Mind Over Actions

"It is a commiseration that people should allow themselves be defeated by the problems, cares, and troubles of human existence, and it is also quite unnecessary. I certainly make not disregard or minimise the adversities and calamities of the world, but neither make I let them to dominate. You can allow obstructions to command your head to the point where they are uppermost and thus go the ascendant factors in your idea pattern. By learning how to project them from the mind, by refusing to go mentally subservient to them, and by channeling your thoughts, you can lift above obstructions which ordinarily might overcome you."

No, I didn't compose this quotation mark but I certainly hold with Jessye Norman Vincent Peale who wrote it as portion of the introduction to his book, The Power of Positive Thinking, first published in 1952. Dr. Peale was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church and, although his work have a spiritual flex to it, it uses to all of our lives.

What's happening in our culture, in our world? There looks to be a despairing outcry for a quick-fix – something to hang onto, something to give life meaning, something to supply ultimate happiness. The Power of Positive Thinking, The Secret, The Power of Now, and The Drawing Card Factor share a common thread. These books are ushers to positive self-esteem and success. They were written to give people the tools to convey about alteration in their lives. So with all this information (and I've only named a few of the recent top-sellers), are people really changing the quality of their lives? Are you happier, more than than successful, and more satisfied in your life?

In the United States, we've go a quick-fix, throw-away society. When something doesn't work, we flip it and purchase a new one. Dr. Phil can repair anyone's jobs in a one-hour show. We have got a pill for sleeping, a pill to acquire up in the morning, a pill to lose weight, to command blood pressure, to ease our temper swings, and if one experiences a male dysfunction, good heartache there are more than than adequate pills to assist with that! As a society, we are bombarded with things to do our life easier; things that get rid of the demand for difficult work. Are we losing our emotions and ideas to the simple life? Are we losing touching with what's important and real?

There is no quick-fix or charming pill to convey about alteration in your life. I hear about tons of people who are working very difficult but experience that nil is changing. When I inquire them what they're doing, they state me how difficult they're working and how much clip they're spending, but when asked what they are doing differently, there is silence. The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. It's clock to seek something new!

Most books about success offering tools for change. Therein lies the difficulty. Many people believe reading a book will do them change. For some it may, but the bulk of us have got to take action for things to change. We have got to work the rules and perpetrate to making alteration happen.

You can read the books, go to the workshops, or seek these simple (but not easy) guidelines:

1. Keep a positive attitude. Look at life as having eternal possibilities to carry through your demands and dreams.

2. When a negative idea comes in your mind, pushing it out. Being positive or negative is a choice. Brand a positive choice!

3. Act in conformity with your personal value system. If you're not certain what you value, you might desire pass some clip developing your values. What's important and critical in your life, what ushers your life and decisions? Brand a listing and prioritize them.

4. Make a graphic positive mental mental image of yourself being successful, happy, or whatever it is you'd wish to have got or to be different in your life. Keep that mental image alive – create it and hang it on a wall where you'll see it every day.

5. Feel what it would experience like to carry through the change, your dreams, your goals. Every clip you visualise your positive mental image, experience what it would experience like to have got accomplished it and encompass those feelings.

6. When obstructions acquire in the way, expression for ways around them or through them. Remember, it's just an obstruction not a fillet point.

7. Know yourself. What are your strengths? Where make you have got chances for improvement? Knowing yourself takes to apprehension your true abilities and releasing defeats that block your growing and forestall change.

8. Write affirmatory reminders for what you desire as if it's already happened. Read them 3-5 modern times a day, encompass the image, and feeling of accomplishing them.

You might be surprised what a few little stairway in a positive way can do in your life. And remember... Breathe deeply! In and out! Your organic structure can't back up you or your alteration attempts without breath.

In Every Cloud There Is A Silver Lining

How many times have we heard that phrase? It is one we most often take for granted. But in studying people who have obtained success, I've found, that this credo is heeded to in one form or another on a consistent basis. They have learned to look for the opportunity in everything. A failed business or marriage. The loss of a job. When things appear to be at their worst, instead of wallowing in their misery, most high achievers get moving.

I have read this over and over in countless personal development books and heard it many times from various speakers in different seminars but it was still flying right under the radar screen. Until...

At the end of last year, I was stricken with an illness that totally shut me down for several months. It wasn't serious, thank God, but it changed life the way I knew it. Initially, I was devastated, but after a brief moment I realized that being upset about it and playing the victim was not going to benefit me. So I got busy. I looked for the opportunity in the moment. I began reflecting on my life up until that point and what things I really needed to change. I looked at things that I needed to tie up or difficult conversations I needed to have with people and I GOT BUSY. The opportunity that existed in the moment was for me to overhaul my life. I put an end to stupid and ridiculous conversations with people, I found ways to lower my stress level and began to build them into my life on a consistent basis. I radically changed my diet to one that focuses on health and nourishment instead of comfort and pleasure. I used the time to get clarity and direction on what I wanted out of life and for my business and clients and most importantly, I used the time to finish my book which up until that point was only a quarter of the way finished and I had been working on it for over 3 years. In two months, I had finished the whole thing!

Now how's that for a silver lining in the cloud? I, personally, finally got it. I applied what I had heard over and over and it powerfully changed my life. In every crisis there is opportunity. I emerged from my crisis with greater clarity, and intent. I feel stronger and less willing to tolerate anything that isn't serving me well. I grew so much in such a short time that I wouldn't have changed a thing about it. It was literally a blessing in disguise. And yes, I was sick, and yes, it sucked but from where I stand right now, it was all worth it.

There is always something good in everything. When a situation seems bad, learn to look for the good in it. What is the opportunity? If you miss this, the situation will defeat you. You become a victim to your circumstances. Be proactive. Take charge. Look for and seize the opportunity you have been given. Always ask yourself, What is the gift that exists here? If you've lost your job, perhaps you have been given the gift of time to spend finding out what you really want to do in life. Is it time to start your own business? Is it time to find a better job that pays you what you're worth? If you experience an illness, perhaps it is a reminder that you need to slow down and focus on what really matters. Perhaps you have been working too hard and missing out on valuable time with your family. Whenever a difficult time in life appears, ask yourself, What is the opportunity God has given me in this moment? It's a simple question, but so powerful. Only you can answer it. But whatever you do, don't miss it!