Monday, June 16, 2008

Panda-Monium

Back from vacation and ready to head into our National Convention with great anticipation and optimism. It was very refreshing to get away with family and spend time with those that are closest to me. I rarely get to see a movie in theatres these days, and when I do get a chance, it’s usually because the kids want to see it. You have to be living in some sort of cave these days if you haven’t seen the marketing for Kung Fu Panda. Even McDonald’s is in on the action and I had the pleasure of listening to “Po the Panda” and his Kung Fu “Hee-Yah” last Sunday as we headed out on our vacation.

With the temperatures being so hot last week, a movie matinee was just the ticket for the kids, so we headed to the local theatre to catch the latest DreamWorks Animation.

While I always enjoy DreamWorks movies, they are never movies for me that are “must see” type films. (Pixar on the other hand are “must see”.) After actually seeing Kung Fu Panda however, I found a couple of underlying themes that I believe would benefit anyone who has a dream to better themselves, no matter what it is. (Of course that would include those of us in YTB.)

At the beginning of the movie, Po is dreaming of becoming a great Kung Fu Master along side his idols, the legendary Furious Five. In his dream, Po’s enemies would go blind from over-exposure to pure awesomeness! (Jack Blacks best line in the movie.) Like many of the DreamWorks pictures that we’ve either seen or own on DVD these days, there are plenty subplots that adults would not only understand, but enjoy.

Po is the laziest animals in all of the Valley of Peace, but as the movie advances, Po unwittingly becomes the “chosen one” when enemies threaten their way of life and is picked to become the Dragon Warrior by the oldest and wisest Master in the Valley of Peace, Oogway.

While Oogway has chosen Po, others claim “You don't belong here," like the Furious Five, predictably. (But Po is just tickled to meet his idols.) Nor does Po want to hear his dad's warning: “We are noodle folk! Broth runs through our veins!” And Master Shifu does not believe that a big ball of butter like Po could possibly be the true Dragon Warrior.

What was interesting to me was the Po didn’t realize from the beginning the he “couldn’t do it”. Learning Kung Fu was something he always wanted to do and he honestly believed that he could be a Kung Fu Warrior like his idols. It wasn’t until his first day of training that he realized that dreaming about doing something and actually doing it were two separate things.

Shifu, Po’s Kung Fu Master, finally figures out just how to train Po in Kung Fu using his favorite thing in the world…food. It was then that Po starts to look like a real Dragon Warrior.

After training Po, Shifu decides the time has come for Po to receive the Dragon Scroll and learn the secret to limitless power. The five and Shifu watch in awe as Po opens the Scroll, only to find out that it’s blank. With Oogway now gone, the group assumes there is no “secret” to Limitless Power.

Po goes home feeling discouraged. To help Po feel better his dad explains that the secret ingredient in his secret soup.

“To make something special, you just have to believe it is special.”

Po looks at the reflection in the blank Scroll and then understands. To become a true Dragon Warrior, he has to BELIEVE he is the Dragon Warrior. Po makes up his mind to fight, and save the Valley of Peace from Tai Lung, the arch villain in the movie.

I couldn’t help but think about my own experience in life when others try to tell me that something couldn’t be done. I don’t have the knowledge. I don’t have the proper training. I’m not with the right company.

What made last week so special for me was that everywhere I turned, I was either being told in a movie, reading in a book, or hearing my family, that I could be, do, and have anything I want. There are no limits to what I (or you) can do if we only believe we can do it.

As I look outside in my front yard and see the grass that I need to cut today, I also notice a maple tree that we planted some 11 years ago when we first moved in. Back then it was nothing more that a twig. Today it’s almost as tall as the house and offers a great centerpiece to our front yard. I remember reading some years ago in “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” that if an Oak Tree had the mind of a human, it would only grow to 10 feet tall.

I could have tried to tell the grass to stop growing while I was away, but it wouldn’t have listened. Nature doesn’t work like that, and like the grass that grows, I choose to be part of nature. If I simply feed, water, and provide plenty of sunshine, I will continue to grow as well. It’s one of the reasons I love YTB and the Leadership. Coach may not be a Kung Fu Master, but he certainly knows how to be a Master of Life. I’ve read enough from my favorite Authors to the right here to know that Coach not only understands, but lives his life the way these men do, and the principles, life lessons and teachings are universal no matter who you are or what you do.

