Positive Affirmations and Their Benefits.

Often, most people are unaware of their own strengths and weaknesses, even when prompted. When coupled with negative phrases that you often use, e.g. "I can be such an idiot!", which whilst meant to have a positive effect can actually result in negative consequences. The extent of the message and resultant programming into your subconscious can be extremely harmful! What separates people are their attitudes about themselves, and this is where positive affirmations come into play.

Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations are statements that assert the existence or truth of something positive. This can be done as your subconscious is told that the truth exists, and the realization of this truth is favorable to your personal wellness. Positive affirmations are also known as a form of auto-suggestion, or self hypnosis.

Positive affirmations are a very powerful tool used to change how each individual thinks and feels about themselves, which translates into his attitude and actions when facing others. Positive affirmations work for everyone, as its very nature merely amplifies what already is in our minds. This can be our attitudes, our thought processes, and everything else that runs across your mind. With constant use of positive affirmations, you will be able to reprogram your internal subconscious mind, changing the negatives into the positives.

A good way to remain positive is by constantly conditioning the thoughts that are in your mind. The effectiveness of positive affirmations lies in that it needs to be transformed into action. What makes it work is your confidence in it working. Similar to a self-fulfilling prophecy, if you continually repeat it to yourself, the subconscious mind will make it become the truth. The best way to go about doing so is by continuously sowing positive thoughts and nurturing them.

Benefits of Positive Affirmations

The main benefit of positive affirmations is that it can be applied to any and every aspect of your life that you wish to improve. This can be with regards to your career, health, relationships or finances.

There are other benefits to utilizing positive affirmations for the subconscious mind. People who constantly affirm their minds with positive words and thoughts have stronger and more active muscles. On the other hand, if you give free reign to negative thoughts you will find yourself often feeling tired.

Positive affirmation also has an impact on your energy level, and a cheerful individual is usually one with many positive thoughts and programming. Hence, experts have advised that it is beneficial to start every day with positive thoughts and words, which will act as a multiplier on the other aspects of your life.

Lastly, positive affirmation allows you to fulfill your capabilities, strengths and talents. By constant repetition, you will eliminate the feelings of doubt and insecurity that bother you, making it easier to achieve a positive end result!

By. Greg Frost

Mindfulness.

"Mindfulness is being aware of yourself, others, and your surroundings in the moment.  When consciously and kindly focusing awareness on life as it unfolds minute by precious minute, you are better able to savor each experience.  Also, being closely attentive gives you the opportunity to change unwise or painful feelings and responses quickly.  In fact, being truly present in a mindful way is an excellent stress reducer and, because of that, can be seen as consciousness conditioning, a strengthening workout for body, mind, heart, and spirit."
~ Sue Patton Thoele

5 Secrets to Loving Yourself.

Self talk, the little voice in your head, the tape that runs over and over; these are all powerful words to describe how you feel about yourself.  If your self esteem and self-talk tends to be filled with put downs and negative affirmations of the essence of you, then how can you ever love yourself?  If you do not love yourself, how can you ever expect anyone else to love you?  Love yourself first!  Love yourself enough.  Empower yourself and you do the work.  The Universal Laws of Attraction suggest that you get and receive as much love as you give out. 

1.  Change your thoughts. What are you feeding your mind?  Have a visual of a stop sign.  When you begin calling yourself down, immediately stop your little voice and replace it with all the wonderful things that you are.

2.  Change your energy.  Garbage in, garbage out.  What are you feeding your body?  If your are feeding it garbage also known as junk food, then how can you expect to feel good about yourself?  Feed your body with healthy foods such as fruits and veggies. 

3.  Change your behavior 1.  What are you feeding your soul? Get an elastic band or something elastic and put it on your wrist.  When you catch yourself and stop yourself from saying something negative about yourself or others, transfer it to your other wrist.  Within one week of bringing this behavior to your conscious attention, you will likely be using more positive self talk.

4.  Change your behavior 2.  What are you feeding your emotions? Confront your fears.  What is the worst possible thing that can happen to you if you do that?  You will love yourself and be empowered with higher self esteem.

5.  Random Acts of Kindness.  Be an angel!  Choose to do something for someone else, preferably a stranger.  The research shows that when we do this we feel better about ourselves.  Keep it a delicious secret that you can hug to yourself!

By. Sherrie Hay

Reflection Questions

1. What are 4 things I say in my head when I get upset with myself? How can I consciously change that self talk habit?
2. What are 4 things I can do to pamper myself so that I feel good today?
3. One a scale of 1-10 how well do I love myself?  5 = average, 10 is top of the scale.
4. What are 4 ways in which I can easily perform an angel act or Random Act of Kindness?

Take a chance performing Life’s dance

Love yourself first!

"Instead of looking for love, give it;

constantly renew it in yourself and

you will always feel its presence within you.

