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On Purpose Institute
314-378-1425


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St. Louis, MO 

Reinforcement

The Importance of Reinforcement:  

At On Purpose Institute we use varied technologies and skills to assist you in reaching specific goals. However, certain beliefs, attitudes, and  behaviors are so embedded that it is important to reinforce the progress that you have made.  Part of the services you receive from On Purpose Institute is instruction on using the processes you go through as an on-going practice.  Please remember, as Dr. Joe will tell you:

"If you keep doing what you've been doing, you'll keep getting what you've been getting.  And you are coming to me so that you can stop getting what you've been getting.  You can see that to change what you've been getting, you'll need to change what you've been doing.  And if you go back to what you were doing, you'll again get what you want to avoid!  So, you want to make certain that you keep doing the new things that you are doing, right?"

This is where reinforcement comes in.  You absolutely must reinforce your new behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs, until they become automatic.  Some people have asked, "How long do I need to follow through with the processes I have learned?" The simple answer is, "Until you want to do them."  There are various methods of reinforcement.

The Twenty-One Day  Method:

There are any number of "how to..." books that will tell you that if you have a habit  you want to change, all you have to do is practice the opposite of the habit for 21 days in a row.  According to such advice, once you have practiced a new habit for 21 days in a row this behavior will replace the old one.  While this is true, what most of these books do not mention is that the time must be 21 days in a row.  If a person strays, and goes back to the old habit, no matter how long he or she has been practicing the new habit (2, 3, 7, 16, or even 40 days), the time starts at zero again. 

 This method can be effective for any habit, including those that are habits of thinking.  However, it could also be thought of as the "Conscious Mind"  method, where the person needs to consciously practice the new habit. If the person forgets to focus on what he or she wants, he or she is likely to go back to the old habit.  Each time the person goes back to the old habit, there is increasing disappointment, until the person says, "This doesn't work for me," and gives up.

The truth is that it will work, if the person recognizes that he or she is getting closer to solidifying the new behavior each time he or she practices and returns to the process each time he or she "back-slides."  This method is, to some extent, is the basis for Og Mandino's The Greatest Salesman in The World and The Greatest Miracle in the World, two of the greatest books ever written on personal change. Each of these and, indeed, all of the transformational books, tapes, speeches, and workshops that actually result in permanent change for individuals and organizations include a "secret factor" of which the author, originator, or speaker may or may not be aware.

There are those who take the "Conscious Mind" method to the next level.  They decide to utilize the power of their will power.

The Will Power Method:

People using the "Will Power" Method often decide on what they do not want and attempt to focus on the "positive opposite."  Again, this can lead to getting the result you want.  There is, however, a down side to this: if the habit we want is generated from considering what we do not want, very often (especially when we are in a stressful situation) we return to what we want to avoid.  You cannot think about what you do not want to think about without thinking about it. (Think about that.) The following is a story that Dr. Joe uses to illustrate this point in workshops:

"A woman came to me because she said she had used will power to lose weight and it had not worked.  When I asked why she felt that way, she related that she had identified certain foods that were causing her trouble, and she decided that she was going to use her powerful will power to avoid these foods, one food at a time.  The first food she decided to avoid was chocolate cake.  (Remember this is her story--she decided to avoid chocolate cake.  I know some of you are wondering why, but that is another matter.)  

"Soon after her decision, she went to a party.  Before the party she had had a small piece of chocolate cake to take care of her appetite and went.  Now, as she walked through the door, what do you suppose was the first thing she saw?  That's right a small chocolate cake on the dining room table.  But she had decided to use will power to avoid eating the chocolate cake.

"So she started telling all her friends at the party, 'I'm not having any chocolate cake--no chocolate cake for me--get that chocolate cake away from me--NO CHOCOLATE CAKE!' over and over again.  Now what do you suppose was going on in her imagination...That's right, the chocolate cake was getting bigger and bigger,  more and more delicious, and more and more scrumptious. So, what do suppose she did?  Sure...actually, she had two pieces.

