Author: Claudia Givensbr
Source: downloadbr
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Isaiah 48:3, 5-7: I have declared from the beginning the former things (which happened in times past Israel); they went forth from My mouth and I made them known; then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass (says the Lord). Therefore I have declared things to come to you from of old; before they came to pass I announced them to you, so that you could not say, My idol has done them, and my graven image and my molten image have commanded them. You have heard (these things foretold), now you see this fulfillment. And will you not bear witness to it? I show you specified new things from this time forth, even hidden things (kept in reserve) which you have not known. They are created now (called into being by the prophetic word), and not long ago; and before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, Behold, I knew them!
God, the creator of the universe, the One who knows the end from the beginning wants to tell you secrets. That doesnt register, right? Okay, picture this. You go on a vacation to another land, lets say Monaco. While there you receive an invitation to visit the king at his palace and an escort arrives to take you there. But when you arrive you go not just inside his palace but the inner area where he and his family live. That would be the very inner court area. You must get through many guards to get to the inner court and each set of guards wants to check this invitation to make sure it is official before they let you through. After all, this is the king. Finally you reach the inner area and are asked to sit down and wait for him to join you. And you wait; how? In expectation, sitting on the edge of your seat, in wonderment What could the king possibly have to say to me? He walks in the room and your heart is dancing: He is a king and he wants to see me! He sits down and you both exchange greetings then he says: I must tell you something important, something that I need to have done and I know that you can do it for me in the land where you live. And he has your complete, absolute attention. You dont think about anything else, and you blurt out: Wait, let me get my notebook…may I write this down? Of course, he says and he is now assured that you are the person who will do what he needs, after all, you are going to write down everything he tells you.
So he begins: I am going to tell you a secret, a hidden thing that was planned from of old. No one else knows. It was written down long ago and was set aside for a specified time. I have been waiting until the right person at the right time to come along for the fulfillment of this plan. Where you live and work you are situated perfectly to fulfill this for me. And he begins in great detail to tell you of this plan. When he is done, he looks you directly into your eyes and says: Will you do this for me? Questions fly through your mind: Me? He wants me to do this! Can I do this? Where will I find the time to do this. How will I pay for this? What if at work they tell me no.
The questions come so fast you cant really answer them all. But you look at him and you know that you cant tell him no…he is counting on you. You are the only one who can do this. How many other people has he invited into his secret inner chambers and told the secret of his heart? If he had invited others, obviously they didnt go or they just told him no, or they werent the right person and he did not tell them after all. So now only you know (other than the king) and it becomes a secret of your heart. You have it all written down so that you can refer to it as you go along so that you get it done right and not leave any part out.
This sounds almost fairy tale-ish because how many people do you know go to another country and get to meet a king and talk with him that closely? But wait!! We walk around all the time with the Holy of holies inside of us. We walk around with the King of kings on the very inside of us. We walk around in the very presence of our King all the time. Hes with us every where we go. And in the early morning hours we can get up spend time with Him and hear the secret things of His heart and find out the plan He has for us that day to fulfill…the plan that only we can do for where we will be that day. Treat Him that special, as special as a king from another country. And treat His plan as a special assignment that only you have been given to do.
Claudia Givens is self-employed and loves the time freedom and choices it affords her. She is the mother of two adult children: her daughter is 34 and her son is 18 and attends college (studying business for entrepreneurs). She loves networking with other people to hear what others are doing with their lives. She loves to travel and cant wait to begin that part of her life again.
Her business is being an MMCII ProRep with Advantage Conferences, LLC-Home of the Millionaire Mindset Conferences. http://www.7khomebusiness.net
She enjoys blogging as Millionaire Mentor at: http://www.christian-millionaire-mentoring.blogspot.com
She is also the founder/editor of the online magazine for women, Esthers Legacy: http://www.estherslegacy.homestead.com/estherslegacy.html
She is one of those people who believes that life is getting better the older she gets.br
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Author: Christopher Jon Luke Dowginbr
Source: articleage.combr
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First thing about life coaches is, you need to be found by those you never met when they need you. This starts with what I call roaming. Roaming is the seemingly pointless wander that takes you exactly where you need to be. This roaming tends to be chock full of synchronicity events that act as markers. It follows the where the day takes you philosophy. But even before that a Life coach has to have his own emotional baggage in check. For if you have too many open circuits lying about, one is about to short circuit. But then on the other hand a Life coach must have had certain amount of problems himself so he can associate with the person. This some times creates the right semantics to offer the words in the persons language that clicks and just makes the light beam in ones eyes. These situations are the most fruitful and effective. For a life coach must have a high intuitive nature, he might have the answers all the time. But the trick is to take the information that comes from without of your self on the issue at hand and deliver it with the right words, inflection, analogies, and to the right personality. I.e., are you talking to the shadow who is moody and confrontational or the shadow, who only waits for you to be quiet so it can talk if it is not already yelling over you. At which point you can only take on the armor of a saint and realize that all the slings and arrows are pointed inward and not at you. Which time you can only validate and listen. Or are you talking to the ego who changes the subject when you get to close and break its victim dialogue or just apt to ignore what you said by not responding or talking over you. IN some cases with egos like these, in rare cases, a life coach must take on the role of the scolding parent. Some times the scolding parent is the only one that had any ability to manipulate the person. To take a bad thing and flip it into something positive, but to always speak from their aspirations that you had gathered from their talks about loves, dreams, challenges, and bliss. Always followed up with genuine care and reassurance that there is no shame or blame leveled against the person. Shame, blame, and guilt is something that should be far removed from a life coach. You need the ability to look a serial killer in the face who has changed and truthful telling him it is OK. Forgiveness as long as change is present is key. For the person tends to be eating themselves whole from the inside already. As Augustine and Aquinas said, there is no true evil but lessor degrees of good.
