I watched a movie earlier this year that finally got through to me. I finally decided that I was done being alone, and was ready to change my life. I don't normally watch "romantic" movies, I have no idea why I watched this one, they tend to turn my stomach, to tell the truth. Up to this point, I had consciously decided, over and over again, whenever the subject came up, that no, intimate relationships were definately not worth it, and I deliberately turned away from all opportunities that came my way. I did this for years.

Anyway, I've said all that just to say what a totally new attitude this was for me. It happened very suddenly. I decided I was just plain done. Now I would say that I launched a desire. :)

I went on Amazon, bought Dr. Wayne Dyer's book Wishes Fullfilled - Mastering the Art of Manifesting. That lead me to Google something related to manifesting... which of course led me here. This place has totally changed my life. :)

When the student is ready, the teacher will appear - Buddhist Proverb

This has happened to me so many times that I have come to believe it to be true.

Mostly we seek out guidance/advice whenever we need a solution or an answer, so the problem or the question is already in our mind. For example, if I am in debt, I am more likely to seek out a motivational speaker that's talking 'financial freedom'.

But, in my experience, if I approach spirituality (which is basically paradigms) with open mind, I pick up more than I go in for. Always..

When someone gave me my first Wayne Dyer book, after liking what I read, I discovered that my own father owns every single one of them. Strange, we never discussed it, maybe because I was not ready for them:)

I had never heard of IQ before, I was searching Google for 'Natural ways to fall asleep fast' when I discovered it and obviously I stayed back as I am getting more than just sleeping tips & tricks:)

So my answer would be no it did not change my mind about something in particular but better...

...it changed my whole life:)

Different people will pick up different things from same source and as spirituality is a journey or a way of life, it's wonderful how even a single word can sometimes guide people in right direction:)

Yes, many. Especially those people whom when I listened to them I felt a knot tightening in my stomach. In retrospect I know that the knot was caused because on the one hand the things said went against my existing beliefs, and on the other hand something in me (my spiritual self) knew that what was being said contained truth and would serve me.

Over time, I relaxed beliefs which were long held by my ego-self and opened up to new ideas and new possibilities, thus my journey of self-discovery had begun and continues to this day...

Although all truth lies within and is accessible by every individual who desires to access it, if someone else brings that information through for you, then why wouldn't you want to pay them for the service they're providing for you?

After all, in our current paradigm money is a tool that we've agreed represents a token of exchange for our daily needs, such as food, shelter and clothing. Speakers, authors and channels all need to eat and survive in physical reality, do they not?

I won't list the speakers and authors who helped me because if someone reads this and at the same time they dislike those people, they'll probably dismiss the entire post :)

The important thing to remember is: knot in your stomach or not, there may be something being said that can assist you to move forward in your life, if that's your desire...

As far as proving and convincing goes, in my view that's always a personal matter.

This is not a motivational speech.

This is however an understanding that changed my life in a moment of critical need.

This understanding is nothing new for any of the members that are here.

We all understand this concept very well.

It is nothing new.

However...much of this answer was inspired by Dollar Bill’s answer to a recent question regarding helping someone in need as well as by the challenge, "Prove to me that it can be done"; because the mind has only room for one version of a duality equation.

The mind can only manifest the experience "Prove to me that it can be done" or the experience "It can be done"

However, the mind cannot attract both those experiences because they are both opposite to each other.

Therefore, we have to make a choice between "It can be done" and "Prove to me that it can be done"

Here is how we can choose "It can be done"

(Some of the ideas are deliberately repeated)

Everything happens within NOW.

Your entire life is a continuous re-creation of what is within your mind RIGHT NOW.

You are forever catching up to what is within yourself RIGHT NOW.

So say this to yourself RIGHT NOW.

"I AM GETTING BETTER RIGHT NOW"

"I AM STARING TO FEEL FANTASTIC RIGHT NOW"

(I am going to omit the quotes but if you are grammatically irritated feel free the imagine them at both ends)

I know that as long as I hold on to this vision within my thoughts, words, imagination and deeds.....The Universe will constantly re-create this experience more and more within my life until I eventually catch up to this moment that is in my imagination RIGHT NOW.

