Seek Personal Development Guidance on the Internet

Finding Help From An Internet Personal Development Business

You have decided to make changes in your life, so where do you begin? The internet is an excellent resource for personal development.  Online you will discover a multitude of options.  There are life courses, life coaches and online tutoring.  There is free information on self improvement, and there is access to paid courses and e-books.

As the world grows more interested in taking control of their lives, wealth has become more than a word to describe financial success. Wealth now includes the life of overall “well being.”  We want to get the most joy from our lives that we can possibly get. Today's coomon person is gaining momentum in their quest for personal development at light speed as opposed to any other time in history.  The search for truth and awareness dominates our thoughts most days. No longer are we content to just exist.

If you have come to a crossroad in your life, then it is time to identify the problem areas that are holding you back. If you crave balance and harmony, then seek out internet personal development businesses and the website guru’s who make a difference. Steve Pavlina is an excellent online source for gaining valuable tools, information and insights. This site is the personal development hub. I have utilized it myself numerous times over the last couple of years.  On it, you will be able to access his articles and guest interviews. There are also pod casts on personal development topics as well as leads to other internet personal development businesses. If you don't find what you're looking for reading my articles, then this is the number one place online I can refer you too.

One of the hottest personal developments books to hit the markets in the last decade is “The Secret”. In the book, The Law of Attraction is introduced and somewhat vaguely explained. It is explained simply and leads readers to the belief that the Law of Attraction is simple to use to create what you want in your life. The book addresses thoughts, feelings, and actions working together as the creative forces you need to harness in this life to achieve effortless attraction. It goes on to discuss intention and visualization as tools to encourage positive emotions which lead to positive events unfolding in your life to match those emotions.  “The Secret” represents a new billion dollar Law of Attraction niche where many experts have appeared overnight to sell the unwitting their version of the Law of Attraction.  LOA knowledge is centuries old and is the newest personal development craze because it has just recently become popularized.  Just do your research before investing in any LOA products and verify for yourself that the product seems to be helping a great number of its users before just spending money, this lesson has been very hard for me to learn personally so if I can save anyone else the trouble then I am all for it. 

Also consider spiritual sources and guidance. Finding oneself can mean turning yourself completely over to a higher power.  Understanding what spiritually means to you, and how it operates within your life is a key element that helps a person maintain hope throughout the search for improvement in their life.  Faith is a very powerful emotion and having faith in something greater than oneself is good for the soul.  Speaking daily affirmations as a part of your daily routine can help to slowly improve subconscious beliefs as well as leave a person in conscious good spirits.  If you can fit a few in your routine I highly recommend some daily positive affirmations.  The topic can be spiritual in nature or just focus on overall improvements taking place in your life.

 

No matter what station you are at in life, challenges are sure to never stop coming.  They are presented daily to both build character as well as to keep us grounded.  Many people do not have the proper knowledge or proper armament to face struggles continually throughout their lives.  Everyone needs help at one time or another.  Start here on this very site, then journey over to Steve Pavlina.  There is promise in the message delivered by internet personal development sites, seek it out.  For most people, such sites can restore hope and offer inspiration. An investment in yourself is the number one focus of personal development and the only way you are going to improve your current situation in life.

Here are a couple of positive affirmations for you:

"Money comes to me by new methods every day."

"I am constantly full of happy energy."

"I love myself completely at all times."

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What is Your Personal Development Growth I.Q.?

Do You Know Your Personal Development Growth I.Q.?

Have you conducted a checklist or some other form of assessment that focused on you and where your life is going lately? Many goals are never reached due to a lack of self-assessments. It is frightening and overwhelming to sit down and have to face all by yourself. Yet, in order for personal development to happen, that is exactly what we must do.  Overcome the fear or the urge to procrastinate if that is something holding you back.  It is when we just jump into a project and get it done that we get things accomplished.  Personal Development work is easy to put off.  I know, I do it all the time.  But as you work your way through a few tasks and start learning more about yourself and how you can improve you will really feel great. 

Do You need a Life Coach to help you achieve your goals?

    
Get yourself a small notebook to be used for all thoughts concerning you. Inside these pages you will keep notes, to-do lists, inspirations and basically, everything about you. When you put yourself on paper consistently, it becomes a life management bible. Seeing who we are in written form is magic to personal growth. There is value contained here about your purpose in living. By privately writing down your daily to do’s, aspirations, and even your five year plan, you will start to form the outline of where your life is going and where your life has been. The notebook becomes your primary resource for your own personal development growth.  The more you review it and add to it, the more self aware you will become of your behaviors, habits and limiting beliefs.  It is a constant reminder of your goals and dreams.  You want these to be constantly put in your face in order to encourage self-actualization. No matter how terrifying it may sound to write all these things down, remember, it permits constant opportunity to change your life on the very next page.

Discovering your personal development growth I.Q. involves redrafting the pages you’ve written about yourself into new pages that focus on the you that you aspire to become.  Writing these pages is a foundation to helping you change your life and circumstances.  It gives you a psuedo road map to follow.  It is only through doing a consistent assessment of your life that you will be aware of things that can be improved, and then develop methods by which to do so.  Questions about who you are and where you are going will be consistently recurring during the writing of these pages.  You will take more ownership of your life and your circumstances when you have this all down on paper.  It is easier to take personal responsibility for what happens to you if you acknowledge it with pen and ink and are then able take the whole thing in. When you record the things that happen to you and your daily discoveries, these lessons become accessible over and over again.  You will also be able to build off of the fact that you have that information now collected.  You will also now have information to evaluate in order to formulate your plans. 

You cannot grow if you do not know. So much happens to us in the course of a day, yet sadly it is common for not one of those things to involve planned, predetermined growth. It will help usher countless improvements into your life if you take a half a hour each day and devote it to learning about yourself. 

