The UCAN! Plan:
The ‘U’ Step:
UNDERSTANDING - “It’s all about U!”
Nina tells Natalie that "First in mind, then in body" is the "principle of everything". She means that everything starts with thought. You might think that's pretty obvious - I mean, it's obvious that you have to have the idea of something before you make it or do it - but people seem to forget that it's the principle of EVERYTHING.
Which means that if you don't like some of the results in your life, you've got to track backwards to find what you were thinking that created those results. That's why these ideas are sometimes not very popular. The concept that we create our reality makes it impossible to blame others for conditions in our lives that we don't like. If we're going to be masterful creators, we have to take responsibility for Everything.
Look, this is getting a bit hard to explain, so I'll call on Nina and the others to do it� for me...
NINA (with a big welcoming grin): Hi! It's great to meet you.
SANDY (butting in): What did she mean about taking responsibility for EVERYTHING! That's a bit extreme, isn't it? So if a crazed gunman drives past and shoots at you, you created that? Or those starving kids in Africa - they created that?!
NINA: Whoah! Settle down.
BILLY: You've got to admit, it's a pretty good point.
NINA: Well, some people who study this stuff reckon that's true: we create absolutely everything. Other people reckon there is a random element too. I'm not sure which is the whole truth, but what I like to do is act as if I've created everything that happens to me because that attitude gives me the power to change it. If I feel like it's happened TO me, I'll behave like a victim and might not even try to take control. But if I believe I created it, I can choose to un-create it or to create something else.
NATALIE: Like what? Give us an example.
NINA: Like... okay, supposing that your friends are squabbling. Well, you can put your energy into that and feed it and build the frustration, or you can draw your attention away from it and focus on harmony and co-operation, and feed and build that.
CLARE: Just by thinking about it?
NINA: Yes, but not just one thought every day or two. I mean, really focusing on it. Concentrating. Deliberately building the idea. You see, the mind is the source and creator of everything, and YOU are the thinker of your thoughts. Honestly, guys, most people really don't like this idea because of that responsibility thing. It's MUCH easier to blame or give excuses. And the other reason people don't like this idea is because it's much easier to believe our senses. Having to go inside yourself and imagine something new that is different to how it looks can be really hard sometimes. That's why we've got that "See the Invisible" motto... But that's how you get to be a true Creator and Master.
SANDY (under her breath): Life was much easier before you came along...
NINA (not hearing Sandy - or maybe pretending not to hear her): Okay, here's another way of looking at it. You know that whole science thing about solids, liquids and gases?
THE OTHERS: Yeah...
NINA: Well, things that are solid have a really slow frequency. Like rocks. They are kind of stuck. They can't change very easily. Things that are liquids have got a higher frequency and they can change more easily - water can freeze and become ice or boil and turn to steam, right? But the thing that can change the most easily is gases. They are totally free to move. They are most like thought. Free to move and change and create. Our bodies are the result of our thought. So if we want to change our bodies, instead of trying to change the solid thing, you change the spiritual thing first, the thought, and then that change filters down to the body.
BILLY: So you're saying our thoughts are gassy.
SANDY: I don't know about that - I reckon your body's pretty gassy!
The others cracked up laughing then, and I couldn't get any more sense out of them. Not even Nina. So I hope their explanations helped a bit more than mine. There's stacks more to say about all of this, like the role of your subconscious mind and the difference between magic and mastery and the be, do, have principle, but they will have to come later.
One of the things I did promise to mention was this new Age we're moving into. You might remember that thousands of years ago we had the Stone Age and then the Iron Age and Bronze Age and eventually we got to the Industrial Age when people figured out how to create machines to do things for them. And lately we've been in the Information Age - everybody's got computers these days, right? And now we're moving into The Age of Imagination.
That means we are realising more and more how powerful our thoughts and imaginations are, and that the sky is the limit. If we can imagine it, we can (eventually) create it. What you conceive, you can achieve. And you guys, young people, the world is going to be transformed as your thoughts take effect. You have powerful, unlimited imaginations, and as you begin to believe in your power to create, the world will truly be transformed.
So... what are ‘U’ going to create?!
Keep reading to take on board The ‘C’ Step in the UCAN! Plan.
