harris, PhD

Book Review - Monster and Magical Sticks by Steven Heller, PhD

I read a great book this week called Monsters and Magical Sticks by Steven Heller, PhD
Here's a quick story (paraphrased) from the book...

A little boy, 3-4 years old, decided that overnight while the lights were off his baseball and football became monsters. He 'saw' them coming to life; they looked evil and were trying to get him.The parents decided, instead of spending lots of time, money and years of therapy  trying to convince their son that: 

A) there were no such thing as monsters
or
B) he needed to search the depth of his feeling about fears/anger/hostilities/insecurities

or
C) he would need years to learn how to "cope" with his fear of monsters

instead decided to create a positive solution for this 4 year-olds dilemma.

They made a magical stick from a dowel with purple velvet and covered and lined a wooden box.

They then told their son they have gone to a magic doctor and purchased this box with instructions of how to rid his room of monsters. With  a solemn ceremony and great determination the boy took the stick, went around the room and in eat corner of the room said "the magic words".

That night there were no nightmares or sudden awakening. The second night the procedure was repeated and so on with the 3 night. After the 4th night the "magical stick" seems to end up in the corner with some other toys and there were no additional reports of bad dreams. 

Two weeks later, the boy told the parents their could give the "magic box and stick" back to the magic doctor, because he "no longer needed it".

I cannot imagine a better way to explain the value or procedure known as "hypnosis".
It is the job of the hypnotist, coach or mental health professional to stay of the "content" or story of the subject and find a way to make the subject reality work, that's hypnosis!
Take the time, buy this book you will find so wonderful stories and methods of solving long-term issues in a way that might surprise you of how easy it was to FEEL GOOD.


click on the book picture if you like to read additional reviews or maybe BUY THE BOOK
but that's just a suggestion

Michael Harris, PhD is an expert in language of communication of Sensory Stacks and Transition Coach. This new technology will allow you to know how you process information, in which sensory style, what your strengths and weaknesses are and how specifically to communicate to others in a way that is both beneficial and effective.

Biography - Michael Harris has been in and around the Dallas/Ft. worth area for the last 25 years. He has been published in the Dallas Morning News, Health and Fitness, Bally's Total Fitness, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and the Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalog. He has been the subject on fitness coaching and personal performance in January of 91, on the local news. Michael is active locally and nationally, including private and public speaking on the nationwide pandemic of “Adult Children Moving Back Home (or never leave)”. This national issue affects 40 to 75 million people each year. Listen to Michael Harris, PhD live on his BlogTalk Radio Show.

A Lesson About Power by Diane Armitage

I subscribe to lots of blogs and weekly emails. One of my Favorite's is Bob Proctor's Insight of the Day. I thought I'd share this incredible article with you and I highly recommend that you go to Diane Armitage's website or blog and say "hello". Her's links are at the bottom of this article.

talk to you soon,

Michael Harris, PhD

A Lesson About Power

For several months now, I've been running trails on a big hill here in Laguna Beach, and I've seen all sorts of wild life. I've even had a coyote run alongside me for nearly a quarter mile . just loping along, acting like some kind of pet. I've rustled up beautiful foxes, mule deer and reticent bobcats, too. While there are hikers and mountain bikers on the same hill, I can run a good mile or two without seeing anyone in sight. (This does not make my mother very happy, but I love the mind break I get from it.)

This Saturday, I was in for a bit of a surprise.

I had taken a cut-across path to a rarely used fire trail on a very steep hill. Fortunately, my running path takes me DOWN it as I initially tried to go UP it a few times and decided that "down" was a MUCH better plan.

On Saturday, I had trotted about a third of the way down the hill when I spotted an animal about 30 yards ahead of me, heading down the same fire trail. On first glimpse of its tawny body, I thought I'd come across a fox. "Wow, look at that fox. I'll run behind THAT!" I thought to myself as I continued to scamper down the hill. Another 10 yards and I pulled up short - A fox? Not so much. This was a full-grown mountain lion.

At first, I was struck with awe. I watched her trotting ahead, oblivious to me, and couldn't believe how majestic she looked. I have a love for big cats and, in fact, have "adopted" the two Bengal tigers Michael Jackson used to own before turning them over to a lovely big cat preserve - Shambala.org -just north of L.A. I visit "Sabu" and "Thriller," and hang out with their lion, panther and cheetah friends, too.

Those tigers and big cats at Shambala, though, . they're behind really tall, sturdy fences.

This was the SECOND thought I had as I stood there, plain as day, admiring this wild cat. It suddenly occurred to me that I was completely isolated on a very big hill with a path of little resistance between a mountain lion and myself.

