iMindShift with Steve Chandler: No more newspapers to read?

As I wrote in SHIFT YOUR MIND, newspapers everywhere are going out of business, and many people are alarmed and worried. Some are even saddened.

But I always remember what Maria said in The Sound of Music-"When the good Lord closes a door, he always opens a window." It's foolhardy to ignore the wisdom of Maria Von Trapp, wouldn't you agree?

       That same wisdom was the whole point of Emerson's profound essay, Compensation. Everything is always compensated for. You can't lose something without gaining something else.

     And, as Byron Katie says, "Loss is a concept." It's always and only just a concept.

     So here I am loving and enjoying cable TV's many choices, all the great things on Netflix, and my favorite websites and blogs and news sources on the internet - far, far better than any newspaper is today, and yet I can still remain unaware of the divine law of compensation, always at work in the universe. I can still make myself sad. Over anything. With my thoughts. (If I don't put those thoughts of sadness in there, the sadness simply can't happen.)

     The media feeds this sense of sadness. Today a TV show like Meet the Press should really be called something else....it should be called WHY YOU SHOULD BE DEPRESSED.

     Some people view all change with deep alarm. Oh, no! Just when they thought they had it all figured out, major changes sweep through the world. And, oh no! (I used to watch my favorite duo Bud & Travis perform and in between songs while they were tuning their guitars Bud would say, "When I get this guitar tuned I'm going to weld it.")

     The sun comes up. The paper is inside now. I look through it. It only takes me seven minutes to read everything of interest. Most of what's in the paper I knew about yesterday or the day before - because of the internet.

     So I set it aside and open the book I'm reading (for the third time) by Brenda Ueland called If You Want to Write. In it she says (and I see I have highlighted it in yellow) William Blake has inspired her on this subject of being creative. Blake said, "Imagination is the Divine Body in every person."

     Brenda Ueland then says, "Blake thought that this creative power should be kept alive in all people for all of their lives. And so do I. Why? Because it is life itself. It is the spirit. In fact it is the only important thing about us. The rest of us is legs and stomach, materialistic cravings and fears."

     She was a brilliant woman. Her book was written in 1938! Yet when I read it she is sitting right here in my kitchen with me. I can listen and really hear what she says - life is for creation -or I can turn on the news and be a reactor in life. That's the mind shift I can always make or not make.

      When we're at our yellow highlighted best we are creating the future together. The paradox of creating a great future is that it always takes place in the present moment: this little communication right here in front of me will have more to do with my future than any series of worries I may string together.

     Same is true for you, too. That next task you do, whatever it is, will have more to do with creating your future than any fearful worried brainstorm of projection ever will.

     Ralph Waldo Emerson was our great philosopher of self-reliance, creativity and personal strength. He was a very brilliant poet as well. He had a recommendation, hard-won from his New England experience: "Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it."

     Emerson is recommending that our minds shift from doubts and fears to this work right here right now. And that shift by itself will create a powerful future.

* * * * *

Steve Chandler Workshop for Writers

Saturday, September 12, Phoenix, Arizona
from 9am to 6pm at the AIRPORT HILTON

Are you an author?

Do you want to be an author?

     Come spend a full day with me and experience me not as a coach, but as an author of over 20 books, many of them bestsellers, and learn all my secrets, my experience, my blunders, my mistakes and my most brilliant, unorthodox secrets for:

     * Setting up a writing discipline that works for you.
     * Getting your book written (well.)
     * Learning what readers love and hate.
     * Getting your book published.
     * Choosing a great title.
     * Getting reviews and endorsements.
     * Generating high levels of sales.
     * Enjoying the whole process.
     * Best use of blogs.
     * Using your book to get business.

     The fee for this exciting, interactive day is $540 with a $60 discount for early bird registration and/or Club Fearless membership. Seating is limited, so send your fee now and you'll receive, immediately, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, the creative textbook for our workshop.

     This workshop will be one half devoted to the creative process ... how to write a book that people will want to buy for themselves and their friends. I'll share everything that has worked and not worked for me through 22 books. I'll also interact with you to answer your most frustrating questions.

     The second half of the workshop will be devoted to money and fame. How to find a publisher, get published, and/or publish yourself, pros and cons. How to make sure the book sells and sells for as long as you live. How to use your book to get business, and advance your career. All the work will be based on what has worked and not worked for me.

     Are you too old (or too young) to write a book?

     From the age of 35 to the age of 48 I thought I had passed my prime and it was too late in the game for me to be an author. At the age of 49 I wrote my first book. It's never too late. My own plan is to write 60 more books. Come learn how I am going to do this, and what the books will be about.

     When will I find time to write?

      This workshop will dispel all the notions you may have of "not having the extra time" necessary to write. I wrote all 22 of my books while I was a full time coach, corporate trainer and speaker.

      This workshop will destroy a number of myths and fears about writing and authoring and create a freedom and inspired space for you to write in for the rest of your life.

      Send payment (and five pages of your writing, it can be blog posts, emails or just a long essay if you have no book chapter started yet) here with your payment of $540 ($480 if you are Club Fearless or registering early):

Stephen Chandler Inc.
1124 N. Gibson St.
Gilbert, AZ. 85234

OR: If you choose to use PayPal CLICK HERE.

We will serve you continental breakfast and a full lunch at the Hilton. Go here to book a room:

Hilton Phoenix Airport
Hilton.com
2435 South 47th Street
Phoenix, AZ 85034
(480) 894-1600
Get directions