It will always be there smiling at you,

gazing on you kindly."

(Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov)

How to Stop Obsessive Thoughts?

If you have reached a point in your life where you want to be rid of the continuous torture of the “thought generating” mind then it’s your good fortune. Obsessive or negative thoughts can make living miserable when you are plagued by them, but this very situation can become the invitation to transcend mind and be free of suffering forever.

Can you stop obsessive thoughts? – If you could it would be great, but the truth is that it’s slightly more complicated than just suppressing your thoughts which at-most you can do for a few seconds. Plus suppressing thoughts is even worse than enduring thoughts. It builds up a lot of negative energy inside.

So how to stop thinking horrible thoughts? The secret to stopping obsessive or negative thoughts is to detach from the mind. You cannot fight mind with the mind. That’s what this article is about. Let’s look at this in more detail.

If you believe that you are your mind, that’s a false notion again. If you are your mind then how can you observe the thoughts? So you must be separate from the mind to see what the mind is doing.

So the mind generates thoughts, which are mostly just energy forms. These thoughts pass through like clouds. We identify with some of these thoughts and obsess about them. So in truth all thoughts are just neutral energy forms, it’s “your” interest or association with the thoughts that makes them obsessive. If you can understand this truth, you have taken the first step towards getting rid of obsessive thoughts.

How to Stop Obsessive Negative Thoughts?

If you are asking this question, ask yourself another question – “is this question not another thought? It’s a thought about killing thoughts”. All your attempts at suppressing and stopping thoughts will fail because you will be using the mind to stop the mind. The police man and thief are both the mind, so how can the police man catch the thief?

So you cannot kill the mind by force. The mind dies its own death by the poison of disassociation.

What gives power to a thought? – Your interest. If you have no interest in a particular thought then it loses its hold over you. You can try this out now. Let the thoughts flow through your mind but don’t take interest in them. Just stay as a bystander or a watcher and let the thoughts float.

Initially you might have a hard time watching thoughts because of your inherent habit of associating with each thought that arises. It helps to know that you are not your thoughts, that thoughts are just energy forms created in the mind. Why does the mind create thoughts? No one knows – it’s just something it does, why bother. Do you ever ask why does the heart beat?

With a little practice you will get really good at watching thoughts and not involving yourself with them. You will stop giving power to thoughts by not giving them your interest. Thoughts die immediately when they are deprived of this fuel of interest. If you don’t associate with the thought or give power to the thought, it will wither away quickly.

What Are Thoughts?

Past events get stored as memories. Your mind conditioning and beliefs are also stored as memories. All this is unconscious storage; the mind does all this in auto mode. Perceptions and interpretations are created in the mind based on its past “external” conditioning and also its natural conditioning (genetics). These interpretations, perceptions and judgments come up as thoughts in the mind, and they can positive or negative depending on the mind’s conditioning. Thoughts are generated based on the past incidents/memories, future projections and interpretations on the present life situation. It’s like a computer trying to predict or conjure up projection based on the data it has collected so far.

When thoughts are negative in nature (thoughts of worry, anxiety, stress, lack, resentment, guilt etc) they produce resistance to the movement of your life, and this resistance is felt as suffering. Negative thoughts will always stand in resistance to the movement of your life, like blocks of stone in the midst of a swift current of water. Life is a stream of pure positive energy and hence any negative thought will stand in opposition to it, causing friction which is felt as suffering in the body.

The thoughts in your mind gain power from your attention and interest. Your attention is the fuel for your mind. So when you give attention to negative thoughts in the mind, you are unconsciously fueling it and thus attracting more momentum for these negative thoughts. The momentum of negative thoughts in your mind will slow down, and ebb away, automatically when you stop feeding your attention to it. Stay as an open space of awareness without contracting your attention on the negative thoughts of the mind, and soon they will lose their momentum.

You can focus on the positive thoughts generated in the mind, and thus develop a positive momentum in your mind. Every time your mind produces some positive thoughts, e.g thoughts of love, joy, excitement, abundance, beauty, appreciation, passion, peace etc, focus on it, milk it, and give attention to it. This will cause your mind to attract more positive thoughts and thus build a positive momentum. Whenever it thinks negatively, don’t give it attention or interest, this will cause the ebbing away of the momentum of negative thinking. It’s really that simple. Once you understand the mechanics of how thoughts gain momentum in the mind, you will be in total control of your state of being.

The Practice of Watching the Mind

All you need to do to get rid of obsessive thoughts is to watch the mind without getting involved. You will get really good at this with just a little practice. This practice, or “sadhana” as called in Hindu scriptures, is the root of awakening from the illusion of mind.

Without trying to understand this practice just implement it. The more you try to understand the more mind gets involved. Just watch the mind and you will soon see that you are not the mind at all. That the mind is like a machine in your head that generates thoughts based on your attention/interest. Be free of your mind by depriving it of your interest. This is the only direct path of becoming free of the mind.

