Author Archives: Marcus

Beating Procrastination

Posted on by

 

procrastination

Image by denn via Flickr

‘The only thing I can’t stand is discomfort.’ ~Gloria Steinem

By Leo Babauta

Of all the skills I’ve learned in the past 7 years of changing my life, one skill stands out:

Learning to be comfortable with discomfort.

If you learn this skill, you can master pretty much anything. You can beat procrastination, start exercising, make your diet healthier, learn a new language, make it through challenges and physically grueling events, explore new things, speak on a stage, let go of all that you know, and become a minimalist. And that’s just the start.

Unfortunately, most people avoid discomfort. I mean, they really avoid it — at the first sign of discomfort, they’ll run as fast as possible in the other direction. This is perhaps the biggest limiting factor for most people, and it’s why you can’t change your habits.

Think about this: many people don’t eat vegetables because they don’t like the taste. We’re not talking about soul-wrenching pain here, not Guantanamo torture, but a taste that’s just not something you’re used to. And so they eat what they already like, which is sweets and fried stuff and meats and cheeses and salty things and lots of processed flour.

The simple act of learning to get used to something that tastes different — not really that hard in the grand scheme of life — makes people unhealthy, often overweight.

I know, because this was me for so many years. I became fat and sedentary and a smoker and deeply in debt with lots of clutter and procrastination, because I didn’t like things that were uncomfortable. And so I created a life that was deeply uncomfortable as a result.

The beautiful thing is: I learned that a little discomfort isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it can be something you enjoy, with a little training. When I learned this, I was able to change everything, and am still pretty good at changing because of this one skill.

Master your fear of discomfort, and you can master the universe.

Avoidance of Discomfort

When people are stressed, they often turn to cigarettes, food, shopping, alcohol, drugs … anything to get rid of the disomfort of the thing that’s stressing them out. And yet, if you take a deeper look at the stress, it’s really an unfounded fear that’s causing it (usually the fear that we’re not good enough), and if we examined it and gave it some light of day, it would start to go away.

When people start to exercise after being sedentary, they are uncomfortable. It’s hard! It can make you sore. It’s not as easy as not exercising. It’s not something you’re used to doing, and you fear doing it wrong or looking stupid. And so you stop after awhile, because it’s uncomfortable, when really it’s not horrible to be uncomfortable for a little while. We’re not talking about incredible pain, but just discomfort.

When people try a healthier diet, they often don’t like it — eating veggies and raw nuts and flaxseeds and fruits and tofu or tempeh or black beans isn’t as thrilling as eating fried, fatty, salty or sweet foods. It’s a form of discomfort to change your taste buds, but the truth is, it can easily happen if you just get through a little discomfort.

Discomfort isn’t bad. It’s just not what we’re used to. And so we avoid it, but at the cost of not being able to change things, not being healthy, not being open to adventure and the chaos of raw life.

Mastering Discomfort

The way to master discomfort is to do it comfortably. That might sound contradictory, but it’s not. If you are afraid of discomfort, and you try to beat discomfort with a really gruelling activity, you will probably give up and fail, and go back to comfort.

So do it in small doses.

  1. Pick something that’s not hard. Take meditation as an example. It’s not really that hard — you just sit down and pay attention to your body and breath, in the present moment. You don’t have to empty your mind (just notice your thoughts), you don’t have to chant anything weird, you just sit and pay attention. If you don’t like meditation, try a new healthy food, like kale or raw almonds or quinoa. Or a fairly easy exercise if you’re sedentary, like walking or jogging.
  2. Just do a little. You don’t have to start by doing 30 minutes of something you’re not used to doing. Just do a few minutes. Just start.
  3. Push out of your comfort zone, a little. My friend and Zen priest Susan O’Connell has a favorite meditation instruction that you can use for any activity actually: when you’re meditating and you feel like getting up, don’t; then when you feel the urge to get up a second time, don’t; and when you feel the urge to get up a third time, then get up. So you sit through the urge, the discomfort, twice before finally giving in the third time. This is a nice balance, so that you’re pushing your comfort zone a little. You can do this in exercise and many other activities — push a little.
  4. Watch the discomfort. Watch yourself as you get a bit uncomfortable — are you starting to complain (internally)? Are you looking for ways to avoid it? Where do you turn to? What happens if you stay with it, and don’t do anything?
  5. Smile. This is not trivial advice. If you can smile while being uncomfortable, you can learn to be happy with discomfort, with practice. When I did the Goruck Challenge in 2011, it was 13 hours of discomfort — raw and bloody knees, sand in my shoes as a hiked and ran with 60+ pounds on my back, carrying teammates and logs, doing pushups and crabwalks and other exercises, needing the bathroom and being tired and hungry and cold. And yet, I practiced something simple: I tried to mantain a smile through all this discomfort. It’s an important practice.

Repeat this practice daily. It will be strange, perhaps difficult, at first, but soon your comfort zone will expand. If you practice it enough, with different activities, your comfort zone will expand to include discomfort. And then you can master the universe.

