Depression And How To Beat It

Even though the effects of depression may be all too real in your life, depression is simply not real. If believe yourself to be suffering from depression, it’s just your imagination because depression is the direct result of your subconscious mind’s obsession with useless thoughts that you took on board during your childhood years. It is normal for your subconscious mind to dwell on the past – everyone’s does – it’s simply that the nonsense that yours is paying attention to is evidently a little (or a lot) out of the ordinary. Of course, that’s not your fault – your subconscious mind was conditioned with these thoughts by others, people and events that made you feel worthless, guilty, dejected during those childhood years.

Even though it’s normal for your subconscious to dwell on past deeply-rooted memories, this obsession doing you damage – you can see it and feel it in your daily life. Again, mustn’t feel bad about this – everyone’s subconscious mind is doing them damage – at least you have the advantage over other normal people in realizing that you have a problem.

But that problem is completely down to what your subconscious mind is thinking about. You must tear your mind away from those self-destructive thoughts and redirect your attention to the one place and time that’s real, the only place and time that you can actually live – the present moment. If you manage to turn your attention to the here and now you will experience something that you probably have never experienced before – depression is an illusion, there’s no such thing as fear or worry, there’s only a world full of possibilities and opportunities – and quantum physics proves that that wonderful world will respond to your hopes and dreams.

Pills or medicine will not enable you experience the difference between reality and the fiction of stress – they might make the pain go away for a while but your subconscious mind will always wander back to those thoughts that are not real but just an imprint of your own ancient history. The only way in which you will experience reality – one cleansed of depression – is to learn how to clear your mind. No sweat! Because, as a child, you had a totally clear mind – that’s how those bad feelings were impressed upon you way back then. All you’ve got to do now is re-train yourself to pay attention to what your five senses are telling you, just right now – without putting your subconscious mind’s warped interpretation onto the facts.

I am convinced that the best way to relearn how to pay attention to the reality of your five senses is meditation – preferably, for starters, guided meditation. It will take you a while to get into it, it can be difficult, but a small amount of commitment will yield the wonderful benefit of your being able to live your life to the full.

Self Help – Do Self Affirmations Actually Work?

Do Please Login or Register to see the link. actually work? The short answer is ‘No’ – unless you have a few years to spare and a serious supply of perseverance. The problem is that self-affirmations are address at your conscious mind and, unfortunately, your conscious mind has absolutely nothing to do with how you behave, how you react to others and situations, how you view life in general or, most importantly, the way in which you view yourself. However, as I said, if you throw enough muck at your conscious mind, sooner or later – in fact, definitely later – some of that mud will eventually stick and make some kind of positive impression on your subconscious mind. However, you’d have to stick with it religiously and, even then, you’d be faced with an uphill battle because your subconscious mind simply won’t believe what it’s being told if its view of reality is the opposite. How come? Your subconscious mind controls your beliefs, behaviours and reactions and actually creates your own personal version of reality. Self-affirmation is like trying to having a snowball fight in hell’s fiery furnace!!

That said, if you’re really determined to Please Login or Register to see the link., some area of your life, or change yourself, your own self confidence or some unsavoury behaviour or bad habit, it’s your subconscious mind that you will have to impress. It holds all the keys, has its hand on all the levers and its feet on all the pedals that either get your life moving forward or, more often than not, grind to a complete and shuddering full stop.

In order to Please Login or Register to see the link., you’re going to have to become like a little child again – not childish but childlike. When you were a child you paid full attention to the reality of the here and now, using each of your five senses – that is how you learned your current set of beliefs about the world and who you believe yourself to be. Consequently, you now pay little or no attention to reality today – your subconscious mind pretty much makes your reality up for you as it goes along! – with all the usual consequences. You need to come back to your senses, to relearn how to pay more attention to what’s actually happening around you, instead of paying attention to the subconscious baggage that’s weighing you down.

The normal subconscious is living in the past. And the key to your future is to be found in the present. After all, the present moment is the only place and time where life is actually lived. As such, you’ve got to re-learn how to pay attention to what is actually going on, not what your subconscious mind, peering out through its dirty lens of past events, thinks is going on. This re-learning process means training yourself how to pay attention to what you see, feel, hear, smell and taste. This training has to be practiced in peace and quiet so that, when the wheels starting coming off in the so-called real world, you’re equipped and ready to perform in a way that will lead you onwards and upwards to the life that heart desires.

