Mastering Your Unique Mindset

Imagine this scenario: You go for your annual physical and your doctor gives you the startling news that you have mild high blood pressure. You admit that you are under a great deal of stress at work. The recommendation is to exercise and begin a relaxation program such as mediation. So you, being the proactive go-getter that you are, Google "meditation" and research how to meditate. Based on your findings, you begin a daily meditation regimen. You follow the instructions closely. You sit cross legged on the floor with your back straight and your timer set for 20 minutes. You find your breath, ignore the stiffness, find your breath, ignore your thoughts and so on and so on. The timer finally goes off. You rise up from your meditation with a stiff back, sore knees and racing thoughts about how little time you have to get ready for work. You do this for a couple of weeks and find yourself even more stressed, suffering from mild tension headaches and completely frustrated....

We all hold tension from the stresses in our daily lives within our physical form. Sometimes, we just need a reset and take a much needed break from the craziness of life. Holding tension, can not only be uncomfortable and restricting of our muscles, but sometimes your body tries to let you know it's time to rest showing as daily aches and pains. As we get older might attribute these aches and pains to the mere fact that we're getting older, saying things such as, "The body's not as young as it used to be." While that statement may be very true, this is not the case at all. Especially when you read about these 50, 60, 70 and even 80 year old people now taking their fitness to a whole new level and getting in the best shape of their lives. Don't fool yourself... these daily aches and pains are you body's way of telling you to take notice, and take some time to reset. If you keep ignoring it, you will soon wish you hadn't. One way of releasing the te...

Applying the benefits of meditation for students who face an array of issues in school and at home is a great practice to teach them. It can offer them the advantage of self control and self respect any parent would long for. Looking back, I wish I had been able to appreciate meditation for what it is and apply its practice. To really learn how to relax and face difficult situations with a clear mind when in school would have been priceless! Maybe my decisions and study habits would have been a little better! Learning meditation as a student can help both in and out of school. Just touching the tip of the iceberg, meditation holds the potential to: Improve Concentration. What parent could deny that their child could use some improvement with concentrating on a task? Not just at home, but in their studies, too. This could prove increasingly beneficial as the children grow up and enter college years, when the power to concentrate proves itself invaluable. Increase Self Estee...

The mind is restless and you may find it challenging to sit for meditation. This is normal when you first start a regular meditation practice. The highly-charged world of action that we live in everyday constantly calls upon us to react and respond to all kinds of external stimulus. The most important thing to understand when starting to meditate is be patient. Meditation techniques vary, but they all have the same goal, peace of mind. A state in which you see things more clearly, and guide your life in a direction towards peace and happiness. Some people meditate to become more calm during periods of stress. Other people meditate to find our more about themselves. If life is pulling you in many different directions you could return to the feeling of being whole by developing a regular meditation practice. You may find it helpful to sit with a group that practices meditation regularly. If you are new to the practice a meditation group will help you feel supported. Over time yo...

Change is said to be the only constant in life. Who you were five years ago is not the person you are today. However, you might be feeling like you are just drifting through like aimlessly without any target for where you want to be. If that feels like you, then you probably have not set any life goals for yourself. Life goals are important because they give guide you, give you focus and a yardstick to know when you are headed in the right direction. What are life goals? When most people think of personal development, finances come to mind. However, personal development entails continuous expansion of various facets of your life including spiritual, social, mental and physical. If any one of these facets of your life isn't in order, then all the others might crumble. Self-development, therefore, is multi-faceted and a continuous process that seeks to achieve self-actualization. It therefore never stops. How to Set Personal Life Goals You probably have heard...