 

What You Can Now Master

If you master discomfort, what can you now master as a result? Just about anything:

  1. Procrastination. We procrastinate to avoid something that’s not comfortable, but if you can learn to stay with that task, even if it’s not comfortable. The discomfort isn’t bad. Those of you going through the Procrastination module in my Sea Change Program are learning about dealing with the discomfort of staying with your important task.
  2. Exercise. We avoid exercise because it’s not comfortable, but if we expand the comfort zone a little at a time, we can make exercise something we’re comfortable with, after a little repetition.
  3. Writing. If you want to write but always seem to put it off, that’s because writing is often difficult, or less comfortable than checking email or social networks (for example). Stay with the discomfort, and you’ll write more than ever.
  4. Eating healthy. It’s amazing how much our taste buds can change over time, if we gradually get used to healthier foods. That means going through small periods of discomfort, but it’s not that bad in little doses.
  5. Meditation. We avoid the disomfort of sitting and doing nothing, of focusing on the present. But it’s not that hard — just a little uncomfortable.
  6. Waking early. Waking early means being a little tired for a little while, but that’s not a horrible thing. Read more about rising early.
  7. Learning a language/instrument. Want to learn something new? That means doing something you’re not used to, by definition, and so we often quit before we master this new skill, simply because (you guessed it) it makes us uncomfortable. Stay with the discomfort, and before long you’ll enjoy learning this new skill.
  8. Clutter. Clutter is just another form of procrastination. You don’t put things away, or you let a pile of things you don’t need build up, because it’s not comfortable dealing with it right now (as compared to, say, browsing the Internet or watching TV). But dealing with something right now isn’t that hard once you get past the discomfort.
  9. Reading novels. We tend to avoid simply sitting with a book, because we are pulled towards something more comfortable (again, Internet browsing as an example). If we can just sit with the book and a little discomfort, we can read more.
  10. Empty email inbox. Another form of procrastination — you get some emails, maybe look at them, but put off dealing with them right now because it’s easier not to.
  11. Debt. This is a series of things we have to deal with that are uncomfortable — listing out our debts and bills, making a simple budget, doing things that are free instead of shopping, etc. But I got out of debt by finally facing all of these things, and it was wonderful.
  12. New adventures. Many people stay with places they’re comfortable with, which means missing out on new experiences that might be a little uncomfortable. Even when they travel, many people stick with the tourist sights and food that they’re used to, rather than finding strange but more authentic experiences in a new land. We avoid meeting new people, speaking on stage, letting go of what we know, being open to new things … to avoid discomfort.

And that’s just the start. Within each of these areas there’s many things you can work on over the coming years now that you’re not afraid of discomfort, and there are many other areas of exploration now open to you.

Discomfort can be the joyful key that opens up everything for you.

‘Discomfort is very much part of my master plan.’ ~Jonathan Lethem

…More at Discomfort Zone: How to Master the Universe

Discover the Best Abundance Affirmations that Will Bring You Unlimited Success

Posted on by
Reply

That’s quite a claim isn’t it? But, you know there is always a right way and a wrong way of doing everything. And in my experience I have found that the ‘right way’ is by far and away the easier of the two.

Abundance affirmations are affirmations that are specifically designed to get you rewards in your life such as abundant wealth, abundance in relationships, in quality of lifestyle, in health and in fact in any area in which you want to abound.

Before offering you some specific abundance affirmations for you to use, I would like to provide a little guidance on the best way to use affirmations. Affirmations can easily be spoken whether out loud or in silence, but an affirmation needs more than verbalisation. Affirmations need most of all to be felt and felt from deep within.

Let me give you an example. If you feel frustrated and doubt that what you are doing is going to work out, what do you say? Something like: “This is never going to work. I can’t do this!” And you say it with so much feeling, conviction and force don’t you.

But when you speak out positive affirmations do you speak them with as much feeling, conviction and force. I think not. And that is why abundance affirmations or any other kind of affirmations do not have nearly as much effect on you or your life as your negative statements do. In fact your negative statements are also affirmations, only no one calls them as that.

So, from the very core of your self, speak out your abundance affirmations. Really feel them. Mean it; fill it with power.

Here are some abundance affirmations:

“I fully accept the unlimited abundance the universe is showering on me.”

“Abundance follows me in my every thought”

“I am thankful for the overflowing abundance happening in my life”

“I am open and free to accept all the abundance the universe is constantly offering me.”

To get more abundance affirmations like these and also a free report on making your mind positive go HERE now.

Is Subliminal Sleep Learning Real?

Posted on by
Reply

Is sleep learning really possible?

Well sleep learning is possible, but not in the way you might think, and certainly not in the way TV Sitcoms or Hollywood movies would make you think.

How It Does Not Work

Hollywood has a whole lot to blame for in this area, it glamourises sleep learning, or makes jokes about it and paints an entirely different image from how it truly is. Here I will expel the 2 main misguided beliefs aboutsubliminal sleep learning

  • It won’t instill information directly. It does not work by implanting info into your head for example – you won’t wake up speaking spanish without ever studying, it just doesn’t work by placing knowledge into your head without you consciously learning it within your waking life. It works simply as a learning BOOSTER – it clears your mind and helps you to learn faster, and much more naturally.
  • It doesn’t work instantly, or overnight. It is a slower process unfortunately – each time you listen the messages sink into your mind and you become a little sharper, and more focused – each night your ability to learn improves until you absorb information naturally.

