The Secrets to Lasting Happiness

by Natalie Ledwell
(Sydney, Australia)

Hi, I am Natalie from Mind Movies. I have a bit of a story I would like to share with you and the specific steps I took to achieve what seemed at the time to be an insurmountable goal in the hopes it can inspire and motivate you to take similar steps to achieve your own “insurmountable” goal…

You see my “7 week Mount Everest” was to drop 2 dress sizes by my 40th birthday. Now that may not seem like such a huge task but consider I had been trying to drop 1 dress size for… wait for it… 10 years!!

Luckily I, along with my business partner Ryan and husband Glen, had just achieved the biggest most audacious goal of my life. All I had to do was repeat the success formula so I’d look fabulous at 40.

Let me explain…

Now I’m not sure if you know this but in April 2008 Ryan, Glen and I packed up our lives and moved to America with the dream of taking Mind Movies to the world. By that I mean we left EVERYTHING we knew and loved… our family, friends, my babies Oscar and Ernie our maltese terriers, our home… everything.

We didn’t know a soul in America but felt so passionately about Mind Movies we were determined and had a "we’ll to do whatever it takes" attitude to get our message heard.

So our first step was to set our intention… launch Mind Movies to the world.

Second step was to be very clear about what that meant to us. So we compiled a list, a very specific list that detailed in positive, present tense affirmations…

The number of visitors to our site during the launch. The number of new members joining us. The people who would make up our team. The number of sales we would make. The type of customer we would attract, etc.

Executing this step together was very important.

Once our list was complete we created a Mind Movie that contained our affirmations, photos to reinforce these of our team members, huge adoring crowds, places we would holiday as a reward to ourselves, happy people that symbolized our happy customers etc.

Third step was that we made it compulsory for everyone on the team to not only watch this Mind Movie morning and night but to also play this Mind Movie in their Subliminal Software while they were sitting in front of their computer.
Very powerful!


Fourth step was to consciously and purposely perform small activities throughout the day, to keep
us in a positive mood and high vibration.

I cannot impress upon you enough how important this step was.

So to keep positive we would do things like taking a 5-10 minute break, going for a walk and collectively talk about what life would be like once we had completed the launch… things like the reception we would get when we got back home to Sydney, the respect from the piers in our industry, how we could start working half days, how Ryan would live in a nicer apartment in Sydney, how we would pay for a holiday for our parents, how we would go on a holiday ourselves, etc.

This was like role playing. Our discussions would always be in present tense like it was happening right now and we would describe as many details as we could of each scenario… The more we did this the more elaborate each scenario would become and concrete our faith that the launch would be a success.

There were other activities like, watching our Mind Movie constantly and spending time focusing on what we were grateful for, but honestly that wasn’t too hard… I mean, heellooo... it didn’t matter how stressful the day was we were in America chasing our dream.

To cut a long story short other than the revenue we wanted to generate (we just fell short of our target) we achieved all of the targets we set for ourselves. An incredible success and an incredible high.

Now fast forward a few months and we are back in Sydney and I’m shopping for clothes with Glen just before Christmas 2008. Of course I realize I have put some weight on I mean we were so focused and working that hard for the launch that we had no time to exercise or shop for healthy food or buy any food for that matter unless it was quick and fast – not necessarily nutritious.

I am having a mini breakdown because I am not even close to fitting into my usual size 12. I am now a size 14. I am freaking out because for 10 years I’d been trying to get from a size 12 back to a size 10. I am upset with myself for letting my weight get so far. I am embarrassed because my husband in the next changeroom could here me ask for a size 14 (as if he hadn’t noticed anyway) and I am on the verge of tears.

This is when I made the decision to set my intention... I will be a size 10 by my 40th birthday... 7 weeks away. What have I got myself into!

I have to forget the 10 years of failure behind me and focus in what I could do to make the goal happen. Then the thought crosses my mind… well we just pulled off the launch of the year, surely I can do the same things to lose 2 dress sizes.

First step... I set my intention – a size 10 by my 40th birthday.

Second step... I became very clear about what that meant to me and wrote a list of positive, present tense affirmations like…

I am a size 10
I enjoy exercising every day
I am whole, happy and complete
I choose low fat, low carb healthy foods
I love my body
I am vibrant and fit
I easily maintain a size 10

Once my list was complete I created a Mind Movie that contained my affirmations, photos to reinforce these of fit, happy, healthy, energetic women, healthy food, clothes I would wear when I reached my goal, etc. and the most upbeat music so I would energetically dance and jump around the room while watching it.

Third step was that I not only watch this Mind Movie morning and night but to also play it in my Subliminal Software while I was sitting in front of my computer. In addition to this I'd play our subliminal MP3 designed for weight loss.

So even sitting still, I felt positively about reaching my goal.

Fourth step was that I consciously and purposely performed small activities throughout the day, which eventually turned into unconscious habits to keep me in a positive mood and high vibration.

I totally analyzed the activities we did during the launch and in most cases took them to a whole new level.

For example when I focused on what I was grateful for that day I would not only write them down, I would dedicate at least 2 things to my weight loss journey plus I would commit to not writing the same “grateful” twice... ever. This alone would have me consciously looking at things from a positive perspective during the day so I had plenty of ideas to write on this list.

On my way to the gym each morning Glen and I would discuss how fabulous I looked now I was a size 10, how our friends reacted to my weight loss, what healthy food we would eat that day, how my mother would tell me how I was wasting away, etc. Having these conversations just before a workout was all the motivation I needed to push myself just a little bit harder every day.

In case you were wondering, yes I did reach my goal and my 40th birthday party was so wonderful it is now what I measure all birthday parties against!

I hope my stories today have been able to help you see that regardless of where you are now or what you want to achieve if you simply apply the right success steps you can achieve lasting happiness and do anything!!