I’m sitting here at my kitchen table writing this blog (this is where most of my work is done lol)…It’s been a while since my last post, but for good reason(s).

So much has happened over the past few weeks that I was overwhelmed with where to start! Then something clicked and I figured what the heck, just start somewhere! So here I am-starting to share some extraordinary experiences with you in this and future posts

I’ll start with Disaster. Yep, you read that right-Disaster. A few weeks ago I lost my life. I died. Or so I thought…

It’s comforting and scary at the same time to think that I live in Phoenix which stands for rebirth and rising from the ashes, which is what has essentially been happening to me at an accelerated speed lately!

So back to my “death”…and rebirth…

Of course it’s not as serious as you may have perceived from the wording structure I chose, but you’re still reading this far aren’t you? Good-cuz you’re going to like this, and I hope it brings up some questioning of your own situation and what you may be going through in your own respect.

A few weeks ago my laptop was stolen. Now, you may be thinking, “That sucks” or “that’s too bad” but let me share with you the extremity of the case which will then lead into some amazing lessons I learned from the whole “trauma”.

Irony-I was in the middle of a back-up when my laptop was stolen

I had agreed to take photos for a friends wedding and brought my laptop into the hotel in which the wedding was taking place to transfer photos and share them with whomever requested copies. After the ceremony a few of the people had left their cameras, purses, and other valuable items in one specific area in which a security guard and two other workers promised to keep a close eye.

We all went about 50 feet over to the tent where the reception was being held and food was being served. In the time it took to eat a plate of food, my laptop as well as 2 bottles of champagne and a friends camera all disappeared!

I went to get my laptop to show off the pictures and it was gone. Apparently, an “unwelcomed” guest (a bum off the street) waltzed into the hotel, distracted the securtiy guard and the two other workers MULTIPLE times stealing a different item each time before bolting into the unknown!

Now, when I realized my laptop was gone, I kept my cool…for about 2 minutes lol. I was furious! I’m not an aggressive person by nature but with the adrenaline pumping through my system and the “fight” aspect of my fight or flight response activated-it was game on. I asked very calmly which direction the man was seen leaving the premises and proceeded to launch as fast as I could into a full out sprint-probably faster than I have ever ran before.

I analyzed my unfamiliar surroundings of downtown Phoenix and proceeded to put myself into a “bum mentality” of a thief and ran down each street I could stopping in alleyways, businesses, and scaring the crap out of people on the street asking if they had seen this person.

Long story short-I never found the guy…but I got a great workout! In all seriousness though, let me explain why I had such an intense “life or death” reaction to what had transpired.

On that laptop was 220GB of the last 9 months of my life. Everything. Ebooks I had written, videos I had shot, edited and produced. Audios. Interviews. Swipe copies of almost every major internet marketing product launch in the past year for my personal study. Sales pages. Email Follow Ups. Forms. Legal Documents. Credit Card info. All of my personal data including passwords and bookmarks. Oh yeah, let’s not forget all of my thousands upon thousands of personal photos of all the trips I have taken in the past year, and an inconceivable amount of sentimental “stuff”.

Make sense why I flipped my lid?

So…what came from all of this? What came of this Disaster? This Trauma?

What came of this experience was some of the most profound realizations, lessons, and experiences of my life that forever changed my perception of reality, business, and personal life.

Whats the biggest lesson of them all? I won’t make you wait until the end of this post becasue I can tell you right now that I had one of the most profound lessons in Forgiveness.

Not to add insult to injury, but on top of my life being “taken”, I also endured my recent girlfriend hook up with a close friend at the same wedding

Now-back to Forgiveness! You understand what was lost, or removed from the situation-my laptop-and also a very personal pain being inflicted along with that traumatic experience-Girlfriend hooking up with close friend before my eyes-so how might I have learned a lesson in forgiveness from all of this?

Easy

After I calmed down I was left in shock. Over the course of the next few hours, I went through a lot of breathing techniques, meditation, and talking about it with friends. After I looked at the situation detached from my own emotion, I began to realize what the person was going through that pushed him to choose to steal.

I realized that it wasn’t malicious, and in all honesty was done for this person to survive rather than to “hurt me”. Once I removed myself from that “Victim” consciousness, I saw it for what it was, and began my journey into really identifying what was to be learned from all of this.

I forgave that person for what he did. As crazy as it sounds, I couldn’t be more grateful for my laptop being stolen! You see, the reason I believe that is because yeah, I lost 9 hard months of producing ideas into tangible products and my entire business content along with all of my personal sentimental data-but I essentially went through an internal growth process that takes most people years of setbacks and traumas to learn the core message of.

Also-with all that data being gone, it removed one of the largest and most detrimental things in my life right now. It removed YEARS of distraction from my life.

Not only that, but now I have an opportunity to start anew! A fresh start with a new perspective on reality, business, and life in general.

A wiser outlook so to speak

I have also helped numerous people in my life through their own traumatic experiences personal or otherwise from my exercise in awareness and forgiveness. I have gotten feedback from people that produces a feeling no money can buy nor data can match

When I spoke with people after the fact so many doors of opportunity appeared, which would have never been available otherwise! My relationship with certain people deepened, and new partnerships were formed. One of my favorite things from all of this is the fact that now I go about my life in such a different way, with more Emotional Control than I have ever had before which allows me to look at more situations objectively and unbiased. I can also share that mentality with others curious about it.

I could write for pages and pages on all of the other lessons that came of this experience, but Forgiveness is the one I wanted to hare with you today.

If you are going through something in your life right now-business or otherwise-attempt to practice what I call “Engaged Detachment”. Stop playing the role of “Victim” and look at the situation from outside of your personal emotions. This is one of the true Keys to Business Success.

To be successful in any business you must approach your marketing and business tasks with an unemotional mentality. Big business is done by the numbers-if the numbers work, the deal gets done. If they don’t, you move on. As soon as you bring emotion into the mix, you have opened Pandora’s Box. Smart and successful business people are in control of themselves and their emotions when it comes to selling, partnering, and marketing.

You can also apply this mentality to your personal life. For example-I could have reacted many different ways to my girlfriend doing what she did, but instead I chose what I thought was what I call the “Most Heroic Probability” in that given situation.

I didn’t get angry, nor did I let the pain of the situation sway my demeanor or the way I treated others. I simply accepted what was happening, removed myself from it to observe from a perspective of what lessons are to be learned, and respectfully ended my interaction with her from thereafter.

I allowed myself to go through the emotions involved instead of stuffing them deep inside or thinking negatively or being aggressive towards anyone. That doesn’t serve me, and it definitely does not serve anyone else! The best part-I’m now completely free of any attachment to her which in turn allows for somebody even more amazing to step into my life when the time is right

Alright, so I brought up a heavy subject here, and I do hope you distilled something from what I have been through recently to apply to something you may be going through now, or will remember if something similar comes up in your life

I have some AMAZING adventures to share over the next few days, so expect to see a “rush” of blog posts sharing my experiences and ideas/strategies you can apply to your marketing to increase business and deepen your relationships with customers, clients, prospects, or partners

That’s all for right now-make sure to check back soon for some great stuff!