Shift into Brilliance

Copyright © 2015 Greg Braendel.

Cover art by Jessica Warne

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-3968-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-3970-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5043-3969-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015914011

Balboa Press rev. date: 10/16/2015

Contents

Preface

Why Are You Reading This Book?

Chapter I

Career Dreams Is Born

Chapter II

Why Brilliance? Why Now?

Chapter III

How Do Dreams Work for You?

Chapter IV

Identify Your Talents

Chapter V

Why Your Talents Make You Happy

Chapter VI

The Process in Action

Chapter VII

The Process Breakthrough

Chapter VIII

Why the Process Is Effective

Appendix

Acknowledgements

References

PREFACE

Why Are You Reading This Book?

What is the Shift Into Brilliance?

Over the past twenty-plus years, I’ve asked many, many people, What is your dream?

I’ve asked teachers, students, prisoners in jails and juvenile hall, children, legislators, leaders in the CIA and government offices, corporate business people, CEOs, entrepreneurs, those who are unemployed, homeless, rich, famous, unknown, successful, struggling, citizens, immigrants, people from different countries…as many different people as you could possibly imagine. What is your dream?

Not one of them had a personal dream of wanting to harm people, the Earth, or both.

Every one of them had a personal dream that involved good for people or the Earth or both.

What has happened to us that we aren’t experiencing the happiness we so freely dream? We know harm has come to people and the Earth. Inequities, injustices, wars, poverty, disease and meaningless acts of terror force many of us to live amidst astonishing fear, death and destruction every day. We also endure social forces and economic conditions where we make choices based on survival rather than happiness, exuberance and passion.

How is it these conditions crept upon us when we all clearly have a completely opposite vision for our lives and the world? Why have we accepted the unacceptable?

The answer is simple. We settle for less! We have a vision for happiness, peace, joy and fulfillment in our lives and the world, but we believe we can’t have it. We believe there’s nothing we can do. So we go on with our lives, playing the game, surviving the best we can, ignoring as much as we reasonably can, and continuing to meekly accept less. Not happily, of course.

This passive weakness is not our true nature. Hardly. To the contrary, it’s only something we’re doing because we have forgotten what makes us strong.

What makes us strong? Our talents! Our gifts! These are the abilities you were born with that allow you to direct your life choices with strength and unassailable integrity.

There is just no way around this fact. Right within you, right now, you have unique talents that allow you to act in a way that is powerful, excellent, unfettered…and quite failsafe.

When you reconnect with these talents, you remember your value! When you remember your value, you gain self-respect and self-esteem, and you feel empowered to take action on your choices with integrity and positive intention. You are not passive.

You have talents because you are supposed to use them. In fact, your talents are the touchstone that will guide you into your most optimum life.

And when you do this, I call it a shift into brilliance.

Put the Key in the Door, Then Turn.

Notice I did say reconnect with your talents. The education system most of us grew up with did little to nothing to encourage us to develop our talents. As a result, over all our years, many of us have made choices leading us into activities, jobs, relationships and careers which are not based on our strengths. When that happens, we feel weaker and more passive than we should; we don’t feel the power of our full potential that our talents give us when we’re using them.

Again, the purpose of this book is to help you rediscover the brilliance you may have forgotten or were made to leave behind. If you reawaken to the value of your talents, then you can start imagining how your life, workplace or career will be so much more productive, fulfilling and enjoyable.

Today, I feel my mission has expanded, and I have an additional purpose for this book. I strongly believe the entire world requires a collective shift into brilliance in order to survive.

Imagine a world where everyone you work with, your supervisor, co-workers, employees—and everyone all around you—are all directing their lives and making choices based on their strengths. Their lives are proceeding from their talents and passions, what they love to do, and what they’re good at doing.

These people have self-respect and self-esteem and self-confidence. In valuing themselves, they value others equally. They do not accept the unacceptable. They feel empowered to act with excellence.

Wouldn’t this be quite a different world?

In spite of everything happening on our turbulent planet today, I believe we’re on the brink of creating such a world. I believe it’s time for all of us to come together and form the collective push into this new world of brilliance. Let us dare to reacknowledge our strength and value.