I know that whatever I imagine within my mind RIGHT NOW is what will be re-created for me to participate in my future because I now understand that the world I live in constantly catches up to whatever is in my imagination RIGHT NOW.

Because of this I CHOOSE to imagine what I want to happen to me as-if it has already happened to me RIGHT NOW even though, in truth, it has not happened to me yet!

I am consciously choosing to do this because I now understand that by deliberately imagining a different "RIGHT NOW" in my imagination the entire universe begins to respond with all its resources to shift my experience to this new reference point within my mind.

I now understand that if I choose to worry about something bad happening to me, and that if I choose to worry about it within RIGHT NOW, the universe has no other choice than to CREATE the living experience of that worry within the moment of RIGHT NOW, even though that moment is somewhere in the future.

I now understand that everything that I am afraid of happening are happening exactly because I am imagining these things within my mind in the moment called RIGHT NOW.

I now understand that every time I imagine something bad within the moment of RIGHT NOW, I have created the opportunity for that experience to happen to me in the future moment of RIGHT NOW.

From this moment on I am choosing to take responsibility for the consequences of the nature of my thoughts within this moment called RIGHT NOW.

I am responsible for whatever that I imagine happening to me as long as I imagine it happening to me RIGHT NOW.

I now understand that if I imagine something happening to my friends or me RIGHT NOW, because of the power of the mind within this moment (RIGHT NOW), that which I am imagining RIGHT NOW will eventually happen because this is the nature of how the mind creates every moment within right now.

Because I now understand this, I am choosing to imagine only good, great and wonderful things happening to my friends and I WITHIN RIGHT NOW even though that imagination does not match with my actual experience within right now.

I am doing this because only by this method can my circumstances within my future RIGHT NOW eventually catch up to the good, great and wonderful thoughts within myself RIGHT NOW.

I am not lying to myself by doing this because now I understand that this is the only way to allow GOD and the Universe to bring real and lasting change into my life.

I now understand that this is exactly how prayer works and this is why the pastors and preachers have always told me to thank god for answering my prayer as-if it has already happened.

I now understand that this is the true power within the NOW MOMENT within my consciousness and everybody else’s consciousness.

I now understand that each person is responsible for the consequences of whatever that they constantly dwell on in their minds within the moment of NOW.

So from now on, I am going to choose to dwell on only the thing that I want to happen to me.

I want to be Healthier and happier than I am right now.

Therefore, I am going to keep telling myself RIGHT NOW that I am getting better and that I am becoming happier within every moment.

I am going to catch myself every time I find myself worrying and examine if I really want to experience the physical materialization of that worry, because I now understand that this will be the result if I choose to continue to worry about it.

I am consciously choosing to no-longer worry in my mind because I no longer want to experience the attracted physical experience of my worry.

I am accepting the responsibility that worrying is a CHOICE.

I am accepting the position that If I find myself worrying about something within the moment of NOW that this is EXACTLY what I am CHOOSING to experience in my future.

Because of this, I AM making the decision from this point onwards to refuse to focus my mind on what I DO NOT want to experience in the future.

RIGHT NOW IN MY MIND = future RIGHT NOW

I now know that everything in my mind RIGHT NOW = what is going to happen TO ME within the future, (within future RIGHT NOW)

Therefore, I am going to examine what is within my mind and within ME RIGHT NOW.

When I say "ME”, I am referring to what I believe within me right now.

I now know that whatever I say in the form of "I AM" is always what is created for me repeatedly forever as long as I exist within the moment of NOW.