Personal Growth – The Link Between Body, Mind And Spirit

I often find it difficult to explore some of the key ideas in what I might call Please Login or Register to see the link. given that ordinary language and words prove far from adequate. By way of example, do the words ‘universal energy’ adequately explain the reality that you and I are energy, we live in a world and universe made up of vibrating energy and that energy responds to our input? Does the sobriquet ‘Please Login or Register to see the link.’ mean different things to different people? And where do the limits lie between Please Login or Register to see the link.?

Of course, in fact, there are no boundaries between mind, body and spirit in the same way that there are no limits between us individually and the universe of which each of us comprises an indispensable and intergal part. We are not just part of a whole, when it comes to us individually, there is just one – mind, body and spirit are simply different aspects of the one. It’s important to understand this because, when one looks at the facts in this way, it becomes obvious that what we’re thinking has an immediate impact on how we feel physically and mentally. For example, when one examines the apparent reality of stress and its all too real physical consequences, we realize that our thoughts directly cause shifts in body temperature and heart rate, changes in the creation and distribution of a whole range of chemicals all of which, if unchecked, lead to serious illnesses – such as heart attack and stroke – and, if seriously out of control, result in premature death.

The point that I am making is this. Our mental state has a direct influence on the state of mind of others around us – this has been proven many times by research in the field of psychology. How much more does our state of mind affect us, ourselves? Your fitness, health and wellness are all directly related to your state of mind. Even your weight – your inclination to gain too much of it or a variety of dietary disorders from bulimia to anorexia – is a direct consequence of what you’re thinking.

And what you’re thinking is directly within your own control – or can be if you make the effort to make the simplest and, ultimately, most liberating decision that any one of us can make as grown ups – choosing your own thoughts. The normal mind is plagued with toxic thoughts, most of which come from the subconscious. Research concludes that the normal subconscious is focused on the events of our childhood years and is predisposed to focus on the more negative events. That is our default mental state. That is not to say that we cannot choose as to what we will pay attention to, however.

You are your own master. Your life, every part of it, is dictated by what you’re paying attention to – whether you’re aware of it or not. This ultimate and powerful decision that I’ve just mentioned can be taken, each day, each moment, by deciding to pay attention to the actual reality of the here and now. That’s the only cast-iron way of stopping your own subconscious dwelling on self-destructive thoughts. No other mechanism is more effective, no other way has the power to absolutely transform your health, your fitness, your wellbeing, your personal effectiveness and, most importantly, your ability to have a life of peace, happiness and incredible success.

Personal Development: How To Handle The Crap In Your Brain

Do you have crap in your head? Undoubtedly you have – we all have. However, if you’re paying attention to the crap in your head, you are just creating the crap that you have in your life. You are what you’re thinking. Unfortunately, it’s not just the thoughts that you’re aware of that create your life, it’s just a bit more subtle than that. Actually, more than anything else, you are what you’re thinking subconsciously. Your subconscious mind runs – or ruins – your life. All of your behavior, everything that you do, all your reactions and all your interactions – with those who are close to you, friends, colleagues and even with people who you don’t even know – are all dictated by your subconscious. And the big problem is that, because of the way your subconscious mind is wired, it all just happens automatically.

However, there’s an even bigger problem. Your subconscious mind is full of crap. It’s crap because it has nothing to do with who you are or what you’re supposed to be doing right here, right now. All this crap is a hangover from your childhood, when you were young and impressionable – from your formative years. And, even though all the automatic behavior happens subconsciously, every so often you’re actually aware of the crap. at times you might feel down, stressed, negative or depressed. You might believe that you’re useless, uneasy or inadequate. Sometimes, or in some situations, you might feel nervous or anxious. Maybe you feel that you lack self-confidence or that you’re suffering from low self-esteem. But this is just crap created by crap! This is the crap that has your life on hold – and you let this happen by paying attention, whether you’re aware of it or not, to the crap that’s buried in your head.

