Rule #1: When you are making a change, you will more than likely experience some initial pain but it will fade;this is a certainty.



I have been reading Joel Osteen's new release, "Become a Better You". I'm a big fan of Joel who is the head pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston. Joel writes about the idea of getting through the initial pain of change as way of creating a new positive habit. And that the pain will fade in time. This really struck me. If we can just accept that there is going to be some initial pain and discomfort this could be very powerful.

Here is an example: Right now, I am going thru a big block with my personal hiking. It's been over a month since I've hiked by myself. I have learned that when I am hiking and writing, I am in much better place spiritually! But for a number of weeks now, I just can't seem to get in the car and get myself on the trail. It feels almost painful because I have to push myself. But when I heard Joel's rule, it really freed me. I just simply accepted that there will some pain and that it might feel like walking thru mud but it will fade. And it worked! As always, a few minutes into the hike, I felt great.

Rule #2: When you ask your Creator to enlarge your territory, the "border bullies" will show up!

In the Jabez Prayer, made famous by Reverend Bruce Wilkerson, one of the lines is a request "to enlarge my territory". This refers to enlarging your spiritual territory. Now, when you invoke this line you can be pretty sure that the "border bullies" are going to show up! The bullies come in all shapes and sizes. Two years ago, I stumbled onto a great office space and had two weeks to give the landlord a decsion.

So I initiated an experiment: I wasn't going to get into thinking about whether to move but just allow my wisdom to give me an insight. I was changing my process around making a very big decsion. This is good example of enlarging your territory. Well, five days into it, I noticed the phone hadn't run in three days! And that's very unusual for me, usually every day I am taking bookings. My first thought was, it's an omen! "No bookings" are trying to tell me this new space is in the wrong direction! But within a few minutes, I remembered the rule! I had sudden suspsion that this was the border bullies. And in the end I was perfectly right, the phone started to ring again the next day. And the new office space could not have been a better decsion!

Rule #3: If you meet your Creator part of the way, They will meet you the rest of the way.

First, there is a small trick to this rule or a question you have to ask yourself: Are you really meeting your Creator part of the way? Only you know this. And you can sometimes fool yourself into thinking you are but something deep down inside knows you're not! If your Creator isn't showing up, you might want to ask yourself, "Am I really meeting them part of the way?" Part of the way could mean, usually means getting out of your comfort zone, not just edging out!

A few months back, I had a very successful healer come and do a retreat with me. Her desire was to stop doing massage and only to do cranial sacral work. I asked her what her plan was. She said she was slowly easing into it because she was afraid of taking a big money loss because most of her income came from massage. Now, I can understand her plan but this is what I asked her: "Is that plan sharpening your spiritual sword?" She looked at me sheepishly and replied, "I guess not!" I was really happy she got this. And I am sure she is still cursing me!

If you do extend yourself past your comfort zone and really take a risk in faith, amazing things can happen. And moving to my office is certainly an example of that. I have had so many wonderful experiences there and financially its been very rewarding.

Give these simple rules a chance, be patient, experiment with them;it's always a win-win, brothers and sisters! I'll tell you a secret! Hiking wasn't the only block for me these days. I have had hard time sitting down and writing! And getting this article done was painful as hell! But I kept remembering the rule and it worked! GO GREG!