The Real Benefits Of Sleep Learning

Subliminal Learning

So you’ve now learned that it isn’t miraculous or instant, however sleep learning has never been more popular, and listed below are several main reasons why:

  • It is totally non intrusive. You can use it while you sleep and let the messages sink into your mind by natural means. No further action, practice, repetiton is called for from you. This means that your lifestyle doesn’t have to transform at all, you can play the recording on a evening, transform your mind, and go about your day as normal.
  • I will be the first to say that it ISNT a miracle – you will not awaken a different person, however the change is going to be gradual, and it will support the action you are taking and help align your subconscious mind to your conscious goals and actions. It can give you a shortcut and help you to learn almost anything, or develop yourself in nearly every way imaginable.

One other reason that subliminals are becoming more and more popular is because it can also be considered a mild form of hypnosis – while you won’t enter a trance the messages will change you mind in a similar way – ultimately the messages will make real improvements to your unconscious mind and transform your ability to learn dramatically.

If you haven’t triedsubliminal sleep learning yet then the time has come. My friends at SubliminalMP3s are giving 3 free subliminal mp3 albums you can try by yourself; one forrelaxation, one for learning, and one for personal development. This is the ideal taster course in subliminal audio, and you can leave all 3 of them on whilst you sleep and experience the benefits for yourself.

Download These Powerful Three FREE Subliminal Audio Albums Today

binaural beats

Posted on by
Reply

If someone said that you can bring about great change by relaxing in a chair doing nothing I would say:”Don’t listen to them.” That is until now…

When I heard about Binaural beats

Let me reveal what they are:

Binaural beats are sounds that alter your brainwave frequencies resulting in an altered state of awareness that allow your mind, body and spirit to unwind and achieve inner peace in just minutes.

Binaural beats are a real break-though because they allow your brain to naturally enter slower brainwave frequencies associated with relaxation, heightened awareness, deep meditation and sleep quickly and easily. This literally means you can experience the same frequencies as a zen master – in just minutes and without all the hard work!

Jump Start Your Metabolism

Posted on by
Reply

In a bid to lose weight or get back into shape many people try to simply reduce their amount of food intake. Although this can be beneficial, especially if you are someone who is prone to eating a lot, there are other factors to take into account.

The reason why I entitled this post as ‘Jump start your metabolism’ is because by getting your metabolism working at an optimum rate, it is much easier to lose weight and more importantly keep it off. Most diet plans show you how to lose weight but not how to keep it off.

By boosting your metabolism, you are burning up the calories in the most natural way. And by eating more natural and water content foods you will be providing your digestive system with more immediately digestible foods.

Exercise and food control need to go hand in hand, but it doesn’t mean that you need to embark on a rigorous routine by any means. What’s needed is a simple but regular routine so that your body is able to start toning and developing muscle. This is not becoming muscley; that’s totally different. What it means is that by exercising you are simply getting into shape and ‘shape’ means correct muscle tone and volume.

Muscles burn more calories than any other cells in the body and so the more in shape you are, the more you are likely to stay that way.

Stop beating yourself up!

Posted on by
Reply

Do you find that you keep beating your self up? You are not alone as millions of people have the same habit. The problem is that by beating yourself up it becomes an addictive process so that whenever you make even the smallest mistake or simply don’t fulfill your own expectations of your self then the self critical and hurtful side of the personality kicks in. If this habit is not curbed then you can simply make life hell for your self.

Although you want to know how to stop beating yourself up, the very first thing that is essential to understand is: WHY are you beating yourself up? The reason why you need this understanding is that there is little point in trying the various techniques which help you to stop beating yourself up if the underlying cause is not identified and sorted out.

The fundamental reason for being so self critical and even cynical are almost always due to the lack of self love and self esteem. It doesn’t matter what your portfolio may be like. For example you may be a company CEO, a top athlete or celebrity or etc. It is more important how you value your self internally rather than just what the world thinks of you. The simple reality is that you don’t live or communicate with any one person all the time but you do live with and communicate to your self all the time.

How to stop beating yourself up? It all starts with observing your own thoughts and emotions to learn what is going on inside your head. Recognize what thoughts you produce and what kind of emotions they lead to. Very often you may have one thought of frustration due to a lack of achievement; it may even be due to not being able to complete a very simple task on time. That one thought of frustration then leads to a deeper emotion of frustration which then leads to more thoughts of frustration…and so the pattern continues. At that moment when you have a negative thought stop your mind for a moment and immediately produce a positive thought and try to feel that thought so the thought changes from just a thought to a feeling. For example replace a thought of frustration with a thought of patience. What you are doing is simply giving yourself space to change your thought patterns. It works; try it

Here is another very effective method to stop your self from beating yourself up: Before you start your working day and also before you launch into each particular activity within the day, stop for a few seconds to qualify and quantify what you want to achieve and by when you want to achieve it. As many causes for self criticism are due to the self imposed pressure of time, the time you give to your self will enable you to plan out your day more effectively so that the priorities get listed first on your list. By stopping before you start each main activity to check why you are about to do such an activity and how you are going to get it done will provide clarity and purpose as well as a chance to make sure that you have everything that you will need. This also works

To conclude it is very simply giving your self some much needed space in your own mind so that you know what you are thinking and the likely results of that. Then you are adjusting or re-directing the thoughts to experience a much more positive state

Harness the Power of Your Mind

Posted on by
Reply

The human mind is incredibly powerful. It was, after all, the human mind that was the origin of every invention and discovery. Everything that you see around you is the product of someone’s thought. That thought in the mind became, in time, the buildings, the aircraft, the ships, the computers, etc. The power of your mind is so amazing! If we harness that power look what can be achieved, but if we waste that power look what a mess we can get ourselves into.