One of the most meaningful lines in the movie for me was quoted by Oogway, the wise Master of Masters, and I’d like to share it with you in closing.

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That's why they call it 'the present.”


If you’d like to keep up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB feel free to sign up for my FREE Newsletter. Just like here, it’s loaded with food, water and sunshine to grow your YTB business.

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker

Phone: 678.458.5812


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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

The Hokey Pokey...

I got to be honest I really had a hard time with this post. I know I promised to have this to you yesterday, I wrote, I re-wrote, I edited, I put it down, I came back, I just couldn’t find the right rhythm for this particular post.

Why?

Because what I’m about to tell you…well it sounds a little “hokey”. There, I said it and I can now move on.

Thanks everybody! Have a great day!

Actually, what I’m about to tell you is the very thing that helped me overcome this fear that I had about telling you in the first place.

Not only am I someone who is open to new opportunities, ideas, and thinking, I revel in always learning and growing as a human being. I’m always, reading, listening, taking seminars, trainings; I even hired a Success Coach at one point, who I’ll have to tell you about one of these days.

I told you that I was rereading Joe Vitale’s "The Key" a week or so ago.
For those who don’t know “Mr. Fire” he’s one of the teachers in the hit movie “The Secret” and I LOVE the way Joe writes. (This by the way is no accident.)

I picked up "The Key" because I wanted to try some new techniques for clearing out some of the limiting beliefs I was reading about on one of those “other blogs” and while I was doing my best to logically maneuver my way through all the negativity there, I knew some had to have rubbed off. It’s like my 4 year old son and dirt. There’s just no way the two can avoid each other.

Here’s the thing. I told myself I was going to let this all go. I told YOU I was going to let this all go. But the reality of the situation was John Frenaye and this blog of his was still swirling around in my head. It’s like a bad allergy or something, I just couldn’t shake it and I didn’t know why.

Logically, I knew it didn’t really matter. Logically, I knew that his views spoke more about him than it did about me. Logically, I knew that giving this negativity “energy” wasn’t the way to go. And finally, logically I knew there wasn’t a blessed thing I could really do about changing this mans limiting beliefs about our fine company and business model.

So why did it still matter?

I hate to break it to you, but I’ve been programmed to think a certain way.

Everything you and I believe has been taught to us by someone, or something else. There have been an excess of sources that have been working on our thoughts, emotions, and views our whole life. Parents, teachers, neighbors, bosses, even the media have been at work telling us how we should think and feel.

Let me give you an example.

I’m a “P.K.” AKA: Preachers Kid, which I also refer to as “T.O.” or Theological Offspring. (And yes, what you’ve heard about Preachers Kids, it’s all true. ;-P)

Growing up money was spiritual in nature. We would only have just enough to be comfortable. We never lacked for anything but we lived modestly, often in Parsonages or homes the church would supply for our family. I was taught not to be greedy but at the same time, I shouldn’t be fearful that we wouldn’t have enough to take care of ourselves and our needs.

Tithing was also very big, and even if we had to sacrifice something right now, the 10% given away will continue the promise of being able to have it returned.

I was also taught that money does not buy happiness. (That “love of money” thing we see in the Bible that I hear so much about these days.) Rich people are greedy and also for the most part very unhappy. I have a very wealthy Uncle who I was told was very unhappy. (Although, he never appeared that way to me.)

Two years ago most (not all) of my beliefs were blown right out of the water by a guy named T. Harv Ecker. If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you’ve heard that name before. He’s the first person who started me on the right path that your outer world is simply a reflection of your inner world. (The Secret was another big turning point for me as well.)

I had heard a lot of this before, from books and tapes that I’ve had for years. My copy of "Think and Grow Rich" for example must be at least 20 years old. However, we’ve all heard this “Kool-aid” line before…

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

I never really "listened" until I attended the Millionaire Mind Intensive two years ago when Harv taught me that a lot of the way I view this world, especially about money, were, well...just plain wrong. These views or beliefs were keeping me from becoming successful. One of the things it helped me with was reprogramming my views and beliefs so that I could become successful.