All this crap won’t go away – but you can choose whether or not you pay attention to it – either consciously or, in actual fact, subconsciously. That’s what personal development or self improvement is all about. You see, as a grown adult, you can actually take control of your subconscious mind – choose, in each moment, what you’ll pay your attention to. So you’ve got to decide to turn your attention to something real instead of letting your subconscious mind just lead you by the nose into an ever deepening vortex of crap. The only thing that’s really real in your life – the here and now. This is where you can really be the very best you if you could only stop paying attention to all the crap. Pay attention to now – to what you see, feel, hear, smell and taste. This focus will drag your subconscious (sometimes kicking and screaming) away from its natural obsession with all the unreal crap. Normally you don’t actually experience anything real because you see it through the fog of crap. You’ve got to clear the fog – it won’t clear on its own because it’s your personal fog. Clear the fog by realizing that it’s not there at all! There is no fog.

All that’s here is what is here just now. So teach yourself to experience your five senses – make sense of the here and now instead of nonsense. It’s life changing.

Personal Development And The Extraordinary Power Of Now

If you’re keen on personal development or self improvement, you’ll have some understanding of the importance placed by many experts on being focused in the present moment. Ekhart Tolle’s ‘The Power of Now’ emphasizes the virtues of what might be described as presence of mind. However, Tolle, together with other personal development ‘gurus’, doesn’t either adequately explain why ‘Now’ is just so important or, indeed, give practical advice on being more present.

First off, now is the only place and time that actually exists – the past is what you learn from (although psychology proves that most of us don’t learn but subconsciously live there) and the future is something that will only transpire the way you want if you’re prepared to be focused and effective in the here and now. Also, quantum physics tells us that the universe only exists now – and it confirms that universal energy responds to our energy – now. In simple terms, it is vital to be present. Being present gives you ‘presence’ – the hallmark of all successful people.

The big problem is that we’re not present. Our subconscious is focused in our so-called formative years, whilst our conscious mind is plagued by useless thought – thoughts tending towards negative self-doubt and worry. As a result it’s little surprise that research suggests that the normal mind is only one percent present. If that’s true you’re extremely unlikely to elicit much response from an otherwise responsive universe.

In short, it’s vital that you become more present. But how? Being present means being focused on what you’re doing and where you are now. The majority of, according to many surveys, are not focused on what they’re doing, preferring instead to do what they’re doing whilst thinking that they don’t like what they’re doing! Also, most of us haven’t understood the simplicity of what focus actually is. Focus means paying attention – nothing else. It means tuning into the reality of the moment, using the only mechanism that’s available to you to do this – your five senses. These are your sole interface with the world. Yet we pay little attention to what our senses are telling us, we prefer to let our subconscious put its own interpretation on reality. We all use our preconceived notions to make sense of now and, as a result, make utter nonsense of it.

You’ve got to relearn how to pay attention. We were all expert at this when we were young children. The simplest way to start re-learning is to set some time aside to re-focus one sense at a time. I suggest that you find somewhere quiet to sit tomorrow morning. Close your eyes and notice how all the sounds around you become more pronounced. They’re not, of course, you’re just paying more attention. Notice your body’s sensations – feelings that you wouldn’t notice when you’re normally inattentive. Next morning you might spend a few minutes noticing how your body reacts when you breathe. Five minutes each morning will vastly affect your ability to pay attention for the rest of the day – you’ll be more present, more focused, more tuned into what’s going on and the opportunities the moment offers.

Then you can start measuring your improved focus by reference to your results. You’ll be more responsive to situations and people that they might otherwise fail to see or avoid completely, you’ll be more open to doing things that you wouldn’t otherwise do. And, on the basis that the one thing that has your life stuck in a rut is the fact that you rarely do anything different, bold or courageous, this can only be a good thing. Through your presence you will not just be open to new opportunity – you’ll actually create your own opportunities. The net result is that, at least, your life will move forward – for the better. At most, your life will never be the same – you will achieve effortless and measurable, success and happiness.

The Dangers Of Personal Development

Regardless of where you are or what you’re doing, you are in the company of people who haven’t a clue that their subconscious mind is creating their reality as you read these words. These so-called normal people have no idea that their subconscious mind controls them and, by virtue of the fact that they don’t control their own mind, that they are actually crazy.

In contrast, you, having delved into the study of Please Login or Register to see the link. (otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this!), have some feeling that your thoughts create your life. Many books have been written about it, numerous personal development websites explain that you can, indeed, fashion your own life experience. And you may well already have achieved some results to show for your endeavours.