Once you have a collection of daily records and other self learning's, you will possess a veritable study guide for your life.  During the writing it is necessary to critique yourself honestly. Applaud the little successes you come across when you review your journal because it is assured that had you not written them down as they occurred, you would have forgotten them entirely. Life is a continual process of renewal and opportunity. To measure your personal development growth I.Q., look back on the pages of yesterday and see if you have been taking steps forward, or maybe a step or two backwards. What lessons did you learn? What new lessons stand out to you while you review it at a later time? What is within your power to change? How will you begin taking the baby steps it takes to recreate yourself tomorrow?  It is true that taking as little as one different step forward than you took the previous day will set you on a new path of discovery.  Your journals will be your own personal road-map to follow for life.

There is also an added bonus to writing these things down.  In the act of recording them you will purge any weight they may be holding over you or your emotions.  You will experience a great feeling of relief.  We need a release for all the crap that piles up in our conscious mind.  When we allow ourselves a continual outlet for our thoughts and frustrations we will experience a much healthier mind and a far better attitude. That is the other main reason that people record things in journals.  Now more than ever, as we have twenty four hour access to more information than a million people could consume during their lifetimes, it is imperative that we provide ourselves with a method of consistent mental release.  In order to experience a high quality of mental health we need to release our pent up feelings and emotions; and we need to rid ourselves of some of the vast amount of information that we attempt to store in our mind forever. 

Days have a habit of melting into months, and then years.  The next thing we know, we look up and ten years have gone by.  Sadly, there will always be some people that remain in the exact same place and situation that they found themselves in ten years before.  Whatever you do, do not allow that to happen to you.  Nobody wants to experience that.  These people will ask themselves why their lives didn’t turn out the way that they had planned.  We must never allow ourselves to forget the fact that time is always moving forward.  It never slows or stops.  In order to keep up with time we need to make consistent progress in our lives.  It is my belief that we owe it to ourselves to give everything that we possess to realize the accomplishment of our goals and dreams.

Constantly remind yourself to encourage positive things to occur in your life. Take the time to sit down and begin your Life Journal right now.  You will thank yourself for the rest of your life once you build this daily habit into your routine.  Use the process of simply recording your thoughts and experiences to begin the process of reinventing yourself and your life. 

Here are a couple of positive affirmations for you to try out:

"I am in excellent physical shape and I am completely healthy."

"I enjoy my job every day."

"I love myself and I forgive myself an occasional mistake."

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This life coaching site offers a free step by step life coaching plan.  It's not a real, live life coach.  But it is free, and that to me makes it worth checking out.  I love finding great value, especially when it is something that I am passionate about.

Awakening to Abundance - Andy Fuehl

http://www.awakeningtoabundance.com/Solo/call-AndyFuehl154.php
This replay expires soon. Learn how to have wealth without having a job.

Applying Gratitude and the Law of Attraction in Your Life

The Law of Attraction works in a very simple way. Whatever you place your attention on grows bigger. Put another way - you get more of what you focus on! Or, put another way - what your attention rests on expands! This is the very foundation upon which the Law of Attraction works.

In order to fully utilize this law and, thus create the life you want, you need to be very careful about where you are placing your attention. You need to be aware that all the negative or positive thoughts you are having are creative. The Law makes no differentiation between positive and negative. If a thought, any thought, is maintained for a mere 60 seconds the Law of Attraction immediately begins the manifestation of that thought. Every single time!

So regardless of what it is you are thinking about, no matter what it is, it only takes 60 seconds to begin manifesting it. This sounds great to the beginner. Wow, 60 seconds to the life of your dreams. All you have to do is sit quietly for 60 seconds, think about what you want and the Law of Attraction will bring it to you effortlessly. However, it gets a little more complicated than that!

When most people first learn about the Law of Attraction they think that they can visualize living in a mansion, driving a jaguar, owning a jet and marrying a model etc. and then just sit back and wait on the effortless results that will follow. However, they fail to realize that every thought is creative - not just the good ones! If you visualize the life of your dreams for just 60 seconds you begin to manifest it. This is totally true. "Well", you may say, "I have imagined living my dream life for a lot longer than 60 seconds. In fact I have dreamt about it all my life sometimes spending hours lost in my fantasy and it still hasn’t come true".  To this I simply say - Every Thought Is Creative!

Spending time visualizing your ideal life is great but do you sustain those thoughts throughout the rest of your day. Or, do you go around complaining about how bad things are? My guess is, if you don’t have the life of your dreams, then you do the latter! These negative thoughts are also creative and are much more abundant in the majority of people. If the thoughts are backed with high emotion then they manifest even faster! You literally cancel out the good work you have done in your visualization. You are storing up great things for yourself but through your dominant negative thinking you are keeping them away from you!

Now, don’t get me wrong, visualization is an extremely powerful tool that can and will totally transform your life, but only when you use it in accordance with the Law. The Law of Attraction always works. It never sleeps and it never fails. It is an unbending Universal Principle. Every thought is creative. Every single thought. Therefore you need to change your dominant mental patterns before you can see any real tangible results from consciously trying to use this law.

So how do we do that?

You do that by changing your focus. You must change the way you view your world. See the world as a nasty, unforgiving, greedy, violent place and that is what you will attract more of. Begin to look for the beauty that is around you. Look for the abundance even if you are not fully experiencing it in your own life right now. Look for the things you want. Try to notice all the people who are currently enjoying the life you want to live and rejoice in their good fortune.

So how do we do that?

