[Published in Choice, The Magazine of Professional Coaching, Volume 19, Number 1, 2021]

It has finally dawned on Western society that underneath most our deep problems, issues, and discomforts are wounds and traumas from the past.

These Adverse Childhood Experiences have been well documented by the Center for Disease Control in their long-term health study. (ACES)

As coaches, we must become trauma-informed and trauma-sensitive. We cannot coach our clients to move forward in their life without dealing with their inner blocks, barriers and resistance that have prevented them from doing so.

I was told early in my career that when the coaching profession was first formed, there was concern that coaching could become regulated by the government, as had occurred with medicine, psychotherapy, and physical therapies. In order to avoid legislative control over the profession, a distinction was consciously crafted to avoid that fate: “We only deal with the present and the future. We leave the past to licensed psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, and doctors. We aren’t doing therapy, therefore, we don’t need to be regulated.”

This was a brilliant move for the profession, making it more akin to consulting, but it was an artificial and arbitrary distinction which has become extremely self-limiting. Coaches have been trained to follow this guideline, and are left helpless in the face of their clients’ psychological wounds, inner resistance, and trauma-based reactions to their life conditions and circumstances.

How can a coach help their client move forward in life when what’s holding them back is a limited belief, old program, or wounding from their past? Coaching schools have not given their students the training, skills or tools needed to deal with this common occurrence.

Regardless of the type of support you offer your client to help them craft a better future, they will continue to be held back by the thoughts, emotions, conclusions and beliefs from their past.

Clients often express that their current problem is connected to something from their past. Coaches are left with a limited range of “helpful” options: inform, cajole, recommend, question, cheerlead, guide, and advise. These outside-in approaches can work for highly self-motivated clients, and for those who are actively working with a therapist. Most coaching clients don’t have the necessary tools to deal with their deep inner issues – otherwise they wouldn’t need help to move forward. They don’t know why they’re stuck. Something inside is putting on the brakes, derailing them, or stopping their forward momentum.

We’ve all had clients who don’t complete their assignments, don’t do their practices, or get so “busy” that they quit the coaching process entirely. The most common excuse? “Something came up.” Does that sound familiar?

The real reason is that something DID come up – something from the past. They may have reacted to something you said that reminded them of their mother. Or you gave them an assignment in direct conflict with a limiting belief. There are many names for the infrastructure where our beliefs operate: schemas, mental models, paradigms, emotional memories, and frameworks. Regardless of what you call them, they are the source of life’s unpleasant experiences.

If you push too hard against those internal barriers and protectors, your client will quit and find someone else who can help them deal with their real issues that are holding them back (or someone who will coddle them without challenging them).

My client Judith wanted to build her coaching practice and become successful in her new chosen profession. She had been highly successful in the corporate world, seen as an accomplished doer with integrity who could get anything done. After leaving the corporate world to become an executive coach, she took numerous business-building programs. She knew what to do and how to do it. She had identified her niche, understood her value, and prioritized her action list. But nothing happened. She couldn’t get started, couldn’t take the actions that she knew she had to take. She froze up when she tried to write an article. She couldn’t bring herself to reach out to her former colleagues or clients. Her website design had been stuck at the half-done point for six months. She was frustrated and angry with herself, and was confused by her own behavior. She felt “an invisible hand” holding her back. She had no idea how to unhook it. Other coaches had offered her a wide range of counter-actions that could have worked to break through the barrier, but all of them failed to change her underlying stuckness.

I suspected an early childhood wound. “Unexplainable” behavior is almost always sourced in childhood. Using the Clear Beliefs Method, I asked her to follow her embodied feelings back into her past, and asked her to identify earlier memories and experiences of feeling unable to move forward. She described a childhood filled with fear of her alcoholic father’s rage and her enabling mother who didn’t protect her. Her response to this trauma was intelligent and understandable: shrink down, do what you’re told, and avoid confrontation by not expressing yourself in any way. That strategy kept her safe and avoided triggering his anger and physical abuse.

The same strategy allowed her to succeed in the corporate world. She could accomplish any task assigned to her. But as an entrepreneur, she needed an internal locus of control rather than an external one. Whenever she thought about reaching out to others, marketing herself, or becoming visible, that “invisible hand” pulled her back into her childhood strategy of hiding and staying quiet. Her inner child remained in abject fear of being hurt. Her inner protector held a vice grip on her life to ensure that she didn’t disturb anyone.

Once she became aware of this ancient internal program, she could feel its power over her, and she wanted to clear it out of the way. It took less than an hour to delete the old belief and behavioral strategy. I then helped her create and implant new empowering beliefs in their place. Almost immediately, new opportunities emerged. The “invisible hand” disappeared. She was able to show up differently in her world, and reach out to others with full authenticity and power. Her coaching practiced blossomed, and within a year, she was living the life she wanted, serving avatar clients and bringing them to even greater success. She also registered for the Clear Beliefs Coach Training to learn how to do this for her clients.

The techniques I use are therapeutic, but it’s not therapy.  We don’t spend time talking about what happened, who did it, or why. Instead, we dive down through the storytelling layer of mind and connect directly to the core pattern, where it lives in the subconscious mind. We clear the old limiting and negative beliefs and conclusions formed in childhood, one at a time, until the recognizes their True Self shining, expressing freely in the world.

Most coaches are not trained to facilitate this kind of deep healing and shifting of old patterns and programs. The original artificial distinction about coaching, “we don’t deal with the past,” has prevented the coaching industry from offering effective methods of internal change.

In one session, I helped Judith clear the fundamental trauma that lay beneath the surface of her personality, which was in the way of living a full life. The therapeutic coaching experience changed the foundational principles of her approach to life. New possibilities emerged and doors opened that had previously been closed.

In our follow-up sessions, she reported that her resistance to reaching out to others was gone. She completed her website, and her practice was full. She was delivering the value she had always known she could offer to her clients. A bonus result was that her marriage and relationship with her children dramatically improved because she was no longer afraid of upsetting others with her truth.

Our clients are seeking transformation, not more information.  Coaches who can offer this kind of shift are in demand. Regular Old Coaching, the way most coaches practice it, will not go away because it can be very effective. It’s even more effective after the blocks, resistance, and limiting beliefs have been cleared. In my practice, and in the practice of hundreds of coaches I’ve trained, these profound shifts happen routinely.

It’s time for the coaching industry to confront its original false distinction and shift to a more comprehensive model of whole-systems change. The industry may need to go through its own belief-clearing process, similar to the one we use with our clients – find the belief that’s causing the limitation, and clear it so new possibilities can emerge.

I envision a time in the future when every coach has effective tools to locate the cause of their client’s issues, and transform their client’s self-view and worldview rapidly and permanently. The coaching profession must include and support ALL aspects of our clients world: from the inner to the outer, and from the past to the future.

Many coaches have already moved in this direction, and are confused by the strictures of  ICF guidelines. They recognize that “only present & future” coaching does not fundamentally solve the underlying problems and issues confronting their clients.

I call on the leaders of our industry to wake up and smell the transformation. It’s already cooking in the background. Coaching is about helping people make significant changes in their lives to become more whole, capable and accomplished. It’s time for our professional organizations and training institutions to clear their past limitations so we can create a brighter future.