"But she was going to use will power!  What happened? And I notice that some of you have a desire for that cake yourselves, even though it's not here--the same thing is happening to you that happened to her.  Whatever our imaginations focus on will happen, eventually, even if it is opposed to what our will power is saying.  

"Because whenever your imagination and your will power are in conflict, your imagination will always win! 

"I taught that lady the same things we are learning today--how to focus her mind on the results that she wants and to reinforce her desires.  In other words, you are learning how to put your will power in alignment with your imagination. When your will power and your imagination are going in the same direction you create an overwhelming force."

So, while will power is important, it is only part of what is necessary for permanent change.  What is more important than will power, is motivation.  The processes that On Purpose Institute uses take a small amount of motivation and turn it into an overwhelming force.  

What causes all permanent human transformation to take place, is the employment of the locus where all learning, behavior, and change transpire in the first place.  This locus was referred to earlier as the "secret factor."

The "Secret Factor": Have you ever had the experience of studying something that you just could not understand.  If you are like most people, you got to the end of your patience and finally put it away, wondering if you would be be able to "get it." That's right--of course you did.  But you probably went back to it some time later (especially if you were studying for a test).  You probably noticed that, even though you had not consciously thought of the subject in the intervening time, all of a sudden, you have a better understanding than you expected you would.

Did you ever wonder how you did that?  It almost seemed like you studied without realizing it--or that there was a part of your mind that was doing the learning while you were thinking about other things or maybe even while you were asleep.  Have you ever awoken smarter than you were when you went to sleep?  Of course you have.

Did you know that none of your behaviors are conscious?  It is true that you initiate many behaviors consciously, but you could not possibly do all the things you do consciously.  To prove that touch your forehead.  Did you know that there are more than 100 muscles between your finger and your shoulder, many of which are involved when you just  lifted your hand to your forehead?  There is no way you could consciously command the exact sequence of muscle movements to move that hand up as smoothly as you did.  What you did was to give a conscious instruction to your body, and your body carried out the exact sequence.  It would be a bummer if it was hit or miss as to whether or not your body would do a repetitive action correct.  When you eat, you'd have to worry if your fork was going to go in your mouth or your ear!  But this is not the case - once a habit, physical, emotional, or mental, has been established, it will run the same way each time it is triggered, until you change it.

Your body is well programmed to perform the behaviors with which you are familiar.  In fact, it is so well programmed that changing any behavior requires more than wanting to change.  Some how you must change the programming.  This fact is, by the way, the basis for the "21 Days to Change" concept we discussed above.

All significant change requires more than just wanting to change.  Albert Einstein said, "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."   

So, what does this discussion have to do with the so-called "secret factor," you ask.  The not-so secret factor is the effective utilization of that part of the mind which is variously called the subconscious mind, the unconscious mind, the inner creative mind, etc.  In her book, Molecules of Emotion, Dr. Candace Pert, one of the pre-eminent molecular biologists in the world, says, "Your body is your Unconscious Mind."

Your Unconscious Mind is the sum total of all the programming - physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual - that you have experienced.  This programming is stored as all the interconnections, chemical and electrical, among all the cells, especially the nerve cells, throughout your body.  When you experience a stimulus (physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual), there is a response that occurs, based on everything that has happened before in your life.  Your neurology responds so rapidly that it seems like, "That's just the way I am."  But in the vast majority of situations, you can change the response to a given stimulus, especially if you know and can utilize the most effective methods of Accelerated Human Change Technology.  This is the "secret factor." (By the way, I only use that term in a tongue-in-cheek way, because so few authors and speakers deliberately use this technology and because so many people go through their lives as if this knowledge is secret.)

At On Purpose Institute we are honored to be able to instruct our clients and workshop participants in the most effective use of the cutting edge methods that people are using and teaching around the world.  In fact, we would be happy to certify you, if you want, so that you can assist your own clients or workshop participants in transforming their lives. 

And this brings us full circle, back to the importance of Reinforcement.