A life coach should never just be some cheerleader or motivational speaker, he must be like a parent to the person. The trick is to assess what age level of parenting does the person need, peer to peer parenting or parent to a loved four year old. To be a parent and not to be a parent. Nothing should be black and white, in doing so you deny some ones existence. The subjective matter should always be, at least a life coach should try, only on a positive connection to life and supportive. If that can not be had, then the subjective nature should be removed. A key importance for the life coach to know is that it is never about them. The directive part should be directed at the spirit when the person is calm and collective and at ease with you. Lots of time the ego is stuck in its victim role, this is a good time just to listen until you hear the patterns repeat themselves. Listen until the least common denometer can be found. Listen then at a minimum to keep abreast of the current history, but to much just enables the person to continue habits. Causing the one to reinflict, even when they are speaking about them, more harm. You as a life coach must give them hope their is something better than just plain old good. A life coach must break them from the feeling of the pain I know is better than the pain I do not know. To restore the hope that expectations will not just dash them from some great heights. A Life coach shall see with his own eyes, show the person the affliction, give them hope, and show the way. But a life coach should never walk it for them. ……Better to teach a man to fish..
A life coach has to identify the different moods and know who is talking at what time. To access certain personality types, either shadow, spirit, or ego, one must know how to address them when the other is present. Goofiness works wonders. Some need taps on the nose or forehead softly while looking in their eyes to see change in light or dilation. The changes in the eyes can be an indicator when the personality has changed. I mean by personality is when we have no problem we have a body of millions of cells, a gaggle of tissue, a bunch of organs, and a few systems that make up t one healthy human body. Health in Latin meaning whole. When we get cancer in a cell it then effects the tissue and can lead to system failure. You never know where your pancreas is until you get pancreatic cancer. Then you know exactly where it is, how big it is, in what trimester it develops, an its function along with how many other animals have one and if you can borrow it. The same is with the personalities of the mind. When we are happy, we are whole. When we are not we become fragmented and should learn what these systems of personalities are. When we are healed, we no longer have a conversation with them. For they are acting in accord with the whole every second of the rest of our lives. Or until the next turmoil. They become like your lungs, unless you are running the quarter mile, do you notice them. But they are pumping every second. A good response to the shadows blitzkrieg is I am sorry, what happened today. The shadow looks for any strokes because it is ignored by the rest of the mind. In fact the shadow comes out on regular patterns (which led to ancient demon experts to compile charts of which demons on what day and time are active, demons in Latin mean mental blockades.) and is completely forgotten by the ego. Nothing said during the time of the shadows ascent will usually never be remembered. The spirit is the one that is there who is objective, open, funny, and listens. Most important it is the one who has thought of some game plan for its aspirations. This is the best personality to research to attain what the person aspires for and where it truly needs to be buttressed. The ego is the base line, this is what a life coach has to aspire to show the way for change. The go is the hardest to deal with, but it is what is needed to have balance restored to. A life coach needs to educate the ego to know the importance of the fourth chakra. The ego needs justification, reassurance, joy, and comfort. It needs to stop running away and letting the shadow or the spirit do the work for it. The angel on one shoulder or the devil on the other. The life coach, shadow, or angel are only guides and teachers. It is for the ego to surpass them and one day become the teacher. A life coach can only be the way, not the answer.
a life coach needs to know a full breadth of resources. Resources that have centuries of development are key. Nothing abiogenesis is worth of anything with out a foundation in the past. For it would have a lot of trial and error until it creates a universe of its own that has been tested and survived practicality. a Life coach needs to synchronize world religions, divination, mythology, politics, sociology, history, current affairs, human behavior, art, world literature, movies, occult, game theory, and science to appreciate as above as below. You must learn the collective consciousness and know its past, present, and future aspirations, challenges, hopes, blockades, triumphs, and tricks. A life coach must be a renaissance person. A life coach must always be seen equal to the person, never on a pedestal or in the cellar. You can show fault, but always show your esteem high. a life coach shall be one of the worlds greatest researchers. Autodidacts make the best life coach, for they will research and learn out of a self need which drives them further than some on who is just meeting some one else criteria. Classes and lectures are fine but should be chosen by the life coach. But a life coach should never limit his means of learning or study, breadth or field.
But how should a life coach stop the cycle of enabling the ego to stay in the act of victim. Aggressor is easy to change, a little fire and then coziness near the hearth is what they want. But they may want to bait you, remember you and they are one like Buddha under his tree. They will really poke you in your softest spots, but once tested that is that. Now you just have to rescue them from their shame. You might watch some one in town for years who is an aggressor, but he must come to you when he is ready. When the person has done enough work himself. For until then you will scare the hell out of him. But the victim, clings to your comfort and reinjures itself constantly in fear you might go away. If they were not in harm you would not be there. They need the comfort and justification from you that they can not provide.
A life coach goal is to provide the instant gratification one day then followed by the ability for one to accept something in the long run they did not achieve. Or better yet, to learn what it is that flicks in the brain one second to make what was either an average day or a great one into hell in .6 seconds flat. How can an alcoholic go 12 hours without thinking about a drink, and the next moment that is all on his mind until he gets the next one? How to keep the previous condition? But it does not exist yet. Or how do one get beyond selling yourself with buzz words and empty promises. Like a woman in bed she wants to hear the words I love you even if you are lying. Just for the moment of glory, but instant gratification only returns instant failure. On a circle, white and black are indistinguishable. When we travel around the world in a straight line, our starting point is our ending point. Instant gratification is only move a hair to the right into white and is gravitated back to black. When we travel to gray, if white and black are on top then gray must be on the bottom equidistant from them, is separated away from the top by an equal pull from white and black if prone and gravity if hanging. It takes work to get to gray, the balance of white and black, but it takes allot more work to remove us from it. A life coach must be in gray as his center. From here you can travel to white and black any time with experiencing everything in between. A life coach must know how to teach this.
First a life coach must assess the learning style of the person. Then the life coach must teach the person how to learn with the knowledge that there is more to learn afterwards. A life coach must also teach the person from the begining that they are teaching The person with the knowledge they will pass on the lessons to other. Thus becoming a life coach themselves. From that they do not have to apply it in a profession but do apply it as a friend or parent to someone.
