Powerful meanings can come to us like in the Before and After images often used in advertisements to show the effectiveness of products. We are drawn to the physical before and after images such as successful weight loss, hair growth, or healthier looking skin after using a specific product. I want to share my “Before and After” results of my Master Key Experience (MKE) regarding 3 words and their powerful meanings: Easy, Habit, and Perfect.

Easy

Before I discovered the MKE back in 2016, when I heard the word “easy” my first thoughts were often: if it is easy, I didn’t challenge myself enough or the infamous phrase “they took the easy way out” implying someone cut a corner, did not give enough effort, or even chose a less ethical route. Somewhere along the way, I associated “easy” as negative. I suppose quotes from famous Presidents didn’t help. For example,

“Nothing worth having comes easy.”

Teddy Roosevelt

My previous thinking stemmed from American conditioning that hard work and burning the midnight oil are the honorable paths to success and happiness. In addition, the “American dream” rags to riches theme runs throughout the culture. Definitely associating a powerful meaning there. In the MKE, we refer to society’s conditioning as cement. Unfortunately, lots of the cement may no longer serve us. The good news is that we can chip off this cement or even evolve our thinking to break apart the cement from the inside out. I am so grateful that my thinking has evolved from experiencing the daily mental exercises and tools we learn throughout the 6-month course.

After completing the MKE as a member in March of 2017, I am happy to say that the meaning I give to the word “easy” is completely different. Now, when I see or hear the word “easy”, I immediately think of bliss. When I was a kid, I loved playing outside with my siblings and the other neighborhood kids. We rode bikes or skateboards, played kickball, wiffleball, even 2-hand touch football.

Seems like we would stay outside all day long until we heard our parents call us in when it got dark. Time didn’t seem to exist for us or at least we forgot about it when we were playing. Do you still experience that sense of playfulness? Do you lose track of time when doing an activity? Unfortunately, that sense of play often eludes us as we take on the responsibilities of adulthood. But does it have to be that way? Or is it possible to take a different path? American writer Joseph Campbell, famous for his study and writings about “The Hero’s Journey” encourages us to:

“Follow your bliss. If you do, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living.”

Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey

When we are in alignment or harmony with our bliss, things feel easy, even to the point of being effortless. Unfortunately, society’s conditioning often gave us the message that we had to give up on our childhood dreams in order to make a living and survive in the “real world”.

How do you re-discover or find and follow your bliss? One path is to check out the Master Key Experience for yourself. To make it easy, hop on the early notification list for the next session that starts in September. You will be notified when you can apply for a scholarship. The cost is $1. How is that possible? The previous members recognized the value in the MKE and decided to “pay it forward” and paid for the next session in advance.  Kindness at its best!

Habit

Merriam-Webster defines the word habit as “a settled tendency or an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary”. Before I knew about the Master Key Experience, anytime I heard the word habit, I automatically assumed it was related to a bad habit. Having attended high school in the late 80s, we were bombarded with messaging about the bad habits of smoking, drinking alcohol, and taking drugs.

Looking back, I am very grateful for that education. I was a high school athlete excelling in fast pitch softball, field hockey, and basketball. At the start of every season we would sign a document stating we would not engage in those bad habits or we would get kicked off the team. There was no way I was going to jeopardizing the camaraderie I felt with my teammates or the possibility of a college scholarship.

Oddly enough, I never heard anyone use the phrase good habits. Like the good habit of self-care, or the good habit of sleeping 8 hours a night, or the good habit of listening. What I didn’t realize until AFTER going thru the MKE, was that I did not have a positive association with the word habit.

Ut-oh…makes it tough to establish new habits if my programming is telling me all habits are bad. I came to this realization while reading Og Mandino’s book, The Greatest Salesman in the World, which is part of the MKE activities.

“Good habits are the key to success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure.”

Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World

In Scroll I, it states the quote above. Reading this 3x a day for a month, it finally dawned on me that I had a choice and that habits can be good, not just bad. Mandino adds that “any act with practice becomes easy. For when an act becomes easy through constant repetition it becomes a pleasure to perform and if it is a pleasure to perform it is our nature to perform it often.”

Wow! Habits can be good and also easy! Thank goodness I also upgraded my meaning of the word Easy that I described at the beginning of this blog. We don’t have to be in a constant state of avoiding things we don’t want (bad habit); rather we can focus on what we want and allow it to become a good habit. Wanna learn how to stop biting your nails? Enjoy 8 hours of sleep at night? Consistently drink enough water? Check out the Master Key Experience to learn the simple tools to re-program your thoughts. And the good news, an 8-year-old can do these exercises. Plus, it’s fun! You get to use colored pencils, index cards, and pictures along the way!

PERFECT

Well, I saved the “hot button” word for last. Before I engaged in the Master Key Experience, I heard what most all of us do, well-meaning people telling us “No one is perfect”. I believe the intent of that phrase is to convey that we all make mistakes and it is part of our growth.

Unfortunately, for many of us the impact is that we hear things like: we are not good enough, we are broken in some way, or we are not whole. Before I completed the 6-month MKE course, I shared these similar thoughts. And let’s give credit to the advertising industry that feeds off of those self-doubts and claim that their products will fix us. To be fair, advertising is not all bad, but we must keep our eyes open to the materialistic agendas that many advertisers possess.

Enough of that. Let’s focus on After I completed the MKE and how the word Perfect has changed for me. Now when I see or hear the word Perfect, I immediately hear the affirmation:

“I am whole, perfect, healthy, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, and happy”.

Charles Haanel, The Master Key System

This affirmation comes from Part 9 of Charles Haanel’s book The Master Key System which we read from daily during the course. I now associate the word perfect in a very healthy way. I am perfect in the eyes of my Creator, my Source.

Mark Januszewski and his wife Davene, co-founders of the Master Key Experience, often share this statement with the members on the webcasts: “We are all made 1^st class, by 1^st class, and meant to go 1^st class as long as we do a 1^st class job of being in Service to others and ourselves”.

After going through the Master Key Experience, I now feel whole as a human being, not looking outside of myself for the missing pieces. There were never any missing pieces. We have always had everything we need inside ourselves, our world within.

Create Your Powerful Meanings

During the course, we learn about the 7 laws of the mind. One of these is the Law of Dual Thought which states we can give whatever meaning we want to a word, an experience, our reality. It is up to us. I applied this law to choose new, more empowering meanings for the words Easy, Habit, and Perfect for my life. The great news is that you can apply this law to everything in your life to create the life you truly want.

Cheers to my new friends: EASY, HABIT, and PERFECT. Since my first year as a member in 2016, I have continued every year participating in the MKE serving as a certified Guide and now assist with training new interns Guides as part of the Guide-Staff. The principles in the MKE can be applied for a lifetime. I encourage you to experience your own Before and After moments by engaging in the Master Key Experience.

To get a free copy of tools like the 7 Laws of the Mind, sign up here.