Create Change in your life

What would you like in 3 months that you don’t have now? What about 6 months or a year from now? If you know your life is not taking you where you want to be than that is a sure enough reason to do something about it. If the image you get of yourself in the future doesn’t fill you with excitement or motivation then you need to do something about it. Your life is special and you should not waste it doing something for which you are not suited to or that you don’t enjoy. If you find yourself in the position of not knowing what to do with your life this is OK, understand that at this point in your life there are many opportunities available to you.

Don’t limit what is possible in your life through narrow thinking, you can have what you want, believing anything else is pointless and will lead you into a spiral of despair and negativity.

If you don’t believe you can have the life you want then you will more than likely end up depressed, so the first step to creating the life you want to is to believe it will happen.

You will need to be your own best friend right from the start; you will need to have your mind working for you not against you if you are to get remotely close to having the life you envisage for yourself.

What exactly do you stand to benefit by making changes to your life?

• Increased happiness / well being
• Greater wealth
• Increased self esteem / self confidence
• Improved outlook, more optimistic
• Healthier mind / body
• More friends, wider social circle
• Greater job satisfaction
• More satisfaction to live for now rather than wait for some point in the future to arrive
• Better relationships
• Career success
• More excitement
• Stress free life / More security

Feelings associated with successful change:

• Satisfaction
• Fulfillment
• Determination
• Empowerment
• Positive Attitude
• Self-confidence
• Creativity
• Self esteem
• Invincibility
• Happiness
• Courage
• Contentment
• Achievement
• Triumphant

admin Beliefs, Changing direction, Happiness, New Ideas (creative thinking) change your life, Changing direction

OK so you have your idea and you are confident that it is a good one, so you decide to share it with others, however much to your disappointment they aren’t as enthusiastic as you, in fact they criticize it, so how do you handle that?

Well here are some tips:

Think about who is criticizing your idea.

Is it someone whose opinion you value, if it isn’t then don’t be too concerned as they are probably jealous that they didn’t come up with the idea themselves.
If it is from someone whose opinion might be worthwhile then think about how the criticism can help you. Maybe even ask the person to give you more information.

Is the criticism fair?

Don’t feel too offended or defensive when you if you get criticized. Instead take some time to think it through calmly and fairly and consider what if anything you can learn from it.

How should you react?

The most useful and gracious reaction to criticism is to listen and thank the person for it. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to accept it, or follow it up, but it gives the criticizer the benefit of the doubt – the criticism may have been well meant.

If the person who is criticizing you is somebody who is always critical of things and never sees the whole picture then don’t worry too much. Most people never come up with new ideas and so when they see somebody else do it they instantly dismiss it as worthless just to satisfy their own egos.

Have you seen the whole picture?

Something may be given a reason for rejection or given criticism but there is another unspoken agenda that you may not be aware of. You might need to dig a bit deeper to get to the true reason why your idea was rejected.

admin New Ideas (creative thinking) creative thinking, New ideas

Everybody gets annoyed about something, what is it that annoys you?

Get your creative juices flowing here:

Step 1

Introduction - why I get really annoyed . . .
Explain the general reasons why the issue is important to you.

Step 2

What can you or anybody else do about it?
Is there a solution? If there is outline it ……

Please feel free to add your own, remember the criteria is a problem AND a solution.

admin New Ideas (creative thinking) change your life, creative thinking

One of the great ways you can come up with ideas is to make connections. Many new ideas have been born from this concept.

How do you make connections?

Well there are a variety of ways you can make connections but one way is simply to do it when you are out and about every day.

Take a look around you, what do you see? A tree, a car, a poster, some writing on the wall, a bird, a bright color, the clouds in the sky, people, shop Windows, signs.

Once you have identified different objects or whatever, make a connection between them.

When you do this have a problem in mind you want to solve.

For example

• A name for your new business
• A new idea for a business

You never know just what sort of idea may come of an exercise like this. Give it a go and see how you get on.

admin New Ideas (creative thinking) New ideas, The mind

There are 8 main ways of accessing your creativity; can you guess what they are?

1. How we feel (touch)
2. How we see (Observe)
3. How we listen
4. How we taste
5. How we smell
6. How we carry out our tasks
7. What we think about (imagination)
8. What we reflect upon

Colors and creativity

Is there a relationship between certain colors and creativity? Yes apparently there is.

• Red - Excites the mind and body
• Blue – Eases and relaxes the mind
• Yellow – Encourages sensitivity
• Orange – Produces a cheerful state of mind
• Green – Provides healing and harmony
• Indigo – Stands for creativity
• Violet – Produces revolutionary ideas

So if you want to induce the qualities that each color possesses, perhaps you could buy a painting or visualize that color in your mind or yourself as the color. Or any other method you can come up with.

admin New Ideas (creative thinking) Creativity

Are you a person who thinks that all the great products or ideas came from people who were experts in their chosen field of work? Well carry on reading as this post may change your mind.