The 'C' Step:
Discover the Magical Power of CHOICE
Imagine jumping on a train or a bus and then just going wherever it's going - be pretty dumb, wouldn't it? It's absolutely obvious to us in our physical lives that we need to choose our direction and make sure we're taking the actions that will get us there. But it's not always so obvious at other levels.
Sometimes we might WANT to go to 'Healthy Body' but we take the actions that lead to 'Unhealthy Body'. So there needs to be a good match/alignment between what we SAY we want and what we DO, and that starts with making a clear and conscious choice.
If we consciously choose 'Healthy Body' because we're sure that's what we want, it will be much easier to do the Healthy Body actions than if we just say we want 'Healthy Body' but actually want 'Sugar and Fat Taste Sensations'.
If you imagine the Healthy Body goal and you see a picture of yourself slim and fit and feeling light and vital, you'll probably be quite attracted to that goal and want to make it come true, especially if you deliberately build the idea. On the other hand, if you imagine yourself tucking into fries and pizza and flavoured ice cream with gusto, you'll probably be attracted to that scenario and want to make IT come true...
The more imagination you put into the thing you're focused on, the more attractive it becomes.
So choosing requires some thought. We need to ask ourselves WHAT we want to experience and WHY - to check if we're prepared to pay the price of having it.
SANDY (glumly): You're sounding like my Dad, talking about 'paying the price'.
NINA: Well, he's right. Things don't just land in your lap. You've got to put out some energy. What you put out comes back to you, right?
SANDY (reluctantly): Yeah...
NINA: If you want to be a top football player or gymnast or whatever, you're going to have to do heaps of training.
NATALIE: What about that basketball experiment when the ones who only imagined succeeding did just as well as the ones who practised?
NINA (scratching her head): Well, I think it must be about balance. You probably can't do brilliantly at something if you never do it in the physical. It would probably take much longer to build muscle just doing it in your mind. So I guess you need both: physical effort and mental effort. The thing is, the more of the mental you do, the more easily the physical happens.
CLARE: That's what happened with maths for me. The more I imagined getting through maths exercises and tests quickly and easily and the more often I could visualise getting great results, the easier it got. It was weird.
NINA: Yeah: Wild Exciting Inspiring Real and Do-able.
SANDY: What???!!!
NINA: WEIRD: Wild, Exciting, Inspiring, Real and Do-able. Anyway, it makes sense that if you get excited about junk food and keep thinking about it that you'll just keep wanting to eat it and then that becomes your goal. But if you get really excited about feeling fit and terrific, you'll make that your goal. True?
BILLY: Yeah. So what if you want to be Healthy but you want to eat junk?
NINA: Ah. Good question. Then you've got to build your desire for Health.
BILLY: How?
NINA: You can start by making a list of 100 reasons why you want to be Healthy.
SANDY (groaning): I thought it would be something like that.
NINA (sternly): You want a great result, you gotta put in some energy, right?
SANDY (making a face): Yeah, yeah...
NINA: And the goal you set has to be something you REALLY want - not something you think you SHOULD want. If you really want it, you'll put some love into it and that's where the power of attracting it to you comes from.
CLARE: But I didn't love maths.
NINA: No; you loved the idea of doing it easily. And of pleasing your mum, right?
CLARE (blushing): How did you know?
NINA (shrugs): It doesn't matter. I just guessed. So if a thing is really important to you, you'll be able to put your love and energy into it and you'll want to imagine it and all of that will bring it to you much faster. It's all about Lurv.
BILLY: Lurv??
NINA: Love, you dork.
SANDY: So you're telling me that Love brings things to me.
NINA: Yep.
SANDY: That's weird.
NINA: Yep. Wild, Exciting, Inspiring, Real and Do-able.
SANDY: YOU are Weird.
NINA: Yep. Wild, Exciting, Inspiring -
They all jumped on Nina then, so we'll leave them there. Hope you got some insights from this brief exploration of the CHOOSE Step. So remember, Choose Consciously. Check that you're willing to put some energy into the thing you want and that you truly want it. Knowing why will help.
Keep reading to get to a handle on the ‘A’ Step in the UCAN! Plan.
