Personal Development And Wasting Your Time And Energy
August 22, 2010 by selfimprove
Right now, you’re living new day – a day that’s never happened before, a day that will never be repeated. Now is a new moment. And, in each new moment, you have a choice. And on your choice depends your personal development. You have a choice in regard to the thoughts that you are paying attention to just at the present moment. Are those thoughts simply random? Perhaps they’re negative thoughts? Have they anything to do with what you should be doing at this moment in time? Are they positive thoughts (better than negative ones but they’re still just thoughts). The thoughts you’re focused on are distracting you from doing. Don’t waste your energy, ignore your thoughts, but leave space for the flights of fancy to surface – because they are not thoughts, but inspiration and inspiration only comes to the clear mind.
In this new moment, it’s your choice as to your behavior and actions (more commonly reactions) too. And, depending on what you choose, you can quite literally change your life. How much energy have you simply thrown away already today? How much time have you squandered sitting in front of your PC’s screen, staring blankly? How much of your precious and vital energy have you wasted gossiping about and delighting in the misdeeds or misfortune of others? You’ve probably misspent some precious time shuffling you’re “To Do” list until there’s no time left to do! Or how much of your time and energy have you mis-invested in doing things you just should not be doing – like surfing the net for things that have nothing to do with anything important, reading emails that were copied to you to cover someone’s backside, wading through the sordid details of domestic violence that pad out each day’s newspapers? Every moment that you waste is a moment that you will never have again. And what we achieve in life is the sum total of how we spend each precious moment.
At least, in reflecting on some of these searching questions you might begin to realize just how much of your life is misspent on doing things that are holding you back from living the life that you want. But these are energy-wasters that you’re aware off – there’s something even worse going on. How much energy are you wasting and you don’t even know? Because, unless your subconscious mind is immersed in profitable activity in the present moment, it is still happily wandering around your childhood years, thinking that those childhood events are actually happening now – and you’ve no idea whatsoever that that’s what’s actually happening. And this is the waste of energy that divorces us all from the opportunities of the now, from the reality of the now, from the abundance of the now.
So, ask yourself this question. Do you want to change your life? Then ask yourself if what you are doing now, in the context of what you really want out of life, is the very best investment of your energy. If it isn’t, don’t do it.
Practical Personal Growth Tips: Take A Breather
August 21, 2010 by selfimprove
Almost as soon as our day gets going it’s very easy to be overwhelmed by the routine, the urgent (not necessarily the important), this morning’s crisis or, most prevalent of all, unproductive thinking. Even if you have started your day properly, it is all too easy to become submerged and revert to our default state of unfocused mindlessness.
So, first things first, what does Please Login or Register to see the link. mean? Well, we make certain that we don’t leave the house physically unprepared for the day ahead. We shower and dress ourselves – shaving or applying the odd dab of make-up as appropriate! On the other hand, we unwittingly leave the house every morning mentally unprepared for what lies in store. Starting the day properly means making sure that, before leaving home, you’ve taken the appropriate step or steps to clear the mind and focus your energy. I suggest five to ten minutes Please Login or Register to see the link. for the day ahead. Find somewhere where you won’t be disturbed, sit and focus on your five senses – one sense at a time. This will enable you focus on what is really going on as distinct from the subconscious programs that otherwise run your life – the latter being your default state of mind.
Right, let’s say that you’ve Please Login or Register to see the link., you’re switched on, fully focused, alert and primed for action. Little things like a delayed train, like heavy traffic, like somebody asking you to do something unexpectedly – so many little things can upset us. And we haven’t even mentioned the big things! It can be so easy to wander automatically into mental oblivion as the day unfolds. What we’ve got to do is ensure that, throughout the day, we pause to catch our breath – literally.
Ancient wisdom places great store on the opportunity that our breathing offers us to clear our mind of useless nonsense and distraction and, in doing so, focus our energy. So, here’s an easy, quick and very practical tip – because, after all, you’ve got to breathe anyway! Take a couple of moments – moments is all that’s required – during the day to pay attention to the reality of the moment as you inhale and exhale. Pay attention to what it feels like to breathe, how your body responds with each breath in and out, how the air passes through the left, right or both nostrils. Give thanks for the reality that you are alive and breathing. Attend to nothing else for these few moments. If the hassles or useless thoughts of the moment start crowding your mind, take three deeper breaths to refocus your attention. With each breath, realize that whatever might be driving you crazy right now will be completely forgotten in months, weeks, days or even hours. Realize that, with an alert, focused and ready mind, all things are possible.
