I act mindfully.

I act mindfully.

I act mindfully.

I engage fully in each moment. I look for ways to be more mindful in my daily life.

I meditate and pray. I strengthen my concentration skills. I notice the goods things in life and remember that my life is precious. I take responsibility for my actions.

I check in with my body and mind. I scan my back and shoulders for signs of tension. I relax my muscles and correct my posture. I let go of resentments and disappointments.

I acknowledge my thoughts without making judgements. I notice my mental chatter without clinging or rejection. I accept things as they are. I replace judgments with curiosity and love. I regard myself and others with compassion.

I connect with what is going on around me. I listen to my senses. I sharpen my awareness.

I give each activity my full attention. As I wash dishes, I notice how the soapy water warms and softens my hands. As I eat dinner, I savor each mouthful of food and drink. I delight in the flavors and textures.

I reflect on my purpose. I explore the meaning behind my choices. I align my actions with my values. I invest my energy in the things I care about.

Today, I am open and accepting. I feel vital and alive. I focus my attention on what I am experiencing right now. As my mind expands, my peacefulness and clarity grows.

Self-Reflection Questions:

  1. What does it mean to cultivate the seeds of mindfulness?
  2. What do I miss when I forget to be mindful?
  3. How does practicing mindfulness make me more resilient?

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How to Fight Negative Thoughts and Feelings

Find Your Own Voice and Allow Your Individuality to Shine

Find Your Own Voice and Allow Your Individuality to Shine

It’s not easy to stand out and reveal yourself to the world. We learn early in life that it’s often easier to blend in. Standing out in a school setting often results in bullying and teasing. It gets easier in adulthood, but those early lessons can be hard to shake.

However, the world needs your individuality. And you need to be yourself. Life is never completely satisfying while you’re pretending to be less than you really are.

Let the world see exactly who you are:

  • 1. Understand that everyone is trying to fit in. We all have an innate desire to fit in with the crowd. It’s not comfortable to stand out, but that’s where you’ll find the most success and satisfaction.

Most of the famous people you can name were able to overcome the need to be anonymous. They were willing to put their best and unique gifts out into the world.

  • 2. Know that people are respected for daring to be unique. Think about the people you know that are willing to be themselves regardless of the circumstances. Their level of comfort is attractive

Understand that people will be jealous of you if you can be comfortable being yourself. There’s a lot to be gained socially by presenting yourself honestly. Give it a try.

  • 3. Identify what’s unique about you. What can you do better than most people? What are your natural gifts and talents? What is unique about you? What can you bring to the world that’s in short supply? What is your greatest value to the world? How are you different from others?
  • 4. Find ways to show yourself to the world that aren’t too uncomfortable. Suppose your talent is painting, but you fear showing anyone your work. You might choose to post your artwork anonymously online. Or you might try to sell your art in a gallery that’s out of town.

What can you do to begin exposing yourself to the world slowly and comfortably? Maybe you can start with your friends.

Give your opinions freely. One way to show your individuality is to just share your opinions when appropriate.

  • 5. Focus on the positive. When you receive some results from taking that first step, focus on the positive. Allow yourself to enjoy the compliments. Notice how any criticism doesn’t really mean a thing. The better you can make yourself feel, the more comfortable you’ll be taking a bigger step.
  • 6. Find like-minded people. There are people out there trying to do the same thing you are. Keeping with the artist theme, you could find other artists to spend time with. You can support each other. You can learn from each other. You’ll feel braver if you’re part of a community.
  • 7. Continue to grow. Always be pushing forward. You don’t have to go fast to end up someplace great. You simply need to keep moving.

The key to massive success is to keep yourself just slightly uncomfortable and get used to that feeling.

The world needs your best, so be willing to put it out there in a bigger and better way

We admire those that are willing to be themselves. In a sea of seemingly average people, those brave enough to present themselves honestly to the world are valued and respected. You can be one of those people. Take a deep breath and reveal your true self. Share your talents and your weirdness. The world needs you.

What’s your level of emotional intelligence?

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How to Fight Negative Thoughts and Feelings

I live consciously.

I live consciously.

I live consciously.

I make deliberate choices about my feelings, thoughts, and actions.

I slow down. I focus on one task at a time. I schedule adequate time for errands and chores. When I feel pressured, I remember my priorities and limit nonessential obligations.

I meditate regularly. I sit down and calm my thoughts. I breathe deeply. I breathe in energy and breathe out tension.

I take breaks. I pause between phone calls and meetings to refresh my senses and charge myself up for the next project.

I savor my food. I delight in the textures, colors, and tastes of fresh fruits and vegetables. I quench my thirst with pure water and fragrant teas. I indulge in occasional treats without any guilt because I know that I eat sensibly most of the time.