Simple! You get into a place of gratitude for what you already have. What you focus on you get more of and what you place your attention on expands! By being grateful for what is in your life at the moment you put your attention on what you like and you get more of it. By feeling good about areas of your life that are working you are sending out very positive thoughts that the Law of Attraction immediately begins to manifest. What you focus on you get more of and what you place your attention on expands!!!

Are you starting to see the power of gratitude and how it can work wonders for each of us?

If, on the other hand, you allow your attention and focus to center around the things that are not working in your life then they will expand and you will get more of what you don‘t want. Think about this seriously. Give it some real contemplation. Can you identify areas in your life where this has happened or is continuing to happen now? The sayings in our everyday language sum up this Universal Law, "it never rains but it pours", "when something goes wrong, everything goes wrong", or "Murphy’s law rears its’ ugly head again" etc. 

If you get jealous over another person’s good fortune, then you are actually affirming that you don‘t have what they do and therefore focusing your attention on your own lack! However, by having gratitude for what you do have and rejoicing in another’s good fortune you are actually focusing your attention on what you do want, and ..... What you focus on you get more of, and what you place your attention on will expand!

So be grateful for what you do have. Be happy for another person’s success. Show gratitude all the time, and your focus will be on the positive, and your attention will be placed on what you desire. Your attitude will change when your attention is squarely placed on the things in life that you want, and you do this through gratitude. So to keep yourself on track, maintain a positive attitude with a focus on gratitude. 

Always remember these two aspects of the law.

If a thought is maintained for a mere 60 seconds, the Law of Attraction immediately begins to manifest it.

What you focus on, you get more of, and what your attention rests on will expand!

Here are a couple of positive affirmations for you:
"I study and comprehend information fast."
"I am always productive."
"I love and care for my body and it cares for me."

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"Life will bring you pain all by itself.  Your responsibility is to create joy." -- Milton Erickson

10 Simple Tips for Living a Happier Life

Everyone strives to be happy but the mistake that everyone makes is that they think that happiness is some kind of finishing line in a race. Once you have crossed that line, you will live happily ever after. That is not true. Happiness is a choice! You can choose to make your life happy. So here are a few ways you could try today.

1. Let go of past memories.

Everyone has both sad and happy moments. So forget about your painful memories. What’s in the past, stays in the past.  Instead, focus on your good memories and move on.

2. Be optimistic.

Always try looking on the bright side of things. Look for the silver lining behind each dark cloud. For example, if you had an unfortunate accident and your car is badly dented, but on the bright side, nobody got hurt and that dent in your car can be repaired. There is always a bright side to look on so be optimistic!

3. Be close to your family

Try and maintain a close relationship with your family and friends. Our       relationships with them have a greater impact on our happiness than anything else.   Human beings are made to be social creatures. So appreciate the existing relationships that you have.

4. Try finding a job that gives you happiness.

If you are feeling stressed out in your current job and not getting the job satisfaction that you want, perhaps it’s time for a career change. Job satisfaction plays an important part in your happiness. So give your job a chance. Try having a positive attitude in your job. If that doesn’t work, it may be time for a change of jobs.

5. Make friends

You need to make friends with people who share a common interest. Find something that you are deeply passionate about. It could be a hobby or an organization you can volunteer in. There you could meet people who have the same interest and passion as you.

6. Exercise

Exercising releases endorphins. So, not only you are taking care of your body but you will automatically start to feel good about yourself.

7. Change your thinking

You have to start living life to the fullest. Don’t delay your life a second longer. Try something new everyday or pick up a new skill!

8. Don’t let the small stuff bug you.

Remember all the small petty stuff that used to bother you? Forget all about it and focus on the bigger picture. Life is too short to be worry about trivial stuff.

9. Live your life for yourself.

Stop trying to live your life up to other people’s expectations. You are your own person. So start living it for yourself!

10. Lastly, remember to love with all your heart. You have all this love to give so give your love to something and start feeling happy today!

"The greatest happiness is to transform one's feelings into action." -- Madame de Stael

Here are a couple of positive affirmations for you:

"I know that my Higher Power accepts me just as I am."

"I am responsible for my own happiness."

"I have the right to ask for what I want/need."

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Meditation as Stress Management

Stress is purely a mental problem. When the mind goes haywire, then the rest of your body will also do the same. You will become emotionally unstable when you're under the throes of stress and you will mostly like feel the repercussions on your body, like muscle cramps, headache, and more. It is important that a person learn stress management techniques to get rid of it before it becomes permanent.

Stress Is All In Your Mind

The initial effect of stress is in our minds. Our normal thought patterns are disrupted.  These patterns, once disrupted would lead to confusion. This would eventually negatively affect us both emotionally and physically if subjected to it over an extended period of time. Stress is oftentimes caused by both work and financial matters. Friends and family members can also become a source of your problem.

Since stress starts with the mind, you need take the necessary steps to control it within your mind. Relaxation plays a major role in stress management.  Relaxation is often the prelude to every other technique that you use to help you cope with the problem.  It is a fact that we can think clearly when we are in a relaxed state -- we weigh each thought that passes through our minds calmly and rationally, whether it’s a problem or just some stray thought from the day's events.

Meditation to Help You Relax

One way to help your mind relax is through meditation. This method can help you focus your mind clearly on a problem without getting distracted and come up with the right solution to get it out of your system. After all, a calm and focused mind can easily cope with stress.

There are several ways to practice meditation.  You can either enroll in meditation classes and be instructed in a group environment, or you can do it on your own. The former is perfect for those who have some spare free time, since meditation classes take around 2 to 3 hours per session. You will be guided slowly by your mentor on the different exercises, both mental and physical, to help you relax and focus your mind.

If you don’t have the leisure time available during your work day, then you can do it on your own for a few minutes while you're in the office or on a break.  Ideally, you can set aside an hour or so for quiet time at your house in a comfortable chair or bed.