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Lion Goodman, PCC is the founder of the Clear Beliefs Institute, and the creator of the Clear Beliefs Method of trauma-informed therapeutic coaching.  More than 600 coaches around the world have graduated and become Certified Therapeutic Coaches.  Learn more about the Clear Beliefs Coach Training at www.ClearBeliefs.com.  The program is accredited by both the ICF and the Association for Coaching for continuing education credits. 

Prior to his 25-year coaching career, Lion worked with hundreds of senior executives as an executive search consultant. He is the author of Creating On Purpose, co-author of Healing Trauma, and 5 ebooks including Clear Your Clients’ Limiting Beliefs. He lives in Sonoma County, California, and he is profoundly grateful for the privilege he has of teaching and working with amazing and awesome coaches in more than 45 countries around the world.

Lion can be reached via email: lion@ClearBeliefs.com or by phone: 1.707.971.7947. He offers a complimentary 15-minute consultation. Visit www.LionGoodman.com/coaching-options to register.

During the summer of 1978, at the age of 26, I was working as a traveling salesman. I drove through cities and towns in the southwestern states selling jewelry and giftware to stores along the way.

I had just completed a productive week in Las Vegas, where I made many sales. I was feeling good. My next destination was Los Angeles, just a few hours away.

In the middle of the Mojave Desert, I saw a motorist staring helplessly into the engine of his stalled car.

The sun was beating down on him in 100+ degree heat. I felt bad for him. I knew what it felt like to be stuck in the middle of nowhere. In the past, I had been helped by the kindness of strangers, and this was an opportunity to pay it forward. I pulled over to the side of the freeway and offered my assistance.

He told me that his car was dead, expressing disgust and complete frustration. He had just put $200 into the car, he said, and here he was, stuck, with no money and no way out of his situation.

Being a good citizen of the road, I offered him a ride into L.A.  I had plenty of room in my van, and he had no other good options.  He accepted my offer reluctantly. He gathered his things, including a sleeping bag and a full military duffle bag, and loaded them into my van.  We drove off, leaving his car on the side of the highway.

He told me his name was Ray. He looked to be in his early twenties. He was small, muscular, wiry, and slightly gaunt, as if underfed. As soon as we started talking, I realized that we had nothing in common. This was going to be an uncomfortable ride with a stranger. When he offered to share a joint with me, I relaxed. He was okay. I would make the best of it, and drop him off as soon as I could.

He didn’t seem to have a destination, and I was stopping in small towns to sell my wares to stores. He hung out with me, and over time, I grew to trust him. We traveled together for three days. I took him under my wing, like an apprentice. I gave him some of my clothes, and it pleased him to have something new to wear. I bought him food, since he had no money. I sent him on errands while I talked to potential customers. He seemed calm, and mostly satisfied with the exchange.

Selling on the road can be a lonely business. I was happy to have someone to talk to.

At night, we would find a place to park the van, sometimes talking, sometimes just listening to music. Ray slept outside the van, in his sleeping bag. I slept on the bed inside.

On our third day of travel, we came to Claremont, east of Los Angeles, a college town. I called on dozens of stores, and made a few sales. We asked around for a good place to camp for the night, and were pointed to Puddingstone Reservoir, a short drive into the hills.

I was sitting on the floor in the back of the van, which was outfitted as an RV, with a stove, fridge, and lots of cabinets. There was too much stuff piled up – my clothes, books, food, and boxes of samples. On top of that were Ray’s big duffel bag and travel gear.

I was trying to create more room by moving things around in the cabinets so I could put into them. I was crouched down in a tight space, focused on my task, listening to the music that Ray was playing on the radio at the front of the van. I was in a practical frame of mind, and feeling relaxed.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. I felt a sharp, searing blow to the top of my head. Had the gas stove exploded? I looked up, but it was intact. Then I looked at Ray.

He was behind the driver’s seat, arm propped up on the back of the seat. A black gun was in his hand, aimed at my head. I realized that a bullet had hit me in the head! My first thought was, “He’s warning me – he’s going to rob me.” That suddenly seemed just fine. “Take it all,” I thought. “Take it all. Just leave me outside and drive away.”

Another explosion shook me, and my ears rang with a terrible, high-pitched whine. I felt blood dripping down my face. The top of my head throbbed. I realized that this was no warning. He was going to kill me. I was going to die.

There was no place to move or hide. I was stuck in an uncomfortable position surrounded by cabinets. There was nothing I could do. I heard a soft voice in my mind say clearly, “Relax. It’s out of your control. Keep breathing, and stay awake.”

I slowed my breath, assessing the situation. It didn’t look good. I was a sitting duck in a shooting gallery.

My thoughts turned to the inevitable outcome: my death, only moments away. There was nothing I could do to change what was happening. Okay. What then?

I turned my attention to God. “Thy will, not my will, be done,” I thought.

I relaxed my body, letting go of the shock and tension that filled me. I slumped back against the cabinet, watching my breath flowing in and out, in and out, in and out….

I began to prepare for my death. I knew I didn’t want to die angry, upset, or incomplete. So I began my preparation by asking for forgiveness – from all those I had hurt during my 26 years of life.

I watched a full-color fast-reverse movie reel of my life, back to my birth. At each moment where I hurt someone, I asked them for forgiveness. When that was complete, I scanned my life again to find everyone who had hurt me. I forgave each of them. I thought about my parents, my brothers and sisters, my lovers, and my many good friends. I said goodbye. I said, “I love you.”

Another explosion shook the van, and my body pulsed instinctively. I was not hit – the bullet missed me by a fraction of an inch, penetrating the wood cupboard to my right. I relaxed back into the reverie of my life review.

I knew my luck could not hold out. If the gun was a revolver, there were three more bullets. I hoped it wasn’t a semi-automatic with a full clip.

Nothing mattered at that moment but to be at peace. My van, my money, my business, my knowledge, my personal history, my ideas, my freedom — all became worthless, meaningless. In the face of death, it was just dust in the wind.

All I had of value at that moment was my body, and my life ­– and those would soon be gone. My attention focused on the spark of light I called my Self. My awareness began to expand outward, extending my consciousness in space and time. I heard those instructions again: Stay Awake, and Keep Breathing.

I reached up to God, the Great Spirit, to receive me with open arms. I opened myself up to that Source. Love and light flowed down into me, filling me up to overflowing. This golden light spread outward from my heart like a lighthouse beam, loving and illuminating everything around me.

As the light grew, my awareness expanded too, like a huge balloon, until the van and its contents seemed small and unimportant. A sense of peace and acceptance filled me. I knew I would soon be leaving my body.

I could sense the timeline of my life, backward through my history to my birth, and forward to the moment of my death. I could see the next bullet, a short distance into the future, leave the gun, jet toward my left temple, and exit with brains and blood on the right side of my head. I was filled with awe to see life from this expanded perspective.

Now a single point of consciousness floated above the van. It was like looking down into a dollhouse, seeing all the rooms at once. Every detail was in sharp relief, both real and unreal at the same time. I felt the warm and welcoming golden light with calm acceptance. I was going Home.