A life coach should promote himself more than someone who is going to give you a career, meaning in success, the secrets of love, or how to have great sex. All of this is already in the person. It is the lost child in the dragon cave. A life coach teaches the person to access their own hero to free that child to let its spirit to soar and grow. The treasure that the dragon guards, the parent who placed the episcripts on you, is your talents and abilities given to you before time. Anything I can do you can do with the right belief to allow the constructs to grow. The inner child is the hardest to find in a person. Toys, woods, games, goofiness, tickling works at any age. But this is the dirtiest useless person to the ego. It is who the ego wants to be but thinks it can never become. It is the person that got all the abuse. The shadow is the one who saved the ego and takes the punishment, it has a use to the ego. It will tend to admit to the shadows existence before it admits to the inner child. A life coach should always be send cues to the child. It is the trust giver. A life coach must just get the child to trust itself.
A life coach must be like this Sufi story,
A man once asked me how do I know the condition of ones personality and their past within minutes of looking at them. I had answered, see on the table before me. Yes said the other. I will take this nestle quick and put four heaping teaspoons and put it in this blender. Then I will put two cups of milk in to be followed by a cup of ice. Then three scoops of ice cream, blend and pour. I then asked the man how do I know what I had made, ah the answer is I know the ingredients. Did you have to tell me that it is a milkshake?
A life coach in time must know the story before it is told. But let them tell it anyway until they play victim.
Come read other articles
like this one at TheGuide
or learn about an old cantankerous old man in the 20s and the pond he created. Come join the lifestyle @ Docspond
Christopher Jon Luke Dowgin has been a life coach for twenty years counseling
people and propietor of his own Artistic company Norgeforge.br
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Author: Rosella Arandabr
Source: articleage.combr
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In Part 1 of this article, we talked about reaching our goals as
largely a matter of following through on desire, vision and
action. The difficulty for most of us lies in continuing to
believe that our efforts will ever bear fruit when these fruits
have not yet begun to materialize.
Jonathan Swift said it best. Vision is the art of seeing things
invisible.
In order to continue to work toward that which we cannot yet see,
our motives must be very personal and very compelling, indeed.
So, lets have a closer look at the first of the necessary
components, desire.
Desire, even a fervent one, can easily become clouded by
obstacles if we choose to focus on the obstacles instead of on
our goals. Obstacles are what we see when we take our eyes off
the goal.
I believe it helps if we accept from the outset that obstacles
and setbacks will arise. It should come as no surprise or source
of irritation when this occurs. This is simply part of the
natural ebb and flow of business.
If you stop and think about it, its ridiculous to expect that it
will be clear sailing the entire way. And yet, people do become
unduly irritated and discouraged when things dont go according
to plan.
Hitting a few bumps and potholes in the road only signifies that
we are in fact traveling the road, and not necessarily that were
going down the wrong one. Viewed in this light, you could say
that dealing with a few snags here and there is a good thing. It
certainly beats sitting around doing nothing to further our
progress, right?
Now granted, in order to endure a ride that isnt always
comfortable, you had better have a really good reason for doing
so. So here comes your self-appointed cheerleader to urge you
on.
GRAB THAT GOAL, HONEY!
Thats right. Reach out and grab it! Take those vague, unformed
thoughts that flutter around in your head and solidify them by
setting them down in black and white. Grapple with them. Tie
them down to the paper. Wrap some words around them. You
might need to change and rearrange some words. Why, you might
even need to think about what it is that you really, really want.
There is plenty of evidence to show that the daily ritual of
writing down ones goals is of stupendous importance.
Motivational speakers have delivered volumes of goal-setting
information. Entire books have been devoted to this topic.
Writing down your desires is a recurrent theme in just about
every single success book ever published.
And consider this. Harvard studies indicate that of the 3% of
people who enjoy extreme success, the one common link among
them was this practice of writing down their goals, a practice NOT
shared with the other 97% of the also ran.
So why is it that we resist doing this one little thing that has
been proven to have such life-altering consequences? Is it
because it is such a small sacrifice that we figure it can be
ignored? Do people find such a small chore demeaning? Are we
just plain old lazy?
Ive decided that IT DOESNT MATTER what excuse weve been
using up until now! No more!
I know from experience that a few minutes each morning reviewing
and writing down my major goals is time well spent, and its not
a difficult task. Actually, I was having great fun with it.
I found myself experiencing subtle but powerful changes as I
committed my ideas to paper day after day over a period of
months. In fact, I was feeling so grounded and motivated that I
foolishly quit doing the things that were keeping me that way!
So no more excuses for me. I have resumed my goal-writing and I
intend to just DO IT! Why dont you join me? No more arguments.
No ifs, ands or buts. Just do it.
So now that we are making our goals more tangible, just who do we
share these goals with? My personal experience has taught me to
be very guarded and private about my innermost desires.
If you know that you are dealing with someone who shares your
commitment, you can freely share your ideas and gain an important
ally. HOWEVER, unless you are absolutely certain that you will
be supported 100%, I would recommend that you not share your
goals with anyone else. No, not even your family. In many
instances, ESPECIALLY not your family.
It is a pity, but oftentimes the people who are supposed to be
our staunchest supporters act shamefully like cruel opponents.
You cant do that. What makes you think youre so special?
You cant compete with those guys. Oh, man, they say you
coming!
Such cruel remarks. And they hit particularly hard because they
come from the very people who are supposed to elevate us, to buoy
us up when the going gets rough. Some of these people might
claim that they do this out of love, to keep us from getting
hurt. This may be true, but personally, I dont think it matters
what their motives are. The damage is still just as severe.
These people will steal our dreams if we let them.
Its particularly sad when we are the ones saying these hateful
things to ourselves. Not aloud perhaps, but in our dismal
thoughts and sighs. Dont steal your own dreams, my friend.
We need to keep a high polish on our heartfelt desires. If, and
only if, we really make those goals shine like beacons in the
sky, then we will find the energy keep priming the pump. Day in
and day out, weve got to suit up and show up! (Actually, you
can stay in your pajamas, but you do have to show up.)
As the great motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar, used to say, A
big shot is just a little shot that kept on shooting. Stay
tuned for Part 3.
Rosella Aranda, marketer and author, helps entrepreneurs
change their thinking and escape limitations permanently.
http://www.SabotageThyselfNoMore.com/ Free mini-course.
http://www.FinancialFreedomWorld.com/ Top Marketing Tools
http://www.FromThoughtsToRiches.com/ How to Be Richbr
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Author: Susan K. Minarikbr
Source: articledashboard.combr
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Do you want to create commanding goals with the power to propel you past every obstacle? Bolster them with these potent tips and youll be unstoppable.

