Archive for October, 2007

by Lily Woods
In life, there tend to be ups and downs. When you are down, you have to keep yourself motivated and bring yourself up again. Negative thoughts, if excessive may sometimes affect a person’s self esteem. For example, you feel that you are not being acknowledged in the office and you get bored of working. This happens to almost anyone. Discouragement and lack of motivation will hinder you from focusing on your objective. Here are some methods I personally use to keep myself motivated, which I use over and over again.

Try having visual goals, something solid, and something material. Big dreams like owning a bigger house, a better car or a holiday of your dreams. Better still if you stick the picture of the house or car or holiday destination in your work station or cubicle. It keeps you sane under that tremendous work stress. When you have something to look forward to, the willpower will come naturally.

Do a to-do-list. It can be single item or many items, with or without expiry date. Researchers say that when tasks are easier accomplished when written down. It’s like a contract with yourself and contracts are meant to be honored. Having a to-do-list posted on the fridge is so much more effective than just remembering it mentally. Start a list today.

Small rewards can make real big difference too. Tell your friends and family you have achieved some of your plans. I am sure they are more than willing to give you small praises and keep you motivated. You can also reward yourself when partially achieve one major task. For example, if you plan to lose 10kg, buy yourself a new dress when you lost 5kg. By doing so, you will look forward to losing the remaining 5kg.

The last method I would like to share is reading motivational books. Walk into a book store or search for an ebook online. Motivational books need not to be in the form of lectures or pure methodology. There are some in the form of real life examples. I find the latter more inspiring and encouraging. Reading about others’ successes make me realized it sometimes achieving success is easier than you thought.

Lily Woods is an expert author in self esteem issues. Read more motivating and inspiring articles at her website http://www.BetterSelfEsteem.info

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by Roice Krueger
Nothing that happens to us has any meaning at all—other than the meaning we give it, that is.

Think about it; if you were not there to interpret the event, to name it, to classify it, to give it meaning, then it would just be.

Let it be.

Let It Be
If you don’t like what it means, let it mean something different. You can find a superlative meaning in every experience.

The worst day of your life can be the best day of your life, if you decide that it has a special meaning to you, that it will lead you to a brighter future, that it is the foundation of your future success and ability to help others.

Abraham Lincoln said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be.”

Truer words were never spoken.

Jesus said it this way, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Whatever meaning you attribute to the things that are happening right now is just a story you are telling yourself.

Tell a different story. Write a prequel, then a sequel. Give it a different ending, a different moral, a different meaning. Your life is your fairy tale for the making, the dreaming, the living, and the redeeming.

Get the Facts
Stop wallowing in negative opinions. Get the facts. What do you really know? What has actually happened?

Merely stating the facts can alleviate the burden of a problem, because we are speaking the truth, and the truth shall set us free.

The facts give us a dispassionate view, meaning they turn down the passion of negative feelings to allow an impassioned response.

Clarify what you value. What is the outcome that you really want?

Create a plan. Put it in your schedule. Then get on with it.

The Labyrinth Is Known
We are not the first to encounter problems, nor will we be the last. The labyrinth is known by those who have gone before, have suffered what we suffer, and have overcome what we must overcome.

Seek the counsel of wise, more-experienced people. To be wise, seek the counsel of the wise! Hear their words. Accept their comfort. Be inspired by their example.

Be humble enough to ask for help and assistance when your own wisdom is insufficient for the task and you will grow in wisdom and stature.

By consistently seeking the counsel of others you will earn your own seat in the council of the wise, and the day will come when you will find yourself speaking rather than seeking.

We have come to learn, and learn we must.

Roice Krueger was a co-founder of FranklinCovey, the world’s largest training and education company. Amazingly, Roice has consulted for 80% of the Fortune 500 companies. Those companies know that Roice delivers the goods, and they continue to beat a path to his door when they need help! Visit Roice’s 101 E-Book Library at http://www.IdeasThatCanChangeYourLife.com.

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by Craig Harper
Too many of us have too much time, too much emotional energy, too much intellect and too much talent invested in things we can’t and won’t change… and too little invested in the stuff we can and should.

I know that sometimes I have a propensity to be somewhat verbose… so today I will be concise, blunt, specific and to the point.
Something new.