I began to back up the hill, hoping I'd make progress without her noticing me. The hill was so steep, however, that it was terribly slow going. So, against everything I've learned about mountain lions/big cats, I turned with my back to her and started running (at a surprising Olympic sprinter's pace) straight up this terribly steep hill. I figured I needed to get as much distance between the two of us as possible.

About 20 yards higher, I turned to see what the mountain lion was doing. She had stopped and turned so that I could see her entire body profile and, with tail twitching lazily ("Just like the movies," my mindless mind chittered), she was watching me.

I put my hands high in the air to make myself look bigger, ha .she probably thought I was flagging her down . and turned around again to keep scrambling up the hill.

A second peek - she was still standing there, motionless except for that twitching tail. I finally reached the cut-across path that would set me on the fire trail back to the ranger station and tried another peek. This time, she was gone.

This gave me NO peace whatsoever.

Mountain lions can purportedly cover 40 feet in a single hop and NOW I was surrounded by high grass and shrubbery on the cut-across. I sent up a quick notice to my guardian angels and kept running.

Obviously, she and I didn't meet again, or I likely wouldn't be writing this to you from the comfort of my living room.

After reporting her . (The rangers kept asking, "Are you sure you know the wildlife here? Are you sure it wasn't a coyote? Maybe a bunny?") . I thought of the book I love, Ted Andrews' "Animal Speak."

As a Native American Indian, Andrews provides an encyclopedia of birds and animals, and the lore and message each carries for you when they suddenly cross your path. These might be animals or birds you see fairly regularly, but in certain circumstances, they're suddenly acting differently, drawing your attention to them.

Whenever my "pet Osprey" comes back to roost on my deck, or a hummingbird allows me to rescue it from entrapment in a skylight, or a coyote decides to just jump out of the bush to lope next to me, I figure Ted Andrews' book will provide some entertaining food for thought. In most cases, though, the "message" smacks me right between the eyes.

Per Andrews, a mountain lion sighting (or cougar to the Indians) means this "If a cougar has shown up in your life, it is time to learn about and test your power. When cougars show up, understand that much of your trial has been worked through. Now it is time to assert. Know your power, believe in your power, and take action."

"The cougar teaches decisiveness in the use of personal power. A cougar does not hesitate. The cougar teaches you how to bring out your power and fill your heart with it in a manner that will enable you to take charge of your life."

All right. Fine. Another smack between the eyes for me.

I don't need to fill you in on what I've been struggling with lately over the past few weeks, but I'll just say for the record that there's not another bird or animal in that book that could have carried a more fitting message my way.

Isn't it amazing, though, how we can so mindlessly relinquish the awesome power that imbues each of us? These days, so many people are screaming that the sky is falling, and so many media talking heads are repeating the same grim "facts" that it's very easy to get caught up in it. We simply forget ourselves; we forget that we are wonderfully made and fully alive with the ability to single-handedly change the course of our lives. As Rev. Michael Beckwith says, "We forget WHO we are and WHOSE we are."

Bob Proctor always teaches that, in times like these, the LAST thing you want to do is pull back or retract. Whatever you might be putting off doing or starting. . whatever you're procrastinating on or feeling uncomfortable about . take a moment to really look at all the reasons you're giving yourself for not taking that action.

Why are you hesitating?

When I think back to that mountain lion watching me, there was no hesitation in her stance. She wasn't letting ME know what she had decided, but she had already made her decision. This wasn't about her questioning whether or not she could bound up the same hill I was achingly scrabbling up -questioning her power wasn't even part of the equation.

If you stopped questioning your own power, where would YOU be?

Diane Armitage

About the Author:
Diane Armitage - www.Armitageinc.com - is a renowned marketing writer, Internet strategist and fixer of lame web sites. When she's not coming to clients' web site rescue, she can be found writing mounds of copy for her popular blog, www.LagunaBeachBest.com and traveling/writing for entities and causes around the world. Contact her at Diane@Armitageinc.com

"Moving the Whole Tractor" by Michael Harris, PhD & Jan Saeger, MNLP

Great Wednesday to you all!

I was talking today to a friend of mine and NLP colleague, Jan Saeger (pronounced YON SAY-GER), about some new stuff he's working on with his "Global Contextual Shift" pattern (see video) I think he's really come up with some interesting new goodies. For those of you who attended my "Sensory Styles" Class this month; you'll really get this.