1. Know Your Purpose– Above all, for a goal to have motivating power, it must be meaningful to you. Write out a Purpose Statement for your goal. Know whats in it for you. What will it contribute to your life? In addition to what you expect to gain from the outcome, think about how the pursuit itself will benefit you. What skills will your goal call on you to stretch or acquire?

2. Map Your Route– Its become a clich้ because its true: Failing to plan is planning to fail. Know the mileposts between you and your goal and have a detailed plan for reaching the first one. As you near the first milepost, begin to develop details of your plan for reaching the next one. The lure of the next milepost will whet your eagerness to keep going and fire your enthusiasm for wrapping up the current one.

3. Keep Your Focus– Be one-pointed in pursuing each step of your goal. Energy flowing in a focused channel can create a Grand Canyon. Without focus, it creates a swamp. Mentally review tomorrows steps before you fall asleep at night; repeat them as you start each day.

4. Create Momentum- Utilize Newtons First Law: A body in motion tends to stay in motion. Get moving on your goal as soon and as often as you possibly can. Dont wait until you think you have enough information or time. Begin where you are, with what you have and what you know. The road will open to you as you go.

5. Ask Questions– Ask yourself questions about your goal constantly. Ask if theres a straighter path. Ask how else you can look at it or what else you need to do or know. Your mind will automatically produce or lead you to answers. Ask kids how they would approach the step youre focused on, or people wholly outside your field. Explaining your question to them will help you understand better what youre seeking, and their answers may trigger new ways to look at your situation.

6. Read Goal-Related Material Daily– Capitalize on the fact that you life in the information age. Every day find at least one more nugget of data about your goal. Seek out the top-notch experts in your field, study what they say and do, and apply what you learn.

7. Have an Idea Catcher Handy — Good ideas pop up suddenly and evaporate as quickly as they come. Be prepared to catch them. Record enough details to let youself recapture the idea later. A single word or two that seems significant at the moment may look nonsensical later. Set aside time every day to transfer all the ideas you have collected into one central file. Not only will that keep good ideas from getting lost, but it will program your mind to continue producing and elaborating on them.

8. Talk It Up — Ruthlessly guard your self-talk. Delete every doubt instantly. Choose to believe you can achieve your aim whether the way is apparent or not. Learn to craft affirmations and use them continuously. Mastering your mindset is the one essential to achieving your goal.

