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Everything Happens for a Reason

Dear Persuader,

Last week I got a call from an acquaintance of mine. He said, ‘Remember that conversation we had about Africa a few weeks ago? Well, I just checked my e-mail and you won’t believe it. I won an international lottery originating in Africa.  You know, I’m just convinced everything happens for a reason, don’t you think?’

I thought for a few moments and I responded, ‘You know, I think you’re right. Everything does happen for a reason and really it’s a good thing that we’re talking right now.’ I went on to explain that I personally win probably three or four international lotteries a day and none of them are real.

I got to thinking about this conversation and I realized that people look for supporting evidence for what they want in their environment. In this case, here he was remembering our conversation, then he received an e-mail talking about winning a lottery from Africa and somehow he kind of put two and two together in a way that didn’t add up. That’s when he began talking about everything happening for a reason.

Unfortunately, I had to burst the bubble in order to keep him safe, but the point of it is why did he use that language? This language pattern is going to knock your socks off and enable you to influence and persuade in a very deep and profound way.

Why do people look for supporting evidence for what they want in their environment? Oftentimes they do this because our world is very unstable. Whenever there’s a tremendous lack of stability, with everything kind of up in the air, people start turning to religion, they start turning to God, they start turning to spirituality and they become more superstitious.

As I explain this pattern to you, please understand, my goal is to break things down in a way that gives us tremendous power with our language, our words and persuasion, and in so doing, help you to have more success in your life. That’s my purpose in this discussion. If you don’t believe in God, or you’re not a spiritual person, my point is not to influence you towards or away from anything except towards a language pattern or away from not being as successful as you like, that you’ll be able to use these patterns for your benefit and for the benefit of your clients.

When I said, ‘everything does happen for a reason’ it means that I’m alluding to something more than simply what he’s just referred to and that’s really important that he understood. Then I went on to say, ‘Good thing we’re talking’. Again, this implies that there’s perhaps something more than what he was just thinking about. That set the stage for me to have entry into his mind and to help him to understand the difficulty that he was about to face.

People look for supporting evidence for what they want in their environment and I believe it’s our job to give it to them. There are language patterns that are in the popular lexicon right now that we can use to our advantage very powerfully.

When we hear these things we can use them to our advantage powerfully, and I mean, really powerfully. For example, saying ‘things happen for a reason’ supports what you want to happen.

Let’s say you’re an advisor and you’re talking with someone, and they say something positive like, ‘Wow, it’s a good thing that I’m talking with you here today because I feel like I’m really getting somewhere in my learning, in my understanding of how all this works.’ And your response could be, ‘Fantastic, after all, there are no accidents, right?’

Is that a stretch to say? I don’t think it’s a stretch for anybody, no matter what our belief system is. After all, everything happens for a reason, it’s just a matter of whether or not it’s a reason you like.

No language pattern is an island and our goal as persuaders is to layer pattern upon pattern and these patterns piece together a deeper sense of reality when you do this right, what you’re going to be doing is using all sorts of these patterns at high speed.

To your success!

Kenrick

PS… Don’t forget to post your thoughts and comments on the blog.

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Buck - June 8, 2010

“Everything happens for a reason” is a statement of faith or belief in a Higher Power that has a “reason” for everything that happens. This suggests everything that happens is driven by a Divine purpose, but that can easily be taken the wrong way. I do believe in God and believe the world is very orderly, but within that order come all manner of disasters and destruction. For example the “reason” for the Gulf oil spill was human carelessness, not because God wanted to kill lots of wildlife. The men who died when the rig exploded died for a reason – gas and oil explode when ignited in the air. That does not mean God wanted them to die that way at that time. So it would be ingenuous to agree with every prospect that “Everything happens for a reason” meaning it has a benevolent outcome, so we can sell them more stuff. Often the reason is a mystery, or the reason is human carelessness or evil. It doesn’t pay to be glib about this in all circumstances.

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Kenrick E. Cleveland - June 8, 2010

Yes, I agree that we shouldn’t be “glib” in its use.

And when I use this, I don’t always assume a benevolent outcome. I assume an outcome on a scale grander than I can interpret.

In my world view, even the “bad” things that happen do so to balance things and keep a greater good in place. It’s the “glass half full vs. half empty” argument.

I don’t propose to know the mind of God. Only preachers make that type of assumption. 🙂 I choose a world view that contributes to my happiness and success and that represents the type of reality I choose to embody and create. Obviously, that doesn’t make it “right”, just right for me.

Hopefully this helps clarify my position somewhat.

Thanks for contributing.

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jonathanaltfeld - June 8, 2010

I really like this post. One of the things that makes it work so well, SO often… is that it’s the kind of thing that *other people* say to themselves, OR straight to us… when they’re in the process of convincing themselves that it was a good idea to contact us.

In other words, say someone calls us up, asks a question or two, and orders a product. During the course of the short conversation, I often hear things like:

“It’s so timely that you should mention that…”
“Wow, I’m so glad I called you today…”
“It’s so ODD that I would hear the same message differently from several people…”
“This is SO what I needed to hear… RIGHT NOW…”

Etc. This is what people say inside their heads… or to us… when they’re reaching the threshold inside their minds that what they’re doing right now is somehow important, significant, the right thing to do.

So if WE say it, before they do, or after they do, or while they’re thinking it… it validates their mindset!

And if they weren’t yet thinking it… now they are! Which is hugely beneficial!

Just as Kenrick ensured this blog entry didn’t distance someone who doesn’t believe in God (I call that an innoculation!), it does occur to me that a small percentage of people who do not believe in any form of synchronicity or destiny or energy or purpose, etc… may not match/agree with the language behind this pattern, but SO many people do believe in one form or another of this… that the benefits of using it vastly outweigh the alternatives.

Thanks, Kenrick!

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Kenrick E. Cleveland - June 8, 2010

Very well put Jonathan.

When you combine the facts that this does indeed validate what people are often thinking in their own minds, and so many do believe in synchronicity types of happenings, it is clearly a pattern worthy of implementing.

And, speaking of thresholds, if we can amplify what they are doing in their heads ENOUGH to cause them to cross a threshold in the direction we set up, we can move them powerfully to action – which is why most people are reading and learning this material to begin with. 🙂

Great demonstration of superb skills in your post.

Thanks for contributing.

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James Hooper - June 15, 2010

Wow – it is always refreshing to drop into this blog. This article reminded me of the story about Buckminster Fuller, who after giving a promise to his [very ill] daughter that he failed to keep on what turned out to be her deathbed – simply chose to stop talking until he believed that he had sufficient awareness of the use/power of his words to do no harm.

How much of what we are saying – both in our heads and out loud – creates meaning other than what we intend – or are even aware of?

Words have immense power – and again I think it was Bucky [wow – two Bucky stories – that must mean something! There are no accidents?] who said that words/language was man’s greatest invention.

Thanks Kenrick

James Hooper

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