I focus on the purpose behind my work. I think about how I am contributing to society or helping others to fulfill their needs. I feel gratified and connected.

I enjoy my leisure time. I hang out with family and friends. I work on my hobby.

I listen closely. I give others my full attention. I care about what they have to say. I want them to know that they are important to me. I can learn from the experiences of others. I can validate their feelings and help them with their struggles.

Today, I enjoy the present moment. I move through my day consciously and deliberately with a smile on my face and peace in my heart.

Self-Reflection Questions:

  1. What is the relationship between simplicity and mindfulness?
  2. How can I develop a consistent meditation practice?
  3. How would my life change if I developed greater mindfulness?

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How to Fight Negative Thoughts and Feelings

The Wise Young Owl Fable: A story about the importance of being vigilant.

The Wise Young Owl Fable: A story about the importance of being vigilant.

As a kid, Oscar the owl spent much of his time hanging out with older owls observing how they did things.

He gained a lot of wisdom that way. One day, his vigilance came in handy when he needed to take quick action to save his family…

“You’re so boring, Oscar!” his best friend Lester commented one day. “Why don’t you come and fly around with us?”

But Oscar never took his friends’ criticisms to heart. He knew that pretty soon, he’d be old enough to have to rely on the wisdom he’d been gaining from the old folks. His favorite lesson was how to keep watch at night for predators.

While everyone was relaxing at home one night, he went to meet the senior owls who were on nightwatch. “I want to learn as much from you guys as I can,” said Oscar. “Pretty soon, I’ll be the one in charge of protecting my family.”

He had a good night of observation training with the senior owls and was on his way home when he noticed that something wasn’t right. He put his lessons in vigilance to use and identified a cat lurking in the shadows of his family’s home.

Without a second thought, Oscar released a loud alarm call that got the attention of the senior owls on duty.

“Sounds like the alarm is coming from near Oscar’s home,” announced one of the owls. And with that, they rushed to the location and scared the cat away.

“That was quick thinking, Oscar,” remarked one of the senior owls. “You bravely put your training to good use and protected your family from danger.”

Oscar felt proud that his lessons in vigilance paid off.

Moral: When wisdom guides your actions, it is easy to sense when danger is near.

Personal Reflection:

There was a lot that Oscar liked about being a kid. But something told him that there was value in gaining wisdom from senior owls in the community. He believed that sooner or later, he would have to call on the lessons learned.

As he sensed, a potentially dangerous situation arose involving his family, and he used what he learned to keep them out of harm’s way.

Like Oscar, it isn’t always easy to tell when quick thinking is required. Sure it’s nice to have carefree days, but preparation for the unexpected is also important.

Wisdom comes from various sources that you encounter each day. From parents’ advice to experiences you have on the train, there are always lessons from which to develop your own wisdom.

One wise piece of advice is to remain vigilant at all times, even when you feel comfortable in your environment.

When things are going smoothly, it’s easy to let down your guard and openly trust what’s around you. But sometimes danger lurks where you least expect it. Keeping in touch with your instincts is the way to identify when something isn’t right.

Just like in the fable, the lessons you learn come in handy when you need them!

Just as you dedicate some of your time to enjoying your life, reserve some time for lessons in wisdom also. They’re there to guide you through those times when your instinct is needed to overcome a worrying challenge.

Self-Reflection Questions:

  1. What are my primary sources of wisdom?
  2. What are some of the lessons I learn from spending time with older people?
  3. Am I to discern when someone means me harm? How?

What’s your level of emotional intelligence?

Find out if your emotional intelligence is helping or hindering your growth! .

I am a Board Certified Life Coach, a Board Certified Health Coach, and a teacher of Mindfulness Living who helps people unlock their potential and live life on Purpose

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How to Fight Negative Thoughts and Feelings

What is the Secret to Living a Meaningful and Impactful Life?

What is the Secret to Living a Meaningful and Impactful Life?

From time to time, several of us find ourselves in a motivational slump that we have to work hard to get out of. Sometimes, it feels like a continuous cycle where we are motivated for a period of time, suddenly fall out of motivation, and then have to build things back up again.

More often than not, experience tells us that this drop in motivation is caused by an over-extension of oneself, an in inability to say no, and a lack of consistent effort over a long period of time. We would rather focus on instant gratification, rather than long term success.

The truth to the ever-present problem of finding ways to stay inspired is never as simple as it seems. It’s as though there is always a pulsation of opposite forces pulling us away from periods of intense focus on self-improvement and pushing us in the opposite direction of living life on the outpoint, stuck in a rut and running on empty.

And for whatever reason, this always seems to be the case when your life has gotten out of control. Maybe you’re working long hours and have lost your sense of self. Perhaps you focus on everyone else and never take time to be alone. Whatever the case may be, setting aside time to focus on your own goals and dreams is a worthwhile endeavor that should be practiced on a frequent basis.