9. Ramp It Up– Use the Power of Two to invigorate yourself. Stay at a task for 2 minutes longer. Add 2 more ideas to your file. Make 2 more contacts. Ask 2 more questions. Increase the quality of your focus by 2%. Do routine tasks 2% faster. Every day find something you can improve by a factor of 2. Its just enough of a challenge to give you the winning edge.

10. Empower Your Goal with Gratitude- To keep your enthusiasm high, consciously practice gratitude for your goal, for the fact that you have it, for all it is doing to give purpose to your life, for the ways it is nourishing your personal growth, for all it is teaching you and allowing you to explore.
Gratitude empowers your vision and provides you with the humility you need to stay open. It adds passion to your will to achieve, keeps you operating from your heart and gives meaning to the smallest task. By all means, give thanks, and travel in its joy./pbr
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Author: Katheryn Hobanbr
Source: articleage.combr
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What you focus on and pay attention to at any given time is very important. You need to concentrate to finish what you started. If you dont focus, you can be easily distracted and you can pass your whole life away, frustrated and unfulfilled, without accomplishing anything of what you wanted.
Too often we focus on
something that is inappropriate for us and it drains
us of energy. There are many people in this world
who are constantly focused on paying their bills.
That becomes their only focus, and they lose
sight of the needs of other people around them,
including their children, their spouses, and friends.
Debt is a huge distraction and great pain to so
many of us. We are overwhelmed with debt.
We really have to focus to stop spending, and to get out of
debt, otherwise we will also never be able to a
ccomplish what we are called to do.
Often times you must change your focus and
concentrate on attaining something that will help you
or propel you forward with time. For instance, you
may need to go to school and get a degree before you
can take a job that is higher paying. But you have to
take your focus from your bills to the focus of completing
your school requirements, and do it well. Once you receive
that degree or certification, then you need to focus on
presenting yourself to prospective employers and getting
a better paying job. If you focus on that job, and keep
your spending habits down to a minimum, you can pay down
your bills over time.
People can get into mental loops that keep
playing the same things over in their head.
Unless they put effort into breaking these mental loops,
and control their focus, they will not live their lives to
the fullest. The same goes for you. If you focus on
bizarre things all the time, bizarre things will begin to
dominate your spirit. If you focus on all the things that
cause you to worry, you will be worried all the time. If you
focus on fearful things all the time, you will become
fearful, distrustful and isolated.
These are some of the mental loops that grab your attention and focus. You have to control your thoughts and break bad mental habits. Pay attention to what you focus on. We have to plug up the drains on our time and our energy. If you have work to
do on a project, do your work first and then go and play.
Put your focus into areas that will create a sustainable
income and then you can go and have fun. If your partner
has become your whole focus, at what cost does that come?
Are you willing to pay that cost? Can you have more of a
balance in that area of your life? If you are with the
right partner, h/she will not be possessive of your time
but will share it equally, will encourage you to be the best
that you can be, and will let you focus on what you need to.
You will do the same in return. It is a support team.
One such mental loop that is created is always
putting your thoughts on something that is fearful to
you. How often do we focus on something that we dont
want to happen, only to see that become a reality?
Your constant focus has acted like a magnet and drawn
in the very thing of which you are petrified. Your focus,
a powerful tool when used in the right capacity, has
become a stagnant, redundant drain on your life force.
The only way to correct the drain is to reconnect to a new focus. Stop the worrisome, fearful, anxious thoughts and start thinking about how you would like to appear in your new life. Start focusing on what you would like to accomplish and how you
will go about doing that. It is not too late to change your focus from something negative and hurtful to something expansive and productive.
Fear and worry causes your energy to retract and become smaller, whereas joy and good imagination causes an expansion to the unlimited capacity of which you are really capable. You can choose to redirect your focus right now.
If you are working on a project, you must focus on
all the steps of the project before they are executed.
That way you will have a solid working plan to complete
the project. After plotting out the structure of the project,
you will focus on each step in priority. Usually you have to
do one thing before you do another, so there is a progression
and order. On occasion you have to complete two or more tasks almost simultaneously. Do what you need to do to the best of your ability, but do not lose your focus, which is completing the whole project. You cant let yourself get stuck on one part. If you are stymied in one area there may be another part of the project where you can begin to
move forward.
You must be conscious of the focus of time,
and attention, and do not let yourself be distracted.
If you are working on a project by yourself, you must
have discipline, patience, good working habits, be able
to motivate yourself, and determine your focus.
When you are self employed or working on your own, you are
the director, employee, and motivator. If you cant
motivate, and discipline yourself, nothing will be accomplished
well. If you are learning something new it requires a
lot of focus, concentration, determination, and self-
encouragement. If you are creating something new, you
must hone your focus for something that is not yet there. You
must continually focus on something in your imagination that
is further down the line, but that is coming. Doubt can
distract you from your focus. It is your job to shake yourself
and refocus on your goals. You must see yourself in
your imagination, having accomplished what you set out to
do.
Besides mental loops that can distract your focus,
interruptions from people can break your focus, and the foods
you eat can diminish your concentration and focus.
Excessive sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, in your diet
can wreak havoc on your concentration and your work.
Again, its part of self-discipline to monitor what and how much
you are ingesting, and to guard your focus. People can easily
take all your allotted time if you dont politely let them
know that you are working right now. Again, you can
make a choice to take a moment with a friend or associate,
or you can let them know that you need to continue
working. You need a focus in almost everything that
you do, if it is not work, then you also need to focus
when you are learning, listening, painting, cooking,
meditating, praying, communicating, attending to children,
and traveling etc. Guard your focus, work with it and
you will be well on your way to accomplishing great things.
Yoga Kat–aka Katheryn Hoban is a yoga teacher with twelve years experience. She teaches childrens yoga ages 3-6, and 7-12 and Adults privately in NJ. She is the author the book DAUGHTER BELOVED which will come out next year. She has created a childrens affirmation CD (ages 3-6) and an affirmation CD for adults. Yoga Kat is available for speaking or writing and can be reached at katscoolcorner@yahoo.com or 201 970-9340br
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Author: Aditi Walsh
Source: articlerich.com