Starting With Meditation

There are different methods and tools you can use to start meditation on your own. You can listen to calm music or chant a mantra. You can also buy books to help you achieve meditation through visualization techniques. Pick one that suits your individual taste and get started practicing.

First find a quiet place to start your meditation exercise. If it's your first time practicing, then make sure that you won't get distracted with the noise in your surroundings. Lock your room or tell everyone that you don’t want to be disturbed.

Start with the meditation by looking for a place where you can sit down and relax. Don’t lie down since that will only put you to sleep before you can complete the exercise. Apply your own relaxation method. Concentrate on your mind and let random thoughts fill your head. Observe each thought calmly as if you are watching a movie. If a stressful scene comes out, try your best not to focus on it, but push it aside and allow a new though to surface. Keep doing this exercise until you arrive at a time when your mind becomes comfortably fuzzy and blank.

Next you want to try to think of one problem that you want to solve and focus on it. Again, don’t get emotionally attached to the image and only observe it in passing. You will eventually arrive at a solution to the problem without even trying to do so.  That is the whole key to meditation.  Allow your thoughts to flow freely in and out of your mind and the best solution will undoubtedly present itself to you.  When you are done with your contemplation you can arrive on the best solution from all the thoughts that passed through your mind. 

I hope this brief explanation of meditation helps in some way.  If nothing else maybe it will peak your interest and encourage you to try meditation.  I hope you do practice meditation, it has been a great help to me.  I am much more patient now than I ever was in the past.  I also have developed some deep breathing techniques that go with meditation that help me calm down in stressful situations.  I enjoy meditating every night before I go to bed and try to set aside some times during the day as well because it is easy to fall asleep when you meditate before you go to sleep.  I also enjoy listening to brain entrainment and isochronic tones but that is another story for another day.

Here are a couple of positive affirmations for you:

"I am calm and relaxed in every situation."

"My work is deeply satisfying."

"I study and comprehend things fast."

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Links To Try Out And Be On Your Way To Self-Improvement... A Great Helping Resource!

The popularity of self-improvement books, tapes and seminars is a reflection of the universal interest we all have in overcoming our limitations, or "being the best we can be" or "achieving our full potential."

Popular applications of self-improvement programs include motivation and confidence, personal relationships, sales and job performance, enhancement of sports performance, public speaking, weight control and smoking cessation.

Here are some basic principles to help you determine whether such products or programs are worthy of your time and money.

There is no book or program that will be an exact fit for your needs and interests. Books and group programs are necessarily general in nature. Some of the ideas and concepts may apply well to you, but others may be irrelevant or just plain wrong as applied to your own personality and life situation. Use good judgment and discrimination in following advice offered in any self-improvement program.

Be wary of any program that is highly authoritarian and that tears you down, or attacks people who question what is being done. There have been many group self-improvement programs that have enjoyed a temporary burst of great popularity over the years that have been extremely damaging to some participants.

The most effective program or tape would, of course, be one that is designed specifically for the individual, addressing his or her unique goals, motivation and personality. Obviously this can be done only in personal consultation with a professional person such as a psychologist and involves the cost of paying that professional person for the time it takes them to provide the individual attention required to design a program or tape tailored exactly to your needs.

Suggesting a link to which you can seek for help can make things easier for you to achieve your goal. Help is on its way. Here are links that I can suggest you can visit.

• Psych Web by Russ Dewey:
 

The content of this awesome and well-organized site might be described as half-way in between the sites "Self Improvement Online" and "Mental Health Net."  Although its modest self description on the home page is "This Web site contains lots of psychology-related information for students and teachers of psychology," it is that and much more. The links on its self-help directory page alone are worth the time of the trip to this site: http://www.psychwww.com/resource/selfhelp.htm.

• Internet Mental Health:

In their words: "Internet Mental Health is a free encyclopedia of mental health information. It was designed by a Canadian psychiatrist, Dr. Phillip Long, and programmed by his colleague, Brian Chow...Internet Mental Health is for anyone who has an interest in mental health: -Mental health professionals -Patients who want to learn more about their illness -Friends and families of patients -Mental health support groups -Students -Members of the general public who want to learn more about mental health"  This is an impressive site with many helpful articles and resources. If you are interested in mental health from any point of view, you'll be happy you visited.

•  Life Mentoring:

Because of the demand from our clients we started this site Life Mentoring for individual visitors, in
1998. It's mission is to provide you with the best collection of thoughts, ideas, philosophies and practical concepts for leading a truly meaningful and successful life. It is not linked to any school of thought, but rather wants to give you an overview of all different approaches - and so you to choose and pick whatever suits your needs best." The site has a number of very good articles, excellent collection of links, a free newsletter, a bbs/forum. Lots of enthusiasm, but no commercial hype.

A group program or a general tape is, of course, less costly. If it does in fact does come close to fitting the goals, motivation and personality of the individual reasonably well, it may prove to be a useful self-improvement tool. It is a less costly approach, but it could not reasonably be expected to be as effective as a program or tape designed specifically for you.

Here are some positive affirmations for you:
"I feel good about the way I do my job."
"I am kind and compassionate."
"I am an expert at what I am doing."

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Meditation technique for different environments

Meditation technique for different environments:


There are people who have good sense of focus and concentration. They have the ability to stabilize their mind no matter what kind of environment they are into. However, there are also people who seem to be always disturbed. They can hardly concentrate, thus, affecting their judgment and quality of work. Meditation is a good aid for these types of people. During meditation, mental space is created in order to achieve a certain degree of enlightenment.

The effects of meditation to different people also vary. These could be affected by factors such as the mood, character and individuality. When a person hardly understands himself, his confusion reflects to his actions. That is why contemplation is necessary in order to achieve an enlightened consciousness.