Okay, here comes one of those wise old proverbs… it’s a little philosophical so pay attention

“Stop wasting your life on crap you can’t change”.
(Deep I know)

Specifically:

Your History: sad, tragic, unfair maybe… get over it.
Or at the very least, don’t live there.
The only thing you can change about your history is how you let it affect you now.
Stop being a victim.
We don’t pretend things didn’t happen but neither do we let those things determine what we will be or do. We are not hostages to our past but authors of our destiny and our own amazing future… if we so choose.

Other People: How much time do we invest in meaningless, pointless, futile dialogue and negative emotions (anger, frustration, resentment, bitterness)? Too much. Ultimately they lead to nothing productive and everything destructive… especially for us personally. The only person I can control is me. The only person I can change is me. The only mind I will ever inhabit is my own.

Your Genetics: Kinda hard to alter your DNA unless you’re in some weird-ass Stephen King movie. I’ve never actually met anyone who has changed their genetics by whinging, bitching, moaning or complaining but we continue to try nonetheless.
No, you can’t change your genetics but yes, you can change your diet, your exercise habits, your lifestyle, your stinkin’ thinkin’…. and of course, your body.

Your Age: Okay, if you were born say… forty years ago, that would make you.. forty.
Tricky huh?
It’s a mathematical thing.
Wear your kids clothes and you will still be… forty.
And kinda tragic.
Yes, you can be awesome at forty but no matter what you do, you won’t be twenty five.
Unless of course you’re Demi Moore.
She’s actually seventeen now.

It’s not a complex message really:

Invest your energy, talent, time and skill where you will…

1) Achieve the best return on your investment
2) Do some good
3) Learn and grow
4) Don’t be a pain in the ass to be around

Do the best you can, with what you have, where you are… every day.

Or as Gandhi put it… “be the change you want to see in the world”.

Craig Harper (B.Ex.Sci.) is the #1 ranked Motivational Speaker by Google. He is a qualified exercise scientist, author, columnist, radio presenter, television host and owner of one of the largest personal training centres in the world.Motivational Speaker - Craig Harper

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by Mary McNeil
Self motivation is a well known challenge for the self employed. And never more so than for creatives. Why so? Well creative types very often choose to become self employed precisely so that they can exercise their creativity and flexibility in their work. Not for them the tedium of a regular nine to five office job!

But when you’re self employed, YOU become the boss. And the employee. And this dynamic sets up a whole set of inner relationships and rebellions that need to be handled with care. Particularly when it comes to managing your motivation so that you can achieve successful outcomes for both your business and for yourself.

Assuming that at least part of the reason you’re in business is because you want to make money, your inner boss will be need to be in a position to make strategic decisions, undertake planning activities and dictate hours of work.

And assuming that you’re creatively self employed because you want flexibility and creativity in your working life and don’t want to be dictated to, your inner employee will need a certain degree of freedom and leeway on the job.

So how is your relationship between your inner boss and your inner employee?

Recently I asked this question of a creative coaching client who was struggling to run her home-based creative business. She surprised herself with her reply! She’d expected to respond that her inner boss was terrorizing her inner employee and that what she needed was more freedom to work flexibly so that she could enjoy her working time more. What emerged, though, as she thought about the question, was that the roles were reversed… her inner employee was rebelling against her inner boss to such an extent that she despaired of ever producing any meaningful output.

To motivate yourself happily and successfully, it’s clearly important to nurture a supportive relationship between these two parts of yourself. And that means engaging them in regular dialogue with each other. Your inner boss needs to appreciate the working style and form of flexibility that your inner employee resonds best to. And your inner employee needs to understand what the boss reasonably requires in order to produce results that both will find satisfactory and rewarding.

Both your inner boss and inner employee will sometimes need to understand the principle of the delayed reward. Your inner boss, for example, is more likely to allow your inner employee to take that luxuriously creative hour for writing in the middle of the afternoon, if there’s an understanding that the employee will work, and work far better, in the early evening as a result. And likewise, your inner employee is more likely to let your inner boss lay down some plans for future ambitious projects if there’s an understanding between the two of them that the plan includes an allowance for creative travels and time out on completion.

So as you think about your conflicting motivations when it comes to work, creativity, self employment, money and flexibility, take a moment to be aware of the different parts of yourself that have a stake in the process. If you can involve each part in a way that allows it to have a say and to negotiate with the other parts, you’re likely to achieve a much higher overall level of motivation in your work. And, of course, the corresponding success that comes along with it.

If you want some support to keep yourself creatively motivated, contact Mary McNeil at Create a Space. Mary works with artists, writers and musicians, supporting and encouraging them as they make creative living a practical and sustainable reality.