The 'A' Step:
Live an A+ Life by Taking ACTION!
So far we've talked about the importance of Understanding the Principles of Conscious Creation and of Choosing Consciously. This message is about Applying the Tools and Taking Action.
Nina and her uncle teach the other Club members several tools to help them clarify their focus and build their desire and belief. They learn about affirmations, which are statements worded in positive language in the present tense that you repeat lots of times in order to impress them upon your subconscious mind.
Did I tell you that your subconscious plays a role in automatically running things for you so that you can move on and do other things? Imagine what a drag it would be if you had to consciously beat your heart and pump your blood and keep your temperature stable and do all those other things that you body does to keep you alive? It would drive you nuts! You wouldn't have time to do anything else. Well, your subconscious mind works with your sympathetic nervous system to handle all of that for you.
Habits are another thing that the subconscious handles for you. When you've done brushing-your-teeth-before-bed often enough, it becomes a habit and you don't have to think about it. You just do it automatically. Same with our thoughts. Whatever we think repeatedly becomes a habit, and then it happens automatically without us having to think about it. Which is a bummer if you're thinking "I'm so clumsy, I always break things' or something unhelpful like that. You don't want to make those kinds of thoughts into habits, do you?
But if you consciously choose what you would like to have as a habit-thought, and deliberately practise thinking it until it becomes a habit, that is called Really Smart.
CLARE: Like, ‘I am getting better at maths every day’.
BILLY: Yeah. Or: ‘I am now riding my mountain bike and loving it!!!!’
NINA: Yep. And you can write them and say them and think them. The more you do it, the faster they become natural habits.
NATALIE: I really like visualisation. It's pretty cool sitting down and creating a movie in your mind of what you want to experience.
SANDY: Can you always do it?
NATALIE: No. Sometimes I just get fog, but other times it's clear, even just for a second or two. Sometimes I can even smell things - sort of.
NINA: That's great. When it feels real, you know you're doing some real creating.
CLARE: I like treasure mapping. Cutting and pasting words and pictures of your goal is fun, and then you've got a constant reminder of it.
SANDY (darkly): So long as no-one sees it who shouldn't.
NINA: Yes. It's important to keep your dreams to yourself when they're babies. Baby dreams are easily knocked over by the winds of disbelief.
The others all stare at Nina.
NINA: What?
SANDY: So poetic...
NINA (moving right along): And that’s where ‘See the Invisible, Hear the Silent, do the Impossible’ comes into it. It can be really hard to hold the idea of what you want when all the evidence is opposite, but that’s what you’ve gotta do. Even if you can only summon the energy to say one word, like ‘succeeding’, just have it running in the background of your mind like a drum roll. Succeeding, succeeding, succeeding, succeeding… There’s always going to be something going through your mind – you might as well make it useful.
NATALIE: That’s true. The other day I caught myself thinking, “I’m so bored, bored, bored”, over and over.
NINA: Did you change it?
NATALIE: Yeah. I started thinking, “I’m creative, creative, creative!”
CLARE: And were you?
NATALIE (thinking back): Well, I just drifted around for a bit longer, but after that I suddenly remembered I was going to make muffins to surprise mum, and I did.
NINA: Brilliant. That is Very Cool. Because these are not just ideas, right? They’re no use to you if you don’t use them. So you put the ideas into practice by using tools like visualising and affirming and treasure mapping, AND you take action in your actual life. You can’t just sit and wait; you’ve got to take steps toward your goal so you can receive it.
BILLY (suddenly): You know, I had wanted a mountain bike for years, but I never did anything about it. Just wished I had one. It wasn't until you talked to us about setting a definite goal and then taking action towards it that I had the idea of mowing lawns to earn some money to buy one. Before that I thought it would have to be given to me because it seemed out of my price range. And I didn't think my parents would give me one, so I had just sort of given up.
NINA: Good point. The ideas for action come after you've set your intention. And you've got to follow them! I heard a great story about this once.
“There was a really heavy rain happening in this town, and everyone knew the river was going to burst its banks and flood, so all the people in the town were being evacuated, but this one particular guy refused to get on the bus and be taken to safety. "God will rescue me," he says, and waves the bus good-bye.