Becoming a better version of yourself is the main goal of self-improvement—to improve in your job, your business, your relationships. Whatever area of your life you’re working on, that’s part of growing as a person. You have to constantly look at what you can improve and have the awareness to know what needs to be done to do it.

A large part of learning to live a meaningful and impactful life is putting in the time each and every day to focus on your own self and your own personal needs. It begins with sitting down and taking the time to look at yourself in the mirror and ask these 10 simple, but very powerful questions:

  1. Is this the best that I can do right now based on my current life circumstance?
  2. What do I need to let go of from the past to learn to live in the present, and am I planning for the future without attachment or expectations?
  3. What areas of my life can I make improvements in, and what do I need to do to implement the necessary changes and take the required steps to advance my life?
  4. Am I taking care of myself first, and then taking care of my immediate families’ needs second, before all other obligations including work, social, extended family, and community responsibilities?
  5. How can I make the world around me better?
  6. What can I remove from my life that is no longer serving me positively?
  7. Is this worth my time, energy, and effort, and do I need to say no more often?
  8. What clutter can I remove?
  9. Who or What is stealing my time and how can I make changes going forward to prevent theft from my life?
  10. Am I living my ideal life, and if not, what do I need to do to move forward and achieve my goals and live my dream life with purpose?

Self-improvement is the improvement of one’s knowledge, status, or character by one’s own efforts. It’s the quest to make ourselves better in any and every facet of life.

Have you ever seen or heard the term, “the struggle is real?”? Life distracts you. It interrupts you. Your energy wanes, especially on mornings after late nights. Any number of things get in the way of the work you need to do.

People fail often from want of perseverance, rather than from want of talent. Effort is everything. Everything worth doing in life is an effort and it’s that effort that brings the later rewards of accomplishment. Continuous self-development should be focused on areas of your life that you want to improve.

Unless we persistently seek our goal, we can hope for no reward. When we become exhausted, disheartened, and give over our efforts; if we are appalled by obstacles and faint on account of the embarrassments thrown in our way; if we pine for ease and withdraw, it shows that we have no true attachment to the cause. The path of duty is often found to be the path of difficulty and discouragement.

Efforts are often misunderstood and ill-requited; plans are ridiculed, motives misrepresented, hopes of success treated as visionary and absurd, and yet, still the conscientious, right-minded people of determination proceed as they act from principle, not impulse. Our great want is confessedly claiming power as impulse and that spasms are common. Make indomitable perseverance your bosom friend in your pursuit; it always ensures ultimate success.

The most effective way of finding out how to get better is to ask the people around you to make a list of what you’re best at and where you could make improvements.

Take the list of improvements and work on them one by one.

  1. Start Your Day with a Fresh & Lively Morning: Every day begins with a morning, and if your morning is lazy and lifeless, you can’t expect to spend the rest of the day full of energy. Therefore, you must try to wake up in the morning as early as possible and have a breakfast full of nutrition. This will help you stay fully energetic throughout the day and, if you could include some exercises in your regular morning life, this would be even more beneficial. If you live alone, you need to depend upon yourself, but if you are living with other family members, you can also advise them to be part of a healthy, happy, and fresh morning.
  2. Accepting the Bitter Truth of Life That You Can’t Change: You may have experienced some situations in your life which are difficult to forget and let go of. However, if you accept them as they are, you will be able to overcome them and move forward in your life rather than being a victim of nightmares. Accepting things will allow you to find the solution, or else you will never be able to get rid of them.
  3. Expect to accomplish or achieve: While many believe that most of the individuals who are winning in this world are really smarter than they are. But it is not a fact. The real trick here is to anticipate winning earlier than it has still happened. This method does not stress sufficiently how essential this is, because your mindset includes a powerful effect on not or whether you will reach your self-improvement goals and dreams. Note that, it never says you require self-improvement skills to achieve, because the truth of the matter is possessing a determined and bold hope goes more than really having the effective knowledge or skills. It will really come with persistence and conviction.
  4. Write specific goals and actions plan: The simple effort of putting your pen to a piece of paper includes a theatrical effect on easily clarifying your aid and career goals with the expectation you noticed above. The habit or activity of writing goals is really mandatory when you wish to achieve your self-improvement goals very soon. Dreaming is an excellent thing and doing is another important thing. Every written objective should direct you to the distinctive long-term objective and wonderful life. This striking and remarkable idea helps you to develop your skills and personality in an outstanding manner. Along with this, it also plays a vital in the self-improvement skills process, so you can follow it without any hesitation.
  5. Quit your bad habits: It is really essential to find out your bad habits before leaving it. Are there some bad habits or activities you can drop? Not exercising? Slouching? Smoking? Nail biting? Oversleeping? Here are several guidelines regarding how to quit your bad habits. Stopping your bad habit is an essential process because it helps you in self-improvement tips. Every habit change really gives you a new possibility. You can remember the healthy benefits you achieve when you leave smoking. When you completely stop your smoking habit, you will amazingly raise your individual pocket money. The striking benefit surely motivates you to begin saving. Your habit change not only brings you some benefits but also helps you to improve your personality. In order to obtain the essential advantage, you can try to find out all your bad habits and stop it immediately. This extraordinary effort helps you to reach your personality development goal very soon.
  6. Take responsibility for what happens in your life: Blaming others is giving your power to them. You become the effect of other people’s actions and behavior unable to change things. When you are the cause, you can control the outcome. Is it not? Your success in life lies in your ability to adapt and adjust to whatever life throws at you. Taking responsibility for what happens in your life gives you options and insight into how is best for you to move ahead.
  7. Don’t fear your failure and take an essential break to have more fun: Failure is a stepping stone to success” is a well-known quote. Instead, redefine your failure as a feedback & as an accepted portion of your successful life. Some people fail once, they lose their motivation. Instead, you should observe your mistakes properly and try to conquer it in your next attempt, because repeated efforts allow you to achieve success within the short time duration. Your life is an excellent and longtime journey, so you