The Global Context Shift pattern in a nutshell, is a technique that allows people to breakthrough the barriers that exist between what is "real and possible for them" and what is "real and possible for others. As with many things in hypnosis and NLP, sometimes one person just hears about "X" makes a change and they HAVE IT for the rest of their lives and then cures some dread disease that has eluded mankind for millennium while someone else goes to a practitioner over and over for weeks, months or years. So what's the difference between the two people?

One of things that Jan has discovered is that with some people (generally highly creative people) they need a complete VAK (or VKA, AVK, AKV, KAV, KVA) pattern in order to make whatever shifts that they need to break through the barriers. The letters represent the conscious, subconscious and unconscious mental processes and how people organize that information in their minds dictates everything they do believe or are willing to believe.Jan's latest postulation is that this complete pattern (conscious, subconscious and unconscious) is what is keeping the person from making and keeping the changes that they have requested. 

It's kind of like moving a tractor one piece at a time to a new location. For the person with this pattern as soon as you move the pieces to the new location; a replace part is already back on the tractor in the old location. So you could create and entire pseudo-tractor in the resource area that you're working on and it still will not be "real" to the person unless the whole pattern moves at the same time. This why sometimes people get a change for a time, but it doesn't "stick".

This might sound a little confusing; here's an example. I used to work with Junior Olympic Athletes for Enhanced Performance. If you have someone that has NEVER WON ANYTHING in their entire gymnastic career and it can be quite a trick to convince them that they can. The best method or solution is to access something they have won (could be anything a test at school, a raffle, etc.) and get the pattern from that win and MAP IT OVER TO THE NEW CONTEXT. If you do it just by sheer will power or by pretending it will not be real enough for the mind to accept it and the unconscious mind will reject the new pattern or programming, regardless of how congruently the person consciously wants it. 

The only exception is for kids under the age of 7. Their minds (corpus callosum) are not completely developed and have difficulty differentiating between real and imagined states. This is the reason that hypnosis is so effective. It suspends "disbelief" for a short while and allows the person to proceed "as if" but there is always the possibility of rejection, etc.

Now with this new pattern that Jan is working on, we maybe able to skip right over to keeping the change part without having to redo the pattern over and over. I will post more about this later as we workout the conversational language patterns for this but for now this what we have.

If you have an interest in NLP modeling or experimental hypnosis and want to know more about this topic you can contact me Michael Harris or contact Jan Saeger

here's the link again for the Global Contextual Shift Pattern

talk to you soon

Michael Harris, PhD

About the Author:

Michael Harris, PhD is an expert in language of communication of Sensory Stacks and Transition Coach. This new technology will allow you to know how you process information, in which sensory style, what your strengths and weaknesses are and how specifically to communicate to others in a way that is both beneficial and effective.

Biography - Michael Harris has been in and around the Dallas/Ft. worth area for the last 25 years. He has been published in the Dallas Morning News, Health and Fitness, Bally's Total Fitness, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and the Neiman Marcus Christmas Catalog. He has been the subject on fitness coaching and personal performance in January of 91, on the local news. Michael is active locally and nationally, including private and public speaking on the nationwide pandemic of “Adult Children Moving Back Home (or never leave)”. This national issue affects 40 to 75 million people each year. Listen to Michael Harris, PhD live on his BlogTalk Radio Show.

Last Chance for Sensory Styles Class...

We had a request on Friday night by several people who couldn't attend the Saturday for me to offer another class.

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This Wednesday night from 630 to 9 (CST)
I will be offering the Advanced Sensory Styles Class:

You will learn:

What your primary and secondary Sensory Styles are

How to see and hear other people's Sensory Styles and what you can do with that information to improve communication, increase business, solve family and relationship conflicts and much more...

You can also use Sensory Styles to help yourself (or others) set more effective goals and intentions

this class is one night only and will not be repeated until February 2012
RSVP now only 10 seats left!
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Advanced Sensory Styles Class - What they are... How to use them by Michael Harris, PhD

Just what the heck is a Sensory Style? That's a good question. Here's the answer.

All of us use all five senses (Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic, Olfactory and Gustatory) to move our way around the planet, live our lives and talk to other people, etc. wouldn't be great if we knew what combination of senses we use? And what the STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES are inherent in each of the individual styles?

My main focus on Sensory Styles is about PERSONAL PERFORMANCE and RELATIONSHIP ISSUES and BUSINESS COMMUNICATION. Once you know how they work you can utilize them in any context of your life to improve motivation, solve problems in advance and get along with just about anyone..

If you want to attend this class click to RSVP on FaceBook or send me an email.

see you Wednesday night
Michael Harris, PhD