Written by: Sen - CalmDownMind.com

Feel Less Frustrated When Stressed.

Often when people are stressed they feel more frustrated and emotionally reactive to events that would normally affect them less. In fact, increased frustration, irritability and sensitivity can be signs of burnout as well. If you find yourself feeling less patient, more frustrated, more emotional, and less able to handle the stresses of your life, there are several things you can do to feel better:

Here's How:

1. Find Quick Stress Relief
   Stopping your stress response relatively early on can help you to respond more calmly rather than reacting to stress in a way that you might regret. Quick stress relievers such as breathing exercises or Progressive Muscle Relaxation, for example, can calm you down and help you feel less frustrated and more able to handle what comes. Then you can take the next steps with a clearer head. Learn more about quick stress relievers so you can be prepared for what comes.
2. Change Your Attitude
   Much of whether or not we see something as stressful depends on our habitual thought patterns and how we process the world around us. For example, those who see things as under their control tend to be less stressed about what happens to them, as they see that they always have options for change. Studies have shown health benefits to optimistic ways of thinking as well. Learn more about how to develop a resilient state of mind, and you’ll feel less stressed.
3. Change Your Lifestyle
   If you feel yourself to be continually on edge, it’s possible that something needs to change in your life. If you cut down on commitments, take good care of your body, and make other healthy lifestyle changes, you’ll be dealing with less overall stress so you’ll be more effective at managing the stress that you do encounter. Read more about the most effective changes you can make to lead a healthy lifestyle.
4. Draw on Social Support
   Often people are helped by having the release and support of sharing their troubles with close friends, family or loved ones. While it’s not healthy to constantly complain about an endless list of woes, talking to a trusted friend about frustrations now and then (and returning the favor by being a good listener) can help you process what’s going on with your life, and enable you to brainstorm solutions. If you don’t have someone you’re comfortable sharing your situation with, seeing a therapist or starting a regular journaling practice have both been shown to have benefits as well.
5. Have Some Regular Stress Relief Activities
   To maintain a less stressed lifestyle, it’s important to have some regular stress relieving activities in your life. Those who regularly walk, meditate, or enjoy other stress relief activities in their lives tend to feel less stressed in general and less reactive to specific stressors that arise through the day.

       Elizabeth Scott, M.S.

20 Bad Habits Holding Good People Back.

A change in bad habits leads to a good change in life…

Here are twenty bad habits many of us repeatedly struggle with:

1. Expecting life to be easy. – Nothing starts easy; everything begins at some level of difficulty.  Even waking up in the morning sometimes requires notable effort.  But one beautiful thing about life is the fact that the most difficult challenges are often the most rewarding and satisfying.
2. Overlooking your true path and purpose. – What really matters in life is not what we buy, but what we build; not what we have, but what we share with the world; not our capability but our character; and not our success but our true significance.  Live a life that makes you proud – one that matters and makes a difference.  Live a life filled with passion and love.  Read A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose.
3. Chasing after those who don’t want to be caught. – Do not chase people.  Be you, do your own thing and work hard on your passions.  The right people who belong in your life will eventually come to you, and stay.
4. Not asking for help when you know you need it. – No matter how far you’ve gone down the wrong road, you can always turn back.  Be STRONG enough to stand alone, SMART enough to know when you need help, and BRAVE enough to ask for it.
5. Letting one dark cloud cover the entire sky. – Take a deep breath.  It’s just a bad moment, or a bad day, not a bad life.  Everyone has troubles.  Everyone makes mistakes.  The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles.
6. Holding on to things you need to let go of. – Letting go doesn’t mean giving up, but rather accepting that there are things in life that should not be.  Sometimes letting go is what makes us stronger, happier and more successful in the long run.
7. Spending time with people who make you unhappy. – People can be cruel, and sometimes they will be.  People can hurt you and break your heart, and sometimes they will.  But only YOU can allow them to continuously hurt you.  Value yourself enough to choose to spend time with people who treat you the way you treat them.  Know your worth.  Know when you have had enough.  And move on from the people who keep chipping away at your happiness.
8. Not making time for those who matter most. – When we take things for granted, these things eventually get taken away.  Too often we don’t realize what we have until it’s gone.  Too often we are too stubborn to say, “I’m sorry, I was wrong.”  Too often it seems we hurt the ones closest to us by letting insignificant issues tear us apart.  Appreciate what you have, who loves you and who cares for you.  You’ll never know how much they mean to you until the day they are no longer beside you.
9. Denying personal responsibility. – You’re getting almost everything you’re getting right now based on the decisions you have made; and you will continue to receive the same things until you choose differently.  You always have some element of control.  There are always other options.  The choices might not be easy, but they are available.  You will not get a different result until you exercise a choice that forces you to grow by habit, by action, and by change.
10. Letting everyone else make decisions for you. – Never allow someone or something that adds very little to your life, control so much of it.  You’ve got to stop caring about what everyone else wants for you, and start actually living for yourself.  Let go of the people and things that continuously hold you back and no longer serve you, because you only get one shot at life.
11. Giving up who YOU are. – Remove yourself from any situation that requires you to give up any one of these three things:  1) Who you are.  2)  What you stand for.  3)  The goals you aspire to achieve.  Read Quitter.
12. Quitting as soon as things get slightly difficult. – An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backward; and such is life.  When life is pulling you back with difficulties, it means it’s going to eventually launch you forward in a positive direction.  So keep focusing, and keep aiming!
13. Doing too much and pushing too hard, without pausing. – Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never find it, but because they never stop long enough to enjoy it.  Sometimes we are so focused on what we want that we miss the things we need most.
14. Discrediting yourself for everything you aren’t. – STOP discrediting yourself for everything you aren’t.  START giving yourself credit for everything that you are.
15. Running from current problems and fears. – Trust me, if everyone threw their problems in a pile for you to see, you would grab yours back.  Tackle your problems and fears swiftly, don’t run away from them.  The best solution is to face them head on no matter how powerful they may seem.  Either you own your problems and fears, or they will ultimately own you.
16. Constantly mulling over past hardships. – You’ll never see the great things ahead of you if you keep looking at the bad things behind you.  To reach up for the new, you must let go of the old.  You are exactly where you need to be to reach your goals.  Everything you’ve been through was preparation for where you are right now and where you can be tomorrow.
17. Denying your mistakes. – Remember that most honorable people of all are not those who never make mistakes, but those who admit to them when they do.  And then go on to do their best to make the wrong things right.
18. Expecting your significant other to be perfect. – Remember that you will never find a PERFECT partner to love you in the exact way you had envisioned, only a person who is willing to love you with all that they are.  Someone who will accept you for who you can and cannot be.  And although they will never be PERFECT, finding a partner like this is even BETTER.  Read The Mastery of Love.
19. Focusing on the negative. – Positive thinking isn’t about expecting the best thing to happen every time, it’s about accepting that whatever happens is good for this moment, and then making the best of it.  So stay positive, and hold on to what’s truly important.  Let your worries go.  No matter how you look at it, some outcomes just don’t make sense right away.  Choosing to carry on with your goals through this uncertainty is what matters.
20. Never allowing things to be good enough. – We are human.  We are not perfect.  We are alive.  We try things.  We make mistakes.  We stumble.  We fall.  We get hurt.  We rise again.  We try again.  We keep learning.  We keep growing.  And we are thankful for this priceless opportunity called life.      

               By. Marc Hack

Letting Go of Emotional Baggage.

"Emotions are simply reminders that we are alive." 

                        Melanie Moushigian Koulouris

Emotions...we all have them. 

Some of us are just more successful than others at dealing with them. When we don't deal with them, they hang around. Many of us have created some type of emotional baggage we carry around. Past experiences have created emotional responses and at times these old emotions can come back to haunt us and impact our current lives.

