“In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.” — Robert Heinlein

Without an understanding of what we want from life we get what happens without conscious choice. The unconscious thinking that is the habit and internal life of most people, create destiny as surely as a future created with great conscious thought and effort toward a desired goal.

How common is it to for one of our fellows to bemoan his or her fate at having no pleasure or satisfaction in life? When I hear this I almost always see a person who has lived life without a plan. I see people ignorant of the most basic understanding that men achieve what they think about, take action to achieve, and desire.

Without a goal it is human nature to take the path of least resistance. Without a challenge that has meaning to the individual whether it is family, friends, career or purpose, life becomes a series of meaningless distractions from the tedious, mundane grind of existence.

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” My own experience with unconscious thought and my observations of other travelers through life confirm to me that without examination and conscious thought life is less than satisfying. Socrates was right.

Think! Consciously think about hopes, desires, passions, dreams and take action. Create a life that has meaning.

Plan! Be aware of things that can be done to create in your life the things you desire.

Desire! Desire passionately striving for the goals you have identified.

Act! Take action in large and small ways to progress towards your goals.

Enjoy! Enjoy living a liberated life of conscious thought and conscious action.

The destination you seek is your choice.
Live your life with passion.

Gene
A traveler on the journey.

Dr. Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D.  Self Talk and the beautiful efficiency of technology

In the early years of my conscious self discovery and self development journey I discovered the usefulness of recording positive, true scripts on audio cassette tapes and listening to them as I went about my day. I used this tool of recording sayings of many kinds from a large variety of sources to help me to develop the kind habits, actions and abilities I desired to possess.

I used this tool for a few years and discovered a book by Dr. Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D. titled The Self Talk Solution in which he puts forth the benefits of positive self talk as a way of overcoming and reframing negative internal messages into positive affirming self talk. In this book Dr. Helmstetter also extolled the miracle of technology available to all with a cassette recorder to make personalized tapes to play back periodically to help shift beliefs from limiting beliefs to more true, empowering beliefs.

Before reading his book and examining his other materials I was already using many of the techniques mentioned in his books. His presentation of the how and why self talk can be useful was a cogent and credible theory which I found useful.

I eventually attended a training group at the Self Talk Institute where he presented a version of his work to professionals for use with clients. I have used this method with many coaching and counseling clients alone and in conjunction with other techniques. It is frequently useful as a way of moving forward towards the goals my clients would like to achieve.

Today the easy and inexpensive availability of Compact Disc players, MP3 players, computers and other audio devices make self produced and professionally produced custom audio programs useful to the individual and to the professional working with clients.

I use audio programs in my work with clients today and continue to use audio programs for my own personal growth.