The fourth explosion shattered the silence, and my head was pushed violently to my right. The ringing in my ears was deafening. Warm blood rushed down my head, into my eyes and onto my arms and thighs, dripping onto the floor. I found myself back in my body, feeling pain, and blood, and discomfort. I was still surrounded by light, love, and peace.

“That’s interesting,” I thought. “I’m still alive.” Wasn’t I supposed to be out of my body?  I began to examine myself from the inside. I looked into my own skull. Perhaps I could find the holes, and see light through them?

I started an internal inventory, scanning my feelings, thoughts, sensations, and abilities. I was looking for what might be missing. Surely the bullet had injured my brain. My head was throbbing, but I felt strangely normal.

At that moment, I realized that if I was going to die, I wanted to look my killer in the eyes. I picked up my head and turned toward him, at the front of the van, looking deeply and calmly, observing the bringer of death.

He was shocked, and jumped up from the seat, shouting at me: “Why aren’t you dead, man? You’re supposed to be dead!”

I didn’t know the answer to his question. “Here I am.” I said quietly, still in my expanded state of consciousness.

“That’s too weird, man! Too weird! This is just like my dream this morning!”

“What dream?,” I asked.

He was still shouting. “In my dream, I kept shooting at this guy, but he wouldn’t die! But it wasn’t you in the dream, it was somebody else!”

This is very strange, I thought, and wondered, “Who is writing this script?”

I knew that if I could keep him talking, he might not shoot again. So I began to speak slowly and calmly, trying to settle him down.

Whenever I tried to speak, he yelled, “Shut up! Just shut up!” as he peered out the windows into the darkness of the night. There was no one out there. And even if there were, they wouldn’t come to investigate four gunshots.

He nervously walked closer to me, gun in hand, aiming at me. He examined my bloody head, trying to understand why four bullets hadn’t finished me off.

Blood continued to ooze down my face. I could hear it dripping onto my shoulder. Ray said, confused, “I don’t know why you aren’t dead, man. I shot you four times!”

“Maybe I’m not supposed to die,” I said calmly.

“Yeah, but I shot you!” he said, with more confusion in his voice.

“Now I don’t know what to do!”

“What do you want to do?” I asked.

“I wanted to kill you, man, to take this van and drive away. Now I don’t know.”

He seemed worried and uncertain. He was still on edge, but beginning to slow down, a little less jumpy. The adrenalin coursing through his veins was wearing off.

“Why did you want to kill me?” I asked.

“Because you have everything, and I have nothing. And I’m tired of having nothing! This was my chance to have it all.” He was still pacing back and forth in the van, looking out the windows at the black night outside. I knew there would be no rescue from this situation. It was mine to work out, or not. I had nothing to lose, except my life.

”What do you want to do now, Ray?” I asked.

“I don’t know, man,” he complained. “Maybe I should take you to the hospital.”

My heart leapt at this opportunity, this chance – a way out.

“Okay,” I said, quietly, agreeing with his idea. I wanted him to feel in control. It had to be his idea, not mine. I knew his anger sprang from feeling out of control, and I didn’t want to make him more angry.

Ray looked at me curiously. “Why were you so nice to me, man?” he asked.

“Because you’re a person, Ray.”

“But I wanted to kill you! I kept taking out my gun and pointing it at you, when you were asleep or not looking. But you were being so nice to me, I couldn’t do it.” He seemed forlorn, as if he was a little boy, disappointed in himself for failing. Ashamed.

My time sense was completely altered. I was floating in a zone of ultra-reality. I had no idea how much time had passed since the first bullet.

After what felt like ten minutes, although it could have been seconds, Ray walked up to me. I was still in my crouched, locked-in position between cabinets.  He looked down and said, “Okay, man, I’m going to take you to a hospital. But I don’t want you to move, so I’m going to put some stuff on you so you can’t move, okay?”

Now he was asking my permission. “Okay,” I said softly. He began stacking boxes, filled with my samples, around me. “Are you okay?” he asked. It felt like he actually cared about me. He was expressing genuine concern

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I answered. “A little uncomfortable, but it’s all right.” Hope sprang up in me, and I quieted it down. Don’t get your hopes up, I reminded myself.

“All right, man. I’m going to take you to a hospital I know of. Now don’t move. And don’t die on me, okay?”

“Okay,” I promised. I knew I wouldn’t die. This light, this power inside me was strong, and certain. Each breath felt like my first, not my last. I was going to survive. I knew it. Ray lowered the pop-top of the van, secured the straps, and started the engine. I could feel the van back up on the dirt road, find the pavement, and move forward into the night – toward my freedom and salvation.

He drove on and on – to where, I had no idea. Were we bound for a hospital, as he said, or toward an even more horrible fate? If he was capable of killing me with a gun, he was capable of lying, or worse. How did he know where to go? We were more than an hour away from Los Angeles.

I sat alone, uncomfortable, head pulsing, ears ringing, in the back of the dark van. I listened to the sounds of the highway. I replayed the scenes, one by one, analyzing the past three days. I was trying to understand what happened, and why. It didn’t make any kind of sense. I had treated Ray only with kindness and respect, and he turned on me. I had invited a crazy person with a gun into my life.

For what seemed like an hour, I had time to think, feel, contemplate and question. Then I felt the van slow, pull over and stop. The engine turned off. Silence filled the space. I waited. It was still dark outside. We had not pulled into a driveway. There were no lights. This was not a hospital.

Ray walked back toward me with his gun in his hand. He sat down on the platform bed next to me, and turned toward me.

He looked distraught. His head hung down.

His words cut deep through my cloud of hope. “I have to kill you, man,” he said calmly.  Oh shit. I tried to remain calm. Stay awake, and keep breathing.

“Why?” I asked quietly.

“If I take you to the hospital, they’ll put me back in jail. I can’t go back to jail, man. I can’t.”

Back in jail? Not only was I with an unpredictable mad man, but an ex-con with a gun.

“They won’t put you in jail if you take me to the hospital, Ray,” I said slowly, still feigning injury and passivity. I hoped that there might be an opening, a moment when I could surprise him, overpower him, and take away his gun. If he didn’t know I was okay and feeling strong, I had an advantage.

“Oh yes they would, man. They’d know I shot you, and they’d lock me up.”

“We don’t have to tell them, Ray. I won’t tell them.”

“I can’t trust you, man. I wish I could, but I can’t. I can’t go back to jail, that’s all. I have to kill you.”

He seemed sad, and desperate. This was clearly not where he wanted to be. He wasn’t making any moves. His gun hung limply from his hand, pointed down toward the floor. The boxes were still stacked around me. I couldn’t judge how much strength I had, or whether it would be enough to push myself out and wrestle him down.

Ray was small, but strong. Was he still full of adrenaline? That would make him even stronger. My strength lay in words, in verbal swordplay. If I could keep him talking, he might not take stronger action.

“Maybe I could go into the hospital alone, Ray. You wouldn’t even have to be there. You could get away.”

“No, man,” he said, shaking his head. “As soon as you told them, they’d come find me. They’d track me down.”

I was silent. That didn’t work.

What could I do to escape this situation? The only answer I could find was to stay present, keep breathing, and be awake to everything.

