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Posts Tagged ‘change your life’

Break free or suffer the consequences

September 22nd, 2008

If you continually run through again and again all the things that are missing in your life and how bad it is, you will be miserable no question about it. You will become annoyed and impatient with yourself including everybody around you. Constantly reliving or inventing new bad experiences will eventually cause you to stop taking action altogether towards making anything happen in your life. Any goals you once had set for yourself become utterly pointless, they are ignored replaced instead by indolence, it becomes preferable to do less and less, you begin to watch countless hours of television anything to distract you. The time you used to spend on constructive activities becomes too much like hard work and so the activities are forgotten altogether, along with all the other plans you may have made for yourself, eventually depression sets in.

You create a system for your brain to follow, every day the program runs itself, just like getting dressed in the morning and having breakfast, you also manage to forget all the things you should be doing and focus your attention on feeling miserable instead. It then starts to become regular behavior, which you start to accept as normal. It becomes easier to ignore the ‘goals’ and the ‘plans’. All of a sudden life becomes hard, a drag and to make matters worse you also beat yourself up for feeling lousy.

When you are in this cycle of doom nothing much ever gets accomplished. If it continues one day you will wake up and realize your life has passed you by and you have not moved forward one little bit.

Are we to blame?

Is it all our own doing?

Well in a word ‘yes’

Occasionally people feel down because of problems outside of their control, but a lot of the time people are the architect of their own blues. Life is ultimately a series of choices and we shouldn’t actively choose to feel bad by creating unhappy internal thoughts. It is always easier to cast the blame onto somebody or something else outside of our control, the reality is we are choosing to feel low and this is something we can choose not to do anytime we feel like it. We are all responsible for how we feel. If we feel depressed it will always be up to us to do something about it not anybody else.

The first step out of depression or any low miserable state of mind is to fully accept that it is your responsibility to get out of it and change how you feel, whatever that may involve. It could be eating an ice-cream, a big bag of sweets, feeding the ducks, cooking your favorite meal, or something else, but it is important to remember that it will always be down to you to break out of it. You can’t expect anyone else to come along and say ‘there, there, everything will be ok’, because it won’t unless you do something about it.

Once of the best things you can do to break out of a bad mood or depressive state is to take action, do something, a brisk walk, watch birds in the sky, you could even put your feelings down on paper so you can read them at a later date, some dark poetry perhaps?

A lot of the time depressive states pass within a few days, and are only temporary, however sometimes people can be their own worst enemies by feeding their low moods with more negative based thinking, and somber thoughts, this is the time when action is needed.

Exercise is always good, something that gets you out of breath and changes your state.

Just do something, don’t just sit there and ponder the injustices of life.

Become active and force a smile on your face.

admin Happiness , ,

Letting your future just happen

September 17th, 2008

Imagine if you were to just let your future happen, imagine if you took a reactive stance to life. What do you think would happen, or perhaps a better question would be – what would not happen? Are you about to let your life just happen to you? Are you being dictated to by others, your boss, family, so called friends? Or are you in complete control of everything that happens in your life? Do you want something more than what you currently have? Is there someone you aspire to become; is there something you wish to have in your life?

There are some people in this world who are not living the life they want, and who do absolutely nothing about changing it, or making it better than it currently is. To these people everybody else’s life is the main attraction and they are a part of the audience taking it all in. They are mere watchers, dreamers, the observers of life.

If you met these people at any time in their life and saw what they had and what they did, if in ten years you were to go back and revisit them, they would have exactly the same life as when you first visited them, with probably exactly the same views on life, how it is all so unfair and how only a select few get to live they life they want.

These people watch life evolve around them but they themselves don’t bother to evolve with it, choosing instead to carry on with the way things are and have always been.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • Are you just along for the ride?
  • Are you just an observer?
  • Are you happy to be on sidelines watching other people?
  • Have you given up on your life?
  • Does it matter what you do while you are alive?