• The cash register was invented by Jake Ritty, a restaurant bar owner

• The Kodak camera was invented by George Eastman, a bank clerk

• The first ballpoint pen was invented by Laszlo Biro, a Hungarian Journalist.

• The first car indicator signal lights were invented by Hollywood starlet, Florence Lawrence, who also invented the full stop signal light activated by applying the footbrake.

• The first workable fountain pen was invented by L E Waterman, an insurance salesman.

• The electro-magnet was invented by Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith.

• The first frequency hopping anti-jamming submarine communication system was invented by Hedwig Kiesler Markey, an actress.

• The first disposable razor blade was invented by a travelling salesman.

So, what is the next great thing that YOU are going to invent?

admin New Ideas (creative thinking) creative thinking, New ideas

Good new creative thoughts will rarely come to you when your mind is busy re-living your day at work, the conversation you had last week with your sister or thinking about what may or may not happen when you visit the dentist next week. New thoughts can only really come when you mind is still and not actually thinking about anything, it is only when your mind is free from all thought that can you begin to develop new ideas or strategies.

So how do you still your mind? Here is a technique I have come across for doing this:

This ultimately is a technique to take the focus away from yourself. It is useful for when you are busy thinking about this or that and when you need to silence the mind.

Step 1. First focus on a feeling in your body, it could be the feeling of your toe in your shoe, the shirt on your skin or your hand resting on your leg.

Step 2. Next listen to the sounds you can hear around you, what can you hear close by, what is the dominate sound, once you have the dominant sound listen carefully for other sounds further away in the distance. Don’t forget to keep focusing on the feeling (step 1).

Step 3. Finally wherever you are outdoors or indoors focus on something, it could be a cup in the room, a poster, a bit of dirt on a window or a cloud in the sky. Once you have something in view keep focused, you will have to readjust your focus onto something different after a few seconds (5-15), otherwise your mind can get distracted.

Now this technique involves focusing on all 3 things (sound, feeling, vision) at the same time, when done correctly your mind should become free from all thought. To start with it will not happen for very long but with practice it can become a very useful technique for times when you need to relax and free your mind from the stresses of everyday living. After a few seconds your mind will start to focus on something, when it does start the process again.

I am no expert in this technique and it will take some time before you can do it for longer than a few seconds. Try it and see how you get on.

admin New Ideas (creative thinking) change your life, living in the now, This moment

Exercise 1

Think of a problem that you currently have.

Now find a random picture, either a photo or a picture in a magazine.

Look at the picture. Write down random words related to the picture. What do you see, objects, people, colors etc?

Now relate those words to your current problem, see what new ideas you can come up with in relation to the problem

What new ideas have emerged?

Exercise 2

OK so you have a problem and you need to generate some new ideas, ask yourself ‘how’ questions in relation to your problem?

How can I …?
How do I ….?

For example:

How can I come up with an idea for a business?
How do I go about coming up with a new idea for a business?

admin New Ideas (creative thinking) creative thinking, New ideas

Here is a simple exercise you can use when you are looking to come up with a new idea or for a solution to an existing problem.

• Write a headline of the problem or opportunity you currently have.

• Go for a walk and wait for something to attract your attention. Look at it in great detail. Listen to the voice in your ear and see what it begins to suggest in terms of ideas and concepts or new images about the problem. Make some notes.

• Write down your detailed observations. What are some suggested or beginning thoughts?

• Write down the outcome of this and any further ideas you have.

admin New Ideas (creative thinking) creative thinking, New ideas

Are you creative?

… Creative? Me?

Are you a person who simply does not believe they are creative? Well I have some news for you, everybody is creative, don’t believe me. OK have you ever done any of the following?

1. Have you ever recounted to friends something strange or amusing that happened to you or someone you know?

2. Have you ever mixed and matched colors and fabrics to wear?

3. Have you ever chosen flowers for a bouquet?

4. Have you ever thrown ingredients together for a dish or soup?

5. Have you ever changed the design of a garden or room at home?

6. Have you ever contrived an excuse why you can’t go somewhere or do something?

7. Have you ever day dreamed?

8. Have you ever had sexual fantasies?

9. Have you ever doodled?

10. Have you ever gazed at a cloud and saw faces or pictures in the patterns?

11. Have you ever explained something to a child?

12. Have you ever wondered how things might be different if you had taken a different career path?

13. Have you ever imagined what you would do if you won the national lottery?

14. Have you ever questioned the usual way something is done and put forward an alternative?

15. Are you alive?

Still not convinced? … Trust me, you ARE creative, everyone is.

admin New Ideas (creative thinking) creative thinking, New ideas