"Well, the rain kept pouring down and the river burst its banks. The water starts flooding into the ground level of his house, so the man has to go upstairs. Along comes a boat to collect the last people in the town, but this one man says, "No, God will rescue me." And he tells the boat to go and leave him there.
"So the boat goes and the rains continue and the flood waters are rising higher and higher, and this man has to go up to sit on the roof of his house to be safe. And along comes a helicopter. An emergency guy leans out of it and throws down a ladder and yells, "Here, climb aboard to safety!" But the man refuses. He reckons God is going to save him.
"Anyway, finally the flood waters wash his whole house away and he drowns. And when he gets up to heaven he goes to see God and says, "Hey! I had so much faith that you were going to save me and you never came."
""What do you mean?" God says. "I sent a bus, a boat and a helicopter - you refused to be saved!""
SANDY: What a dork.
NATALIE: That is a great story. So you're saying that if you get an idea to do something that might help with your goal, do it!
NINA: Yep. Follow your leads. We're living in a physical world, so that's where we have to take action. You start the process with your mind, and you follow up with your body.
BILLY: I am having this thought about going swimming - any body want to come?
SANDY (leaping up): This body is raring to go!
While they head off, do you want a little preview of the final Step in the UCAN! Plan, the ‘Now – Let Go Step’?
Gratitude.
If you can be grateful for the thing even before you've received it, that gratitude will work miracles for you. Act as if you've already got the thing you want, and it's yours. There's a line in the Bible to that effect, but I’ll let Nina tell you about it…
The 'N' Step:
NOW... Let Go and Sky Dive to Success!
Have you heard the expression: "If you love something, let it go. If it's yours, it will come back to you; if it doesn't, it never was"?
That saying is a pretty good summary of the 'Now... Let Go' Principle.
If you hold your hand in a fist, you'll notice that there's no way you can take hold of anything. It's only when we relax our grip and open up our hand that we can receive.
But what are you supposed to let go of? Not your goal. And not the actions you're taking.
You let go of trying to make it happen. This is where trust comes in. You've got to trust that if the thing you want is really going to be good for you and all concerned, that it will come about in perfect timing. That takes some trust, but what I've noticed is that when something doesn't happen when I want it to, in retrospect I can almost always see why. I usually wouldn't have been ready to receive that thing anyway.
CLARE: That's what Nina told us to put on our treasure maps: "For the highest good of all concerned".
NINA: Yep. You gotta trust.
SANDY: How do you stop worrying and wondering about it?
NINA: I sort of distract myself. When I'm sure that I've set a clear goal and I can feel it coming true and I'm doing what I can in the physical world, I start playing this kind of game to distract myself. You know how you see mothers with babies and toddlers who are about to cry suddenly get really busy giving them things to hold or pointing things out to them or something to distract them?
CLARE: Yeah...
NINA: Well, that's kind of what I do. If I catch myself worrying about it, I just say my affirmation again, then I say, "That's handled now", and I make myself pay attention to something totally different.
NATALIE: You know how you call God 'G.O.D. - the Grand Organising Design or Designer'? So it's sort of like there's some organising that needs to happen to bring all the right people and things together to make your dream come true. So you've got to sort of get out of the way so it can happen.
NINA: Exactly. You have to give G.O.D. a chance to orchestrate the whole thing without you constantly in there pulling up the baby seedling to see how much it's grown.
BILLY (with feeling): Which is not easy when you've screwed up along the way and slowed everything down.
NINA: Sometimes it LOOKS LIKE we've screwed up, but remember that obstacles are there to build our muscle - either mental muscle to build more will power, or physical muscle. In the end, it all serves.
BILLY: Yeah, I know.
NINA: This is a really great time to be doing lots of gratitude for the thing you want. The more you say thank you for it - and mean it - the faster it comes. There's a line in the Bible that goes: "Ask, believing you have received, and the thing you want is yours". Or something like that. But seriously, feeling grateful knocks out any worry because how you can worry if you're going to get something that you've already said thank you for because you know it's coming?!!
BILLY: Come again?!
SANDY (butting in): I guess that's what I did before I got the role I wanted in The Wizard of Oz. I gave up; just let it go. And the next thing I knew, I had it.