He said, “Why aren’t you dead, man? I shot you four times in the head. How come you’re still alive and talking? You should be dead! I know I didn’t miss.” He looked again at my head, taking it in one hand and turning it to the left and right. “Does it hurt?” he asked. Again he was expressing real concern, as you would with a child who had fallen off a bike.

“Yeah, it hurts,” I lied. “But I think I’m going to be okay.”

“Well, I don’t know what to do. I can’t take you to the hospital. I can’t just let you go, because you’ll go to the police. Why were you so damn nice to me, man? No one’s ever been that nice to me before. It made it harder to kill you. You kept buying me stuff, and giving me stuff. I just couldn’t decide when to do it.”

Not if, but when.

“What would you do with all this stuff if you had it, Ray?” I asked.

“I could go home and be somebody, I could do stuff. I’d have enough money to buy my way out of there, man.” Ray began to talk, weaving his sad tale.

I listened deeply as he talked about growing up in poverty in East Los Angeles, with poverty everywhere around him. He spoke of anger at his schoolteachers who made him feel stupid.

He talked about his father, who got drunk and often beat him.

He told me about becoming a tough guy on the streets, and how he finally found a way out. He joined the Army. That was supposed to fix everything. But he couldn’t stand being told what to do all the time, so he went AWOL.

He talked about dealing drugs, and drug deals going bad, and how he ripped off his dealer. That’s why he had to leave L.A., because they were looking for him, to kill him. He told me that he had stolen his father’s gun and some money before he left.

Then his car broke down, and he realized there was no place to hide.

He had decided to turn back. If he did one more rip-off, he could get rich, and pay off the dealer. He just needed one hit, one sucker. If his target was rich enough, he could start over and be somebody. So he decided to kill whoever stopped to help him.

I had volunteered for the role of the victim.

We talked on and on, for hours. As the night began to turn toward morning, the sky slowly shifted from black, to dark indigo, to deep blue. I heard the sound of chirping birds – which was the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard. I was grateful to still be alive.

“I’m pretty stiff and sore, Ray,” I said, interrupting his reverie. “I’d feel better if I could get up and stretch.” I had been sitting in the same crouched position for six hours, knees near my chest.

Dried blood was plastered to my hair, face and clothing. My shins hurt from being pushed against the edge of a cupboard door. My lower back throbbed with a deep ache. My head felt like I had been hit hard with a baseball bat.

“Okay, man.  I’m going to let you up – but don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

“Okay, Ray. You just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

I wanted to remind him that he was in control. Don’t let him feel out of control. Look for an opening.

He moved the boxes from around me, stepped back with the gun in his hand, and opened the door. I crawled slowly out of the van, stretching upright for the first time. How beautiful the world was to my new eyes! Everything was shining, as if made of sparkling crystal.

He had stopped on a residential street next to an embankment, which led down to a small pond. He gestured with his gun that I should walk down the dirt trail that led to the water. As I clambered down the steep incline, I wondered, “Is this death again, tapping on my shoulder? Will he shoot me in the back and push me into the water?”

I felt weak and vulnerable inside, yet simultaneously immortal, impervious to his bullets. I walked erect and unafraid. He followed me to the water’s edge and stood by as I squatted down and rinsed my bloodied hands and face, splashing cool, fresh water on myself. I stood up slowly and faced him. He looked at me curiously.

“What would you do if I handed you this gun right now?” he asked, holding the gun out to me.

My answer was my first thought: “I’d throw it out there, into the water.” I pointed to the center of the pond.

“Aren’t you mad at me, man?” he asked. He seemed incredulous.

“No, why should I be mad?”

“I shot you, man!  You ought to be angry! I’d be fucking furious! Are you sure you wouldn’t want to kill me if I gave you this gun?” He held out the gun again, as if inviting me to take it, and kill him.

“No, Ray, I wouldn’t. Why should I?  I have my life, and you have yours.”

“I don’t understand you, man. You are really weird, really different than anyone I’ve ever met. I don’t know why you didn’t die when I shot you. You’re like, the weirdest person I ever met.”

I thought to myself, “Yes. I am probably the weirdest person you will ever meet.”

As we stood there at the water’s edge, facing each other, looking into his eyes, I realized that Ray had undergone as profound a transformation as my own. We were both different people than we had been the day before.

“What should we do now, Ray?”

“I don’t know, man. I can’t take you to the hospital. I can’t let you go. I don’t know what to do.”

We walked back up the hill to the van, where we sat together, and continued to talk. We were seeking a solution to this complex dilemma. We explored possibilities. What could we agree to? I made a suggestion, and he told me why it wouldn’t work. I made other suggestions. He listened, considered, and rejected them, one by one. We were both seeking a way out.

An hour later, we finally came to an agreement – something we could both agree to: I would let him go, and he would let me go. I promised not to turn him into the police, or report the incident, if he would promise to never do anything like this again.

He promised. We shook hands on the deal.

What choice did he have?

As the sun rose over the hills, and the heat of the day began, we climbed up to the front of the van. I sat in the passenger seat. He drove for about twenty minutes, in silence, to a place that was familiar to him. He parked, and turned off the engine. I gave him all the cash I had – about $200 – and two watches I thought he could pawn. We got out of the van together and walked across the street to a bus stop.

The sun was shining down on us. He had his army jacket and sleeping bag under one arm, his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. Somewhere in the bundle there was a black gun.

We shook hands one final time. I smiled at him, and he look confused. I said goodbye, and walked away.

In the emergency room of L.A. County Hospital, a doctor scraped away small bits of metal, skin and hair from my scalp, and sewed stitches. He asked me how it had happened. I told him, “I was shot, four times.”

“You’re a lucky man,” he said. “The two bullets that hit you both glanced off your skull. You have to report this to the police, you know.”

“Yes, I know,” I said.

He called me lucky, but it was more than luck. I felt blessed. I was still full of love, and light, and a deep inner peace.

I didn’t go to the police.

I had made a promise, and had received a promise in return.

I kept my promise.

And I believe that Ray kept his.

My friend Michael, an expert rock climber, told me he wanted to do something special for my 50th birthday – take me up a famous rock climbing wall, Cathedral Peak, in Yosemite Valley.

“Sure!” I replied. I some rock climbing experience in college, and 4 years earlier, Michael had taken me climbing in Yosemite. I loved climbing. I was ready for an adventure!

We drove to Tuolomne Meadows in the dark of night, arriving at 5:30 a.m. to get started “before the crowds arrived.” I was surprised to see scores of people already packing up and starting up the various hiking trails that begin on the valley floor.

Michael gave me a 25-pound pack that he had put together for me. This was just a day hike, he said. No problem! He pointed to a distant white peak, saying “That’s where we’re headed.” It looked like a tiny white thumb sticking out of the very top of the mountain. Probably a short hike. No problem!  Let’s go!  We started up the hill, and continued hiking – seriously uphill – for the next two and a half hours.

I wasn’t in great physical shape, so by the end of that jaunt, I was pretty tired. The scenery was stunning, however, so my attitude was positive. We stopped, finally, and I leaned against a sheer granite cliff to rest. Michael pointed upward, and said, lightly, “This is it. Get ready.”