As the mind is your thinking machine, like any machine it needs rest time. By this I don’t mean sleep but quiet contemplation. You need to know what is going on in your mind and not only on the surface but deeper within. By having time to your self you will be able to understand some of the driving forces in your mind. This in turn may well yield some interesting insights as to why you do what you do and in the way that you do it and also why you entertain certain desires and wishes. The quieter you can become in your mind, the more powerful and focused you will feel.

Before you start any activity, project or work, decide what you want to achieve and by when. The reason is that the power of your mind works most effectively when you give congruent, focused and clear information to it. If there is any vagueness or uncertainty in your thoughts or ideas the mind will not be in a position to cooperate completely with you. The power of your mind will be chocked, unable to work effectively.

Once you know what you want to achieve and how you are going to achieve it, that is, you have worked out a plan of action, the next step is to visualize the successful accomplishment of your plan. By ‘seeing’ in your minds eye the task already successfully completed, even though you have not even started on it, provides the mind with a powerful signal. On the basis of this signal your mind can work at its most powerful level and create the results similar or even identical to what you had visualized.

Because the mind works so fast it also has a tendency to disappear into unwanted areas. You can call this wasteful, negative and useless thinking. By allowing your mind to get lost into any of these three will result in a great loss of time, energy and enthusiasm. Just as if you were driving a very powerful and responsive sports car, you would have to be very alert and attentive about what you did with the controls or you might end up in the ditch, so too the mind needs to be shown the same attention or it will end up in the ditch of negative thinking.

Just as with the example of the sports car it will take a lot to get it out of the ditch so it will take considerable attention to get the mind back on track. By maintaining a simple discipline of checking from time to time to see what thoughts you are having and if they are supportive or detrimental to your purpose, you will, in time, be able to keep your mind focused and empowered.

By using these tips to harness the power of your mind it will not be long before you start to feel that your mind is cooperating with you and your thoughts are powerful and focused. Success is the natural result when you use the power of your mind in this way.

Spiritual Development

Posted on by
1

Spiritual development is a general term which is open to a great deal of interpretation. The main perceptions of spiritual development are of developing ones psychic abilities, developing ‘mind over matter’ strengths and of developing a greater sense of self awareness along with the relevant qualities and ethics.

All three require a patient and perceptive attitude and also a good teacher in whom you are willing to place a great deal of trust.

Under the term psychic abilities comes such things as mediumship, trance, clairvoyance, etc. With ‘mind over matter’, which can also be known as occult power comes all kinds of abilities. Some well known ones are telepathy (communicating by thought power), and telekinesis which includes the manipulation of material objects such as Uri Gellers spoon bending ability. Although people usually find that they are gifted in a certain area in these abilities, they still need to be trained in order to develop them further. They can be used in both a good way and also a bad way.

The other meaning of spiritual development is to develop a higher state of self awareness. This requires the person to become patient and study ones own thoughts and feelings in order to understand what positive and negative forces are working inside. This practice is called introversion. People who spend time on spiritual development tend to be more stable, wise and perceptive than others. They grow in consciousness and are able to see things in a more subtle or meaningful way. The qualities of love, honesty and a sense of personal freedom are also gained.

Most individuals will adopt the practice of meditation in order to avail themselves of these benefits. There is the recognition that one should not be impressed by the presentation of things or of people, but rather maintain a balance between inner peace and happiness and outer effectiveness and tolerance.

Get Relaxed

Posted on by
Reply

There are many ways that you can relax, but first you need to know that relaxation is needed for both the body and the mind. If only one is catered for, then there will be a resulting imbalance.

Over the last two decades there has been an exponential increase in the number and variety of methods, and potions, etc offering to relax you. Some are genuine and others are through and through scams, existing only to take your money.

First be aware that simply living an orderly and balanced lifestyle goes a long way to enjoying relaxation. A walk in the park, a bit of deep breathing and some stretching are very simple yet effective ways to relax. For a deeper and longer term effect you can attend a health farm or holiday in a countryside environment.

Although there are methods available to relax the mind and different methods to relax the body, because the two are so connected, the relaxation of the mind also relaxes the body and the relaxation of the body also relaxes the mind.

Specifically for the mind, you could try meditation, visualisation techniques and NLP to name only a few. The aim is to induce a calmer level of thinking which invariably means that you will need to entertain positive thoughts. By doing so your mind will feel relaxed. Your body’s muscles will also start to relax.

Specifically for the body, you could try any one of a variety of massage therapies. Herbal massage is known to be particularly effective. There is also reflexology, a hot bath, gentle exercises, yoga and so the list goes on.

