Seven Things I Learned from Jack Canfield
Posted on June 12th, 2007 in Uncategorized
Quite a while back, I listened in on a conference call with Jack Canfield (best known as the co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series and one of the teachers featured in the movie The Secret) that was sponsored by Feed333. The notes I took on the call have been sitting on my hard drive, and I decided to review them and share the points that stuck with me the most.
1.) Canfield was a student of W. Clement Stone, who believed that the world was “plotting to do him good.” I’m a big admirer of Stone, and am currently working my way through the 17 Success Principles he and Napoleon Hill outlined in Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude. My esteem for Canfield just about doubled when he talked about this.
2.) He explained that some people are what is called “Psychologically Reversed“. This means that, in those who suffer from this condition, their subconscious minds can assume that “good is bad” and “bad is good”, which leads to all sorts of self destructive behavior… and the more the behavior is pushed against, the worse it becomes. He never directly references EFT, but explains that tapping on what EFT refers to as the karate chop point can remove the reversal.
3.) Debt is not a terrible thing. It’s sometimes an investment in the future.
4.) When it comes to the Law of Attraction, it’s not the thought – it’s the feeling that is produced by the thought that does the vibrating. This seems to be a bit different from the Abraham-Hicks viewpoint, which says that the thought vibrates, and the feeling tells us if our current dominant thought will bring us closer to what we want. I personally don’t care what’s vibrating, as long as it’s vibrating where I want it to. 
5.) You can begin affirmations with the following if it feels like you are lying to yourself: “I’m now in the process of attracting all that I need to x”.
6.) The Hawthorne Effect – that which you measure and report on will improve exponentially.
7.) Be open to feedback… you’re going to get it anyway!
So feel free to leave some feedback in the comments, or via my contact page.
This post has 4 comments
June 17th, 2007
That’s fascinating about point 2 with regards to being pyshcologically reversed. I also had some thoughts on that and have had an article in draft format for ages called “The Paradox of reverse psychology Vs The LoA.”
I’ve never gotten around to finishing it because I was also struggling a little with understading it myself. Thanks for the link though, hopefully it will help make it clearer for me too!
June 17th, 2007
Hi Amit,
I found it pretty fascinating myself when I first learned about it through EFT. When Canfield mentioned it on the call, it really connected some dots for me about why I seemed to respond so well to that one part of the basic EFT procedure. The article I linked to also gave me some great insights as to why EFT works really well for me in some situations, but not so great in others.
July 8th, 2007
It’s not the thought it’s the feelings that creates the attraction is a great way of putting it. Canfield is a brilliant man that understands how to maximize his life. I with I would have came up with those chicken soup for the soul books. But alas I must find my own path.
Great site! Keep up the great thoughts.
July 8th, 2007
Thanks for the compliment, Karl. And upon re-reading the post, I guess I either wasn’t very clear, or I hadn’t learned enough yet. Maybe it would have been better (and truer) to say that it ALL vibrates!
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