The Answer to creating and finding opportunity in your life can be found by observing the patterns of change in nature.

Recent research has shown that the Universe is 13 billion years old.  The Universal Cycles of Change (UCC) model* shown is based upon that Universal wisdom.  Research shows that there is a connection between the patterns of change that occur in the environment and the unconscious patterns that exist in humans.  Afterall, we're a part of nature.  The UCC model observes seven phases which occur in living systems like plants, cells and animals, and non-living systems like computers, cars and economy.  These phases are also observed in human life and behavior such as career, relationships and so on.  These seven phases are part of the Universe, part of nature and part of you.  They are:

Creation This phase is about new beginnings- a starting point and an idea- similar to planting seeds.

Growth Growth is initial creation taking form or shape and self-organizing. For example: the seeds begin to grow into a plant.

Maturity This phase is about reaching steady state or being in the "zone".  The plant is fully grown and is at its peak.

Turbulence This phase can be considered feedback from the environment.  Turbulence shows us that current conditions cannot be supported and that a shift must occur in order to go to the next level of creation.  If the shift doesn't occur, chaos sets in. For instance, when autumn begins the plant receives feedback that the environment will no longer support its growth.

Chaos Things start to fall apart.

Dropping Off Once chaos exists, something must go.  The plant lets go its leaves and flowers in order to recreate again.

Meditation and Inward silence Before one can move forward, plenty of time is needed to assess, renew and rejuvenate so that creation may begin again.

This cycle occurs even though we are unaware of it.  If living systems get too complex, growth and creation are hindered.  Something must be released  to regain balance and start creating again.  Remember, letting go chaos frees you to find opportunity!

Out of all the living systems in the Universe, one will stay stuck in turbulence and chaos.  Can you guess who or what might that be?  Humans, of course!  People stay stuck  in chaos because of fear; fear of change, letting go and risking.  We don't realize that we sabotage ourselves  by not leaping forward, taking action and  following our passion.  Wildly successful people are inherently in tune with this cycle.

After becoming familiar with this model, I could see how the Universal Cycle of Change had been at work  in my life.  I had "dropped off"  in important areas of my life. After giving birth to my daughter, I knew that if I went back to work full time our life would be chaotic and my time with her would be limited.  Moreover, this precious time in my life would not come again.  I decided to drop two working days a week.  As a result, our income for the household was affected.  We were in turbulence until I decided to start a home-based business with a network marketing company.  I was back in the creation phase and had found opportunity.

I am grateful for the time I spent with that company,  I discovered my passion for public speaking, coaching and training.  I invested in myself and my future and as time went by, my speaking career took off but I found myself turbulent again because I was doing too much.  I was running my business, conducting seminars, educating myself and neglecting my family.  I realized I must let go of something again.

Although, I had dropped two days of work a week to spend time with my daughter, I was violating that decision.  I decided to follow my passion for speaking and dropped my home-based business. This was a painful choice, but I knew I could not move forward as long as I was stuck in chaos.  This decision allowed me to seek other opportunities and to spend more time with my family.

Now that I am consciously aware of this model, I live with it in mind each day.  It helps to bridge the gap between my outer reality, which is a reflection of my inner reality. Everything in nature evolves and so should we.  Chaos is a beautiful thing as it precedes order and with order comes opportunity and new creation.

*UCC was created by Tim and Kris Hallbom for the WealthyMind Program

How come some people can make money easily while other people can't?  More and more, scientists are proving that we create much of our experience with the way we think and perceive.  The field of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is based on studying mental process and behavior and knowing how to explore a person's thinking in a precise way.

Do wealthy people think and behave differently?  Yes they do!  So what is the secret?  It is their belief system surrounding money and wealth and this system is a collection of your feelings, experiences and relationship with money, wealth and success.  Our belief system is formed at an early age and is stored in our  unconscious mind and we form our reality based on those beliefs even if they limit us.  Our beliefs come from three sources.  First from our parents who raised us and installed their beliefs into us,  the second source is our teachers and friends who we looked up to and admired, and the third source is our culture and media.

Some of the most common limiting beliefs I have heard are:

"I have to work hard to make money."

"Life is a struggle."

"I am not smart enough to become rich."

No matter what a person does to become successful, if they hold on to any of these or similar limiting beliefs, they will struggle because a part of them believes they will not be successful.  The good news is that these limiting beliefs were installed at a young age where we had no resources to consciously pick the beliefs we wanted, but now as adults, we do have the choice to replace or bust these limiting beliefs and create new empowering ones.

Imagine your belief system is like a cluster of grapes and each grape resembles a limiting belief.  However, these grapes are held by a strong core stem which resembles your core limiting belief and this one is emotionally charged.  What would happen if we were to get to the core limiting belief, to that core stem, and completely bust it?  Then there would be a complete shift because not only will the stem disappear so would all the grapes!

Up until this February, I was surprised to learn that my core limiting beliefs was that I was afraid of  failing.  However, that is not the way it started off.  I have always seen my parents work hard and they have done well so one of my limiting beliefs was, "I have to work hard to make money."  Using NLP questioning methods, I found myself emotional when I finally blurted out that I was afraid of failing because it was humiliating, because the same thing had happened to my father when he lost almost everything in a business and he was depressed.  I was flabbergasted because unconsciously I was holding on to the thought that I would become like him.  Yet, I knew that my parents came out of this dilemma and did so well for themselves later on.  With cutting-edge NLP techniques and processes, I replaced this limiting belief with an empowering one and my new upgraded belief became, "I love what I do and can create what I want and be successful."

Successful people open themselves up to possibility and are willing to take risks, trusting and believing that the risk will turn into a reward.  Whereas most of us are unwillimg to take risks or try something different because there is the fear of failure, of losing everything.  I want to work smart and this year alone,  I have taken huge risks.  At the same time I have made great leaps as well, trusting that the rewards are already within my reach.  However, I had to upgrade my belief system to be able to take those risks and have that trust.

Written by Zaheen Nanji

Once upon a time in a vast area of land, stood a tall tree called Salama. One day Salama felt very sad and no one knew why it was feeling so sad. Salama's leaves had lost color and brightness, and the flowers on the tree had not blossomed that day. Its trunk was slightly slumped and it would not talk to other trees. Only one other tree could help Salama and that was its best friend and neighboring tree, Karibu.

An affirmation, in my opinion, is positive self-talk. It is really what you say or think to yourself over and over again. Most people tend to look at the negative first and let our incessant chatter box take over. What if I told you that it is possible to train your mind to think positive first? Do you want to start changing your life for the better? Then start using affirmations and retrain your mind to think and speak positively. Your first promise to yourself is to stop complaining and blaming! More specifically, every complaint is a negative affirmation that cancels out your positive affirmations. When that happens, your life situations stay the same or get worse.

The Law of Attraction states that you will attract into your life whatever you give your energy, attention and focus to whether you want it or not.

Right now and at every moment you are emitting vibes or vibrations of energy. These vibrations are positive or negative and we can actually pick up and receive them. Have you heard yourself say, "he has good vibes," or "this place gives off bad vibes."

When you feel excited, passionate, happy, joyful, appreciative, and peaceful, you are emitting positive vibes.
However, if you are feeling anxious, worried, confused, sad, hurt, angry, frustrated, stressed or depressed, then you are emitting negative vibes.

The law of attraction matches your vibration by giving you more of what you are vibrating. It doesn't care whether it is good for you or not; it simply responds to your vibration.