I looked up, and up, and further up, looking at a sheer white wall that was nearly vertical, 2,000 feet from the base, where we were standing, to its tip.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” I said, hoping he would tell me that he was joking. When he began unpacking ropes and carabineers, I knew he was serious.  Maybe I had said, “No problem!” a little too soon.  My stomach was queasy.

I put on my climbing shoes, which squeezed my feet like a vice, and adjusted my pack, my rope  harness, and my attitude. “I believe in Michael,” I thought to myself, “and he believes in my ability to get up this thing. So I’m sure I’ll be okay.”

Michael climbed first, and my job was to let out the rope as he scampered up what looked like a vertical wall with nothing to hold onto. He moved fast, like a flesh-colored Spiderman. After the rope was almost out, he secured himself and yelled down to me, “Okay, on belay! Climb!”

I braced myself, grabbed small knobs of granite, and found tiny cracks that would hold the tips of my toes. Step by step, handhold by handhold, I made my way straight up the wall.

About 30 feet off the ground, I looked down. I was suspended in mid-air, holding on to tiny  rock knobs with my fingertips and toes.  I then looked up, and realized that I had 1,970 feet to go. My legs began to shake. Fear rose like mercury in a hot thermometer. I yelled up to Michael what was foremost in my mind: “Michael! This is WAY BEYOND MY CAPABILITIES!”

I had taught Michael about changing beliefs in one of my classes. Calmly, he yelled down to me, “That belief is not going to get you up here!”

Damn! He was right! That limiting belief would never get me up this wall.

In fact, with a belief like that, anything could stop me. Everything would stop me!

I had to change my belief.

Using my belief-change technology, the Clear Beliefs Process, I pulled that belief out of my consciousness, and disintegrated it.  That created some space.  Ahhh… take a breath.  Now: what belief would support me in getting up this ridiculous wall?  I created a new belief: “This is well within my capabilities!”

I instantly felt better, more competent.  I could see lots of handholds and footholds that were invisible before.  I began to climb, easily, comfortably.  It all seemed kind of normal. Hey! I’m doing it!  I finally reached Michael, and rested while he climbed the next pitch. Then it was my turn again.  Once again, I clambered up the wall like it was second nature.

I will not try to convince you that the rest of the climb was easy.  It took five more hours to get to the top. At one point, my fingers simply stopped working. I was exhausted, and I couldn’t grip anything.  I figured that a helicopter would have to pluck me off the wall to free me from my predicament.  Michael was patient as I went through every possible emotion, from terror to giving up to courage and back to terror. He patiently instructed me, cajoled me, and sometimes pushed me to press beyond my physical limits.

After all of those exhausting hours of hiking and climbing and pushing myself beyond anything I had ever done before, I sat with Michael atop a narrow knob of granite 2,000 feet above the ground, looking out at a gorgeous 360-degree view of Yosemite Valley.

I was absolutely astounded that I had made it to the top. There were many times that day that I was sure I couldn’t make it. But one thing was now certain: this was within my capabilities.

And sitting on top of the world, I realized how powerful beliefs are the achievement of any goal.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” ~ Albert Einstein  

The Imaginal Realm appears to be infinite – or at least as large as the Universe. (I secretly believe that the Universe is expanding because we (and others) keep imagining new things.)  The term “Imaginal Realm” was coined by Henry Corbin, a French scholar of Islamic studies in the mid-1900s. Corbin distinguished the imaginal realm from the imaginary realm.

What is imaginary is made up, but what is imaginal has an actual reality in another dimension. Carl Jung referred to it as the “Collective Unconscious.”  You can play in the imaginal realm consciously, through guided imagery (which we use in the Clear Beliefs Method), and you can allow it to enter you through your dreams, prayers, meditation, and idle meanderings.

Intuition and imagination are connected, operating as another sense, beyond the 5 senses – another set of eyes you can use to see into the world more deeply.

Here’s a place to start:  Ask the question, “What wants to come into being through me?”  Allow yourself to relax back. Open up to the infinite potential of the universe.  Receive whatever comes, in any form it comes – images, words, sounds, memories, or future possibilities. This is often called Magic – operating in the space between worlds. It is closely linked to the mysterious. True creativity happens at the edges of the unknown. 

Imagination is where the “I” becomes a “mage,” a magician – one who creates a new world out of the raw materials of this world. The word magi referred originally to a priest class in ancient Persian. The Magi acted as mediators between the spirit world and the physical world of manifestation. They were the magicians – the makers.

In the Tarot, the Magician stands near his four substances on the altar: air, earth, fire, and water. His hand is upraised to the heavens (where imagination could be said to come from), and with the help of Spirit, he is able to make a new reality. In the imaginal realm, you work with only one substance – consciousness itself.  In the physical realm, you work with earth, water, fire and air – space, time, energy and matter.

The root of the word “make” is the Old English macian, which means to fit or match. When we create our reality, we forge what is around us to match our dreams. It all begins in the Imaginal Realm.

Anything is possible In the Imaginal Realm – there are no limitations, other than those you self-impose.  Test this theory right now.  Imagine an upside-down giraffe floating above a kiddie pool.  There. You just created something that doesn’t exist, and never existed, and now it does – inside your own imagination.  You’ve had a real experience of an imaginal object.

The physical world is made of limitations. A stone remains a stone, although it can be shaped.  Water remains water, although it can take different forms. Stones and water do not suddenly become each other. One of my great teachers, Werner Gerhard, told of his great realization one day: “Rocks are hard. Water is wet. Mother is Mother.”  People usually stay the same ­– unless they decide to change.

Thought, imagination, and intention can create internal experiences that are as real as physical world experiences.  In fact, experience itself may be located in the Imaginal Realm.

When you create a new thought, or intention, it doesn’t have to follow any known laws of physics or biology, including energy, matter, or time. It isn’t there one moment, and the next moment it is there. When you let it go, it disappears from your experience (or does it go somewhere else?).

Creating in the physical universe is much different. You have to bring the thought or idea down into the world of form, step by step. You begin with an idea, or an imagined scenario of what’s possible. Then you need to work within the laws of physics, and take actions in the world. You use your body, will, energy, and time, to create what you imagined.

Note that every single thing in the human-made world started off as an idea in someone’s imagination!

As soon as you begin to move an idea into the physical world, you discover challenges and obstacles to overcome.  We call this resistance, or friction – a product of the laws of physics.  We expect resistance in the real world, and we deal with it as a fact of life.  If there were no resistance or friction, there could be no creation. Everything would just slip and slide against everything else.

We can’t create matter, because it’s already been created.  To create in the physical universe, you take your idea, and begin assembling raw materials that already exist. You cut and shape them to match your imagination. You manipulate them, decorate them, and move them into place. This is how we create art, architecture, machines, and technology.

In the imaginal realm, there are no limitations, and no rules.  You have complete freedom to create something out of nothing.  You can imagine anything, without concerning yourself with internal or external resistance, or the laws of physics, chemistry, or biology.  This power to CREATE is the power a God has as a Creator. “God said, ‘Let there be light… and there was light.’”