It takes courage to become what you want to be. And entrepreneurs have plenty of it. Yet despite great intentions, most fall short of the mark. Intentions can get tainted by what you don’t have or haven’t yet been able to secure. And for many, last year has been an extremely challenging year.

It’s no wonder discouragement insidiously seeped into our awareness. And we’ve all had plenty of external economic indicators bombarding us about the hard times ahead for this year. But if we now feel we can’t have what we truly want, we’ve indeed fallen into a dangerous self-deceptive trap.

Ask Yourself What You Really Want
The way out is to go deep inside the core of our being and allow our hearts to speak. Entrepreneurs are courageous, so we can do this. I’m reminded that the word courage comes from the French word ‘coeur’, meaning heart. Courageous people move into the world with, in and through their hearts. We often use the expression, ‘take heart’. In other words, be encouraged.

There’s no better time, than when we find ourselves deeply challenged, to look at what’s really important for our lives and businesses. I have found a way to help me do that. Tulshi Sen, author of Ancient Secrets of Success for Today’s World, in his New Years audio cast, says to “Go into that void to find out what you want. What you want sometimes gets tainted with what you did not have, but that is not the void.” He encourages us to embrace this year with courage and choose the life of our own design.

Paraphrasing my understanding of this audio cast, I offer a visualization to embrace what you truly want:

Imagine This Year Of Transformation
You’ll experience living in your true vision. It fits with the Consciousness of who you really are. You are continuously shedding your old skin and developing your new personality that is compatible with this magnificent vision of yours.

Keenly aware that your pains and failures came out of the old personality that held you back, you focus your attention on what you want, with clarity of purpose. You deeply believe the Universe will give it to you, regardless of your present circumstances, skills and knowledge.

As You Become Your Vision
You are unconcerned as to how it will manifest. What is more, you go about your day to day activities, knowing your evolving Consciousness is leading you to the realization of your vision. And when those momentary lapses of disbelief slip in, you don’t panic or frantically force yourself back into your vision. Instead, you use these moments as an opportunity to re-affirm your Consciousness as being the Creator. And you acknowledge these aberrations as just passing images as you travel towards your destination.

Most importantly, you feel you have already arrived. You have no doubt about your journey. And you are ready to live your new life. All-Aboard!

Now, The Mind Is Extremely Skeptical
Just because you said so or because you forced a few affirmations its way, doesn’t make the mind believe you. No. You must genuinely convince it. And it’s impossible to convince the mind with the mind or the intellect, no matter how brilliant it may be. It takes a much more profound method to bypass the security guard of the mind and enter your heart directly. You must meditate continuously, non-stop, that Consciousness Creates your Reality.

Mr. Sen discusses what is needed to manifest your vision, by showing you how to hold a vision. He explains that none of the theories of success will help you here. Only Consciousness can believe that you create something out of nothing by visioning it. To bring your vision into manifestation, you must know and believe that your vision will manifest.

As Entrepreneurs, we need to believe, and not make-believe, that if we hold a vision, it will manifest, no matter what our circumstances are, what others say, or whether it has been done before or not. If we can conceive, believe and hold the vision, we can manifest it.

Tulshi Sen’s New Year’s Message Audio Cast. Plus Two follow-up audiocasts

Aditi Walsh is a conscious entrepreneur, helping people create and manifest their visions of success. She shares ideas and reviews of success principles, strategies and tools for the online entrepreneur at WebMarketingRebel