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by Patricia Carnahan, MS
You were all fired up and have bought self help books, tapes, CD’s to play in your car or while you jog, whatever. You’ve bought them on all kinds of subjects, relating to one or usually more areas of your life that you KNOW need improvement. You’re frustrated now that what you heard or read just doesn’t seem to be happening for you. Nothing is changing!

When you first heard the recommendation from your best friend about that book on relationships, it sounded like such a great idea…. You actually went to the bookstore to get it. You read the cover, the back, even the inside flaps, and got jazzed up about it — “This is it!” you think, “ This is what I’ve needed all along!” A month later, the book cover is off, the book is face down by your bed, covered in dust.

What’s wrong here? Well, don’t throw anything away just yet! You’re just missing a vital ingredient. You’re actually “this close” to using and benefiting from that self-help stuff you spent your hard earned money on.

I’m big on self-help anything, which is a bit odd, considering I was a mental health therapist; my income depended on people needing help from ME. Why in the world would I give the people I worked with anything else other than session time to get better, when coming to see me was my livelihood? Cynical people won’t believe this, but most of us got into the helping professions not to make money, but to help others. I probably did lose clients to a self-help book or video, but it didn’t bother me a bit: See, I knew that life is lived OUT THERE in the real world, not the little office where people came for help. We ALL need all the help we can get in the real world!

One of the first things I did with most people is help them gain confidence and faith in helping themselves. I couldn’t walk out the door with them; they had to help themselves to function and improve. Self-help information was obviously a valuable addition to therapy..

I never did think I could “do it all” for any one client, anyway, no matter what the problem was. I was just one person who knew “X” amount about whatever was wrong — anxiety, depression, learning disabilities, adjustment problems. Everyone had multiple areas in their lives affected by these troubles — daily living, family, career, financial, spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health….One hour a week wasn’t going to cut it in terms of REAL help. So I always tried to “over-deliver” and make sure they walked out the door with lots to do, including finding self help guidance and using it.

It turned out often that people wouldn’t invest the TIME needed for life and self-improvement. They’d come for an hour a week to talk about things, but not apply what they learned to life outside the office. They’d buy the self-help books and other media I recommended, but not read or use them. Failure to do that was almost always related to TIME. The LAST thing on their to do list? Self-improvement. (That amazes me; I believe we are our own greatest resource.) I know, I know, “Life” takes over and everything else becomes a priority in front of what would really make your life better.

So I made it my mission to convince clients that their lives would get better and they could leave therapy if they took the suggestions and self help steps I gave them. Guess what? The people who did that - using the suggestions - got better, left therapy and went on to happier lives!

What was their secret? Those people did something with the information I gave them and what they read or listened to -What made the difference?

The answer - The secret ingredient I am talking about - that most self help information is missing - is more astonishing than you could imagine because it is so very simple! They found a way to get started and keep that first push going. It sounds laughably simple, doesn’t it? Procrastination is the number one cause of failure! You can’t succeed if you never start, right? The key to making the most of self-help information is STARTING THE ACTIONS SUGGESTED AND FINDING OUT HOW TO KEEP IT GOING.. I figured out after about a year of asking people if they did readings and steps in the self help information I gave them and getting a “No” all the time, that I better find out what was going on. These weren’t willful or rebellious people. They WANTED to get better and knew they needed to take action. The answer 90% of the time was that they couldn’t seem to get started and the 10 %who did get started, just couldn’t keep it going.

Aha! So NOW you have the answer, the missing ingredient, and it’s simple. Having the answer gets you on the path to a solution, right? The ultimate solution is to find out how to get yourself started on the self-help information you get and the best way for YOU to keep progress going once you start.

Here’s a start on what to do - Ask yourself these questions:

1. Am I clear on what area I need to work on? (You think it’s money, maybe, but could it be the hectic, not enjoyable family routine of constantly eating out is messing up the budget…So is it financial or family related?)

2. Am I clear on the suggestions given to work on that area of my life? Or does this author sound like they have a PhD in Economics and can’t fathom how to balance a grocery budget for 4 kids?

3. Are the suggestions in the information (book, audio, video, whatever) actually “doable” for me? (Example: I bought an exercise video which required equipment to do it that I couldn’t afford at the time, and there was no hint of that on the cover!)

4. Are the people around me going to help or maybe object and not help? What do I do about that? (Accept, ignore or change their minds, is my answer!)