Lack of money isn’t a problem, it’s a symptom. A symptom of limiting, false beliefs we have about how to make it and how to keep it. I had tremendous breakthroughs over that weekend.

But that was just a weekend. Sure I was given tools and homework to do for the next 90 days, which helped tremendously, but what about other problems, other issues that have come up since then? Namely the John’s of the world who try to bring me back to a way of life and a though process that I tried once before, didn’t want any longer, and knew didn't hold value. (Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.)

Frankly, that type of thinking and mentality stinks.

Sure, I could sign up for another one of Harv’s programs, and I probably will this summer, but I wanted to do something about it now, and the tried and true tools that I had at my disposal didn’t seem to offer any relief or answers until I picked up and looked at a few of Joe Vitale’s clearing methods in his new book.

There was one in particualar that I was finally willing to try, and it just so happens that it’s that “hokey one” I told you about at the beginning of all this.

Joe had introduced me once again to a very inspiring and fun guy by the name of Brad Yates. I met Brad once before through an EFT Master named Carol Look about a year ago. I had listened to some of the teleseminars, read some articles, and thought all this was very nice, but at the time really wasn’t willing to try it because life was going very well and I thought I had all the tools I needed.

EFT is based on the ancient Chinese technique of Acupuncture, and EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Technique. Now, I’ve never tried Acupuncture because needles and I really don’t get along. (One of those fears that EFT could probably help with?) But I loosely understood that Acupuncture has neurological properties of meridians and acupuncture points to help alleviate many different symptoms.

EFT however is used to help clear out some of the limiting beliefs and baggage that is blocking me from moving forward.

This post for example.

I know that some will view this as nothing but a hoax, something silly, and I’m crazy for even promoting such an idea. I also know that some have a problem with people promoting things, no matter how much value it holds for them or others. I can't deny that I’m feeling much better however, I’m less stressed, and the tennis match that had been playing in my head concerning letting our Traditionalist go have been reduced to almost nothing. I can now go to John’s blog, read it, and not have any emotional attachment either way about what this man or others think. I don’t own their problems or limiting beliefs.

They are free to think that YTB will eventually collapse because we will run out of people. Yet I know there hasn’t been one example of that ever happening, so why own it?

I know they think the $226 Million are “fees” and not “Travel Sales” and yet Travel Weekly wouldn’t even consider “fees”, so why own it?

I know that they have a huge problem with all the posts on Craig’s Lists, yet I’m willing to bet that none of them even advertise there, so why own it?

I know that they think Coach, Scott and Kim will eventually leave us with the Millions they have made off our backs. Yet they’ve been with two companies in close to 30 years, and the only reason Coach left AL Williams is because he wanted to retire. So why own it?

Fear is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real, and you can eliminate the emotional charge of this false evidence by using EFT.

If your gut is telling you that this is right for you, like it is for me, the tennis match that is playing in your head is keeping you from achieving your goals. You need to clear it in order to move forward. It may not be EFT for you, but it’s been doing wonders for me.

I recently bought a program from both Brad and Joe called
Money Beyond Belief that has me really stoked. I’ve been listening to some of the calls that came with this and it’s not only very comical, but it’s amazing how I’ve felt just after using EFT. I can’t describe it, but it’s an amazing feeling of relief, calm, and inner peace that I just can’t put into words. It also gives quite a buzz, or tingling over my entire body. You literally feel the energy.

By the way, you’re free to write this off as nothing more than some hokey program. EFT helped me with letting that go too. You’re free to call pr post with someone who cares about your own limiting beliefs.

I’ve got to go have an amazing day now…

Thanks for stopping by, and remember, if you’re reading this right now, there are no accidents in this universe of ours.

Think about it and if you feel lead to,
go buy the program.

If you have enjoyed this blog and are a member of YTB, please feel free to subscribe to our weekly Newsletter!

Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker

Phone: 678.458.5812


Learn How To Become A Travel Agent
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Book Your Travel & Vacations With


Travel Reservations: 1.800.243.4450

RTA #24635

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