Although it might feel that way, emotions don't just come from out of the blue. Behind every emotion is a thought. So, a negative emotion is really just a symptom of a negative thought. We think we are being treated badly and get angry. We think we might fail and we feel fear. But few people take the time to identify the thoughts that are creating the emotions they experience. They may even criticize themselves for having feelings, or they blame others for creating the emotion, but don't make any real effort to try to uncover the root cause of the emotion.
Often the focus is on ways to "deal with" by overcoming the emotion. Some people use drinking, drugs, overeating or other addictive behaviors to handle their emotions. Others may use support groups, relaxation techniques, or exercise to deal with emotions. But regardless of whether we use a positive or negative method of dealing with the emotion, we are only dealing with the symptom and not the cause. Attempting to block or fight the emotion ignores the thought behind the emotion.
In order to really let go of the emotional baggage, we must change the thoughts behind those emotions. So we have to shift our focus and start first by identifying the reason for the emotion. What thoughts are causing us to feel the way we do? What are we doing to empower and retain that thought? Our thoughts are based on our beliefs, so we must determine if we truly believe the thought that we are having. If not, we can make the choice to replace that negative thought with a more positive thought.
Shakespeare said, "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
Our feelings then are really just a response to the stories we tell ourselves. These stories are the interpretations we bring to events that occur. These interpretations are our thoughts superimposed on events. And the thoughts about the events may or may not be true. So in reality, we are reacting to a life that is found only in our minds.
Letting go of anxiety and worry. Anxiety and worry are emotions that are frequently caused by our inability to foresee the future. So many things in life happen that are beyond our control, and we can't even see what will actually happen.
To begin to release anxiety and worry, we need to shift our focus and instead of thinking about what might happen, we can have thoughts about how we want to prepare so that we can deal with whatever happens. We can focus on what we want to bring to the experience. We can focus on how we want to interact with others. Changing our thinking to focus on our goals and priorities and making our decisions on the basis of those priorities (instead of what we think might happen or what we want to happen) can release us from the pain of worry.
Letting go of frustration. Many of us have very rigid ideas about how life is "supposed" to be. But things don't always work the way we want them to. We keep bumping up against the nature of the world and find ourselves frustrated. We can even create a "crisis" out of our inability to get our way.
To begin to release the frustration we feel, we can change our thoughts about what we expect from life. Release your attachment on the outcome of what you do and focus instead on what you are putting into your life. Use children as your example. Infants and children often get angry or frustrated when things don't go their way, but generally they get over it very quickly and try again or move on to something else.
Letting go of anger or resentment. Anger or resentment of others can be caused by the thought that other people "should" do things the way we want them to. Our desire to control other people and our opinions of how they should act can create these negative emotions. We need to change our thoughts about other people's behavior and we can change the emotions. Eliminate the "shoulds" and focus on how we want to interact with them.
We can also feel anger and resentment towards ourselves. The thought that we should be perfect or that we should know everything can cause us to have negative feelings about ourselves when we make a mistake or fail at something. Again, changing our expectations and our thoughts about mistakes can release these emotions. We can consider a failure or a mistake as a learning experience and not as a catastrophe.
Letting go of the victim mentality. Blaming others for what happens to us can create feelings of being a victim. Or we can blame a situation instead of considering that it is our reaction, our thoughts about the event that is causing the feeling. We need to accept responsibility for our lives and how we react instead of blaming others. Shift thoughts to recognizing your role in the situation and what you have learned or gained from the experience.
Letting go of disappointment. Disappointment can be a result of feeling that we don't measure up, that we aren't good enough. Climbing the ladder of success, whether in business or our social lives, involves trying to get more, get better, or be the best. We try to pull more money, power, or status into our lives in order to convince ourselves or others that we are enough. To release these emotions, we need to redefine our thoughts about what success means and let go of the need to be the best.
Gaining emotional freedom. What stops us from being emotionally free? We do. Pain and suffering exists when our thoughts don't match reality. We need to question our thoughts to determine what is true for us. Truth can open emotional wounds and heal them. We must evaluate the thoughts that are causing the pain and change them.
It is also important to truly feel our emotions and then let them go. Again, children can be our role models. You will notice that children are not afraid to express what they feel, but then they move on very quickly to other feelings. We must learn to really notice how we feel and completely experience the emotions. Acknowledge painful emotions, and take joy in the positive emotions. Then move on, past those feelings. Feelings that are repressed can come back to haunt us later, so that the feelings we have about a certain event or issue is actually a composite of the thoughts and feelings we have had in the past. For real emotional health, we need to be able to express our emotions at the right moment in the right way.

By. Sherry Dawson

LIVE IN THE MOMENT!

To live in the moment, or now, means being conscious, aware and in the present with all of your senses. It means not dwelling on the past, nor being anxious or worrying about the future.

When we concentrate our attention on the present we focus on the task at hand. We give our full attention to what we are doing and we let go of outcomes.

Seizing each moment in life allows us to prolong its value and make it more meaningful. Rather than seeking quantity of time, when we live in the moment we enjoy and savor every minute. We don't sacrifice quality for quantity.

Of course, this doesn't mean we don't need to plan, set goals or prepare for the future. We can do all of these things and still enjoy each moment as it unfolds.

For instance, if we have set a goal to exercise each day, we would carry on with it while enjoying the actual process, or moment, of exercising (or at least be in the moment of it).

When we train ourselves to live in each moment, we immerse ourselves in it and begin to discover its beauty and wonder. We learn focus and how to manage our energy. Professional athletes understand and employ this kind of focus very well. They know that accomplishment and success are a result of the skillful management and balancing of energy.

To make every moment count we must embrace it. Everything we do and every person we come in contact with deserves our full attention. Even when resting we should savor the moment. It gives us the opportunity to recharge, renew and gain clarity.

Quite often we put huge expectations on ourselves and our lives. We rush to do this, hurry up with that, without actually enjoying the process. What's the rush? Where do we think we're going?

If we don't stop and think about where we're at, we're probably missing the point. Instead, when we appreciate each moment and garner the lessons from it, we live consciously, purposefully and responsibly.

Likewise, when we live in the past and don't let go of painful experiences, perceived wrongs, or difficult times, we condemn ourselves to a present and future of the same. We cannot change the past. We can, however, come to terms with it, know that it's over, and move on.

Living in the moment means letting go of the past and trusting in the future. When we are positive and optimistic in the present, we open the possibility of a positive and promising future. We owe it to ourselves to make every moment count - now!