Therefore I know that if I say and believe “I AM SICK” because I actually happened to be sick, I am unfortunately choosing to re-create my current focus of reality creation on to every moment of “right now” into the future as long as I exist within the moment called “RIGHT NOW”

However, If I say and believe to myself “I AM GETTING BETTER”, even though at this moment it is not true, I NOW know and understand that this is what it takes to allow God the opportunity to heal me and bless me with the opportunity to re-define and experience a new current “NOW MOMENT”. A moment that is different and more fulfilling to my soul than the “real” now moment that I am experiencing right now.

I also understand that if I just say these words and not believe them then the universe only follows what I truly believe within myself.

Therefore I will not just say "I am getting better" while in the midst of my suffering, but I am choosing to say AND believe that I am getting better each and every day because only by my spoken words and my faith (what I believe) can I allow God to work through me and change my experience.

From this point onwards, I am only going to think about the things that I want to happen to my friends and me.

I am not going to worry because I do not want that experience to happen to my friends or me.

Everything is going to change from this point onwards.

I am no longer choosing to imagine suffering in my life or in the lives of my friends because I understand the consequences of focusing on such suffering.

I am now choosing Joy.

I am choosing this deliberately.

I am making this choice deliberately BECAUSE I NOW UNDERSTAND the consequences for choosing such thoughts.

I will help others and myself through the deliberate choice of imagining joyful things happening to them and me.

I am Joyful NOW

NOW is all that exists FOREVER.

Therefore, I am choosing Joy for NOW and FOREVER.

BECAUSE NOW IS FOREVER.

For me I think Elisabeth Clair Prophet was where I started back in the early 90's. From there I went to Edgar Casey and the ARE (Association of Research and Enlightenment) That brought me to Earlyne Chaney and Astara. Then a few short years later Rose Dawn and The Order of the Mayans.

I have as well listened to many teachers since such as Earl Nightingale, Brian Tracy, Bob Proctor, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra, Joe Vitale, Ester Hicks and others. I have also read from great authors as Robert Collier, James Allen, Florence Scovel Shin, Napoleon Hill, James Redfield, Wallace Wattles, Ernest Holmes, George S. Clason, Harry Palmer and many others.

For me my biggest changes were from Frank R. Wallace and Mark Hamilton of the Society of Secrets, they really taught me a new way of looking at life and dealing with life and way to Value Creating and a new way of using my mind.

From all of these though is Jesus Christ if we study him and his teachings and his belief and apply it, we see everything all other authors and speakers say has been taught by Jesus long ago. It is in there just it needs to be understood. The truth is in plain sight for those that seek.

So for me the Bible is a very big influence.

It's rather funny I would say. My father was always upset by any Christianity stuff, so I never got into it. And when I tried to I failed to understand what it was about. Simply the way Bible explains stuff does not resonate within me. I'm more of an analytical type of a person, so metaphysics were perfect for that matter.

I have listened to many motivational speakers over time, Anthony Robbins, Les Brown being the most influential, or "direction pointers". As I saw them as just pointers to some other place in life.

But just few hours ago, browsing the videos on youtube I came across this preacher - Joel Osteen. And immediately fell in love with his way of explaining the things. It resonates within me fully. I would not say he changed my mind about anything, but his speeches has given me such a strong feeling of peace.

I was just listening to his video - Avoid Arguing or Fighting the Battles which do not Worth and I too had a battle which was not worth, I was bothered with for over a year now. But when I heard Joel speaking on the topic, I let go of it and quit the battlefield. He put peace in my heart and smile on my face again and helped me get rid of negative feeling towards the other person I was battling with.

I would have never thought after all I've been through, I'll find my happiness in listening to a sermon. I guess they're all not made equal.

And don't get me wrong, I still don't fancy way the Bible explains things. Or perhaps it's the way it's written. But I do love Joel's way of "translating" it to me for sure.

I grew up totally de-motivated and disappointed with life. Got passed around from one foster home to another. I stumbled upon this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmSXeHwiqbU and now I just want to prove to people they’re wrong about me. That I can make something of my life. I don’t want to sit around waiting for opportunities – right now I’m working 3 jobs and want to save enough to pay for college.