Your future will just happen if you let it, life will push you around if don’t stand up and take steps to do what is required to create the life you most want to live. Life is to be lived, every moment of it, especially while you have a healthy body and mind, both of which you should be using in ways that make your life the most fun and interesting it possibly can be.

admin Random ,

What would make you happy?

August 17th, 2008

If you ever feel sad through the day, ask yourself these questions and remind yourself of what you need to do to make yourself happy. What would bring me the most happiness? What would bring me joy? Then listen for the answers.

admin Random , ,

Thoughts for the day

July 28th, 2008

Some thoughts for the day!

  • You can only go as far as your thoughts will take you.
  • Actions speak louder than words.
  • Don’t let the past hold you back, it’s over and no longer exists except in your mind.
  • Life’s short. If you don’t look around once in a while, you could miss it.
  • If you think that the world means nothing, think about how you might mean something to the world!
  • If it is painful to look back, and if you worry about the future, then just concentrate on making everything fine today.
  • Don’t frown. you look so much better with a smile.
  • The horizon leans forward offering you space to place new steps of change.

admin Random , ,

Irritations

June 21st, 2008
Comments Off

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) ,

The arising of thought

May 2nd, 2008

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) , ,

Challenging limiting beliefs (exercise)

January 5th, 2008

Here is an exercise you might want to have a go with to help with any limiting beliefs you may have:
Write down what it is you want to do (goal, outcome, something you want to happen in the future):

  • I want to do this ……..

Then write down why you can’t or the reasons (limiting beliefs that get in the way).

  • But I can’t because ………

Then ask yourself the following questions and write down all your answers:

  • What would happen if you could do it?
  • What stops you?
  • How would you know if what you are saying wasn’t true or how would you know if you were able to achieve your goal?
  • How do you know that? (What are you seeing, hearing, feeling to indicate that it is not possible
  • How does X cause Y (ie how does not having a degree mean that you are stupid?)
  • How will you feel when the problem is no longer an issue?

An exercise like this is useful as it can help you see your outcome from a different perspective, ie it allows you to go into the future when the problem is no longer an issue. Give it a go and see what you get from it.

admin Random ,

Do you have clutter in your life?

November 30th, 2007

What is clutter I hear you ask? Well it can be both physical (untidy house) and mental (negative beliefs). Do you have clutter; well you might if you are prone to any of the following behaviors:

  • Attached to old things out of fear of want, or reluctance to let go of the past
  • Distracted from concentrating on the important work of your true desire
  • Paying too much attention to unimportant things in your life
  • Rushing so fast you rarely get a moment to catch your breath
  • Are you self-indulgent and undisciplined?

Do any of the following drain your energy? If they do you might want to find a way to eliminate some of them from your life.

  • Daily doses of doubt (self talk about being useless, worthless or how unlikely your chances of happiness and fulfillment are)
  • Complaining as a sport
  • Not saying ‘no’ when you need to.
  • Not being self-reliant
  • Over committing to others
  • Under-committing to yourself
  • Feeling sorry for yourself
  • Tolerating people who work against you
  • Messy house

admin Random ,

Don’t dwell on the negative

November 14th, 2007

Do you know what happens when you think about bad negative things? It leads to an unhappy life. If you find yourself doing this, ask yourself just how bad is your life right now? For a lot of people (me included), even when their life isn’t that bad, they still chose to think that it is. Why do you think bad thoughts if there is nothing really bad about your life? Do you realize that you will get what you think about most.

Generating bad depressing thoughts will not get you where you want to be. They will make yourself and your life miserable. What exactly is so bad about having a good time that you chose instead to fill your mind with lots of depressing thoughts?

If the future you are thinking about does not inspire you, motivate you or fill you with excitement, you are thinking the wrong thoughts. Stop this, right now!

If what you are doing isn’t working, stop and do something else.

Why do people waste what could be an amazing life for something that is far far less?