Reinforcement:  There are those clients and workshop participants who initially are surprised when they hear me mention the importance of reinforcement. Everyone has heard of someone who went to a hypnotist for a single session and has not smoked in 40 years. We had a seminar participant (who had smoked for 60 years) who left, saying, "The seminar was a waste of money.  It didn't work."  And he told that to many people, until after three weeks he suddenly realized, not only had he not had a cigarette, but also he had not particularly wanted one.   As he thought about it, he realized that he had started doing different things that kept him busy, substituting new behaviors for the old ones that had led to smoking.  Now we would say that his reinforcement was automatic.  After six months he was still smoke-free and was sending his friends.

It would be nice if all change were that easy.  We look upon the techniques and the processes we lead clients and participants through as tools.  They are tools that have a great deal of positive effect when used correctly.  As tools each technique is like a hammer--the person must know how to use it and must then use it to drive a nail into a wall.  It is probably clear to you that the more practice a person has the more at ease the person will be with any particular tool.

Thus, when we at On Purpose Institute work with clients or workshop participants, we use as many of the methods we can to help them get the results they want. Then we strongly recommend that the person follow through with his or her own reinforcement.

Methods of Reinforcement:  As mentioned above the first type is automatic.  We all would like it if all we had to do is go one time to some kind of practitioner and walk away with all the results we came for, so that we don't ever have to think about the former problem ever again.  This would actually be called magic or mental control.  You see, we really don't want to be controlled, because if anyone were able to exert that kind of control in one context, they could take control in any other context.  And I have yet to find anyone who wants someone else to control his or her mind.  

In actuality, the processes of Accelerated Human Change Technology are the ultimate in self-control, because, when you use them, you take control of your life and enhance your experience of life in areas that you had not initially anticipated. So, the second method of reinforcement is to practice the processes you've learned on your own after the session.  For example, we always teach self-hypnosis during the Stop-Smoking Workshops.  This immediately gives the participants a degree of control over their bodies that usually takes months of practice to achieve.  Of course, the person must practice for the process to be of maximum effectiveness.  So, we tell the participants to begin immediately practicing, no matter how they feel.  We have found that it is the action that a person takes that gives him or her the results he or she wants, not how the person feels about it.  We emphasize that, if there is anything that could be called "magic," it is the "magic that is within each participant that he or she can access using the technologies that we teach.

Some time ago our clients and our participants told us that they wanted to practice reinforcement, but that they forgot some of the key points or that they wanted an easier way to follow through.  This is why graduates of many our  programs are able to  re-attend a particular program at a dramatically reduced fee and why we began producing a series of self-hypnosis tapes to support those who are really serious about their progress. The numbers and types of programs is always increasing, but the following is a listing of the current programs:

Apollonian Adventure: (also known as "Empowering Your Success") is designed to allow you to focus the energy of the Universe to empower you, the things you want to accomplish and the people in your life. You feel yourself more and more energized after each listening.

Building Confidence and Confidence Empowering work together to increase your confidence by engaging your Unconscious Mind (Side 1) and your Conscious Mind (Side 2). Thus these two aspects of your Mind can coordinate for you to permanently increase confidence.

Cleansing Your Chakras: It has been established by modern science that there are bundles of nerve cell and concentrations of what Dr. Candace Pert calls the "molecules of emotions" in the exact spots predicted by the ancient teaching about "energy centers" or "chakras" in the human body.  This program includes an explanation of the chakra system and a meditation from a "live" workshop on Increasing Intuition.  Participants have reported that after this meditation that are more mentally- and energetically-clear than they have been in years, even with many other practices under their belts.

Consulting with Your Higher Guides: One of the chapters in the book Think and Grow Rich by  Napoleon Hill talks about the importance of having a "Master Mind" group of higher beings with which you can confer on a regular basis.  Consulting Your Higher Guides is a traditional meditation that allows you to connect with your Higher Guides (Angels, Ascended Masters, Higher Guides) with whom, according to most Wisdom traditions on the planet, you planned this life prior to being born. It is a profound method of "checking in and seeing how it's going."