Tips for Living in The Moment

• Train your mind to focus on the current activity.
• Engage in, and feel what you are doing. Enjoy the process.
• Learn relaxation techniques in order to be present in each moment.
• Take notice of your surroundings - sights, sounds, smells, ambiance.
• Listen attentively to the conversation of others, music, even silence.
• Savor your food and drink. Taste each morsel.

Benefits of Living in The Moment

✓ You become more connected with your thoughts and feelings
✓ Are more connected to others
✓ Feel more gratitude and enjoyment of life
✓ If you live in the moment, it won't pass you by
✓ Feel more focused, peaceful and alive
✓ Feel less anxious and fearful

Like all skills, training yourself to enjoy and live in the moment takes time and practice. Begin now and see life from a fresh, new perspective. Carpe diem!

 By. Zorka Hereford 

How To Manifest Things You Want Quickly.

Law of attraction. These 3 simple words have a lot of power behind them. Whatever you want in life, you must attract.Unfortunately, many people focus on what they DON’T want or what they DON’T have, and continue attracting just that. They end up attracting a lack of something or even bad luck.

If you’ve been trying to manifest money, love, happiness, health, success, or anything else through the law of attraction, then here are some tips on how you can get what you want a lot faster:

Be Grateful Now.

Although it may seem hard at first, think about the things you really appreciate in life, and feel thankful for them. Think about the really small things, like that pretty flower you saw on the way to work, or those new shoes you just bought. Be thankful for being able to read, and for having been born in a country with a good education system. If you focus on those things for which you are grateful, you will attract MORE things for which you will be grateful. This is how law of attraction is supposed to work.

Speak of what you want.

Look at pictures of what you want. Save pictures of what you want. Write about what you want. Now, don’t treat it as something that you actually “want”, but as if it’s something you’re going to get. You can’t just *believe* that you’re going to get it ‘” you have to *know* you are going to get it. It’s YOURS. Time means nothing when it comes to the power of manifestation.

Believe that you are worthy of it.

Very often people have deep psychological issues that stem from a lack of self-worth. You have to not only consciously believe that you deserve something, but subconsciously as well. Try hypnosis or NLP if you must. You need to do whatever you can to truly believe that you deserve what it is you desire.

Raise your vibrations. Learn some positive affirmations.

This is one of the best law of attraction tips you can learn. If you are in a good mood, you will be able to attract good things into your life. Listen to upbeat music, mediate, exercise, watch funny films or TV shows: these are just a few examples of things you can do to raise your vibrations.

Act as if everything you want is already yours.

It will be easier for your subconscious mind to attract everything if you “trick” it into thinking it’s already yours! This technique is kind of tricky, and you have to be in the right mood in order for it to be effective. You have to truly act and feel as if your dreams have already come true. Think of how excited and happy you would be if your dreams came true right this second. Shove away any resistance from your conscious mind.

If you follow these 5 law of attraction tips, you should be able to manifest everything you could ever want!

By. Jill Magso

13 Tips To Face Your Fear & Enjoy the Ride.

Everyone is afraid. I am, you are, everyone is! The only difference between you and the successful people you admire is that they are willing to work and move through their fears in order to get where they want to be.

If you don’t learn how to face your fear it will grip your mind, body, and spirit. It will wage a war against you and your dreams. Know this need not be. Once you understand how you can dissipate fear, it shrinks and is no longer a threat.

The next time you’re in a scary place try the following exercises.

1. Journal your fears

Write about your fear and its origin. How has it held you back in the past? Set aside time and without judgment, reflect on what you’ve written. You gain insight and loosen fears grip by observing it. When you write down your fear, fear loses its power over you.

2. Lean into your fear

Do the things that frighten you. Take one small step, then another. Action builds courage. Tell yourself, “This fear will pass.” Your world expands as your courage and willingness to grow expands. Open up your world, today to face your fear.

3. Relax your body

Unclench your jaw, soften your forehead, open your fists, slow down your pounding heart, and breathe. Take mini relaxation breaks throughout your day. Learn to live in a relaxed state.

4. Journal your past success

We tend to beat ourselves up when we fail and fail to celebrate when we succeed. Strengthen your belief in yourself by reflecting on each decade of your life and every success you’ve experienced. You can begin as early as age five when you learned how to ride a bike. Write it all down. You’ll be inspired, motivated and amazed by your list and how and can be used to face your fear.

5. Stop your story

Fear is an illusion. We make up frightening stories about our past and our future and rehearse them until we are terrified. Our stories are often about the pain of the past or the fear of the future. Change the fearful stories you tell yourself. You can find safety by learning to live in the present moment. You always have the option to create new stories filled with positive expectations of the future.

6. Laugh at your fear

Make fun of your fear by laughing at it. Really let it rip. Try and see how silly it is to hold back and give your power away to something that isn’t real!