A quiet space conducive for reflection, a mantra to be recited and absolute concentration are the essentials of meditation. While sitting meditation is considered the basic and most efficient form of meditation, there are other ways to modify the process. On the whole, you can only create other forms of meditation when you become habituated with the practice. When your mind had been set for meditation, it will be easy for you to stay tuned-up. Plus, you can integrate the spiritual essence and mental awareness with the physical and mental rhythms of life.

As meditation becomes part of your routine, you will always find time to stop and make a connection with the process of meditation. Naturally, you will seek the blissful state that you can experience only when meditating.  

So what should you do when the place you are into is not conducive for meditation? There are ways to establish focus and concentration. You can capture your mind to be in the meditation state when you direct your attention to a spot in the room, or listen attentively to your breathing or focus on a small object. With the help of a relaxing music and tricky colors, you can employ meditation and extend such practice even beyond the meditation period.

Active people such as athletes need to stay focused in their skill or art while staying grounded. However, their physical ability could be more enhanced if they are in touch with their higher consciousness. A famous female boxer revealed that in her violent and aggressive profession, she never fails to meditate and chant. She constructed her own way of escaping the gym atmosphere in order to find peace within. She listens to the sound of the speed bag as she hits it one way. There is a distinct sound for a one-way blow and the sound varies with the difference in the impact of glove. Then all she had to do is close her eyes and meditate on the sound of the speed bag.

Even a basketball player can employ meditation at the free throw line if he is able to transcend the noise of the crowd and the pressure of the play. In this manner, he can manage stress and anxiety while connecting to his meditation process.

Be creative in modifying your own way of meditation. Break your patterns and make your imagination work.

Here are a couple of positive affirmations for you:
"I have a right to be treated with respect."
"I love others as I love myself."
"I believe the world is a good place and I have a place in it."

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Why not enjoy your life?

Enjoy Your Life: Change Your Point of View.


"Two men look out through the same bars: One sees the mud, and one sees the stars."- Frederick Langbridge, A Cluster of Quiet Thoughts

If you’ve placed second in a writing contest, will you jump for joy and push for better results the next time or will you become discouraged and find an excuse not to participate the next time?

In life, we are constantly presented with choices. You may opt to take a pessimist’s  point of view and live a life filled with self defeat, or you may opt to take the optimist’s outlook and experience a challenging and fulfilling life.

So why nurture an optimist’s point of view?  Why now?

Well, optimism generates positive moods and good morale. Optimism helps lead to academic, athletic, military, occupational and political success.  As well as leading to popularity, optimism encourages good health and may even lead to an extended life span and more freedom from trauma.

The rates of depression and pessimism seem to have reached a significantly high point in our lifetime. It affects middle-aged adults the same way it affects younger people. The mean age of onset has gone from 30 to 15. It is no longer a middle-aged housewife’s disorder but instead is also a disorder acquired by teenagers', middle aged men, and members of the senior population.

Here is a general idea of how optimists tend to behave and some opinions about why optimism increases your overall quality of life.

Optimists expect the best.

The defining characteristic of a pessimist is that they tend to believe that bad events; which will undoubtedly last a long time, and undermine everything they do; repeatedly occur because of some fault in their actions.

The truth is, optimists are confronted with the same hard knocks and obstacles in their lifetimes. What tends to differ is the ways in which the two groups explain their misfortune.  Optimists tend to believe that defeat is just a temporary setback and that its causes are confined to this one case.  While pessimists tend to see each setback as fated to occur and repeatedly occur.

Optimists tend to focus on and plan for the 'problem' at hand. They use 'positive reinterpretation.' In other words, they most likely interpret a negative experience in a way that helps them learn and to grow. Such people are more likely to be unimpeded by tough times.  Optimists perceive these setbacks as challenges to overcome, and try, try again.

Optimists do not often take the opinions that: “things will never get better”,  “if I failed once, I will fail again”, or “if I experience misfortune in one part of my life, then it will undoubtedly apply throughout my entire life”.

The positive outlook of optimists also predicts better reactions to hard times such as: transitions to new environments, sudden tragedies or an unlikely turn of events. If they fall, they will stand up. They see opportunities in their life instead of obstacles.

People respond positively to optimists.

Optimists are proactive and less dependent on others for their own happiness. They tend to find less need to control or manipulate people. They usually draw people in rather than push people away. Their optimistic view of the world can be contagious and influence those they are around.

Optimism seems to be a socially desirable trait in all communities. Those who share optimism are generally accepted, while those who spread gloom, panic and misfortune are perceived less favorably.

In life, it often seems that people determined to create and receive a positive outlook in their life often win more elections; receive nominations for things such as:  most congenial person in their class and are more likely to be sought after for advice.

When the going gets tough, optimists get tougher, or they get going.

Optimists typically maintain higher levels of subjective well-being during times of stress as opposed to pessimists. In contrast, pessimists are likely to react to stressful events by denying that they exist, or by avoiding dealing with the problem(s). Pessimists are more likely to quit giving effort when difficulties present themselves, especially repeatedly.

Optimists tend to persevere. Optimists often display perseverance and patience in large amounts.  Their life processes may involve something as mundane as continually inching their way a step closer to their goal or elusive dream.

Optimists are healthier and tend to have longer life spans.

Medical research has justified that recognizing simple pleasures and maintaining a positive outlook can cause a measurable increase in the body's ability to fight disease.

An optimists is more likely to enjoy good health. They age well and they are often much freer than people who remain tied to the negative vibrations generated by themselves and others.  It seems to me that optimists tend to outlive those strapped down by negativity and a constant pessimistic outlook and approach.  By telling a positive story about their lives, optimists tend to be rewarded with abundance by the universe.