However, that’s when it can become dangerous. If you do know that you shape your own life, that your subconscious mind can be brought under your own control and that your resultant behaviour, actions, interactions and, therefore your life, can be directed by you – you have a great responsibility to yourself that you must rise to moment to moment. Because, just in the same way that many books have been written on Please Login or Register to see the link., much has also been written on just how badly things can go wrong for those of us who know how the game of life is played and choose, either by act or omission, not to play according to the rules.

Complacency is a far more subtle enemy than Please Login or Register to see the link.. It lulls us into a false sense of security that permits our mind do what it does best – slip back into its normal state of autopilot that allows our programmed subconscious mind start to destroy the benefits that we might have gained from being more focused, more mindful, more present.

For the vast majority of people in this world – normal people – it is too great a challenge to snap out of the deadly hypnosis that our programmed subconscious mind wields over us. Indeed, for the vast majority of normal people, they will die never knowing that this challenge was even there to be attempted. For those of us who do confront this challenge and succeed, the real challenge is not to awaken but to stay awake and stay focused on a continual basis. We never know when life will throw a spanner in the works – one that will set us off on another path of self-sabotage, so we must do everything in our power to do what little it takes each day to make certain that our minds are focused and that we are as fully present as we can be to the only place and time where life is be lived – the here and now.

Personal Development: Managing Your Energy

Our universe, our world and our everyday lives operate like a huge energy-exchange machine. So says quantum physics – everything is simply energy and the basic building blocks are what are known as superstrings of energy. You have trillions of superstrings of energy that combine into particles, molecules, cells which, all together, make up the physical you. To quote the physicist Brian Greene, your superstrings are something like violin strings and, when they are all in tune, life’s just like a beautiful symphony. But how often does that happen? More often than not your strings are out of tune and your daily life sounds more like a third-rate crappy brass band!

Never mind the jargon of Please Login or Register to see the link., we even have expressions that describe how it feels to be ‘out of tune’ and, strangely enough, these generally refer to the main centres in our body which ancient mysticism describes as the key energy centres or ‘chakras’. Some examples will explain all! If you’re nervous, you’ll feel like you have butterflies in your stomach – the physical manifestation of your state of mind. If you’ve something upsetting or unpalatable to say, you might have a lump in your throat. If you’re feeling disenchanted you might have that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach – a key energy centre often referred to by successful people when they mention gut instinct or gut feel. And how come that tension and nervousness can result in a ‘tense nervous headache’?

The simple fact is that, whether you’re aware of the scientific explanation or not, you somehow feel that your Please Login or Register to see the link. produces physical knock-on effects. What’s the point of all this? Well, the normal state of mind, which psychology confirms tends towards the negative, is the cause of all manner of ills and, crucially, is the source of unease in our everyday lives. The normal subconscious mind turns our energy in on ourselves – and, as a consequence – so that we end up sabotaging ourselves. Sometimes we are all too well aware of the results of a negative state of mind: Please Login or Register to see the link., no self confidence, an unease in certain circumstances, stress, anxiety (all the way up to panic) and depression. But these are the obvious examples of a more subtle and deeply-rooted problem.

This inward focus of our energy means that we don’t have a sufficient amount of energy available to put into what we’re supposed to be doing right now and it is this ‘disability’ that keeps normal people imprisoned in a not-too-bad, normal existence. And as our world and your life operates so that you get a return on the energy that you put into the act of living, with little concrete investment comes little or no return. It’s no big surprise then that people lack fulfilment.

You must break this cycle of self destruction. You’ve got to start investing more energy in your life, by putting more of you into living in the present moment. You can start, right now, by taking five minutes, sitting somewhere where you won’t be disturbed, closing your eyes and simply listening to the sounds that you hear. This turns off the constant noise in your head and tears your subconscious mind’s attention away from its negative, self-sabotaging obsession and enables you turn that inward energy out into a world that is simply waiting to respond to presence in the here and now.

Cycles Useless Thought: How To Escape

You are being plagued by Please Login or Register to see the link. and you’re probably not even be aware of it! Whilst the normal adult is bombarded by around fifty-thousand thoughts each day, it is also true to say that the average adult is largely unaware of anything that is going on in his or her life. Hold on a minute – that’s a big statement!. You may wonder if it’s true, certainly it comes as news to you. That said, research that started in 1936 and which continues to be being built upon proves conclusively that normal people are only one percent aware – they are only one percent in the here and now. More than that, the greater part of your mental power, your subconscious mind, is largely paying attention to your past – a time long-gone in which you were actually aware, were actually present and were not bombarded by useless thought.