5. What inside me keeps me from getting started? Negative thoughts? Real physical fatigue? How can I get rid of them? What works best for me? (I recently had a roadblock due to unexpected fatigue and found natural energy drinks - fortified bottled water, basically - that were almost an instant “cure” - I was amazed!)

Another thing I found is that self-help information is often too complex and overwhelms people, so the thought of starting and committing to something that detailed was paralyzing!

OK, one more question: If you got out that exercise tape or self-help book again, could you start using it to help your life if maybe one thing in your life were different? Usually that one thing is FIXABLE. Maybe if you had more time, or you could afford the needed equipment (someone made a couple of the items for me and I found dollar store substitutes for others!), maybe if you had family support?

I challenge you that ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS GET STARTED on self-improvement and it will work for you if you work on it. You might need to reread or listen or watch the video. Perhaps you could find a different author who is not so heavy on diagnosing problems, but heavier on solutions. Maybe you need to go to an exercise class and get motivation from other people in the same boat as you.

The books and CD/DVD’s you have may not work because it often isn’t presented well on exactly what to do first, how to do it, and how you keep it going! Your self-help information/ program WILL work if you find out what to do FIRST and take the first step to do it. Once you start, use that momentum of accomplishment to keep moving forward. Any path is traveled one step at a time. No matter what the speed, if your steps keep moving forward, you’ll get there!

Patricia Carnahan, MS is a former mental health therapist turned author. She started Good Life Directions and Getting the Good Life information resources to provide self help guidance that works. Find out more about her ideas on keeping it simple AND GETTING RESULTS, in your quest to work on improving your life. Check out http://www.gettingthegoodlife.com/ to learn about Getting the Good Life!

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by Craig Harper
Two nights ago I had a phone call from a guy who I’ve known for a while.

Quite a while.

Danny.

Over the last few years he has had two major physical and psychological battles; drugs and food.

And of course there’s been some emotional stuff as well.

Yep; it’s all intertwined.

He’s not a buddy as such (although we get on), but I know him reasonably well as I have worked with him on and off over the years with varying degrees of success.

It is fair to say that I like him and care about him.

He’s an intelligent, creative, nice guy who’s currently killing himself with excess food, a crap lifestyle, zero exercise and some seriously stinkin’ thinkin’.

And he’s not doing it slowly either.

He’s in his early thirties and may not make forty unless he makes some massive life-changing decisions and pulls his head out of his butt in the near future.

He stopped using drugs over a year ago.

And more than a decade of drug abuse has seen him spend inordinate amounts of money, wreck friendships, lose the trust of others and destroy virtually every tooth in his mouth.

I saw him a while after he got ‘clean’ and I nearly fell over.

His weight had ballooned from about 75kgs (165lbs) to 125kgs (275lbs) in a relatively short amount of time.

He had substituted one drug for another.

Simply switched addictions.

And while some would say that he’s much better off to be abusing food than drugs… he ain’t.

He gave up drugs and took up food.

Back to the phone call…

It went something like this (he calls me Harper):

“Craig speaking”

“Harper, it’s Danny… I’m fat and I need help.”

“How fat?”

“Very.”

“Gimme a weight.”

(I haven’t seen him for a while)

“At least one-fifty (330lbs).”

(stunned silence).

“You are (insert bad word) kiddin’ me. What did you do… eat your parents?”

We talk a bit more… I tell him that I need to think about his situation and that he should call me twenty four hours later (last night). I also tell him that I don’t want more empty words, meaningless promises and time wasting. I don’t wanna go down the same futile path with the same frustrating outcome; he has a history of stopping a starting fitness/weight-loss campaigns.

It hurts me to see him ruin his life and waste his considerable potential.

And it’s killing his parents.

I know them well.

So I tell him that he needs to think seriously about it and call me back.

Not too many years ago he was a lean, athletic, good looking young guy with the world at his feet. Now he is a morbidly obese, unhealthy man who despises his looks, is embarrassed to be seen in public and can’t find clothes to fit him.

Yet he continues to eat.

So last night the phone rang again…

“Harper?”

“Yes?”

“Waddya think… wadda we gonna do?”

“Waddya you gonna do?”

“Start training again.”

“I don’t think that you’re ready to change… as in do whatever it takes, no matter what”

“Why?”

“Well, we know that money’s not a problem, resources aren’t a problem, time’s not a problem and support is not a problem… on a practical level you have everything you need to turn your reality around… yet you continue to find ways to stay fat, eat crap and do nothing.”

“Yeh, I know…”

“I just don’t hear it in your voice. I know when people are absolutely, totally, desperate to change their reality… and you’re not are you?”