What’s your level of emotional intelligence?

Find out if your emotional intelligence is helping or hindering your growth! .

I am a Board Certified Life Coach, a Board Certified Health Coach, and a teacher of Mindfulness Living who helps people unlock their potential and live life on Purpose

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How to Fight Negative Thoughts and Feelings

7 Ways to Create Momentum in Your Life

7 Ways to Create Momentum in Your Life

Momentum makes it easier to create change. It’s much harder to find the first client than to find the 10th. If you have to lose 50 pounds, the second 10 are easier to lose than the first 10. It’s just hard to get started when you’re trying to change something in your life. It’s easier to keep a boulder rolling than it is to get it started.

 

Try these ideas to start your momentum:

  1. Do something worthwhile as early in the day as possible. Whatever your big goal in life happens to be, do something about it first thing each day. It’s a great way to show yourself that you’re serious about being successful. It’s also a way to build a lot of momentum that can carry you through the day .
    • For example, if you need to drop a few pounds, get out of the door ASAP in the morning and go for a quick walk.
    • If you want to write a novel, write one page before you even take a shower.
    • Are you interested in speaking Italian? Learn three new vocabulary words before you have your morning coffee.
    • A small accomplishment early in the day can motivate you to do even more later in the day. A bad morning usually drains your motivation, so ensure you have a great morning.
  2. Make your bed each day. It might seem like a trivial act, but it can make a big difference. You’ve barely woken up and you’ve already accomplished something. You’ll also appreciate it when you go to bed. Try it for a week and notice how much better you feel about yourself.
  3. Find a mentor that’s doing better than you are. Even the most successful people can use a good mentor. If you need to lose weight, find someone that’s lost 100+ lbs. If you want to make 6-figures, find a mentor that’s making seven. A good mentor will push you to be more than you’re currently demonstrating.
  4. Be consistent. It’s impossible to gain momentum without consistency. Each time you stop, it’s necessary to get started again. That’s the opposite of momentum. Get started and keep going. Consistent action is the key.
  5. Perform a 30-day challenge. Pick a habit you’d like to create and force yourself to do it each day for the next month. This is a great way to build momentum. When the 30 days are up, you should be able to continue. You’ve already been doing it for a month after all. What’s another month or decade? Easy.
  6. Have a vision. A compelling vision for the future can be the motivation needed to get started and to continue until you experience success. Think about what you want to accomplish. Who do you want to become? What type of life do you want to live? Create an attractive vision of a future that fills you with excitement.
    • Few people have a long-term plan for their life. Even fewer have a plan that excites them. Be one of the few.
  7. Be action-oriented. Most of us do too much planning and spend too much time gathering more information. The people that accomplish the most are those that take action quickly, consistently, and aggressively. Focus on the actions you can take and actually take them. Momentum is the result.

 

With momentum, it’s easy to believe that you can accomplish anything. Without it, everything feels impossible. There’s no substitute for work ethic and perseverance, but there are plenty of things that can be done to create momentum. If you’re feeling stuck, work on creating momentum and then fight to keep it going.

What’s your level of emotional intelligence?

Find out if your emotional intelligence is helping or hindering your growth! .

I am a Board Certified Life Coach, a Board Certified Health Coach, and a teacher of Mindfulness Living who helps people unlock their potential and live life on Purpose

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How to Fight Negative Thoughts and Feelings