Five Steps for Guaranteed Success to Achieve Your Dreams in 2009

As 2008 draws to a close, the promise of a New Year is in the air. A fresh slate, a time for reflection, time for planning, time to set your sites on accomplishments for the New Year. What is it you want in 2009? What would bring you happiness, peace and harmony in life?

Forget about New Year's resolutions. Many people set New Year's resolutions and treat them like a wish list. That is, something they would like to do if they were only strong enough to stick with it. There are other much more effective ways to help you reach your goal, attain the success you desire, find that perfect relationship, and free yourself from the grip of addiction be it drugs, alcohol, nicotine, eating disorders or any other type of destructive path you might currently be on.

• First create a list of what you DON'T want.
• Then make a list of what you DO want.
• Take some time and get into the feeling of what it would be like to have what you want right now! What would it feel like to be free of your addiction and live life "normally"? What would it feel like to have that special someone in your life? What things would you do, where would you go, what characteristics does this person have?
• Spend 5-10 minutes a day creating a new script about what you want. Visualize it and feel the feeling of having it right now! You get what you focus on whether your time is spent stressing about the lack of what you want, or having what you want. Two good times to do this are when you first wake up and right before you go to sleep at night.
• To help you with your visualization and feeling exercise create a goal or vision board. The local discount store has poster board which works great for this. Pull pictures from magazines or print them from the internet and paste the pictures on your board. Keep it simple and not overcrowded. Symbols work well too. Use a picture of a watch to represent spending more time with your lover, significant other or friend. If your wish is to remodel your kitchen or bathroom collect pictures of the granite, tile and cupboards you will use. How does it feel to cook in your new kitchen? Put a picture of that sports car you always wanted and when you look at it feel what it feels like to sit in the seat, touch the steering wheel, feel the wind in your hair as you drive. Make it real! If your goal is to lose weight or recover from an addiction find a picture of yourself at a better time, or paste your head on on a picture of what you want to look like - make it realistic! What does it feel like to live life without being a slave to food, alcohol or nicotine. How do you feel when you wake up in the morning, how has your energy changed? How is your outlook on life different? Be in that place and feel every little detail you can. Bask in the new you.

If you follow these simple steps and keep your focus on what you want instead of obsessing and worrying about the things you don't want or want to change you will succeed. Focus on what you want with the same intensity of emotion that is evoked by the fear and worry of what you don't want. Instead of worry about money and the "downturn" in the economy, keep in the feeling of having the money you need to pay your bills and having some left over.

By reprogramming your subconscious mind you will attract what you want in life. Whatever input your subconscious gets it takes as a command. The trick is not to let your conscious mind take over and cause conflict by doubting. You have to believe, what you believe gets plugged into the subconscious and it will bring it to pass. It's the Universal Law of Attraction.

If you have ever played golf you witness live examples of this. A golfer hits a shot into the water or sand and says "I knew I was going to do that." It happens all the time. If that is the last thought before the shot, the subconscious mind makes it so.

On the flip side, during the NFL playoffs it's the teams that have the most belief in themselves that win. By watching the sidelines you can tell who believe and who is losing the faith in their abilities. Why is home field advantage such a big deal? Because of the energy of all the people in the stadium that believe! Our thoughts and our mindset are very powerful on the outcomes we get in life.

So as you head into the New Year take the time to think about those changes in life that would mean the most to you. Then decide to bring it into your reality and follow the steps above to make it happen. When doubts creep into your mind, immediately shift your thoughts to something positive, something that makes you feel good. Think about a favorite place, person or event that makes you smile.

For more information, please visit http://www.lori-hanson.com/.

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Happy New Year! In peace, balance and harmony,