Sharing: JACK CANFIELD LIVE

Jack Canfield Live

Most of us have heard and/or read at least one book from the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. The Chicken Soup books have brought about a positive change in the lives of many around the world. I have a couple of them. When you feel a bit low, you just have to pick up the book, open at any page and read one or two stories. They are all short and sweet, well-narrated. I promise you that you cannot find a better ‘pick me up’ than this.

Raageshwari Loomba on stage

Jack Canfield is the Co-originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series and a Success Coach. Mr. Canfield has recently authored the book ‘The Success Principles-How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be’ and had come down to Mumbai for book-signing at Crossword Bookstore on April 11, 2012 and a workshop at Nehru Centre Auditorium on April 12, 2012.

Anand Chulani rocks!

I was quite surprised and delighted when my daughter told me that she had received some invites on behalf of her organization MDACS and asked me if I would like to go. Pop Singer and Bollywood Actor Raageshwari Loomba had sent them to her. I grabbed the chance and am I glad!

The programme was to begin at 5 pm and it finally did at 5.20 due to some glitches. Vikas opened the event apologizing for the delay and invited Raageshwari Loomba to say a few words. I was surprised to hear Ms. Loomba speak. She is so involved in positivity and spoke about her personal experience of undergoing a facial paralysis that almost put paid to her career about a decade ago. She spoke on how the Chicken Soup for the Surviving Soul gave her a great boost and had gone a long way in helping her recover. I was amazed and impressed.

Then there was Anand Chulani, himself a celebrity, who took the stage to introduce Jack Canfield and also to set the tone for the evening. His interaction with the audience was simply superb and all of us were roaring with laughter within a few minutes.

Jack Canfield walked up on stage to a rousing welcome and his opening statement was, “It just shows that one needs to be careful that the man introducing one should not be more dynamic”, drawing more laughter from the crowd.

The dynamic Jack Canfield 

Coming from a middle-class background, Jack Canfield has used his own success principles to become a millionaire today. At 68, the Success Coach is a livewire who held the 500-odd audience enthralled with his workshop for almost 3 hours.

Jack Canfield took us through a brief introduction of the Success Principles that he has cited in his book and how they can help transform our lives. The lecture and demo was too interesting and as they had promised four hours, the programme went on till 10.20 pm.


SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WORKSHOP

Jack Canfield explained how to set goals – we should have a goal in mind, set a definite date and even a specific time to it. Write down the goal beginning with the assertion “I will…” and this works for the best.

Read this everyday and visualize the scene of already having achieved the goal. For example, if you want to make a lakh of rupees, visualize depositing the cheque in the bank in your name. If you want to win the first prize, visualize yourself standing on the podium receiving the winning cup.

Jack Canfield cutout at the entrance

Creating posters of yourself achieving something also helps. He spoke about a lady who wanted to become famous. She had photo-shopped her picture on the cover of the Time Magazine. You can create such pictures and display them in a place where you tend to see them every morning. Behind the bathroom door and on the front of your cupboard are some common places.

You wake up in the morning and see this poster and visualizing your goal is what comes to mind. Sit down and visualize for a few minutes to ensure that the universe gets the message.

Then comes action. Acting on your way to achieving the goal is very important. Just having a dream without working towards it, remains just a dream. For example, if you want to become a published author, write the book first.

Everyone watches three to four hours of TV per day. What Jack suggested was to cut down one hour of TV and use that time to meditate for 20 minutes, exercise for 20 minutes and read for 20 minutes. He suggests that all these be completed in the morning and not be postponed to late evening or night. Completing these three things in the morning keeps a person in ‘Breakthrough’ throughout the day and gives one, tremendous energy.

Running through your goals or visualizing them at night also helps a lot. Jack says that thinking positive thoughts at night or setting up a plan for the next day just before going to sleep sets the unconscious mind working on those things while we are asleep. This way, morning brings a number of solutions that are totally unexpected.

Another thing that really impressed me was the physical body’s responses to stimuli. Jack called one person from the audience and demonstrated the effect of certain suggestions on the body.

My body becomes strong and cannot be beaten

1. When I speak the truth
2. When I am positive and insist that ‘I can’
3. When I focus on my successes
4. When I receive support and appreciation from the people around me
5. When I focus on services to others

In a similar fashion, my body tends to become weak and I can be easily beaten

1. When I utter untruths
2. When I take a negative stand and insist that ‘I can’t’
3. When I focus on my failures
4. When I am a constant target of criticism and judgement
5. When I focus only on serving myself

Jack Canfield signs his books for the fans at Nehru Centre Auditorium

There was a break when Jack signed books for his eager fans and after that the second half was as interesting as the first.

Another highlight of the evening was the appearance of Jonty Rhodes, former South African cricketer who coaches the Mumbai Indians. He spoke for over 20 minutes on his experiences with using the Success Principles. 

Jonty Rhodes addresses the audience

While a few of the people left the auditorium as it was getting late, Vinitha and I managed to stay till the end.

A splendid evening indeed!

I plan to order Jack Canfield’s book The Success Principles-How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be from flipkart this week.