7. Dwell on abundance

Learn to think, speak, and live as an abundant person to face your fear. Stop paying attention to all forms of negative media. Celebrate your life. Be generous. Give. Donate. Share.

8. Live vicariously

Study the success of Victor Frankl, Steve Jobs, Southwest Airlines, J.K. Rowling and other greats. Take note of their bold lifestyle and follow their path to greatness.

9. Believe in yourself

Focus your attention on being ready, willing, and prepared for the success, joy, wonder, connections, good fortune, and awesome circumstances that are yours if you are willing to work and be open to it. You deserve the best no matter what. Accept that fact about yourself.

10. Learn something new

Do you lack information or direction? Develop your intuition. Get a mentor. Join Toastmasters. Be a life-long learner. Give it your all. Burn the midnight oil. Take action on what you learn. Fear fades in an environment of this kind.

11. Take your fear and shove it

Let go of looking stupid, feeling embarrassed, being ignored and facing rejection or failure. Accept failure as a part of life. Get through it and get over it.

12. Help others

Give to the beginners. Be a good leader. Take others with you and help them succeed as well. What would life be like if we believed in, “All for one, and one for all?” We all want the same things in life. Let’s help each other move ahead.

13. View life as a creative and wild adventure

Life can be brimming with good times of beauty and adventure or overwhelming with challenge and tragedy. Choose to stay present and breathe through it all. Be grateful for the varied landscape, hold onto your hat, and enjoy the ride.

 By. Tess Marshall

5 Steps to a Happy Life with a Positive Attitude.

Step 1: Believe Happiness is a Choice

For me, this was a hard one at first. I thought that people were either unhappy or happy (and I was one of the unhappy ones). I used to blame this on all kinds of outside forces –- fate, experiences, parents, relationships –- but never really stopped to think that I could choose to be happy.
Sure, this isn’t always easy, but it is always, always an option. Teaching myself to see that happiness is a choice has been one of the greatest things I’ve ever done for myself.
Now when I find myself in a bad situation, I know that it’s up to me to find the good, to be happy regardless of what’s happening around me. I am no longer pointing fingers, placing blame. I realize that everything happens how it happens and it’s up to me to choose how I want to feel about it. I am in control of my happiness level and no one can take that away from me.

Step 2: Rid Your Life of Negativity

If you want to live a positive, joyful and happy life, you cannot –- absolutely CANNOT -– be surrounded by negative people who are not encouraging your happiness. When I was a pretty negative person, I tended to attract other negative people.
When I decided to make the change to live a more positive life, I had to rid my life of all of the negative people in it. This, as you can imagine, wasn’t easy. Getting rid of people hurts -– even when you know they aren’t good for you or your current lifestyle.
Not only did I have to get rid of the negative people, but I also had to get rid of the negative things too. I had to stop doing certain things that were causing negativity in my life. I had to take a step back and examine which behaviors were good for me and which were not.
I learned to focus on the positive things I was doing and let go of the negative ones. This process was not easy and to be honest, is still ongoing, but I know this: having negativity in your life prevents you from living a truly positive existence.

Step 3: Look For the Positive in Life

There is the positive aspect in everything. In every person, in every situation, there is something good. Most of the time it’s not all that obvious. We have to look. And sometimes we have to look hard.
The old me just sat back and allowed things to happen by default. If I saw negative, I went with that feeling. I didn’t want to look harder or think too much about the good. I found it much, much easier to sit back and just accept what I saw (which was usually the bad).
Now, when I’m faced with a difficult or challenging situation, I think to myself, “What is good about this?” No matter how terrible the situation might seem, I always can find something good if I take the time to think about it.

Everything –- good and bad -– is a learning experience. So, at the very least, you can learn from bad experiences. However, there’s usually even more to it than that. If you really take the time to look, you will usually find something good, something really positive, about every person or situation. 

Step 4: Reinforce Positivity in Yourself
Once I started thinking more positively and adapted to a more positive attitude, I realized I had to reinforce these thoughts and behaviors in myself so they would stick. As with any sort of training, practice makes perfect, and, yes, you can practice being positive.
The best and easiest way to do this is to be positive when it comes to who you are. Tell yourself you’re awesome. Tell yourself you look good. Tell yourself that you love and accept yourself completely. Tell yourself you did an awesome job at work or raising your kids or whatever it is you do.
Be honest with yourself, but do your best to look for the good. And, whatever you do, don’t focus on the negative. Nothing good can come of telling yourself that your butt’s too big or your latest career goal wasn’t met.
It’s okay to not like everything about yourself (yet), but don’t spend energy dwelling on the negative. Remind yourself of the good in you. We all have positive attributes and it’s up to you to remind yourself of them every day.