So why not be an optimist today?  Believe and understand that with a positive outlook and demeanor, your quality of life will be much higher.  You will be more likely to enjoy positive, nurturing relationships.  Every day has the chance to present more joy and happiness to your life.

Why not look forward to success in all your endeavors? Why not be resilient? Like everyone else, we are all bound to hit lows at points throughout our lives.  The trick is to not dwell on the bad times or occurrences.  Do not hold on to that negative vibration. Carry yourself out of the mud and improve your chances of getting back on the right track. And why not inspire others to remove their dark-colored glasses and see their life on the bright side?  By helping others to find a more positive outlook on life, you will be in turn rewarded and will receive benevolence and abundance from the universe.

Here are a couple of positive affirmations for you:
"I am attracting emotionally available partners to my loving and giving spirit."
"I feel completely at ease and comfortable with all types of people."
"I am successful in whatever I do."

Connect with me:
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Setting and Achieving Goals

Setting and Achieving Your Goal

There is no defined method to setting and achieving your goal. But if you read related literature and ask around for advice, the answers may be summed up into one thing: Know exactly what you want.

When setting and working towards achieving your goal, you have to be specific. General statements like "I want to own a car" are not as clear cut and effective as "I want to own a Ford Lynx within two years." Realizing this difference will help you be able to map out your life strategy more efficiently.

Paul Meyer, the author of "Attitude is Everything", suggest a S-M-A-R-T way to setting and achieving your goals. SMART means:

S- Specific (Again, know what you want)

M- Measurable (How much do you want?)

A- Action oriented (Something you can achieve by working for it)

R- Realistic (within your resources and means)

T- Tangible (something that you can appreciate and remind yourself of your hard work)

It would be good to set goals that challenge you. Otherwise, there really wouldn't be any point and fun to the process. When setting and seeking to achieve your goal, choose something that would not only benefit you in the end, but also offer a lot of lessons while you're at it. In this way, if you, unfortunately, do not get to reach your goal, you will still be thankful that you learned a lot of new things along the way.

To more easily set and achieve goals, take a little time identifying first what these are, so they won't contradict each other and leave you frustrated. The six areas you can set your goals against may involve family and home, spiritual and moral, finances and career, social, physical and mental. Identify goals in each of these areas to work out a clearer life plan. You will be thankful for the absence of mind clutter after.

Setting and achieving goals requires more than simply recognizing and identifying what they are. You have to realize the difference between a goal and a dream. A dream is something you just aspire for, whereas a goal is something that involves work and some form of sacrifice.

Setting goals is easy. It's the achieving part that poses the challenge. That's why you have to stay SMART at all times. Self-discipline is key. You need to be passionate enough to reach your goal, otherwise, what you've done is just writing random things down and wasting precious time and paper. And that is not smart.

An example is cheating on the goals you have set. You can't say you want to lose four pounds every month and then irresponsibly lose just one pound by not sticking to your diet plan and exercise plan. More importantly, you cannot make up for your blunder by saying "Hey, I'll just lose seven pounds next month." Not only will you be fooling yourself, you might even subject yourself to possible health risks!

As mentioned earlier, there is no fun to a goal that does not involve a challenge. It is boring and will more likely cause you to stray and break what you have set. If you think you don't have the willpower to achieve them, get a goal setting buddy. This way, you will be monitoring each other's progress.

Sacrifice and discipline are needed to setting and achieving effective goals. Sure, they can be quite difficult, but nothing definitely beats the satisfaction you get when you finally start enjoying the fruits of your labor. Now get smart and start moving.

Quick synopsis of brainwave entrainment

Welcome to the world of Binaural Beats!

The theory behind binaural beats is that if you apply slightly different frequency sine waves to each ear, a beating affect is created in the brain itself, due to the brain's internal wiring. If, in the presence of these tones, you relax and let your mind go, your mind will naturally synchronize with the beat frequency. In this way it is possible to tune the frequency of your brain waves to particular frequencies that you have selected. Using of the four bands: Delta: deep sleep, Theta: dreaming and intuitive stuff, Alpha: awake, focused internally, and Beta: awake, focused on your external environment and problem solving, you can produce a vast range of effects and results.

It is also possible to produce mixtures of brain waves of different frequencies by mixing binaural tones. With practice and experimentation, it is reportedly possible to achieve rather unusual states, such as out-of-body experiences, astral traveling and more. See the books by Ken Eagle Feather, and the Monroe Institute site for more details. The Monroe Institute has been researching brainwave science for over 40 years.

Centerpointe has also done a great deal of research into binaural beats and brainwave science. Their focus is more on  overall well-being improvements and holistic functioning rather than individuals reaching unusual states.  I recommend reading some of the articles on the Centerpointe site (look under "Site Map", for example, their Special Report: "How The Holosync Technology Works" and their FAQ).

I feel that I have benefitted immensely from using these techniques over the last year. My personal benefits range from simply getting my head clear in confusing moments, to the energy boosts that come at times, to more general emotional clearing, I am less quick to grow angry, I am much more calm and I experience very intense, sometimes lucid, dreams.

Here are some possible results you can obtain when using brainwave entrainment:

Reduce stress and produce deep relaxation

Make your brain healthier and more powerful

Enhance creativity

Accelerated learning

Improve memory

Motivation and Concentration

Quit smoking

Lose weight

Overcome depression and anxiety

Alleviate pain

Build self confidence and self esteem

Improve Relationships

Boost the immune system

Change or eliminate unwanted habits and attitudes

Increase your energy level

Improve your sleep quality

Improve meditation technique and results

Here are are couple of positive affirmations for you:

"I am a winner."

"I sleep soundly and peacefully."

"I am always in harmony with the Universe."

