READY FOR BETTER METHOD – INTERMEDIATE STAGE
The first and most basic learning on this journey is how to put what we want and hope for, our aspirations, into words. The Ready for Better Method enables you to get clearer on how to express in words what is really important for you.
As you silently refined the wording of your goal(s) during movement in the basic stage, you naturally checked how well your word choice fit. As a result of that checking, you likely revised the wording of your affirmation. Over time, your situation and circumstances may have changed. Your goals may have shifted. Your world evolved.
It’s better for you to be confident that you have precisely nailed the wording of your aerobic affirmation before moving into the Intermediate Stage. During this stage you are sending a more powerful message out into the Universe. Your individual Journey tends to speed up when you aerobically express your aspiration aloud, so you need to be very clear about what it is. As stated earlier, the specific wording is important.
Repeat Your Aspiration Aloud
When you reach a point that the wording of your aspirational goal consistently remains the same, you are ready to advance to the Intermediate Stage in your practical use of the method. In this stage you add an important element: repeating your aspiration aloud, in rhythm with your movement and breathing.
There are two ways to do this. The simpler way is to say it aloud only during the exhale portion of your breathing cycle. You may have progressed to multiple breathing cycles for a complete affirmation. Use whatever number of exhales are required to express your goal and then repeat.
The second way to repeat your affirmation aloud is to use both your exhale and your inhale to express your aspiration.
Making a word sound during your inhale may be a new experience. Try this now. Speaking normally, say the word “hello” on your exhale. When you speak normally you send air out from your lungs through your vocal chords. The vocal chords vibrate making a sound that comes out of your mouth.
When you inhale and say hello, it may sound more like a whisper, but you can still hear it. Try that now. Can you do that? If not, you can work on figuring out how to do it while you are still, then figure out how to do it during movement. Otherwise, just repeat it aloud with movement during your exhales.
Observe the Results and Adjust
This is a critical aspect of the Intermediate Stage. As you aerobically program yourself for effective action in achieving your aspiration(s) you are increasing your personal energy and motivation. As that motivation increases, your commitment to a better future also increases. You’ve been programming yourself about what’s important, right? You’ve been jogging or briskly walking or doing some other repetitive exercise as you say your intention to yourself. Your aspiration for a better future has been firmly put into your consciousness.
There are several results from the Ready for Better Method during the intermediate stage.
The first result of aerobic goal programming in the intermediate stage tends to be increased awareness of what’s going on in your life that is related to your aspiration for a better future. You begin to increasingly notice people, events and information that are related to what you’ve been programming. This is a notable aspect of aerobic aspiration programming – enhanced perception.
If you are paying attention, you can translate what you notice into guidance for practical action in what we call the “real world”. As you take that action, it is important for you to notice the result.
- What do you do and what is the result?
- What did you learn from your action in the real world?
- How can you adjust your practical actions to make progress toward your goal?
- Does that adjustment suggest any revision in the wording of your intention?
This leads to a second possible result of aerobic aspiration programming during the intermediate stage: adjustments in the wording of your intention. Consider the results you notice in relation to the specific wording of your aerobic aspiration.
- How does what you notice and experience in the real world connect with what you have been programming?
- Does what you notice suggest that your world is unfolding in the direction you desire?
- If not, how might you adjust the affirmation wording to incorporate what you are learning about your world and the results of the actions you take in that world?
This observe and adjust cycle can be repeated as long as you continue using the method. I’ve been doing it for more than thirty years, testing various principles and hypotheses for how to create a better future for myself and those I care about.
The third result of aerobic goal programming during the intermediate stage is increased acceptance of responsibility for improving the quality of your own life and those you care about. This arises as you begin to more deeply explore the power of the method. That exploration carries with it an openness to the possibility that your own actions and your own intention can make a positive difference in your life. As you observe the results and adjust, you are taking more responsibility for your life. This shift cultivates enormous power for creating a better future for yourself and those you care about.
Intermediate Stage Variation 1: Multiple Goals
As your progress and understanding increase during the Intermediate Stage, you may consider adding more than one goal to your aerobic aspiration programming. Your ability to maintain focus and concentration during use of the method expands into other aspects of your daily life. Your ability to notice what is going on and consider how events might be related continues to improve.
As this growth in your brain/mind/consciousness expands you may naturally consider how you can expand or accelerate your progress toward a better future. If you have not already done so, you will be able to expand your aerobic aspiration beyond one complete breathing cycle. Should you choose to do so, you will be able to add more goals to your aerobic intention programming.