Step 5: Share Happiness with Others
Not only do you need to be positive with yourself for this new positive attitude to really take effect, you also need to be positive with others. You have to share your wealth of positivity with the world.
The best way I’ve found to do this is quite simple and basic: be nice. Be nice to other people, no matter what. Tell someone he or she looks nice today. Tell someone they did a great job on that presentation. Tell your parents or children (or both!) how much you love them and how great they are.
When someone is feeling down, do what you can to cheer him or her up. Send flowers. Write notes. Don’t gossip. Be kind to all living things. All of these things sound basic enough, but, for someone like me, they didn’t used to come easily.
In the past, I didn’t wanted to see the good in myself and, therefore, didn’t want to see it in others either. I used to be critical and condescending. Now I strive to be encouraging and supportive. I try not only to treat others, as I would like to be treated, but also to consider how they would like to be treated.
People appreciate positivity and the more you are sharing it with others, the more you are practicing it and reinforcing it in your own life.

By. Dani of http://www.positivelypresent.com/

How To Forgive Yourself and Others.

Pain, resentment, guilt, anger, and fear… all of these feelings bubble up inside of us when we think back on our mistakes or the mistakes of those dear to us.  Sometimes the only healthy way to move forward is to look back at our past and inject forgiveness into our lives.

Some say “forgive and forget.”  Others say “forgive, but never forget.”  No matter which path you choose, the act of forgiving is the first step.  Here are three simple ways to bring more forgiveness into your life.

Forgive Yourself

In general, we tend to be harder on ourselves than we are on others.  If you’ve made mistakes in the past, it’s time to let your spirit heal by forgiving yourself.  We all do things we aren’t proud of.  Understand that you were doing the best you could at the time, with the experiences and knowledge you had accessible to you.

Self-forgiveness tips:

• Pick an area of your life you would like to work on.  It could be failed relationships, family problems, or business mistakes.
• Make a list of all of the people you might have hurt along the way.  This is the toughest part because we tend to bury some of these stressful memories.  So be honest with yourself and take your time.
• After you’ve compiled your list, systematically go through each person on the list.  Think about the situation, validate the circumstances, and forgive yourself for hurting them.   As odd as it may feel, apologize aloud to yourself, “I forgive myself for hurting this person,” and take a deep breath.  Once you’ve completed this practice you’ll instantly feel a slight sense of relief.

Remember, the simple act of acknowledging your mistakes is always half the battle.

Ask for Forgiveness

Once you forgive yourself, it’s also important to clear the air with others.  A face to face apology is always the most effective approach.  Depending on the situation, you might be afraid to ask for forgiveness.  But if you don’t ask, you will never feel the relief of being pardoned for your mistakes.

If you absolutely can’t bring yourself to ask for forgiveness in person, I still recommend writing a letter of forgiveness.  The reason writing a letter works so well is that the process of writing the letter actually assists you in forgiving yourself by reducing pent-up, internal feelings of guilt.  It lets you express your thoughts and process all of the internal drama that has bottled-up in your mind. 

Tips for writing your letter of forgiveness:

• Don’t do it out of spite, or because you think it will elevate you to higher moral ground.  No good ever arises from deception.
• Realize that a letter can’t undo the damage.  A letter of forgiveness might not be enough to change your relationship with the recipient, but it’s a significant step in the right direction.
• Explain your rationale, but don’t make excuses for your behavior.  Own up to your actions and take responsibility.  Offer to fix the situation, or find a way to make it up to the person.
• Make a sincere wish for the well-being of the person you hurt.  After many years of festering emotions, you may have come to hate the act of thinking about this person.  Stop being selfish!  It’s time to be honest and compassionate.

Hopefully, just writing the letter will allow you to move closer to a positive resolution on all fronts.

Forgive Others

If you’ve been hurt in the past, you don’t need to keep suffering.  Whether or not you’ve gotten closure is irrelevant.  You have the ultimate power to clear the air by simply forgiving those who have hurt you.

You should make a list of all of the people who have done something that still troubles you to this day. The list might start out small, but as you unwind your memories you are bound to find more people and incidents than you were previously aware of.

Your mind represses these memories in an effort to preserve your conscious sanity.  The drawback is that you probably haven’t processed these events properly.  So while you aren’t actively thinking about them, they are quietly tugging at your consciousness and robbing you of mental energy.

Tips for forgiving others:

• Close your eyes and picture the person standing in front of you.
• In your mind’s eye, explain to them how you felt then, how you feel now, and what happened during those hurtful times.
• After you’ve stated your views, let them acknowledge your pain.  Watch their reactions and wait for a response.  There’s a good chance they will understand your point of view.
• Then hug them and tell them that you forgive them.  Yes!  Really do this with all of your emotional might, it’s a powerful process!  Release them from your troubled past and let your thoughts come back to the present.

After completing only a few of these processes, you’ll find yourself breathing deeper and interacting differently with these people.  Regardless of whether or not they are still a part of your daily life, you will forever see them in a more positive light… which will ultimately make your future brighter.

 by Nathalie Lussier