9 – Spaced Repetition & a Word of Caution

For some, it may seem like I am repeating myself a lot, but I promise you this is no accident.  The repetition is very intentional in all my writing.  Coming back to the same information again and again helps you to remember it and more importantly causes you to have new insights and realizations about the information. Until you have really experienced what I am talking about, you may just have to take my word for it and give it a try. 

Spaced repetition over time with some consistency gives your brain time to embed the information in your long-term memory, and allows you time to reflect and rest in between exposures to the information you are studying. It also allows you to continually go deeper into the information instead of having a superficial understanding of the information. 

Just because you have heard something once does not mean that you know and understand it well. By integrating this information well, you are building a foundation for the next level of understanding of the same information.  I repeat myself a lot within these blog posts, but you can also re-read as many times as you’d like, leaving breaks in between to keep opening up your understanding.

At this point, it would be prudent of me to give you a warning so that you know what to expect as you go through this material. The more you expose yourself to this kind of knowledge and information, the more you may begin to notice where this knowledge is lacking in your life, and where you have some work to do.  It may drive up things you have not been wanting to confront or deal with because of old shame, guilt, hurt, anger or fear.  Ultimately, this is a very good thing because you want to drive these unconscious energies up so you can see them, confront them and transcend them. However, it may not seem like it is a good thing in the moment it is happening.   

As you continue to expand what you see as possible for yourself in your life, you may find circumstances and situations arising in your life that appear to be negative.  They are not negative though.  They are gifts.  They are opportunities to apply what you are learning and rise above them into new circumstances and situations.  They are opportunities to become a better version of yourself.  They are moments of self-definition.

It is easier to ignore the inauthentic aspects of yourself and your life and continue to pretend they are not there if you only read these posts once.  However, reading these posts over and over again will make ignorance much more difficult (although not impossible).  Something will begin to happen to you in your real life if you keep exposing yourself to this information again and again. However, it is not this information that will cause the problem for you.  All true information has a way of revealing something that was already there inside of you, that you have been hiding from yourself.  A light will shine into a dark room exposing what is really there.  True principles and axioms work in much the same way.  They shine a light on your falsehoods. 

What should you do when this happens?

The best thing you can do is to remind yourself that you are the one who put this challenge or obstacle there for yourself so you could overcome it.  Remember that the challenge or obstacle you are experiencing is actually a great opportunity.  Doing this will enable you to claim that opportunity.

And how is it that you are the one who causes these challenges to arise in your life? The moment you imagine an improved future, you activate an awareness of new possibilities within you. Doing this causes you to become much more aware of how much your current thoughts, feelings, circumstances and situations are not a match to these possibilities. Because your desire has increased, you will now feel worse whenever your desire is thwarted.

Again, this is a great thing!  Perhaps you have been too comfortable with your current unwanted circumstances and so you don’t even experience any negative emotions about them at all. But, if you spend time imagining a much better life, you will start to feel uncomfortable with the life you are currently experiencing. The life you are currently living will no longer be sufficient for you because your dreams have expanded.

When you allow yourself to dream bigger dreams, something changes in you. Even before anything has changed in your life circumstances, YOU have changed as a person, and so now you have become someone who is unwilling to settle for your current circumstances. This is good because you want to experience enough negative emotion that it will motivate you to make some important changes in your life.  

The secret is to remember that when you are experiencing something you think is negative, it is not really negative at all.  You wanted to drive this up in yourself so you could learn to deal with it powerfully and effectively.  Remembering that you caused this in your life is an access to improved circumstances. 

It is important for you to know that these obstacles are supposed to happen so that, when it does, you can know that nothing is wrong.  You can remember that these challenges and obstacles are supposed to happen, instead of believing that something is wrong or that the obstacles “shouldn’t be.”  

This is why I’m sharing this with you now.  Don’t be surprised when these challenges and obstacles arise!  I told you it would happen.  They are part of the process. Focus on how you can get the best out of the seemingly negative circumstance.  Learn how to stay true to what you are creating even when you are faced with seeming opposition.  As one of my mentors always says, never waste a good catastrophe!  

Napoleon Hill, writer of Think and Grow Rich and The Law of Success in 16 Lessons always said that in every failure are the seeds of greater opportunity. All successful people have learned this lesson in the process of becoming successful. You may also want to notice that Hill says that in every failure are the “seeds” of greater opportunity. You still have to find that seed, water it and fertilize it but the good news is that it is there and you can turn a negative into a positive if you are willing. 

If you take on this point of view, you will begin to understand that you don’t need to survive negative circumstances.  The negative circumstances are your teachers.  They are there to help you create what you desire faster.  They are part of the process of creation.  You must simply acknowledge that this is the case and be willing to find that seed of opportunity and turn it into something great!