The key is to find a way that works for you and then to stick to it so that you have a way of mentally and physically relaxing built into your daily routine.

Perhaps the last thing to mention is to try and avoid the things, places or whatever it is that really makes you stressed. Then it’s easier to remain relaxed.

How to Eliminate the Fears that Drain Your Power

Posted on by
1

It is no small thing to eliminate the fears that drain your power. However, as there are people who have managed to rid themselves of these fears, it proves that it is indeed possible. Fear is such a disabling emotion. Fear stops you from doing all the good and great things that you are capable of.

Although there are several types of fear some of the principle ones are fear of success, fear of failure, fear of people, fear of change and then there are phobias of so many kinds. In fact the list is a as long as there are people in this world. In most cases fear is a vague ungrounded emotion that disables you without you specifically knowing why. This is why a process of understanding your self and the fears you are holding onto is a great starting place

As there are so many fears that any one person can have it is probably a lot easier to work with some simple but effective solutions to eliminate the fears that drain your power. It may take time to remove all your fears but fortunately a great deal of fear can be dissolved or let go of very quickly. Where to begin?

Feel the fear and do it anyway. There was a book written on this subject. Essentially if you go ahead with your thought or idea despite any fear you may be experiencing then just by the simple fact of taking action a great deal of the strength of fear will be reduced and you will probably discover that the fears were ungrounded. Taking action dislodges even deep rooted fears so that you can start to experience that life is possible without having fear. Taking action gets a momentum going within the self that can take you to a state of awareness that you may never have thought existed. It really is that powerful.

What do you think is the opposite of fear? Its love, isn’t it? So, another excellent way to eliminate fear is to give time to love the self. Love what you do and love who you are. Take time to have good and happy thoughts about your self and the work that you do. It’s a bit like self appreciation. By doing this you are bringing the focus of your value system home. This means that you are able to love being as you are and who you are so that the dependency on external results or others opinions have less and less effect on you.

As a lot of the fears that drain your power are keeping you company due to the fact that there is uncertainty. The unknown is a very good home to fear. By planning things out whether it is a life plan, a business plan, a project plan or any other plan, you are removing some of the element of uncertainty. You won’t remove all of it but enough to get started and displace the fears that may be stopping you.

By taking consistent action and appreciating yourself and the efforts that you are making to eliminate the fears that drain your power, you will start to discover what life is like with little or even no fear. You will feel much lighter and be a lot more productive and proactive.

Stress Management

Posted on by
Reply

Although the word ‘stress’ was originally used by metallurgists to describe the forces on metal structures and how well they coped, it is now universally accepted as a description of the human condition also known as anxiety, worry, tension, fear, etc.

Almost everyone has, does or will experience stress. In 1984, Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman came up with a simple definition for stress, as simply an “imbalance between demands and resources”. From this definition, anger management was born as a way of limiting and in turn controlling and reducing stress.

There are many stress management courses available and almost all of them rely on a system to empower the individual, that is make the person first understand that they have a choice about whether to be affected by stress or not and also to equip the person with methods to control the emotion.

There are two main ways to manage stress. One is to recognise the factors that make you feel stress and do what you can to reduce them. The other is to develop inner strength and resilience to those stress factors.

In the first, you will need to observe your life and lifestyle and take note of the situations, people, activities, time, etc when you experience the symptoms of stress. Once you have your list, you need to start actively controlling and reducing those influences. For example, for a lot of people, the pressure of time is a great cause of stress and one of the main reasons for that is because of poor or non existent time management. By simply planning your time and giving enough time for whatever tasks you need to accomplish, will drastically reduce that particular cause of stress. You can do the same with the other external factors.

The other aspect is self development. With this, you’ll need to decide which method to adopt. People go on Stress Management Courses, practice yoga and learn meditation, plus there are many other practical ways to develop inner resilience and strength. All of these enable you to recognise your feelings of stress and replace them with more harmonious and relaxed feelings.

Stress management is a long term project which to a great extent is on-going as you will learn to reduce the even slight effects of stress. The biggest step is to start to do something about it.

Respect Your Decisions

Posted on by
Reply

To respect your decisions is a simple, powerful yet very under used quality of a person. It is a very rare person who fully respects all his or her decisions. In fact the majority of people make decisions ‘on the fly’ without really considering whether those decisions are really needed, whether they are correct or even if they are possible to accomplish. Imagine for a moment how you would feel and how you would live if you were able to respect your decisions. How focused would your mind be if you consciously weighed up the merits of something before making a decision? You would be determined, uncluttered in the mind, more creative, more satisfied, happier and so the list goes on. All this can be experienced simply by giving a few seconds or minutes to each decision.

Although a whole list of methods or techniques could be written about how to respect your decisions and carrying them out, the simplest way to start is by deciding to decide and deciding to respect the decisions made! Yes, it’s as simple as that. Everyday almost the entire population of the world make several decisions. Some are insignificant like what you’ll have for breafast and others are life changing like: shall I change career?; shall I get married? Once you have made your decision it is very empowering to go full ahead to conclude it unless of course there are some very valid reasons that subsequently come to your attention that mean a reconsideration is necessary.