Goal setting often gets a bad rap as people have tried and been unsuccessful at setting goals. Do not despair. Try, try, try and try again. Each time you will develop a stronger discipline, focus, and skills for goal success. Here are some roadblocks people run into with their goals and some solutions to try! Keep Charging! I don't want to set goals, but I like results. What should I do? Often this is from a fear. The reality is in order to set a goal; you must decide what you want. Many people prefer to leave all the options open, picking nothing, and defaulting to "life" to pick their destiny for them. Whether you resist goal setting because of a fear of failure, success, pressure, or whatever the reason, the fact remains, you cannot arrive where you have not set out to go. People who set goals have something to attain and often do. You cannot attain what you have not set. Do yourself a favor, evaluate where you want to end up, determine a viable course to get there...

WHAT EXACTLY IS MINDFULNESS? Mindfulness is not just a way of thinking about others and their state of mind, but it can also be used a form of meditation. Using Mindfulness Meditation allows you to focus on the moment, becoming aware of your senses and what you are feeling right then and there. When you are able to focus just on that particular moment, there is no need to try to interpret things or make judgments about how you feel. You are simply present. If you have ever studied Eckhart Tolle or other spiritual teachers, you realize that the present moment is all that actually exists. The past no longer exists, and the future has not yet come. So focusing, being mindful, of the moment, can help you relax and eliminate stress. Think about all the time we spend planning for, or worrying about the future, thinking negative thoughts about the past, worrying about all the things we need to do - pick up the kids from school, make dinner tonight, pay the bills, etc. All those...

Understanding The Origins Of Our Desires What does it mean to you to stand fully in your own shoes and not give up on yourself? I understand it to mean owning our weaknesses and shadows and not stowing them away because they don't feel good. It entails accepting ourselves as we are, not as we like ourselves to be. It's easy to be happy when everything is smooth sailing but what if we are still unhappy despite our needs being met? Do you want to entrust your happiness to a particular state of being every time? Don't you see this is not a way to live because we are always hoping life will be a certain way before we can be happy? It is possible to achieve happiness amidst darkness and despair. Happiness is a choice that requires accepting our circumstances and not buying into some ideal that life will be better when our needs are met. Have you noticed when you get what you want, there is always something more the ego craves? It's not your fault because it is the r...

Preparation and focus are key skills to develop and implement when it comes to finding time to do your best. And here's something that may surprise you: Doing your best also involves knowing when to let go. That's because your time and energy are too precious (and too limited) to waste them tying yourself in perfectionistic knots! As Psychologist Harriet B. Braiker noted, " Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing." So, how often have you experienced that discouraging frustration? How often have you pursued the ideal of getting something 'just right,' only to keep missing the mark by a little bit? And how often have you watched your day slip away while you adjusted and tweaked and reached for that ideal again and again? Sound familiar? It's not an unusual experience - especially for energetic, motivated, high achievers. And the good news is, there's another way to go about this! You can keep perfectionism fro...

We live in a brilliant age of civilization where we get to experience all the benefits of living in an advanced society. These benefits are made accessible to us to ensure we have a high standard of living and high quality of life. These benefits include: efficient processes in our society, lifestyles, and business. modern technology to fast track most things we do, along with all the integrations that modern technology brings. having all our basic essentials readily available for purchase, use, and consumption. the luxuries and excesses that are so accessible at very affordable means. However, there are many situations where some advancements have actually brought us to a point where they have reduced our need to develop our strengths and abilities. Strengths and abilities such as the need to stay alert for opportunities as well as risks; the need to be vigilant in ensuring our disciplines do not get compromised; or even our ability to focus further than a day o...

Forgiveness is one of those words and the deed many people turn away from because of the meaning they give it. Often it is thought of as a religious act. This can be off-putting even for those who call themselves spiritual and even worse for people who have no conscious spiritual beliefs. Prayer can also have some negative connotations attached to it. As we shift our perception we can see that the power of prayer, giving and receiving of forgiveness can radically change lives How else can we get past the hurts we have cast upon others and those cast upon us? We know we can't change what happened. This means acceptance, doesn't it? And is forgiveness the same as unconditional acceptance?I think so. Often, the delay in asking for and receiving forgiveness comes when we don't think we deserve to ask or are worthy of being forgiven. I came to realise that, it isn't the problem that's too big to be forgiven, but our worth is too low. As we raise faithwe allow that to...