The act of creative visualization is itself a kind of magic. When you visualize something clearly, it’s more likely to happen, because you are instructing your subconscious mind to draw it toward you. This is known as the Law of Attraction. 

Visualization acts as a kind of strange attractor – a term from chaos theory meaning a hidden force that influences the formation of patterns out of the chaos.  It’s like a magnet beneath a piece of paper which shapes random iron filings into an organized form.  You can’t see the magnet, but you can see the effects of the magnetic field.

The images we hold in our minds similarly influence the formation of reality. They have a kind of magnetic force that acts upon the chaotic, underdetermined world of potential. We  call patterns into existence with our thoughts.  Unfortunately, visualization alone is not a reliable source of creation. It works sometimes, and not others. It’s only one step along the path of manifestation.

When you use your will, you can gain control over your attention, and the pictures you hold in your mind.  When your old limiting and negative beliefs are held in your mind, you are creating that reality.  An internal image of your body as overweight helps create that reality. When you focus on your debt, you create more debt.  If you focus repeatedly on an illness, pain, or problem, you usually get more of the same.

How can you avoid focusing on negative realities and obstacles?  

First, become aware of them.  Second, name them. Write them down. Honor them as having a purpose in your life.  

Then delete them, one by one.  As you clear your beliefs, your potential for creation blossoms. It goes exponential.  You free yourself to serve your greater vision. (This is what we do to help you in the Clear Your Beliefs coaching program.)

Give your inner vision more of your precious attention than the obstacles you face, or the negative views you have. Obstacles and feelings are just part of the experiential landscape. Use your imagination, and clear your beliefs. This will lead you directly to what you imagine for your future.

The Red Queen proclaimed that she sometimes believed six impossible things before breakfast.

In Tim Burton’s fantastic film, Alice in Wonderland, Alice is portrayed as an ingénue who is caught between two worlds: the staid expectations and beliefs of her Victorian era social structure (as lived and endorsed by her family), and the world of the possible, as taught and demonstrated by her late father, a man with visions of grandeur and adventure in far-off lands.

Like Alice, we have the same tug-of-war inside of us. Our biology drives us in two directions at once: toward the secure, the known, and the familiar on one hand, and toward the new, the novel, and the unknown on the other. We live inside this dynamic tension, and we make our lives work – or not – by how we deal with these opposing urges inside us.

Why is it important to believe in impossible things ?

Because belief in the impossible creates the possible.

Every great invention was once an impossible dream. Every great adventurer was once a crazy dreamer. Martin Luther King believed that there could be peace between the races.

Impossible. John F. Kennedy believed that we could land a man on the moon within ten years. Impossible. Some Germans believed that the Berlin Wall could be brought down. Impossible.

In Burton’s portrayal of Alice, she lost her “muchness” growing up inside the strict social norms, beliefs, and expectations of her family and culture.  By the time she fell down the rabbit hole, she had lost the qualities of self-possession, independence, and belief in the impossible.

Through her adventure in Wonderland, she regained the ability to believe in the impossible. As she remembers her True Self, she regains the ability to DO the impossible, which makes her a true Heart-based Hero.

When you begin to believe in the impossible, you open yourself to great adventures, far beyond the limitations and possibilities set out for you by other people’s beliefs.

Have you lost that precious ability to dream impossible dreams? Don’t give up hope.

You can restore your own creative ability by removing the overlay of other people’s dreams for you – along with their indoctrinated beliefs – which make you small and limited.

There are many people who do not want you to be your full and glorious self. They want you to be safe, familiar, and fit within their own social norms so they can feel safe. When you expand your own possibilities, you may find that you have to leave some naysayers behind, or make them uncomfortable by pointing out their own self-imposed limitations.

Politicians do not want you to remember your infinite capacity.

You would become difficult to control with their messages of fear and lack.

There is little support in our culture for human beings to believe or do the impossible. Exceptions are made for the few who have dedicated their lives to achieve such glory, such as Roger Bannister’s breaking of the four-minute mile, Sean White’s awesome Double McTwist during the Olympics, Barack Obama being elected President – twice, and James Cameron’s breakthrough movie, Avatar, with its own impossible beauty.

You can achieve your own brand of glory – if you begin to believe in the impossible.

I have believed myself into many impossible successes, including many money miracles that brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There is a lot of work involved in turning a belief in the impossible into a reality of what was formerly impossible.

It starts with a belief, but then the real work begins. You must remove all of your limiting beliefs – especially the ones that emerge automatically when you create something new, and hear the negative voices of doubt, foolishness, and potential loss that come up automatically.

You have to clear and work with your energy, moving it down through the chakras – from crown (thought) to ground (actions).

The art of manifestation begins with an idea, a vision, a belief in the impossible, but it doesn’t end there. Alice has to do battle with the nasty Jabberwocky. Martin Luther King did battle with both police and the public. Every President has to do battle with politicians on the other side of the aisle.

There is no free ride to manifest the impossible. But it doesn’t cost anything to begin.

What six impossible things can you believe before breakfast?

I’m sometimes asked, “Why not just eliminate all your beliefs? Isn’t that the point of enlightenment?”

It is possible to eliminate all of your beliefs with the Clear Beliefs Process. It would take some time – because you’ve accumulated tens of thousands of beliefs in your lifetime.

Consider language. It’s a hidden belief structure – one that you live and operate through. The word “cat,” for example, is a belief. It places everything in the world into a category (pun intended) consisting of two groups: “cats” and “not-cats.”

This is a very useful distinction – especially if you own a pet, or feed animals at the zoo, or watch funny animal videos on YouTube.

Your vocabulary is likely around 15,000 words (the average for most English speakers), and might be closer to Shakespeare’s vocabulary of 30,000 words. If you’re a specialist, such as a physician, your vocabulary could be in excess of 100,000 words. Each word is a belief that something is called something.

If you eliminated your entire vocabulary, what would your world look like?

Let’s imagine that you managed to eliminate all of the beliefs you accumulated during your lifetime. Your mind would be quiet. You would be fully awake, and present. You would have no language with which to communicate. You would need a caretaker – because your world would be a mass of undifferentiated stuff, and there would be no sense of “self.”

You might be seen as comatose, or an enlightened spiritual master.  Ramana Maharshi was considered an avatar. He experienced sudden realization at the age of 16, in which “I saw the seer disappear leaving That alone which stands forever. No thought arose to say ‘I saw.’ How then could the thought arise to say ‘I did not see.’”

If you want to operate in the world (the non-enlightened world), you need beliefs to function.

Beliefs are the alphabet we use to construct the language of experience.

If you’re building a house, you need to carry and use the tools required to build houses.  Every “world” has its own set of beliefs – tools – that are required to operate in that world.

If you want to be effective and powerful in the world, you need to hold beliefs about yourself that create the experience of effectiveness and empowerment.

What experiences do you want to have? When you answer that question, you can identify, create, and take on beliefs that will create those experiences.

What experiences would you prefer not to have? When you answer that question, you can delete the beliefs that cause those unpleasant experiences to occur.

Most of our beliefs are transparent to us. They operate in the background, painting a picture of the world in front of our eyes that are based on those beliefs.  Like looking through colored lenses, we soon forget we’re looking through a filter.  That’s just how the world looks.