Author: Gene Griessman, Ph.D.
Source: articleage.com

Balancing Your Work, Family and Social Life
By Gene Griessman, PhD

Many of us have an image of personal balance as a set of scales in perfect balance every day. But that’s an unrealistic goal. You are in for a lot of frustration if you try to allocate within every day a predetermined portion of time for work, family and your social life. An illness may upset all your plans. A business project may demand peaks of intense work, followed by valleys of slow time.
Balance requires continual adjustments, like an acrobat on a high wire who constantly shifts his weight to the right and to the left. By focusing on four main areas of your life – emotional/spiritual needs, relationships, intellectual needs and physical needs – at work and away from work, you can begin to walk the high wire safely.
Here, drawn from my conversations with many high successful Americans, are ten ideas for balancing all aspects of your life:
1. Make an appointment with yourself. Banish from your mind the idea that everyone takes precedence over you. Don’t use your organizer or calendar just for appointments with others. Give yourself some prime time. Regularly do something you enjoy. It will recharge your batteries. Once you’ve put yourself on your calendar, guard those appointments. Kay Koplovitz founder of the USA cable television network, which is on the air 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. Koplovitz ran the daily operations of the network for 21 years. For more than two decades, there was always some potential claim on her time. Therefore she vigilantly protected a scheduled tennis match just as she would a business appointment.
2. Care for your body. Having a high energy level is a trait held by many highly successful people. No matter what your present level of energy, you can increase it by following these steps:
Eat. Don’t skip meals. Your physical and mental energy depend upon nourishment. Irregular eating patterns can cause a frayed temper, depression, lack of creativity and a nervous stomach.
Exercise. Over and over again, highly successful people mention the benefit of exercise routines. Johnetta Cole, president of Bennett College for Women and former president of Spelman College, does a four-mile walk each morning. She calls it her mobile meditation. The benefits of exercise are mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. If you are healthier and have more stamina, you can work better and longer.
Rest. A psychologist who has studied creative people reports that they rest often and sleep a lot.
3. Cut some slack. You do not have to do everything. Just the right things. Publisher Steve Forbes taught me a lesson: “Don’t be a slave to your in-box. Just because there’s something there doesn’t mean you have to do it.” As a result, every evening, I extract from my long list to-do list just a few “musts” for the following day. If, but three o’clock the next day, I’ve crossed off all the “musts,” I know that everything else I do that day will be icing on the cake. It is a great psychological plus for me.
There is nothing wrong with pushing yourself hard, disciplining yourself to
do what needs to be done when you hold yourself to the highest standards. That builds up stamina and turns you into a pro. At time, though, you must forgive yourself. You will never become 100 percent efficient, nor should you expect to be. After something does not work, ask yourself, “Did I do my best? If you did, accept the outcome. All you can do is all you can do.
4. Blur the boundaries. Some very successful people achieve balance by setting aside times or days for family, recreation, hobbies or the like. They create boundaries around certain activities and protect them. Other individuals who are just as successful do just the opposite. They blur the boundaries. Says consultant Alan Weiss, “I work out of my home. In the afternoon, I might be watching my kids play at the pool or be out with my wife. On Saturday, or at ten o’clock on a weeknight, I might be working. I do things when the spirit moves me, and when they’re appropriate.”
Some jobs don’t lend themselves to this strategy. But blurring the boundaries is possible more often than you may think. One way is to involve people you care about in what you do. For example, many companies encourage employees to bring their spouses to conferences and annual meetings. It’s a good idea. If people who mean a great deal to you understand what you do, they can share more fully in your successes and failures. They also are more likely to be a good sounding board for your ideas.
5. Take a break. Many therapists believe that taking a break from a work routine can have major benefits for mental and physical health. Professional speaker and executive coach Barbara Pagano practices a kind of quick charge, by scheduling a day every few months with no agenda. For her, that means staying in her pajamas, unplugging the phone, watching old movie or reading a novel in bed. For that one day, nothing happens, except what she decides from hour to hour. Adds singer and composer Billy Joel, “There are times when you need to let the field lie fallow.” Joel is describing what farmers often do: let a plot rest so the soil can replenish itself.
6. Take the road less traveled. Occasionally, get off the expressway and take a side road, literally and figuratively. That road may take you to the library or to the golf course. Do something out of the ordinary to avoid the well-worn grooves of your life. Try a new route to work, a different radio station or a different cereal. Break out of your old mold occasionally, with a new way to dress or a different hobby. The road less traveled can be a reward after a demanding event, a carrot that you reward your self with or it can be a good way to loosen up before a big event. Bobby Dodd, the legendary football coach at Georgia Tech, knew the power of this concept. While other coaches were putting their teams through brutal twice-a-day practices, Dodd’s team did their drills and practices, but then took time to relax, play touch football and enjoy the bowl sites. Did the idea work? In six straight championships games!
7. Be still. Susan Taylor, editorial director of Essence, sees to it that she has quiet time every morning. She regards it as a time for centering – for being still and listening. She keeps a paper and pen with her to jot down ideas that come to her. The way you use solitary time should match your values, beliefs and temperament. Some individuals devote a regular time each day to visualize themselves attaining their goals and dreams. Others read, pray, meditate, do yoga or just contemplate a sunrise or sunset. Whatever form it takes, time spent alone can have an enormous payoff. Achievers talk about an inner strength they find and how it helps them put competing demands into perspective. They feel more confident about their choices and more self-reliant. They discover a sense of balance, a centeredness.
8. Be a peacetime patriot. Joe Posner has achieved wealth and recognition selling life insurance. Several years ago, Posner helped form an organization in his hometown of Rochester, NY to prepare underprivileged children for school and life and, he hopes, break the poverty cycle. You may find some equally worthy way to give something back through your church, hospital, civic club, alumni association or by doing some pro bono work. Or you may help individuals privately, even anonymously. There are powerful rewards for balancing personal interests with the needs of the common good. One of the most wonderful is the sheer joy that can come from giving. Another reward is the better world that you help create.
9. Do what you love to do. As a boy, Aaron Copeland spent hours listening to his sister practice the piano because he loved music. By following that love, he became America’s most famous composer of classical must. When I asked him years later if he had even been disappointed by that choice Copeland replied, “My life has been enchanting.” What a word to sum up a life. By itself, loving what you do does not ensure success. You need to be good at what you love. But if you love what you do, the time you spend becoming competent is less likely to be drudgery.
10. Focus on strategy. As important as it is, how to save time for balancing your life is not the ultimate question. That question is, “What am I saving time for?” Strategy has to do with being successful – but successful at what? If others pay your salary, being strategic generally means convincing them that you are spending your time in a way that benefits them. If there is a dispute over how you should use your time, either convince the people who can reward or punish you that your idea about using time is appropriate, or look for another job. The “what for?” question should also be asked about the life you live. It is truly a comprehensive question and gets at the question of wholeness.