NINA: Have you heard about people who want to have babies and can't, and then they adopt one, and right after that they have a baby?
CLARE (excited): My aunt was like that! They wanted a baby for ten years and couldn't have one, and so they adopted this gorgeous little boy, Mikey, and the next thing, Lisa was pregnant!
NINA: Yep. She just let go worrying and bingo.
NATALIE: But what about when you don't get the thing you want? Because people don't always get it, do they, even when they understand these principles?
NINA: That's right. And that's when Super Trust comes in. You've got to trust that G.O.D. knows what's best for you and only wants what's good for you.
SANDY: Not always easy.
NINA: No. The thing is, G.O.D.'s mission is to give us what we need to grow, rather than all the stuff we want for our momentary pleasure.
SANDY: That doesn't sound very appealing, if you ask me.
NINA: Put it this way: if you growing meant you becoming smarter, stronger, more talented, more loving, more powerful, more creative, richer, having more friends... would you want it?
SANDY: If you put it that way it sounds all right.
NINA: Whereas you might want chocolate ice cream right now and to stay up all night watching TV...
SANDY (suspiciously): This G.O.D. sounds a bit like a parent.
NINA (grinning): Only the most loving, wanting-the-best-for-you kind of parent.
BILLY: That's what they all say.
NATALIE: The thing is, I suppose, that our parents are just human and they can stuff up, but G.O.D. has the BIG picture and knows absolutely truly what is best.� � �
CLARE: So if it's not coming to us, either we're not ready for it or it's not right for us.
NINA: Exactly.
Which is where we'll leave this conversation for now. There's lots more to learn and discover, so if you haven't yet ordered your copy of The Mastery Club, I hope these snippets have stirred your interest sufficiently to take that step. If you have read the book and you’ve enjoyed these extra bits, let me know! And I'm sure I can ask those guys to share their thoughts again later.
We've covered the UCAN Principle: that first you must UNDERSTAND the principles of conscious creation, then you must CHOOSE your focus, APPLY the tools and take ACTION, and finally, NOW... let go, trust, and let G.O.D.
Now perhaps you're ready to start your own Club, and inspire other young people to achieve their dreams. So if that interests you, head to the next article, “How to Start Your Own Mastery Club” for some guidelines…
GOAL SETTING
Step 1. BRAINSTORM wildly! Allow your mind to head off in all sorts of directions and imagine all sorts of even barely believable possibilities.
• Where would you like to live? What sort of house?
• How would you like your relationships with family and friends to be?
• If you’re studying, what sort of results would you like to achieve?
• What is your ideal occupation? What would you LOVE to spend your day doing?
• Where would you like to travel or holiday?
• Write up a budget for your ideal life - so THAT’S the income you’re planning to attract!
• What secretly cherished dreams do you have - what hobbies or interests would you like to indulge? Do you desire to launch your own business?
• What else inspires you - is it to acquire items of beauty, to attend personal development courses that you’ve so far considered too expensive, to upgrade to a better car, to contribute generously to a cause that you believe in...?
etc.
Step 2: RECORD all of these inspiring ideas. Dr John Demartini has been keeping record books of his visions and goals for YEARS. His books are thick and heavy tomes. He continually clarifies and crystallises his ideas.
Step 3: CHOOSE the most appealing items to focus on. All of your desires will continue to percolate in your consciousness if you give them some attention and commit them to paper (or even computer file!), but life naturally follows priorities. What are YOUR priorities?
One universal law is that everything that comes to us does so ‘by right of consciousness’; which means that you will only attract what you resonate with, what you are in harmony with. That’s why two people can walk down the same street and one get mugged but not the other, or why two people can have a dream and one materialises it while the other just runs into problems or gives up. “First in mind, then in body (physical form).” Are you in resonating with ideas of prosperity and growth or with ideas of limitation and stuckness? We all run into challenges regularly, they’re a blessed part of life - but we don’t have to stay there!
Step 4: WRITE UP a goal card or affirmation or mission statement or treasure map - in other words, put your priority desires into the form that inspires you, and saturate your consciousness with them. And then...
Step 5: TRUST – these are universal LAWS. They always work.
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