The Clear Beliefs Process brings subconscious beliefs (the ones running your life) up to the conscious level, so you can examine them, see what experiences they’re creating, and decide for yourself whether you want to keep them or let them go.  This is true empowerment.

If you’re a coach, healer, therapist, or change agent, you’ll want to learn methods for belief change for yourself and your clients.

Check out the Clear Beliefs Coach Training, which is presented twice each year.

After studying more than twenty different belief-change methodologies, I was able to identify seven crucial elements of the belief change process. I tested these methodologies personally, and also with my clients. If all seven are present, a belief can be completely eliminated from the core of the psyche. If any of them are missing, results will be incomplete, temporary, or ineffective.

Most of the techniques I studied turned out to be only partially effective, because they were missing one or more of the seven required elements.

When the belief-change process is partial, or incomplete, client offer comments like these:

“I felt a little better.”
“I got something out of the process, but it didn’t rock my world.”
“The process seemed to work for a while, then it faded.”
“The belief was gone right after the process ended, but it returned two days later.”
“The world looked different that day, and I felt great. The next day I was right back where I had been before.”

I was seeking a permanent solution – a way to completely eliminate negative and limiting beliefs so that they wouldn’t return to haunt me.

After using most of these methods, I could feel the belief still operating in the background of my consciousness. My responses, reactions and behavior were mostly the same as they had been before. Or, if the belief disappeared from my awareness, the old belief seemed to creep back into my consciousness in a few hours, days, or weeks.

I tested these techniques, and many others:

Affirmations
EFT (Tapping)
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)
Access Consciousness
“The Work” of Byron Katie
The Lefkoe Method
The Avatar Materials

I analyzed the components of each method so I could understand its advantages and disadvantages. This is the summary of what I discovered:

Most techniques work at the conscious level of the mind. It is very helpful to recognize that you have a belief, and that the belief isn’t actually true. This is a good and necessary first step. However, as important as these two conscious steps are, they don’t touch – or clear – the belief from the subconscious mind, which is where it is actually stored.

Most of our “core beliefs,” the ones that affect us most deeply, are literally below the level of consciousness, and are not easily accessible by the conscious mind. Many were acquired before we gained the ability to speak, so they are stored non-verbally, and cannot be accessed through language.

Many teachers and practitioners claim that their technique shifts beliefs in the subconscious mind, but the results are temporary. This indicates that the technique didn’t actually clear the belief from the subconscious mind completely or permanently, so it will only be partially effective, and temporary.

Some methods involve muscle testing as a way of determining whether the client has a particular belief. Muscle testing is both unreliable and unscientific, and it requires a highly skilled practitioner. Most people trained in these methods don’t get sufficient training in order to keep their own projections out of the process. So muscle testing works for some people, but many others don’t believe in it, or think it’s too woo-woo. This makes the technique ineffective for many people.

Some methods require the practitioner to do something mysterious to you, or for you. These are often named with scientific-sounding terms such as “clearing your spinal energy channels” or “opening the quantum field.” There are two problems: first, they are not based on objective evidence, and secondly, it can create a dependency on the practitioner for future clearings. Since our beliefs create our reality, any system or process the client believes in will have some positive results – for a while. Most people don’t experience permanent change, however. (And clients often blame themselves if the process doesn’t work, rather than challenging the methodology’s effectiveness.)

Some belief-change techniques take the client through long lists of beliefs to test whether they have them. We are easily programmed by others, so this method can actually introduce new beliefs into the client’s system, rather than clearing out the ones they have.

“Tapping” methods such as EFT claim to clear issues permanently. Tapping methods certainly shift bodily energies in the moment, which can be very helpful. However, I haven’t seen evidence that the changes caused by tapping are permanent, or result in significant behavior change. (There is evidence that it can be effective for healing trauma conditions such as PTSD, however).

After studying these different methodologies, I concluded that a new methodology was needed which combined a scientific understanding of the belief formation process, including neurology, psychology, and physiology, and a deep understanding of the structure of consciousness and the mind itself.

I look for very specific evidence that a belief was permanently gone: significant and permanent shifts in awareness, self-image, and perception, with no back-sliding or repeating of the old patterns of thought or behavior. If successful, a significant, felt change occurs in the clients’ view of themselves, other people, and the world. They see themselves differently, and feel more empowered. They see others differently and treat them with more love and respect. The individual’s circumstances and the world look different, and new opportunities appear that had not been visible before. Behaviors shift automatically and easily toward actions that will create their desired outcome.

I used all of this information to create the Clear Beliefs Method, a new way of permanently deleting old, negative and limiting beliefs. I have used this technique during the past twenty years in my coaching and healing practice, and have taught the methodology to hundreds of therapists, coaches, and healers around the world who now use it in their practice.

The Clear Beliefs Method is not a silver bullet that changes everything magically. It is a tool that can be used to do inner work, one step at a time. It has a profound impact – one that can be felt viscerally when a belief is dis-created. It includes all seven elements necessary to delete a belief permanently from the core of the psyche:

The client recognizes that a belief is involved in the condition, problem, or issue they want to change, and they acknowledge that the belief is just a belief – it is not actually true.

The client comes to know the belief intimately – as a part of their experience, memory, and feelings. They can feel the belief’s impact on their life in the past, on their body in the present, and on their possibilities for the future.

The client follows the belief down to its root – to its beginning, its creation in the subconscious mind. The source might have been indoctrination by others, a self-created conclusion, or a karmic carry-over from the past.

The client experiences separation from the belief (dis-association), and recognizes their role in creating it, or taking it on. This brings the client into their superconscious mind, or Higher Self. This is a precious moment of awareness, and it gives the individual the power to un-create it.

The client makes a conscious decision to let the belief go and eliminate it from its existence in consciousness.

The subconscious, conscious, and super-conscious mind are all involved collaboratively in destroying the belief. Thus, there is no resistance from any aspect of the ego or the self.

When a belief has been destroyed, space for something new is created. The client then chooses a new empowering belief to plant in that open space. The positive belief aligns the client with their highest intentions and their virtuous nature. This affirming belief or declaration is now able to create its intended reality without resistance.

The way we get the cooperation of the subconscious mind, the conscious mind, and the superconscious mind is through a guided journey.

However, it is crucial that the client make all of their own decisions throughout the process. This creates safety and empowers them to control the process. It prevents them from becoming subject to someone else’s guidance or recommendations (which would just be further indoctrination). By using a rich metaphor and a playful approach to engage the subconscious mind, the technique had proven itself not only effective, but also creative and fun!

My recorded program, Clear Your Beliefs, allows individuals to do a major cleanout of their belief system. It gently guide users through the seven steps, and allows them to delete their own negative and limiting beliefs – the ones that have interfered with their attainment of success, wealth, health, and loving relationships. This allows people to take control over their own subconscious beliefs – including those that have been controlling and bothering them since childhood. Information is available on www.ClearYourBeliefs.com.

I teach this powerful method to therapists, healers, and coaches worldwide through The Clear Beliefs Coach Training. Information is available on www.ClearBeliefs.com.