My resolution for the New Year is actually very simple: The 20 Minute Rule. It means I no longer allow myself to worry over anything for more than 20 minutes. Anything. Not the state of my health, finances, relationships, the world - anything. Why should this rank as a valid resolution? Well, because too often whatever the worry is can all too easily morph into a perfectly awful, depressing, miserable whole day. I have done that more than once, and it never made the worrisome thing go away. So, yes, for me at least, a valid resolution. Sounds easy, right? Huh! Try it. Dang. Because it's no fair stopping the worry about, say, the balance in my checking account after 20 minutes, only to start worrying about it again an hour or two later. Certainly not about the same dismal balance. Why 20 minutes? Because it often takes me about 20 minutes to realize I've been obsessively worrying about something--and what does all the worry get you? More worry. It's not the place yo...

Goals. If you've been into personal development for a mere five minutes then you've heard of them. Even if you've never cracked a book like The Master Key System I am highly confident that you've set a few goals for yourself over the years. I receive emails from people around the world. I recently received the following email from a fellow who needed help discovering what he really wants. Believe me, this is not only a huge question, it might be one of the most important ones because if you pursue goals that you don't really want, such as living someone else's dreams, then you will find yourself in the straits of discontentment. You don't want that. So I took my time in crafting a response to him. First, here is what he wrote to me. Dear Anthony, I have been thinking about this question: What do I really want? Must it be one thing or many things? I had been changing my desire because of feeling like this is not what I really want. How do I find my...

https://ezinearticles.com/?Confidence,-and-Twenty-One-Day-Programming-Habits&id=10205974 We all want to achieve, but to create a habit, we must start somewhere. We all start at day zero and one, and then create our habits and realities at the end of the programming or achievement. Indeed, Maxwell Maltz was right, it takes twenty-one days to program a habit, but lifetime of good practice to keep a good habit going. Also, habits are like a prayer or a spell you do on yourself. The more you practice, the more they cement themselves to your mind and spirit. Like anything, reality creation is the result of habits developed in life, they can be negative like smoking or drinking alcohol, or positive like telling the truth and being honest all of the time. The semantics of reality are within the habit in every way. Developing good habits leads to a good reality, developing bad habits leads to a bad reality. I think of a sort of statism when I think of hypnosis or mono-idealism...

Here are seven areas that you can work on each day that will help you realize and increase your self-worth. 1. Self Talk What are some of the things that you're saying to yourself? Take time to think about those thoughts that come up and don't judge yourself for having those thoughts. Just realize that those thoughts are yours and you're having them at the moment. If you have unkind thoughts about yourself or about who you are, ask yourself if you would talk to somebody else like that. If not, then take time to find how you would talk to yourself in regard to those items. Would you look at somebody and say, "You really suck at cooking?" Of course not, but you might say, "Hey, would you be interested in taking a cooking class with me?" In this way, instead of noting the negative you are creating an opportunity for the positive to flow into your life. Don't tell yourself you're fat - ask yourself if you'd be willing to walk...

Self-Worth Issues Are Rooted In Our Childhood I'd like you to reflect on the following questions before you read the rest of this article: What do you believe you deserve in life? Do you have issues around receiving? Do you find it difficult to get what you want because of the obstacles that get in the way? Do you struggle to fill your needs, whether it be via: a relationship, career goals, finances or otherwise? Yes, there are many questions to consider and I invite you to journal your answers after you finish reading. It may be difficult to acknowledge, however we always get what we believe we deserve. Allow me to unpack this further to explain what I mean. If we have self-worth issues embedded in our childhood, we will settle for less and believe it is all we are capable of receiving. For example, when I was young, my father remarked that I would never amount to anything because I couldn't do the smallest tasks properly. Although I didn't digest the significance...