Before making a decision it is a good idea to notice your inner feelings about what you are considering. Do you feel at ease about what you are thinking to do? Is it in line with your principles and values of life? If you decide to do something that is not in accordance with your inner state then you will almost certainly find that it is very diffiicult to complete the task that you’ve decided to do. In fact you may not even start it! This procrastination then breeds self resentment and a general state of inertia. You keep looking at what you have decided to do but the reality is that you don’t really want to do it! By making sure that the decision aligns with your values first then there should be nothing to hold you back.

Respecting your decisions is a question of self respect. If you rarely do what you say then neither will other people have trust in you nor will you trust yourself. You can get to a rather strange state where you are making decisions about your work or family, etc but even while making those decisions you know you are not going to do it. You could call these half hearted decisions. These very quickly drain you of energy and make you inefficient and even lazy. At this point nearly everything seems like hard work.

To respect your decisions is a great quality to have. By giving importance to your time and energy you will be able to make effective and more accurate decisions. You will be known as someone who does what they say they will do. You will be highly respected. You will have a powerful and clear mind. You’ll have one of the greatest attributes needed for success.

What If…

Posted on by
Reply

Firstly an appology for being absent from this blog for some time. I’ll be adding some high quality content from here on in though, so please keep checking in here regularly and comment if you feel inspired to.

I participated in a positive thinking type ‘game’ recently. All we needed to do was to think ‘ what if’ I had a certain quality or strength that I feel is lacking in me at present. What would it feel like? So, I selected ‘to be more organised’ as I know that is one of my failings.

Next was to choose just one thing that we would definitely do before the end of the day that would help in developing that quality. I selected to plan my week ahead, which I actually did. It definitely helped.

The idea, you may observe, is connected with the law of attraction in that by creating a self image of how you want to be you will attract that state to your self.

You do, however, need to follow up any visualisation or imagination with focused action. Creating the state of mind is the basis upon which to perform actions. It is not the end in itself.

Try it for your self and see how you do.

Mark

Last bit about will power and self discipline

Posted on by
Reply

In order to develop will power and self discipline you will need to appreciate the huge benefit of attaining these strengths so that you are willing to do what is required to get them.

Both these powers grow by resisting the temptations that you would normally give in to and instead taking charge of your mind and determining a positive response. If you have too much liking for unhealthy food or drink then choose to eat and drink healthy alternatives.

If you have a habit of sitting around or wasting time then choose to be proactive and get on with some of those things you have been putting off for some time

That’s me done for this Blogathon. I hope you enjoyed my posts. Go to the following url to get quality information on self development plus a great free book: Before the Secret

http://improvefast.net/before-the-secret

Now I’m off

Best wishes to you all

Positive Thinking: Will Power and Self-Discipline

Posted on by
Reply

Will power and self discipline are essential strengths that everyone needs in order to live a happy, fulfilling and successful life. Will power and self discipline are like twins; they are inseparable.

Whatever you want to attain in life you will definitely need will power at some point in time. Will power is like the strength of your soul. It’s a powerful force that enables you to do things you previously thought were impossible. It is will power and self discipline that enable you to break bad habits and create and sustain good ones.

Will power is the force of your consciousness that will dominate your weaknesses and eventually eliminate them. It is a force that overcomes laziness and procrastination. Will power gives you a vision of achievement in all that you do.

Keeping the Mind Focused

Posted on by
Reply

Because the mind works so fast it also has a tendency to disappear into unwanted areas. You can call this wasteful, negative and useless thinking. By allowing your mind to get lost into any of these three will result in a great loss of time, energy and enthusiasm.

Just as if you were driving a very powerful and responsive sports car, you would have to be very alert and attentive about what you did with the controls or you might end up in the ditch, so too the mind needs to be shown the same attention or it will end up in the ditch of negative thinking.

Just as with the example of the sports car it will take a lot to get it out of the ditch so it will take considerable attention to get the mind back on track.

By maintaining a simple discipline of checking from time to time to see what thoughts you are having and if they are supportive or detrimental to your purpose, you will, in time, be able to keep your mind focused and empowered.

Positive Thinking and the power of your mind

Posted on by
Reply

Before you start any activity, project or work, decide what you want to achieve and by when. The reason is that the power of your mind works most effectively when you give congruent, focused and clear information to it.

If there is any vagueness or uncertainty in your thoughts or ideas the mind will not be in a position to cooperate completely with you. The power of your mind will be chocked, unable to work effectively.

Contemplation and Positive Thinking

Posted on by
Reply

As the mind is your thinking machine, like any machine it needs rest time. By this I don’t mean sleep but quiet contemplation. You need to know what is going on in your mind and not only on the surface but deeper within.

By having time to your self you will be able to understand some of the driving forces in your mind. This in turn may well yield some interesting insights as to why you do what you do and in the way that you do it and also why you entertain certain desires and wishes. The quieter you can become in your mind, the more powerful and focused you will feel.

For thew next half hour that is exactly what I’m going to do.

Positive Thinking and Visualisation

Posted on by
Reply

Visualisation is getting a lot of press lately, especially due to ‘The Secret‘, the dvd and book that has been circulating the globe.

But, visualisation has been used for eons. It is an effective method for bringing into your present experience what would normally be in the future.