“Not enough I guess..”

Despite the fact that he has the love and support of his family and all the practical resources to do what needs to be done, he continues to sabotage his health and his life. Surrounding himself with the best people and the best resources will amount to zero long-term change if he keeps rationalising, making excuses, procrastinating and talking crap.

When will Danny get healthy?

When he’s READY.

When he makes that choice.

Real change is not about words, it’s about behaviour.

And thinking.

It’s not about making another call to me.

A letter to Danny:

Dear Danny,

I can’t ‘fix’ you; only you can do that.

Your life can be amazing if you make that choice.

When you change (your mindset), your life will change.

A year from now you can be a different person, on every level.

A new and improved version of you.

Or you could be more out of control than ever.

When you change, then you will lose the weight; not the other way around.

I am not the answer for you.

You are the answer.

Everything you need to create an amazing life, you already have.

I can support you, educate you and encourage you.. but I can’t change you.

The ball is in your court Dan.

Make a decision.

A ‘forever’ decision.

Love,

Harper.

*Danny has gone away to think.. he’s gonna call me when he’s really ready to do what needs to be done. I wonder when that call will come… or if it will come at all.

Yes, I had his permission to share this story, yes it’s all true and yes, that’s his real name.

Craig Harper (B.Ex.Sci.) is the #1 ranked Motivational Speaker by Google. He is a qualified exercise scientist, author, columnist, radio presenter, television host and owner of one of the largest personal training centres in the world.Motivational Speaker - Craig Harper

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by bolly
I graduated from the University five years ago with a dream of being an entrepreneur, working from home. The dream became an obsession months after I graduated and I was looking for what to engage in to make my dream come true.

After discovering all I had to do to actualise my dream, I began to work on the dream, I started without hesitating. There were so many obstacles that would have made me to postpone when I will start, gut I didn’t focus on them.

Today, I am living the dream and I have experienced tremendous growth over the past five years. I have overcame so many challenges and have gone to places I couldn’t have imagined and also met a lot of tremendous people that have impacted my life a lot. To cap it all up, I am now mentoring so many people that wish to achieve the same dream I set out with years ago.

The important lessons I will like you to note is that everything I have achieved wouldn’t have been possible if I had not started five years ago. To make your dream come true, you need to take immediate action.

People who don’t achieve their dreams are those who never start. They focus on obstacles to overcome and not the opportunities lying ahead of them. When you focus your mind on obstacles, you will see a lot of reasons that won’t allow you to make the first move.

Can you cast your mind back to the last five years of your life? What has been your main dream? How have you fared? If you haven’t achieved anything, is it because you never overcame the fear of getting started? What are you going to do about it today?

There is no better time to start working on your dream than the moment the idea was given birth to. If there is anything to do today that will contribute to your dream, no matter how little it is, DO IT and it will surely lead to something you can NEVER imagine. Do not delay any longer, NOW is the time to start.

Go out there and succeed.

Adebola Oni

Adebola Oni is the Author of “The Lessons Of Life”. So many lives have been touched by his newsletter, Life Lessons Digest. You can have a copy delivered to you every week by visiting his website: http://www.the-lessons-of-life.com You can also read so many life-changing articles on his blog at: http://www.the-lessons-of-life.com/Motivational-Blog

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by bolly
When a man conceives an idea, he is motivated to start working on it immediately it is conceived. When the set time to begin working on the idea arrives, it becomes difficult for the man to set the sail and get the idea going.

Fear of what will befall him if he dares take a step, begins to creep into his mind. He will begin to ask himself doubtful questions of how he is going to cope while pursuing the idea, if he has the capacity to bring the idea into reality. So many questions that will cripple him will be asked.

Instead of focusing on possibilities, he will begin to see the obstacles all because he cannot see where the idea will lead him to. he cannot fathom what the final result will be, so he decides to abandon the idea and remain where he is. He builds a comfort zone around him and he will always find it difficult to act on any idea that crosses his heart.

Such a man always end in frustration just because he has refused to act on a noble cause due to fear of what will happen next. Fear has robbed him of what is to be his reward for following his dream all because he couldn’t see where he is heading to.

if you are ever in this position, I want to let you know that you don’t have to see the whole journey before you begin. Even if you are not sure of where that idea or dream will lead you to or through, take a step of faith. Every dream always lead to an happy ending.