You’ve probably noticed that whenever you attempt to create something new or different in your life, old voices from the past jump up and start telling you why it’s not a good idea, or that you’ll fail, or that no one really wants what you’re thinking about offering.

In my book, Creating On Purpose, I identify the major difference between successful people and those who aren’t successful: People who are successful know how to deal with (and eliminate) the old negative and limiting beliefs that cause doubt and barriers to moving forward.

If you want success in your life, learn to clear your own beliefs. You can melt away each block and barrier that comes up so you can keep moving forward toward your goals. The process is fun and empowering, so you’ll come back to it over and over again.

The good news is that you can create anything you wish – if you have the right tools. Join me if you want support on your journey toward awakening, self-empowerment, and success.

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

Napoleon Hill (1883-1970) wrote this famous line in his classic 1937 book, Think and Grow Rich. Hill drew on stories of Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and other millionaires of his generation to illustrate his principles called the “Law of Success.”

It was the first book to ask, “What makes a winner?” But of course, a “winner” requires a game to win. The game that Hill reports on (and is a cheerleader for) is the capitalist game of materialism and imperialism, the acquisition of more regardless of its effect on others. By making these men paragons of modern virtue, he granted permission for an “ego takes all” approach to life. This has resulted in great harm to much of humanity and the ecology of the planet.

But is his quote true? Yes and no. Truth is not an axe that divides the world into True or False. It is a scalpel that, used skillfully, can heal and educate. So what is true about this quote? And what is not?

It is true that our beliefs create our experience of reality. They act as a filter, a colored lens in front of our attention. Whether you believe “I’ll never succeed,” or “I always succeed,” you will prove yourself right, because that is the nature of beliefs – they are always self-verifying. The sunglasses we wear color the whole world — everything we look at – we see some colors, and not others. Our beliefs do the same.

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. People dreamt of flight, and using the human mind’s ingenuity, we now have jet aircraft flying around the world. People dreamt of automating manufacturing, and today we employ robots in place of people in many factories. But humans have also dreamt of a peaceful world, the end of hunger, prosperity for all, and equal opportunity – and we haven’t yet created those states of affairs. Are these dreams possible? Yes, if we were unified in our dreams, and had the political will. And if the wealthy and powerful among us did not control our media, congressmen and political leaders, we could.

In your own life, can you achieve anything you can conceive and believe? Here, the answer is clearly “No.” Otherwise, you would have already achieved it. Conceiving and believing take place in the mind. From the perspective of the Chakra system, the 7th and 6th chakras are operative. In order to bring anything into reality, you need to move your energy and attention down through the other five chakras: Communication (5th), Relationships (4th), Will and Power (3rd), Passion (2nd), and Step-by-step Actions (1st). In other words, in addition to an affirmation, you also need a plan, resources, the cooperation of others, the willingness to do whatever it takes to get it done, and daily actions that move your forward to your goal.

In my book, Creating On Purpose (co-authored with Anodea Judith, Ph.D.), we discuss the entire downward flow of energy in the manifestation pathway. The Law of Attraction is partially true (it’s one of about 50 “magical laws”), but if you just tell the universe what you want, and wait around for it to appear, you will probably wait a long time. Beliefs do create our experiential (personal) reality, but we also live inside a social universe and a physical universe, each of which has its own unique laws of creation. You can create the “reality” of the experience of abundance (“I see and feel the abundance of the universe around me.”), but that personal experience will not automatically transfer to more money in your bank account. If you want more money, you need to take action, and create something of value that others will pay for.

Inside of our head, we have conflicting beliefs about many subjects. “I want to lose weight,” and “I don’t want to give up sweets.” Whenever we make a commitment (to a diet, for example), and take a step forward, the voices of those old beliefs jump up and make their opinions known. This automatic function confuses us, keeps us stuck, or ambivalent, or fearful, and we quit moving forward. In order to make consistent progress, you have to work consistently on deleting those old beliefs.

Conceive, and believe, and you can achieve. But don’t forget to make a plan, follow through, take action, persevere, and work on clearing whatever gets in the way.

For information on our Manifestation Mastery program, visit LionGoodman.com/manifestation-mastery2

During a presentation to the Los Angeles Chapter of the International Coach Federation, a coach asked me whether transformation could be as quick and efficient as I had claimed in my talk.  “I’ve tried other techniques,” she said, “but the only thing that’s worked is long-term therapy.” I am a fan of psychotherapy, but I took exception to her assumption.

I replied, “Because our beliefs create our reality, if you believe that transformation will take a lot of time, you will have the experience of transformation taking a lot of time.  If, on the other hand, you eliminated that belief, and replaced it with the belief, “Transformation can be instantaneous,” you would experience something quite different.”

With many of my clients, the first belief we need to eliminate is “This won’t work for me.”  Once that belief is out of the way, it becomes easy — almost effortless — to eliminate the beliefs that have blocked or stymied them their whole lives. And it’s virtually instantaneous.

Our beliefs are always verified by our experience, because they are self-verifying.  We seek and find evidence to support every belief we have.  When we hold conflicting beliefs (“I want to lose weight.” and “If I lose weight I’ll get a lot of unwanted attention.”), we find convincing evidence for both, and we get stuck, frustrated, or waylaid in our attempts to move forward.

The Scientific Method is an attempt to get around this self-verification principal (also known as “Confirmation Bias”) and find out what is “really” going on. It does work to some extent. Double-blind studies take most of the bias out of research findings. However, there is abundant evidence that even scientists verify their own assumptions and presumptions of what they are going to find.

The “placebo effect” works — and works well — because patients believe that the medicine they are receiving will help or heal them. Patients in pain who receive a sugar pill instead of an opioid show dramatic reduction in their pain, and their body produces the same natural endorphins that the opioid would have produced. Instead of discounting the process as “just the placebo effect,” we should be investigating the powerful role that beliefs play in healing.

Doubts are a special category of beliefs. They are a bet on a negative outcome. “I doubt whether I will win.” is preparation for an expectation (belief)  that you are going to lose. It’s the mind’s attempt to avoid the pain of disappointment.  Get underneath the doubt, and you’ll find a negative belief lurking there.

Removing doubts is not the same as removing your discernment.  I’m not recommending that you remove your analytic mind and become a true believer – that’s called magical thinking.  You can remain discerning, stay alert to your own confirmation bias, test out a technique, and see if it works for you.

My philosophy is, “Whatever works for a person, works for them.” I don’t claim that the Clear Beliefs Method will work for everyone, because I’ve never seen anything that works for everyone.  I believe you should give any technique a fair trial, and see whether it creates the result you are looking for.  If you’re trying out different belief-change methods, here’s the acid test: Did the beliefs go away permanently, and not return? 

There are dozens of techniques that offer partial or temporary results. I created the Clear Beliefs Method because I was frustrated by the same limitations and negative thoughts coming back over and over again. This required that I repeat the technique endlessly. Why wasn’t there a permanent solution to this problem?

Hundreds of people have said that the Clear Beliefs Method worked for them after many other technologies failed to keep their promise. Try it, and see whether your transformation can be easy, effortless and permanent. And while you’re at it, make sure it’s interesting, creative and fun!