Get On Purpose!: When you are living your live with a sense of a Higher Purpose, you feel more energized and more alive.  This program has two outcomes, simultaneously. First, it allows you to remove blocks that may be keeping you from being, doing, or having all that you can be, do, or have. Secondly, It allows you to connect with and program your future with your Purpose.  It is when we are "On Purpose" that we are most fulfilled and happy. For example, one participant reported that after listening to this program after a particularly distressful day, she became clear about her career and things seemed to fall into place more easily.  This is why we say, "The On Purpose LifeWorks!"

Note: The Apollonian Adventure, Consulting Your Higher Guides, and Get On Purpose each serve to mutually amplify the beneficial effects of the other two. You might consider getting all three as a set.

Improving Memory facilitates your learning how to improve communication from your Conscious Mind (which asks for a memory) and your Unconscious Mind (which stores, catalogues, and delivers your memories). Research has shown that everything you have ever experienced has been stored by your unconscious mind. This will allow you to increasingly improve your ability to access those memories.

Improving Concentration: Improving Concentration is designed to allow you to facilitate your focusing your attention on what you want to focus on, moving any distractions into the background, so that you are in control of what you pay attention to. Since Improving Concentration and Improving Memory work together, they come on the same cassette.

Introduction to Hypnosis: There are many misunderstandings about hypnosis.  When we misunderstand anything, we are unable to access the full value of the process.  On the first side of this tape is a entertaining explanation of hypnosis, including segments from a live workshop.  The second side has a fifteen minute relaxation process.

Managing Stress & Releasing to Sleep: Hypnosis has been shown, scientifically, to be an excellent means for you to find yourself Managing Stress (side 1) and Releasing to Sleep (side 2). These new programs use cutting-edge language patterns to enhance your experience, as well as your enjoyment of the experience.

Meditation for Guidance: This deep relaxation process is a traditional guided meditation that will take you through a beautiful location in your mind to meet with a Spirit Guide to allow you to ask questions and gain understandings on issues that you have been dealing with. The music continues after you come to awareness, so as to give you time to journal at the end, giving you prompts, so that you can remember the suggested questions.

Past Life Regression/Therapy is a tool that you can use to release negative effects in your life. Whether or not a person believes in "Past Lives," at times your Unconscious Mind may store memories and negative emotions that are limiting you as if it believes in such things. Side 1 of this program provides an introduction and a practice exercise. Side 2 provides the process that you can use over and over again to become increasingly clear and empowered.

Release Weight: Augments and accelerates the behavior change that is so important for a person to attain and maintain the ideal weight and body build for him or herself. 

Stop Smoking: Behavior change is the key to remaining permanently smoke-free.  This tape continues the reprogramming of the unconscious mind to allow you to identify the triggers that used to lead to smoking. Then it assists you in using the power of your imagination to systematically eliminate the effects of the triggers and to get the satisfactions, which you used to associate with cigarettes, in healthy ways which work for you.

Your Higher-Self Communication Center: Using this program you can, first, build and, then, use an inner sanctuary. You can use this process for many purposes: deepen meditations; communicate with spiritual teachers; dramatically improve your intuition; make connections between seemingly unrelated events in your life--the uses are endless.

Price: The cost for the tapes includes shipping within the continental United States.  We will need to charge extra for shipping to Alaska, Hawai'i, or outside the United States.

One Tape	$30
Two Tapes	$50
Three Tapes	$65
Four Tapes	$75
Each Additional Tape	$10

Contact us

These are a few of our programs.  While this discussion has been in the context of "reinforcement," many of our clients have purchased programs as the primary intervention they planned to use. The results that they have achieved are, in and of themselves, remarkable. You may be interested to know, we are continuing to produce new useful programs all the time.  If the program you want  is not listed, contact us by e-mail.  It may already be on the racks or in the works.

To Order, or if you have any questions, Please e-mail us: