More Pleasure Please!

     "No pain, no gain!"  No wonder it can be so hard to motivate ourselves.  Living from this belief is only prohibiting us from living our dreams.  In Awaken the Giant Within, Anthony Robbins explains that, "Everything you and I do, we do either out of our need to avoid pain or our desire to gain pleasure."  Action needs to be taken, however, it is only taken when we decide that putting off whatever we are procrastinating about is too much pain to bear.
     "What are some of the experiences of pain and pleasure that have shaped your life?" Anthony asks.   The pain and pleasure we associate today is predicted by our past.  Growing up I learned that studying hard and getting good grades was a source of pleasure.  I would study almost every night for hours knowing that I would have much pleasure by being a good student.  There was pain associated with all of that studying but the predicted pleasure outweighed that pain.  Some other questions to ask yourself about how you associate pain and pleasure: "If you're single, do you look upon marriage wistfully as a joyous adventure with your life's mate, or do you dread it as a heavy ball and chain?  As you sit down to dinner tonight, do you consume food matter-of-factually as an opportunity to refuel your body, or do you devour it as your sole source of pleasure?" questions Anthony.
    I've begun to see how I am fueled by my fear of pain and my desire for pleasure.  There is a trade-off of how much pain I will allow into my life for how much pleasure the payoff may be.  I work out intensely every day for the pleasure of looking and feeling good.  I work a 9 to 5, 5 days a week job for the money that I believe brings more pleasure into my life.  When the pain of working out or working too many hours becomes too much then I stop because the payoff isn't worth it.  I wonder how many other ways I'm influenced by pain and pleasure?  I would love to be a motivational speaker but the pain of public speaking is too much.  What if this didn't define my life and I had the choice regardless of the amount of pain?  How can I reprogram the pain associated with public speaking to pleasure?  In regards to food, what if you associated more pleasure by pushing your plate of food away when you know you've had enough to nourish you and associate pain with eating harmful, fattening foods?
      What associations do you have with pain and pleasure?  How are you motivated?  What would you like to change?  List a fear of yours and ask yourself how you can turn this into a pleasure.  Anthony says that "The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose.  By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviors."  Begin choosing for you!

Having your choice

     How many choices do you make a day for you?  Or does it usually feel like your choice is based upon other people and trying to please them instead of yourself?  How many of your choices have been influenced by other people's agendas or because you don't want to piss anyone off?  How much more fun would life be, given that choice was yours?  Tony Robbins, in Awaken the Giant Within, asks us to ask these questions, "How am I going to live the next ten years of my life?  How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm committed to?  What am I going to stand for from now on?"  The choice is ours to create our lives.  How much fun can we have doing that?

     "Different actions produce different results." states Tony.  The actions that you are taking today are shaping your future.  What could you do differently that would be expansive for your future?  Possibly, there is a habit that you'd like to change.  What new experiences could you have without this habit?  Maybe you would like to be a pilot, live on an island, or learn how to cook.  A lot of us make excuses to limit our lives ie. not  enough money or time.  However, these are only limiting you from having more of the life you require.  What choice can you make now to live your dream life?
     As you all know, I want to share Pure Qualities (my self-help program) with others on a massive scale.  I took the time today to contact a lady that I believe has the connections I'm looking for.  I'm super excited!  She wrote me back and has already given me some direction.  What's next?

What do you want to show up in your life?

   “We all have dreams…We all want to believe deep down in our souls that we have a special gift, that we can make a difference, that we can touch others in a special way, and that we can make the world a better place.” emphasizes Tony Robbins in Awaken The Giant Within.  His goal is to bring us into awareness of our dreams and how to achieve them.  He explains that we need to raise our standards, change our limiting beliefs and our strategy.  Then, we need to master different areas of our life.

               What are your standards for you?  Is it possible to raise them higher and bring about the change you desire?  What limiting beliefs do you have about you?  If you want to be a famous singer but believe that you are not good enough or that no one wants to hear you, then how will you achieve this?  Lastly, if your strategy is not working for you, then how about changing it?  These are the questions to begin your journey with success!  Tony says, “You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know.  Knowing is not enough!  You must take action!”

               There are 5 areas of mastery that impact us the most; emotional, physical, relationship, financial, and time mastery.  For example, the first mastery, emotional, is the first area Tony points out because it is vital to the other 4 areas of mastery.  He asks, “Why do you want to lose weight?  Is it just to have less fat on your body?  Or is it because of the way you think you’d feel…?”  Almost everything we do is to change the way we feel.  Mastering these areas of our life will give us the space and energy to live our dream lives.  How awesome is that?

               As I begin to answer these questions for myself I realize that I am not living my dream life.  I have limiting beliefs.  I believe that I have to have a certain amount of experience before people will hear me.  I desire to be a motivational leader through writing books and blogging in lines with Pure Qualities, my company, a tool to bring more love into the lives of others.   The  truth is that I have a lot of self-help, motivational and inspirational knowledge and experience.  I even created a motivational program based on the qualities of love.  However, my limiting beliefs stop  me from talking about all I’m doing.  So, what would it take for my dream life to manifest?  What dreams do you want to manifest?  Furthermore, are you willing to go on this journey with me to dive into the 5 levels of mastery?

 Charissa Duskis

Awaken The Giant Within, Anthony Robbins Chapter 1 recap