Connect with me on:

Twitter: @bigstickdogg

LinkedIn: Nicholas Stickle

Facebook: Nick Stickle or Plan for Life Success

The Importance of Goal Setting

Goal setting is a fundamental skill for everyone on a quest for personal development.  You have to have a goal that you want to achieve and you have to have some sort of a plan on how to achieve it.

The importance of goal setting is evident among professionals. They work full time and yet still manage to have fun with their family; They extend their hands for community service and yet still manage to have some time to do their hobbies.  

Their secret lies not in controlling time but in managing time. Time management. This is the essence of goal setting.

The importance of goal setting, however, is not limited to professionals. Every successful people has understood and acknowledged the importance of goal setting. Athletes, doctors, lawyers etc. have used goal setting in one way or the other.

1. Goal Setting is a Map

Identify an area of your life where you want advancement. Then work through the goal process that follows. Here are the steps needed to make a map.

A. Identify the exact goal

What you really want in life? What is your purpose and your objective? You must ask yourself these questions to have a concrete idea of what you want in life.

Time, however, can change the way we look at things. One day you may want to be a published romance novelist after five years, the next day you may want to be a water colour painter with mother and child as inspiration. When this change of heart happens, don't despair. There's no wrong with changing a goal for a another goal. This is part of life. Change, that is. But having an objective, an exact goal at present, will give you an idea of what you want. Changing that goal along the way, as you travelled to reach your goal, is just one of the events that you'll encounter along the way.

B. Identify the completion date

Goals should have a period of completion. It is not a goal if it doesn't have a specific time of completion; it would be a dream. A daydream, that is.

Goals are concrete and realistic aspirations. It isn't a goal when you say, "I want to be a novelist within my lifetime." It is a dream. A goal must be put this way, "I want to be a published romance novelist before I reach 35." This gives you a period to push your pens and write down that publishable novel. It hurries you to reach your goal. It motivates you to beat time, have a published novel ahead of time you've set for yourself.

C. Identify the evolution of the goal

Change is inevitable. And it applies even to goals.

Goals may evolve into something, maybe even far better than your earlier goals. If earlier you want to be a published romance novelist before you reach the age of 35, it may evolve into somethings like: a published Young Adult novelist before you reach the age of 35, and have written a script for a video game.

2. Goal Setting Is Your Vision

When you set a goal, you are actually seeing a vision, a vision of yourself in the near future. Imagine if you accomplished the goal you have set after five years, it was as if you have predicted what you will become five year ago!

Having a vision not only makes you feel contented with yourself, it also pushes you to look ahead and go forward instead of to live in the past.

Here are a couple of positive affirmations for you:
"I am an abundant person."
"I am a magnet for creative ideas."
"I am at peace with the Universe."

Connect with me:
Twitter: @bigstickdogg
LinkedIn: Nicholas Stickle
Facebook: Nick Stickle, or Plan for Life Success

Brief Note on Meditation

When you sit down to meditate, your brain waves shift and you enter a deeper level of consciousness.

The Alpha level is the state associated with meditation—and the most widely used method for getting there is to focus on your breathing. Some people also use specific memories or emotions to reach Alpha. Buddhist and Hindu monks are known to chant mantras.

But no matter what method you use, the biggest challenge you’ll face with meditation is staying in the Alpha level long enough to enjoy the benefits of meditation.

Many people spend years trying to overcome this one stubborn challenge. Some pack up their bags and travel to remote ashrams in India with no electricity or running water. Some spend thousands of dollars on expensive meditation instructors. But few ever find a solution that just works—and that’s because of…

The 4 biggest reasons you’re not meditating right:

In a recent survey of over 450,000 people in our FinerMinds personal growth community, this is what we found:

This is a brief blurb from the Omharmonics  website. Go there to find amazing products to help with your personal meditation. Personally, I am taking up their offer for a ten day trial for only $1. This special promotion only lasts until today at midnight so I would jump on it fast!

By the way, did you know that meditation is scientifically proven to…

Overcome stress (University of Massachusetts Medical School, 2003)

Boost your creativity (ScienceDaily, 2010)

Improve your sex life and increase your libido (The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2009)

Cultivate healthy habits that lead to weight loss (Journal Emotion, 2007)

Improve digestion and lower blood pressure (Harvard Medical School)

Decrease your risk of heart attack (The Stroke Journal, 2009)

Help overcome anxiety, depression, anger and confusion (Psychosomatic Medicine, 2009)

Decrease perception of pain and improve cognitive processing (Wake Forest University School of Medicine, 2010)

Increase your focus and attention (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2007)

Increase the size of your most important organ – your brain! (Harvard University Gazette, 2006)

These are just a few of the many positives from adding a regimen of daily meditation to your life.

See you next time!

Here are a couple of positive affirmations for you:

"I always receive more than what I need."

"I am glowing with health and wholeness."

"I deserve to be happy and successful."

Connect with me:

Twitter: @bigstickdogg

LinkedIn: Nicholas Stickle

Facebook: Nick Stickle

Brainwave Entrainment

This post is taken directly from http://www.brainwavesync.com.  I will be adding reviews of some of the carious brainwave entrainment products I have tested and still use in following posts.  This is a great self development and personal skill building tool.  Read on if you are serious about personal growth and success!