Never allow fear to rob you of your future glory. Just as Jack Canfield put it, you don’t have to see the whole journey, if you can just see the next 200 meters of the journey, begin. When you get there, you will see the next 200 meters and it goes on like that till you achieve your dream. It is when you begin that you will see the next step to take, if you don’t, you won’t see it.

Let nothing stop you from pursuing that idea, it could be your key to greatness in life. Remove all the obstacles and you will eventually get to achieve your dream.

Adebola Oni

Adebola Oni is the Author of “The Lessons Of Life”. So many lives have been touched by his newsletter, Life Lessons Digest. You can have a copy delivered to you every week by visiting his website: http://www.the-lessons-of-life.com You can also read so many life-changing articles on his blog at: http://www.the-lessons-of-life.com/Motivational-Blog

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by Roice Krueger
I spent several years as the CEO of an organization that was going through tremendous change. We were acquired by a company in a foreign country; then we had a merger, our entire product line shifted, and the economy had a downturn.

Now the funny thing about problems is they float. That’s right; problems float!

Problems Float!
The higher you are on the totem pole, the more problems and crises come your way. If you are the CEO, every crisis eventually finds its way to your desk. So every day, people would come into my office and say, “Boss, we have a problem.”

Imagine the stress. Imagine the pain of having nothing but problems and crises all day long. After a while, it just got to be too much. I was under tremendous stress and was really beginning to feel the strain.

It all changed with one simple idea.

I sent out a decree that the word “problem” was no longer allowed in my office. Period. End of the discussion.

I was just too tired of hearing that word to have it thrown at me even one more time.

So, all the managers and employees said, “Well, what are we supposed to call it then?”

“Call it work,” I replied.

And so they did.

After all, think about it. If sales are down, it means you have some selling, or new product development, or advertising, or marketing work to do. If a customer has a complaint, it means you have some claims processing or quality improvement work to do. If an employee quits, you have recruiting work to do, followed by a review of your compensation system, evaluation system, and training system.

It is all just work.

So in they came.

“We have some sales work to do!”

“I see. Well, get on with it then; that is, after all, why you were hired in the first place!”

I ended up going home every day at 4:30 because every employee and manager began to think in terms of work instead of problems.

And work will solve every problem that we have!

Roice Krueger was a co-founder of FranklinCovey, the world’s largest training and education company. Amazingly, Roice has consulted for 80% of the Fortune 500 companies. Those companies know that Roice delivers the goods, and they continue to beat a path to his door when they need help! Visit Roice’s 101 E-Book Library at http://www.IdeasThatCanChangeYourLife.com.

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by Sharon Eiffel
Silence is a very powerful and useful exercise particularly in modern life. Through silence we enter into contact with our greater self. Our greater self knows no limitations, is pure in essence and the more we enter that world the more tranquillity we will begin to experience in our lives. We set ourselves from the ordinary and acknowledge the existence of something greater.

To acquire stillness you simply exercise overall self-control in all areas of your life. With experience, you will find that slipping into silence just comes naturally. You don’t need to force going into silence or be anxious about it. Simply relax and let go. Pay attention to your breathing and breathe gently and while doing this quietly acknowledge the presence of a greater force. Feel peace, feel harmony and enter a state of calm. It is recommended to put aside at least half an hour each day to go into silence. However, you may still practise silence even at work, or on a bus or even whilst in a queue. Just teach yourself to use those spare moments in the day, whether 2 minutes or even a minute. Within that time, just enter an attitude of peace, acknowledge the existence of God, and appreciate all that is around you. For a moment just stop and be quiet.

Set yourself free from the modern norm of rushing and impatience. Just choose to relax, to enjoy things like waiting at a traffic light and use these little gaps to enter silence. Instead of being constantly on the rush, relax and know that all will be fine. The benefits of this are enormous; you will no longer be so stressed out by the queues or the traffic. Even though if you are running late, there is no amount of stressing or swearing which will make it better. Adopt an attitude of stillness always.

Just doing this, is an empowering exercise which teaches our minds that there is a Higher Power, so when a problem confronts us we don’t stress; simply because we are aware of a greater power. Automatically, we will switch to our inner self for all the solutions. By regularly switching into silence we gradually gain poise, such that outward events will not determine our behaviour or our feelings. We will turn to the Great Within for all our needs. There is great wisdom in this statement from the Bible, ‘Be still and know that I am God’.

©Sharon Eiffel. Sharon is a freelance writer who concentrates on the topics of spiritual growth, positive thinking, motivation and overall self-improvement. Visit www.ecanhappen.com for more inspirational reading.

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