The Dangers Of Personal Development
July 17, 2010 by selfimprove
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.
Start Doing – Stop Reading Self Help Books
July 14, 2010 by selfimprove
Continuously reading self help books is much like gathering a stash of holiday brochures and travel books about an exotic destination that you would love to visit. You’ve poured over photographs, read all the reviews, imagined yourself sipping a cocktail looking out over that breath-taking sunset, immersed yourself in the idea of being there. However, you’ve never got around to buying the ticket. What’s my point? Reading about how to achieve Please Login or Register to see the link. and actually doing what you’ve learned are two completely different things. Reading all those feel-good stories about how others have taken the required action and, as a consequence, changed their lives, may well give you that longing feeling inside. But tomorrow morning, when you drag yourself out of bed for another normal day, what has changed? Little or nothing! When wake up to another day of hassle, stress, financial worries or battered self-esteem, what good will all that reading have done you? If anything, you’ll find yourself even more restless and more disillusioned than you were at the outset.
Reading, understanding and intellectually appreciating what it takes to change your life will change nothing in your life until you put your learning into regular practice. And that’s just too big a hassle for so-called normal people – they’re fearful of taking what they perceive as some really risky leap of faith.
If you’ve been lucky enough to come across a self help book that gives you step-by-step instructions on how to change your life (and they’re few and far between – most of them are ‘feel-good books’) then you must know by now that you don’t have to leap into the great unknown. All you need to take is take small daily steps that will awaken you from the self-induced hypnosis in which most normal people are merely existing.
If you want to change your life, you’ve got to change the way you’re living the life that you have at present. You start small – by doing something as simple as changing your morning routine – because small things get your subconscious mind out of its comfort zone. Once out you will start to understand that absolutely everything in your life can be done differently. When this realization hits you, you’re going to find yourself in a completely different place – where action that was otherwise unconscionable suddenly become obvious – and easily doable.
In fact, it’s you who has to start doing the things that will Please Login or Register to see the link., to stop reading and start doing.
Achieving Success – Waiting For Something To Happen?
June 8, 2010 by selfimprove
Most people are going through each day wishing, hoping, wanting or holding out for something to change. “I wish I could just get that lucky break.” “I hope that tomorrow will be better.” “I want to win the Lottery!” Unfortunately, what all these people don’t realize is that nothing “just happens” in life – you have to do what you have to do yourself to set things in motion. To make matters worse, there are just too many Please Login or Register to see the link. out there that give the impression that, to get abundant success, all you have to do is believe. As a result, I’ve met more than a couple of people over the years who have convinced themselves that they believe in in the achievement of their goal and, having convinced themselves, they now believe that all they have to do is relax and wait for it to happen. That’s just like believing that you’re going to win the Lottery but not bothering to buy a ticket!
It is you who makes things happen in your life – you’re the one who will Please Login or Register to see the link.. You must get up of your backside and do the brave and courageous things that the normal person wouldn’t dream of doing – that’s why they’re normal, not-too-uncomfortable, not-too-bad on the mundane sorry-go-round of their ordinary everyday existence. And that is why highly successful people are highly successful – they’ve done what had to be done, taken the brave and courageous decisions, thrown themselves wholeheartedly into getting what they want out of life.
You do realize that there’s nothing brave or courageous about doing the things that will lead you towards what you truly believe in – what would be viewed as courage or bravery by normal not-too-bad people is just the obvious and logical thing to do for those who believe and are driven to succeed. But what action do you need to take? Well, for starters – and this is pretty damn obvious – if you Please Login or Register to see the link., you’re going to have to do something different. You don’t have to do something outlandishly different – start with something small, you’ll be intrigued where it will take you. By small, I mean something as apparently insignificant as brushing your teeth with the other hand! Yeah, you heard me – you’ve read that sentence correctly! Doing something this small in a different way will destroy the habit of an adult lifetime – the habit of doing all routine things automatically. When you break down little habits, you re-set your mind to take a totally different view of absolutely everything that’s going on – you’ll begin to notice opportunities that were there already – you just didn’t see them.
But what if you’ve already done something brave or courageous and it failed? Didn’t you know – only losers give up! Statistics show that the most successful people in sport, business or politics, take failure in their stride, see it as a new opportunity to go at it again. After all, if you really want your life to change, you’re not going to quit that easily, are you?