People use visualisation to get the things they want, the life style they want, but you can also use it to be what you want. Personally I believe that life stems from being so that is the most productive focus of energy and time.

Positive Thinking is Natural

Posted on by
Reply

Although there are a variety of Positive Thinking Courses, I like to see positive thinking as more a way of life. Not something to employ but a state to be in.

As darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of good, ignorance is the absence of knowledge, so negative is simply the absence of being positive.

My best moments and even long periods of time have been when I am maintaining the awareness that positive IS my natural nature and anything other than positive is unnatural and therefore will bring difficulty.

This may be a bit philosophical, but it’s 3.00am and I enjoy deep thinking in the morning

There’s a resource that I’ve got a lot from. You’re welcome to it free: http://improvefast.net/before-the-secret/

How to stay positive

Posted on by
Reply

Positive thinking stems from a happy, peaceful and loving state of mind; it’s not very easy to be positive when you feel miserable.

A great challenge is to remain positive in the face of life’s diifficulties. The method that I find most effective is to keep an eye on my thoughts and emotions so thnat whenever I notice some wrong thoughts or feelings I can switch my thoughts to something of happiness. It may be a success, a sweet relationship I have, a wonderful experience or simply create positive thoughts from my imagination. For me it works.

You need to find what method works for you, but often, as we all need newness in our lives, a different method will work at different times.

Respect

Mark

Here we go: Positive Thinking

Posted on by
Reply

It’s now 1.50 in the UK and I got up. See, the power of positive thinking works.

There is a lot to positive thinking than is obvious and in my posts I want to explore that as much as I can.

Thought is the most powerful thing in existence, as it is through our thoughts that we have shaped the world of today. Time and space have been conquered through the thoughts of science. So, we should really be able to conquer any limiting circumstances that exist in our lives. I believe that if there is something missing or wrong in our life then we can do something about it through the power of thought; particularly positive thought.

How’s that for my first post on waking up? Now I’m off to get some tea and make the next one more meaningful.

Mark

I forgot

Posted on by
Reply

Back again breifly. I wanted to offer all visitors a brilliant document called ‘Before the Secret’. I’ll talk more about it later. Here is the <!–autoresponder–> opt in, I hope.

Try again

4 Hour Blogathon about to start

Posted on by
Reply

I am joining Dr Mani and others in a 4 hour blogathon in order to raise $50,000 for children with heart disorders. My part is to blog for four hours to help in its promotion.

My topic is one close to my heart and that is Positive Thinking. I understand that Dr Mani is doing hid theme on Happiness, so we are on the same mind set.

I’m set to start at 2.00am UK time. I live in the UK and that is the only time I will get to fullfill my 4 hours. Yes, I will need positive thinking to get up at 2.00am as it is now nearly 11.00pm.

OK I’m off to sleep and will start at 2.00

Later

mark

How you can stay motivated to achieve anything

Posted on by
Reply

How you can stay motivated to achieve anything is one of the prime secrets of success. If you are able remain motivated in whatever tasks or projects that you undertake then success will become your shadow…it will follow closely behind whatever you do. If you observe the characteristics of virtually all successful people then you will notice that they have this one thing in common: they are able to remain motivated despite serious set backs and difficulties.

In order to stay motivated to achieve anything you want there are two main aspects that need your attention. One is to keep in mind what motivates you and the other is to protect your self from the things that de-motivate you. As the story goes, there is little point in rowing a boat like mad if you have not removed the rope anchoring that boat to the shore. You’re simply not going to get anywhere!

The chief causes for lack of motivation are: impotent goals (you don’t fully believe in the value of what you are doing), too many projects going on at the same time so that you feel overwhelmed by them all and lack of a disciplined approach. This is by no means the full list but these are very powerful causes for keeping you stuck, so it is essential to deal with these.

To stay motivated to achieve anything you need to keep the purpose which motivated you in the first place uppermost in your mind. Whatever you’re aiming to achieve, by keeping that in your vision it will continually be inspiring you to keep going. If it does not then double check your reasons for starting the project in the first place!

Create a strategy based on your purpose so that you have a whole ‘game plan’ set out. This provides clarity and thus eliminates vagueness which is an enemy of motivation. The next special ingredient is an action plan that will need to be broken down into manageable chunks. In a practical sense this means to have a yearly plan, monthly plan ,weekly plan and finally a daily plan which is usually referred to as a ’to do list’. By creating a plan of action you will immediately know what you have to do and by when. This will save you a huge amount of time. Wasting time is a powerful de-motivator but effective use of time keeps you energized and therefore you can stay motivated to achieve anything.

7 Steps To Success In 30 Days

Posted on by
1

In order to gain success in 30 Days you will find that the
seven points listed here will keep you focused and on target
so whatever you want to achieve you can do it.