We have the key. It is our natural inborn brilliance, which is unique for each of us. When we consciously align with our brilliance, the key is in the door.

Now, we turn the key. We act. We open the door to new attitudes, new expectations, a new society, new forms of education, and a new world.

Why Are You Reading This Book?

The short answer to this question is: Because you really are brilliant….and if you’re not reaping the life-long benefits of fully embracing your brilliance, this book will remind you how to do it right now, right here. Today. No matter who you are, how old or young you are, where you are, what you do or don’t do for a living, what you do or don’t dream of becoming, your brilliance is within you now, and you are meant to embrace it. I want this book to inspire and help you remember it, reclaim it, and live your true self with it. Ultimately you will see how your true self is the true source of your deepest, happiest and most successful fulfillment.

The ideas and principles I will share with you in this book have grown out of my amazing experiences with Career Dreams, the company I formed in 1994. Through this company, I conducted workshops and seminars designed to elicit the natural brilliance from individuals for improving their life, career, relationships, and for improving workplace efficiency, harmony and productivity.

Although I will be describing concepts and activities used in this company, this book is not about the company or its workshops or seminars. This book is about how you as an individual can reclaim your brilliance and create profound changes in your life path. What do you need to know? What do you need to do?

One purpose for recounting selected situations, events, and activities in this book is to help you experience the discovery process for yourself. As you observe others and participate with them, you learn about your own brilliance along with them. Their fears, problems, and obstacles are common to all of us. Their successes–and the understandings they achieve as they recover their brilliance–are available to you and all of us. As you read, I’m asking you to participate! Answer the questions that I ask, examine your self in the ways I describe, and begin dreaming in the ways I suggest.

As I refer to the Process throughout the whole book, know that I’m referring to all the ideas, concepts, attitudes and activities that produce the shift into brilliance.

Because the Process is a set of universal truths which are graspable and obtainable right now, a seminar is not necessary to interact with these truths. I describe them here in these chapters for you to use immediately.

Engage in this Process by yourself, for yourself…and in doing so allow your native brilliance to emerge setting new directions for achievement, success and happiness. When you finish this book, I fully expect you to be feely and newly motivated to recover your natural talents and all of what inspires, drives and fulfills you. This Process is for everyone, both inside and outside of the corporate arena, whether employed, unemployed, or searching for a career.

Again, one of the best ways I can convey the elements of the Process is to share actual experiences of individuals who participated in my workshops and seminars; but remember, the examples of their experiences and discoveries are now meant to stimulate your own discovery process as you read. Because the experiences I recounted are real, I have changed individuals’ names to respect their privacy.

In Chapter I, you will see how Career Dreams came into the world and my discovery of brilliance within us all. In Chapter II, we look at some of the social forces which show why the Process is so needed in the world today, and how it will build new mindsets. Chapters III and IV tell you more about how to recover your talents and how to use them in reshaping areas of your life, your workplace or career. Chapter V talks about some of reasons why your talents may have been lost from memory, but why they are never permanently lost. In Chapters VI and VII, we look at some specific demonstrations of the Process at work in different organizations. Finally, in Chapter VIII, we review and summarize how and why certain principles cause the Process to be so effective.

Collectively, these chapters are meant to impart ideas, concepts, activities, examples, stories and scenarios that jog your memory… awaken your heart… stimulate your mind… engage your true self…and energize your process of embracing your brilliance. My dream is that this book will help motivate you to turn the key, to open the door and shift into your own brilliance!

If questions or concerns arise for you, feel free to contact me.

With love and trust that you will know your own brilliance,

Gregory Braendel

CHAPTER I

Career Dreams Is Born

Hitting Bottom: Great Starting Point

When my company, Career Dreams, became a reality, it was the fulfillment of my passion and personal life dream.

It didn’t fall in my lap, though. There is a story behind it. I believe you could very likely find some elements in it that are familiar and true for you as well, so I’d like to tell it. It could be that a shift into brilliance may be awaiting your recognition as