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Preface
"How’d
they do that?" I asked myself time and time again.
As a
journalist and documentary filmmaker, I witnessed ordinary people performing
extraordinary feats on countless occasions. I documented individuals in moments
of crisis and emergency going beyond the limits they and society believed
possible. Caught up in earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and accidents, I watched
mild-mannered people become super-heroes.
When extreme
circumstances demand action, paranormal abilities arise from normal folks. Women
lift two-ton trucks and hold them aloft until their child or husband is freed
from beneath the vehicle. Young boys perform successful medical procedures as if
they were trained professionals. Men lead victims to safety through burning
buildings, pitch-black forests and raging floods. Teenagers bend steel and rip
open closed elevator doors to liberate loved ones. Scared people jump ten feet
over a chasm to safety. Given a death sentence by doctors, people heal
themselves spontaneously.
"Where do
human beings get the power and knowledge to perform such implausible
feats?" I wondered. I observed that when life offers a person a choice
between their beliefs in what is possible and the necessity to save another from
harm, people often scrap their perceived limitations and choose to do whatever
needs to be done. Very often, people choose life, caring and rescue over the
restrictions of their belief systems.
"If we
can break out of our belief box when life has us up against the wall, why
can’t we release our limiting beliefs at will when we are not in a
crisis?" I inquired within myself.
I looked
around in my world for examples of people who know how to free themselves from
tribal collective limitations— mainstream cultural beliefs—in order to
access fresh possibilities of human potential. I discovered my models through
reading biographies of dynamic individuals and interviewing adventurous people.
I found that people who are forerunners, pioneers and explorers in social,
political and artistic expression invariably refer to one or more moments in
their lives in which they opened to a peak experience. And not only do these
resourceful people make reference to these extraordinary moments, they draw
strength, wisdom and compassion from these glimpses of their true power. They
have learned how to tap into these past moments of heightened awareness and
achievement in order to surmount present life challenges. Whether it be
excellence in athletic or artistic expression, or success in business or
romance, these potent moments of "transcendence of the ordinary" act
as wells of inspiration and inventiveness that enable people to handle current
predicaments.
With a degree
of benevolent innocence, I decided that if these people could break free of
their restrictive belief systems and tap into the power of previous peak
experiences, then I could as well. Their successes inspired me to try this
approach myself—to reach beyond my perceived boundaries. The stories in this
book report my exploration of inviting magic into my life and welcoming miracles
into my world. It is my heartfelt wish that my stories inspire you to go beyond
your own self-created limits.
Keith Varnum
Phoenix,
Arizona
I
WANT THIS BOOK
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