Of course, you are aware of the odd useless thought that whizzes through your head – thoughts like “I hate my job” (this has nothing to do with your job, it has to do with what you think about it!) “I wish I was out on fishing” (a completely useless and distractive thought if you’re in the middle of a client meeting!) “I feel agitated talking to this person” (a thought linked to your perceived inadequacy as a normal adult, rather than anything to do with the other person). You might also be aware of one of the most corrosive forms of useless thought – Please Login or Register to see the link.. Then there are the deeper, darker thoughts that hide in your subconscious – these you believe to be hard facts. All our perceived weaknesses, all the things that we may not like about ourselves, all our shortcomings are simply thoughts based on things that made us feel a certain way about ourselves during our early years. They are seriously toxic thoughts.

Useless thought presents us with three big problems! First of all, it distracts us from doing what we’re supposed to be doing – to the extent that we only one percent do it! We’re not going to achieve much in life if we haven’t bothered to turn up for the event!! Secondly, useless thought presents us with a familiar, habitual way of going through or, perhaps even, coping with our daily life. It’s a habit that we’re so used to that we’re unaware of it. Thirdly, useless thought stops you moving towards the life that you really want. Go on thinking useless thought and you will never Please Login or Register to see the link.. We can all achieve whatever we believe in – but if our resident useless thoughts are contrary, how will we ever believe?

You’ve got to break the cycle of useless thought. This is most effectively done by stopping yourself from having irrelevant, simple useless thoughts. How about an example! You’re walking along the street and you see a nice car. That’s fine – but you should then walk on and observce whatever happens next. However, you might say to yourself “That car is nicer than mine!” That’s a useless thought – it has nothing to do with the reality of the moment (the only time and place there is!). And it leads to other useless thoughts: “I wish I had a better car!” “I couldn’t afford a new car!” “I cannot afford to go on holidays this year either!” “What if I can’t keep making my home loan repayments!” Useless thoughts take normal adults down alleys and mug them all the time. It’s part of the way we are as normal adults. However, we’ve got to break the cycle of useless thought, otherwise we will continue to live habitual mundane lives. Is that your goal?

Personal Development: Awareness

I get these strange comments to some of my articles. I recently posted a piece on the importance of paying attention to the present moment, pointing out that it’s the only time and place that you can be – and if you don’t bother to turn up to the reality of the here and now, how can you possibly expect to get anything decent out of life. I received a comment – from someone who signed themselves as a “Please Login or Register to see the link. expert” said that, OK, the here and now is all very well – but really personal development is about choice and awareness.

So, here’s the big question: Please Login or Register to see the link.? Let’s make it simpler – what can you be aware of at any particular point in time? Of course, you could be aware of what you’re thinking – most people aren’t because, as decades of research prove, most people aren’t aware of anything much at all. You could be aware that you’re feeling anxious or fearful – but these so-called emotions are merely the product of the thoughts that you’re not aware of in the first place. You could be aware of how you feel about yourself – your own self-image – but that’s not awareness, that’s getting involved in the continuous internal power struggle between you and Please Login or Register to see the link. (remember, personality is dervided from the Latin word, “persona”, meaning a mask and your personality is nothing more than the amalgamation of all the personal “snapshots” you took as a child).

True awareness is being aware of the here and now. To paraphrase the Buddha, when I am walking, I am aware that I am putting one foot in front of the other. Only in the present moment is reality to be found. In fact – scientific fact as researched by quantum physics – only in the present moment does anything exist and all that exists is changing from one moment to the next.

And what of the choice we must make? We have a stark choice that has a fundamental impact on our lives – we can choose to be aware or we can (and this is the unaware choice made by normal people) choose to live in a make-believe world created by our own, predominantly negative, thoughts. This is a choice that we must make again and again, in each moment because nobody becomes aware and stays aware – it is a continual in exactly the same way that the reality of the universe in which we live is an ongoing process.

Your life is the way it is as a result of your action, reaction or inaction right here, right now. The normal person reacts to their own thoughts and perceptions. The extraordinarily successful person acts on the basis of the facts in the moment and, thereby, creates a life that is exciting, spontaneous, adventurous, fulfilled and successful. Now, do you think that might be a choice worth making?