May you choose carefully and wisely!
Intermediate Stage Variation 2: Clarify Direction
As your brain/mind/consciousness and your learning expand and deepen, you may naturally go beyond specific goal programming to consideration of the direction your life is going. This can stimulate more reflection about who you are, what you are about and what you want to do with your life.
- What is the current direction of your life, your relationships and your career?
- How would you like to improve them?
- What direction might work well for you and those you care about?
- Considering your values and the principles by which you are living, how can you word a more general statement about future direction for yourself? [Your aspirational hopes]
- Can you make that the context for your aerobic programming?
- How can you include in your aspiration a general statement about direction with specific goals that you are working on?
Intermediate Stage Variation 3: The Game of Life
As you use the basic Ready for Better Method and progress into the intermediate stage, improvements begin unfolding in multiple areas: raw intelligence, focus, awareness, commitment and strategic learning.
In the intermediate stage the strategic learning may progress in additional areas that are perceptual and intangible. Let’s call this learning The Game of Life. We can play this game in a way that supports a better future for ourselves, as well as humanity and our biosphere. Let’s consider if we are playing this game to win for ourselves and those we care about, we can test or even rely on several principles for guidance.
- Problems, challenges, barriers and hurdles are part of the Game of Life. The game is about figuring out how to cope with the negative conditions in our lives and how to be more effective in reaching our goals. The method stimulates our learning and action to cope with external conditions by internally preparing us for success.
- What goes around, comes around. This can be a long term principle for the Game of Life. What we put out tends to be what we get back. It is similar to the popular notion of karma, also called the law of cause and effect. Not very different from the Golden Rule, treat others as you wish to be treated. It can go beyond that, however, into the realm of expectations. Have you ever noticed that more good things seem to happen to optimists, and pessimists tend to have their negative expectations confirmed? There is a vast amount of research literature in psychology that confirms experimenter expectations can significantly influence the results of their experiments. So both what we do and what we expect can make a real practical difference in our lives and the results we obtain.
- Avoid negative judgments of others who are in our “life space”. This principle flows from the one immediately above. If we judge others and that shows in our words and body language, that judgment tends to stimulate the judgments of others. It is one thing to judge the behavior or performance of someone else. It is something else to judge them as a person. When we are interacting with others in our life space, the more we can accept them as people, the more they are likely to return the favor. Giving others the benefit of the doubt with respect to their intentions can pay long term dividends. This is so unless and until we conclude they are operating from selfishness, greed and a lack of kindness or compassion for others. At that point, it is better to avoid them entirely.
- Recognize that our world is filled with duality. Human intention varies from the selfish and greedy to the kind and compassionate. Our most important and intimate relationships may likely include both love and resentment. Our needs and wants can range from basic survival to wisdom and connection with the infinite. The Method enables us to focus our intentional action on creating a better future, whatever that might be, regardless of who we think we are or where we are in our life’s journey. That means we must let go of resisting the negativity that may surround us, and instead focus on what we need and want for a better future. Focusing our consciousness on a positive direction for our future is an enormously powerful step.
- Strive to develop respect, kindness, compassion as well as an open and forgiving heart in our relationships. Our work, family and intimate relationships can be filled with a variety of emotions. Our disappointments, resentments and hurt feelings tend to linger and may create scar tissue in our emotional being. This scar tissue can keep us stuck in a negative place for any relationship that has involved conflict and negative feelings. There is a common pattern that we all have experienced to some degree, called the 3R cycle: resistance -> resentment -> revenge. This cycle describes what can happen if we resist the behavior or feedback of others. This can lead to us harboring resentment. Then, unconsciously or even on purpose, we can be more likely to take revenge through word or deed. To progress in our life journey, we must soften the scar tissue by letting go of resentment and avoiding the small [or large] communication cuts and digs that we may share directly or behind someone’s back. The method can be used to counteract this pattern by shifting our focus to the cultivation of acceptance, kindness and compassion as well as an open and forgiving heart.
As we clear out the negativity in our lives, we open up more space in our consciousness for cultivating more positive feelings and better external circumstances. As we shift our feelings, awareness and expectations toward a better future by using the Method, our life begins to smooth out with less severe ups and downs, and eventually more consistent ups. This progress prepares us for entering into the advanced stage of the method.
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