Everything in your life comes from what you think about it. So if you are thinking about things that make you feel unhappy you will lead an unhappy life.

Take a look at your life right now, what have you got to be thankful for? List 5 things that are personal to you that you can be grateful for.

Now how does that list make you feel?

Slightly happier perhaps
A little less grumpy or miserable
Has it put a smile on your face

When you do start feeling low, stop and look around for all the things you can be thankful for.

Don’t dwell on the things that make you unhappy, get up, take a walk. Focus on what you have got and the ways you are going to manifest what is currently missing in your life, if indeed anything is.

admin Positive Thinking , ,

Levels of change

November 4th, 2007

When you are going through or attempting to go through change in your life, there are different levels (logical levels) from which your brain operates. It is useful to understand what these levels are when initiating any kind of change because whatever you want to manifest will be affected at each layer at some point. There are 5 main levels

1. Identity
2. Beliefs
3. Capabilities
4. Behavior
5. Environment

To understand these levels a little better let’s take as an example somebody who wants to become a singer.

Identity

Your identity would be to say something like ‘I am a singer’, here you are identifying yourself as being a singer. Now if you have just started out on your path to become a singer you may not say this yet. To some people they wouldn’t class themselves as a singer until they were doing it professionally or had an album out, others may consider themselves a singer because they sing in the shower.

This is the top level. Once you are here at this point when you can say ‘I am a …’ your identity has changed and it is now a part of you, ‘you are this person’. What you consider your identity will affect all the other levels below, your beliefs, behavior etc.

Beliefs

Now you may believe you can sing, but not believe you are a singer, there is a difference. Likewise you may call yourself a singer but still have doubts about your abilities (negative beliefs). In this example a belief may be ‘I know I can sing’ or ‘I have a good voice’ or ‘I know people will like the sound of my voice’.

Capability

At this level you are looking at your skills, for example, can you actually sing? Do you have a good voice? Can you write music? There are many people who call themselves singers (Identity) but don’t actually possess this skills (Capabilities) required to sing, and vice versa there are people who are very competent singers who don’t and would never call themselves a singer (identity).

If you couldn’t sing then it would be at this level you would seek out help either via courses or personal instruction by way of singing lessons etc.

Questions to ask yourself at this level include ‘What skills do you put into practice?’ and ‘What capabilities do you tap into in this area of your life?’

Behavior

At this level we are focused on the ‘doing’ part. What would somebody see if they looked at this area of your life? If somebody was watching a video of you what would they see you do? What would they hear you say? In the case of our singer, perhaps they would sing regularly, be sending demo tapes to music companies. This level is basically your day to day activities. What do you do exactly? If you had the identity of being a singer, then you would probably be singing regularly in a band or something similar.

If you are seeking change in certain areas of your life and your behavior indicates that you were not taking the necessary action, then you would need to look at other levels to see if there was any in-congruency with your goals. For example, beliefs can be a real block for a lot of people.

Environment

The bottom level is your environment. ‘Where are you when you engage in this area of your life?’ Who else is there with you? This level involves any external constraints.

Is your environment conducive to who you think you are? (Identity) or who you would like to become? If you are a singer, where are you when you sing?

This is your immediate surroundings. Is your immediate environment conducive for creating the life you want for yourself?

I think these are very important levels to be aware of, when inciting change into your life. You can have all the capabilities, right behaviors and be in the perfect environment, but if you don’t believe (beliefs) you can become who you want to become then the actions you take at the lower levels will reflect this.

It would also be true to say that you can have all the self belief in the world (beliefs) but if you are not carrying out the actions (behaviors) you need to, then your self-belief will not take you very far.

Where are you at with your 5 levels at this moment in time? And more importantly if you are experiencing any difficulties take a look at each level and work out what is not happening for you. Is it because of your environment? Is it because you haven’t found the appropriate strategy to generate the right behaviors you are after? Is it your capabilities? Do you have conflicting beliefs or are there some issues at the level of your identity?

admin Mind ,