The Difference – Vision, Mindset, Intention

It was a small intimate evening gathering in the chilly woods outside Santa Cruz, California. There were about 50 of us in this log cabin, it was about eight o’clock at night, and we were preparing for a firewalk. And I led some exercises on the importance of vision. I explained the importance of getting your mindset right, of think right and the result will come.

And, boy howdy! It wasn’t the intention, of course, I tried to avoid it, but did we ever receive a beautiful illustration of what we had just processed.

A big burly guy – yeah, even Santa Cruz has some of these, because there’s still country around – comes up. He’s gonna break that board. And he… Good God, he was so big it wouldn’t have surprised me if he didn’t break the board when he tapped on it! That’s how big he was.

He approaches the board, and then, POW!!

Then, “Ay-y-y-y-y!!”

He didn’t break the board the first lick, poor guy, so he strikes at it again. And again… Ah-h-h, he’s hurting and everybody is quiet. Because they can see he’s hurting, too.

And then, once more, he lifts his now throbbing hand, and BAM! pounds at the top of the board and it doesn’t break as he pounds off BAM and BAM! three times in rapid fire. How agonizing for the onlookers! And he skulks off into the fringes.

And then, a young, thin, frail little girl, maybe 19 years old, comes up, and now I go into terror on the opposite end of the scale, because, whereas I thought he was going to break it no matter what, he was so big, I now am afraid she isn’t going to break it, no matter how agilely she executes the instructions.

And I didn’t want anybody, after what had just gone on, like her up here. She looks at the board, she centers herself… She’s following my instructions. Then, with a quick stroke like a grasshopper’s launch she slices the board with a clean crack. Applause!

I pick up the two pieces and give her the board, she bounces off to her seat, and everybody’s happy and…

Well, what is the difference?

The difference is just what we were saying: vision, mindset, intention. It’s strategy, thinking, getting your head straight. Having a plan, doing rehearsals in advance so when you encounter the situation you autonomically handle it.

And our big guy friend? I noticed he didn’t close his eyes during the relaxation and visualization exercises I led the group through. He was too intelligent to listen to what I said. The young girl, she listened, and she guided and visualized herself – slow, correct, in flow – through the exercises as I led the group through them.

With that subtle difference –all in the mind – comes a striking difference in results.

He thought he was ready, but he wasn’t. She wasn’t sure, but she was.

The big guy looked at the board, and that’s what he saw. That’s what he aimed at. And sure enough, his body and his circumstances followed his mind, he went every single time where his vision was focused – at the board. Ouch!

The young, dainty woman was seeing her hand in the space below the board. Do not let this simple difference escape you. She saw the space below the board and her hand, getting into that space, passed through the board.

One person sees the obstacle, one person sees the end.

That’s why we break boards at our quantum business acceleration events, it’s a good demo.

The Difference – Vision, Mindset, Intention by Ted Ciuba,

Hope you use the good training you get here!