"We are often asked how brainwave entrainment works, and so we have laid out the following information in order to give an introduction to the technology, if you have any questions please do e-mail us. Brainwave entrainment is primarily concerned with brainwave patterns; the human brain is constantly producing electrical signals, which allow the the brains neurons (brain cells) to communicate with each other. Because the brain is literally made up of millions of neurons, the amount of electricity produced is extensive and therefore it is measurable when using certain equipment such as an Electronencephalograhy (EEG) Device. These electrical brain signals are known as 'brainwaves'. The following image shows a brainwave recording from an EEG device:

Frequencies and Entrainment

The aim of brainwave entrainment is to induce the brain into a specific targeted brainwave frequency. It is therefore important to understand the nature of human brainwaves and what they appear to do. EEG recordings show that there are different types of brainwaves each working on a different 'frequency'. These frequencies are measurable in Hz in much the same way a radio signal can be measured. It is interesting to realize that the brain produces different brainwave frequencies depending upon its current activity. For example whilst in daily activity, the brain tends to operate between the frequencies of 12hz to 38hz, this frequency is know as the Beta Frequency. There are also a number of other dominate brainwave frequencies. Using brainwave entrainment each of the following (and any other) frequency can be stimulated within the individuals brain:

• Beta- 12hz to 38hz: This is the frequency of alert activity - it is the dominate state during our waking hours. When our brainwaves fall below the beta threshold we can often find ourselves entering a more relaxed or sometimes even a 'sluggish' state. Using the beta frequency is an ideal way of increasing our mental alertness.
  
• Alpha- 8hz to 11hz: Alpha is the state of relaxation, rest and light meditation. This state is dominate whilst you are awake but not totally mentally active. For example you maybe sitting down and relaxing. The alpha frequency has been noted to be stimulated whilst watching TV, which explains why many people people can relax in front of the TV. The alpha frequency is extremely useful, and is one of the states aimed for whilst meditating.
  
• Theta- 3hz to 8hz: We enter the Theta frequency when we first fall asleep. It is also the state our brain enters when we dream, and therefore is often used for hypnosis. The theta brainwave frequency is an extremely deep state, and has been noted in many meditators whilst in a 'altered state of consciousness', for example the frequency of 4.5hz has been observed in Buddhist monks and shamanic traditions.
  
• Delta- 0.2hz to 3hz: This is the frequency of deep sleep (some experienced meditators can actually retain awareness during deep sleep by using delta wave entrainment).

In addition to the above, a growing number of scientific studies have shown that the brain and body also respond to a variety of other specific frequencies.

Brainwave Entrainment
Brainwave entrainment is the process of using sound to synchronize brainwaves with a desired frequency. There is a famous experiment made in 1665 by physicist Christiaan Huygens. In this experiment Huygens noticed that two clock pendulums would always synchronize with each other, no matter how unsynchronized they were initially. Brainwave entrainment works in much the same way; when a person listens to a sound set at a specific frequency - after a period of a few minutes the brain will begin to synchronize with the frequency - this is known as Frequency Following Response (or FFR). Using this phenomenon it is possible to induce the human brain into all manner of desired frequencies to achieve specific results. For example when the brainwave synchronizes with a sound set to the frequency of 2hz, it will induce sleep.

There are a number of different brainwave entrainment technologies, each capable of entraining the brain. Some of these technologies are very well known, such as binaural beats, others are less known, yet in most cases are actually more powerful than binaural beats. It is actually possible to use a combination of these technologies to achieve optimal results. Some of the technologies we use on our Brainwave-Sync CDs and MP3s are listed here:

• Binaural Beats - The human ear is incapable of hearing frequencies as low as those necessary for brainwave entrainment. This is where binaural beats come in; two frequencies are generated, one sent to each ear. For example one ear receives a signal of 100hz whilst the other ear receives 105hz. The brain cancels out the difference between the frequencies, in this case 105hz - 100hz = 5hz. 5hz is a low level theta frequency. Binaural beats are the most common form of brainwave entrainment, but they are by no means the most powerful. This is why we encode all our CDs with other additional forms of entrainment technology.
  
• Isochronic Tones- are formed in a very different way than binaural beats. Isochronic tones work by modulating the volume of a tone. This tone then becomes a rhythmic pulse, capable of inducing brainwave entrainment. The 'speed' of the pulse determines the frequency.
  
• White Noise- is a signal which covers all frequencies. In very general terms white noise is effective because it forms a constant uninterrupted sound, which is ideal for the mind to focus upon. White noise can be adjusted in tone, and can sound like anything from rain, to waterfalls to hissing. Beware of CDs which claim to be recordings of rain - when they are in fact simply white noise."
  

"We also use a number of other brainwave entrainment technologies, including Harmonic Box X, Monaural Beats amongst others.All of our entrainment technologies are embedded with great care into the music, audio or sounds used on each CD. In this way we ensure a pleasant listening experience whilst providing the best possible and most powerful entrainment effects.

See this page for information on uses and benefits of brainwave entrainment.
Further details on the Brainwave-Sync Technology"

This information is from http://brainwavesync.com. Please follow up with their site for a vast amount of information regarding brainwave entrainment in all of its forms.  I will be providing more information from their site at times relating to the uses and effects of brainwave entrainment in different forms.  I have seen a substantial improvement in my every day mood and outlook since I began using entrainment a couple months ago.  I have also gained self confidence in several areas of my life, including the confidence and will/energy to create and keep up with posting to this blog.  I hope you find this information helpful and useful.  If you are questing for self improvement then I definitely urge you to try out brainwave entrainment.  There are many different products out there.  I will be reviewing some of them in detail as my posts progress.  My most recent acquisition is called "Optimindzation", I will be testing it out thoroughly.  I have already enjoyed some of the relaxation tracks and will continue using it until I base an opinion, and maybe forever! I hope this helps you at least learn something new. I hope you have a good day.  Talk to you soon.

Here are a couple of positive affirmations for you:

"I deeply and completely love myself."

"I am calm and relaxed in every situation."

"There are beautiful things happening in my life daily."

Connect with me on:

Twitter: @bigstickdogg

LinkedIn: Nicholas Stickle

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