1. Decide what you want
Before you can get anywhere you have to know at least two
things. They are where are you right now and where do you
want to go? This is true if you’re travelling by car or bus
somewhere and it is also true if you want to make an inner
journey to success.
2. How badly do you want it?
Once you’ve decided where you want to get to, you really
need to know in your self, how much, how deeply, how
passionately do you want that? Life without passion and
purpose will be forever mediocre so be sure your goal is one
that you have passion for; one you really want and need to
acheive.
3. The right method
We’re starting to get some where. But You need the correct
method to get there. As with most things there’s the wrong
way to do it and there’s the right way to do it. Also there
is usually the slow way and the fast way. What we want is
the right way and the fast way.
4. Rest and check
As with a journey rest breaks are scheduled in. In the same
way when you want to initiate personal change you need to
rest from time to time and also check to make sure that
you’re still on track. It’s very easy to get distracted,
especially if you are doing something new.
5. Determination
Few people, unless very lucky, have attained anything
without having determination. Determination is the
ingredient that provides the fuel to keep change happening;
it keeps you going even though you may feel like stopping.
6. Trust the outcome
Sometimes doubt in the self can come, especially when you
are starting something you have never attempted before. That
is why it’s a great quality to trust that you will succeed.
Don’t allow doubt to settle in your mind as when it does it
will poison all your great intentions. Think: ‘I will
succeed’, ‘Iwill succeed’.
7. A reasonable plan
Planning makes life incredibly free and liberating. The
reason is simply because when you have a plan of action you
don’t need to think about what yopu are supposed to do and
when. You know exactly what you’re to do. This saves
enormous amounts of time and useless thinking.
Although the tips shared here are actually very simple; you
probably already know them. However, they are the tried and
tested tips for bringing about change. In the immortal words
of the Jedi Knight from Star Wars: ‘Do or do not, never try’
I am known as MarkF and have studied and applied techniques
for success and achievement for over 15 years. A highly
popular and effective product for fast tracking anyone to
success is affirmation ware. It simply sits on your pc
desktop and provides subliminal affirmations of your
choosing to enable you to get what you want: affirmware

Hypnosis – What Is It And How Can It Help You?

Posted on by
1

What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis has a long history dating back at least to the 18th Century, although its use has been known about for thousands of years. Hypnosis is a process that involves both a hypnotist and a subject who has agreed to be hypnotized. Hypnosis is a process in which the critical thinking faculties of the mind are bypassed and a kind of selective thinking and perception is established. Hypnosis can be applied to a large range of both psychological and physical ailments, not being restricted to purely psychological phenomena.

Provided it is conducted under the care of trained therapist hypnosis can be considered safe as a complementary and alternative medicine treatment.  The simplest way to describe how hypnosis works is to say it avoids the critical censor of the conscious mind, which often defeats what we know to be in our best interests.  It’s not something imposed on people, but rather something that they do for themselves.  Hypnosis has less to do with the hypnotist’s technique but more to do with the individual’s capacity or talent for experiencing hypnosis.

What Can Hypnosis Treat?

Hypnosis can be used for treating most conditions including migraine, asthma, enuresis, obesity, hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders, and anxiety and smoking cessation.  It can be used both independently as well as along side other treatments.  Hypnosis is most effective when two important factors are present: The patient is highly motivated to overcome their problem and when the hypnotist is well trained in both hypnosis as well as general considerations that relate to the treatment of the particular problem.

Cautions With Hypnosis

As with all treatments if you are considering hypnosis as a treatment for a problem it would be wise if you were to first obtain a referral from your health care professional. One very appropriate use of hypnosis is in the treatment of cancer when it is used as a complement to standard medical treatments, like chemotherapy, with the aim of enhancing the patient’s quality of life while they are going through the treatment progress.  As a caution, before embarking upon such a treatment, it is important that a neurological examination is undertaken to be sure that the pain is not the result of an undiagnosed, organic origin.

Summary

Hypnosis has been known to provide the power to quit smoking, boost confidence, gain motivation, experience easy weight loss and overcome fears. In many ways hypnosis is seen as the easy, safe and effective way to deal with life’s challenges. It can help create an increased sense of happiness, decrease stress and distress.  Hypnosis can even be substituted for light anesthesia during surgery, induce a profound state of relaxation and as a pain-reduction technique. There are many other things hypnosis can be used for but the ones mentioned in this article are just some of the more common ones.

Recommendation

For a fast track way for self hypnosis there is a simple subliminal messaging software that you can pre-programme with your own affirmations. It sits on your pc desktop and will work while you are doing other things on your pc

If you’re interested you can find it here: affirmation ware

How to improve yourself fast

Posted on by
Reply

For as long as there’s been recorded history human kind have been on a quest for self improvement. Whether the improvement sought is mental, physical, financial, and spiritual or otherwise, improvement we have sought. In order to get what we want and to get it in the shortest time frame possible we have looked for or developed methods, techniques or new understanding to facilitate that.

With this in mind I have started this blog to detail my own journey and also to offer suggestions and ideas that you my readers may find useful. These will be particularly the things that I have discovered to be effective at getting fast results and that too with the simplest and quickest learning curves.

As the name suggests http://www.improvefast.net is dedicated to providing insights, techniques and ideas to enable fast improvement. Although particularly dedicated to self improvement, that is mind power, positive thinking and other similar areas I might venture into other associated areas of self improvement if the need arises.

One of the biggest obstacles that most people suffer from is just getting started on the road to self improvement. But once you start and get a momentum going it gets easier and easier. In that line of thought I took action and got this blog up and running.

Peace

Mark