So what makes for a successful balance life? I can think of no better definition than the one given by Ralph Waldo Emerson:
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because I have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Gene Griessman, PhD, is an Atlanta-based author, workshop leader and speaker. His books include Time Tactics of Very Successful People and The Words Lincoln Lived By. To learn more about Dr. Griessman’s products and speaking engagements, visit him online at www.presidentlincoln.com.

Author: Maureen Mistry
Source: download

Everybody in Vanity Fair must have remarked how well those live who are comfortably and thoroughly in debt; how they deny themselves nothing; how jolly and easy they are in their minds.
–W. M. Thackeray
Have you noticed how in the times of crisis, peoples hidden trait become clearly visible. For compulsive spenders,a crisis is tackled by an unplanned visit to the shopping mall.
For years, this was my pattern, especially if the crisis happened to be of a financial nature.
An urge would come over me. An urge to spend money that I do not have. It would start off with a desire to travel, but this not always being possible, either because of work or usually due to lack of funds I would go on a shopping spree, ….on the internet.
Books have always been my weakness. During these dangerous moments, I would day dream about my favorite bookshop. I would actually see myself at the bookshop cafe, surrounded by books, a cup of tea in hand, while I flipped through what ever reading matter I would have collected in my basket. Oh the thrill of it all.
In this state of mind, sometimes I would actually abandon whatever it was I was doing, and head for the bookshop, convinced that this time I would be able to find a book that would address all my problems. Sometimes though, it was not always easy to make it to the bookshop and so I would do the next best thing.
I would turn to the internet bookshops, looking for yet another book to help me get through whatever crisis I was going through, and since the majority of these crisis were financial, I would comb the net for yet another cure for my spiralling debt.
This would be my initial excuse, but like most addicts, yes compulsive spending is a form of addiction, I would soon move on from books on finances or whatever self help book that looked promising, on to other things. It is quite common for me at this time to not only buy books, but end up at sites for clothes, shoes, whatever took my fancy. I deserve it, I would tell myself as I once again punched in my credit card details. It is no wonder my spending spirralled out of control.Having made the purchases, I would eagerly look forward to receiving them by post. Oh the thrill of it all! Though I might not have expressed it like this, but looking back, I acted like the arrival of these items was the begining of a new life. All problems solved.
But this was an illusion. The thrill of my purchases were usually short lived. And when the credit card details showed up at the end of the month, matters were not helped in the least. Since I had a very strong bias for books, to improve my mind you know, It took a while before I realised I had a problem.
One day,after a shopping spree on the net, making purchases, that included e-books because sometimes I needed the books immediately and could not wait for the post, besides the e-books were cheaper, (another justification) I realized the mess that I was in. I wish I could say that I had this great epiphany and decided that this was not the way to go, No, what happened was that I had maxed out yet another credit card and had now run out of ideas on how to ingeniously make more purchases, and then it dawned on me.
The first thing I realized was that the people writing these books I was buying were either copying each other or getting the information from the same source, for it was becoming increasingly difficult to get information that I already did not know.
In fact with the books that I now had taking up so much space on my bookshelves, I had enough resources to put together the same type of books that I was spending money that I could not afford.
The second thing I realized was that I was seriously addicted to shopping, and my financial future certainly looked bleak.
It surprised me, when I noticed that the desire to recklessly spend always seemed to attack me when I was least least in the position to do so, financially that is, and with my overspending lifestyle these crisis were now becoming more frequent. It was impossible not to realise that I was in worse shape that I had been a few months earlier, and if I did not do something, one year from now, I did not even want to think of my financial situation.
Even though I finally made these realizations, I did not stop my spending. I could not stop, I had lived this way far too long.
Then I noticed another pattern, perhaps because I was getting tired of the constant juggling of credit cards, I realized that right after the completion of my credit card details, I would have this sinking feeling. The former thrill I used to feel was now being replaced by a wretchedness I could not understand.
To get rid of this , I would sometimes immediately rush back and cancel the order, only to spend days later regretting this action, but not wanting that wretched feeling to come back I would resist and not re-order. Other times, the canceled item would, as it where beckon to me so acutely that throwing caution to the winds, I would rush right back to the website and plunge right back to the purchase. If it was a book that could be bought second hand, I would buy this instead , after all I had now made some savings compared to if I had bought a new copy. The smaller amount of money helped to assuage the feeling of guilt.
Not long ago, I heard someone say that you cannot satisfy an emotional need with material means, and when I thought about it, I realized that this was what I had been doing.
But what to do, the desire to spend was now coming on with increasing rapidity, and daily I struggled to curb my spending addiction. As I thumbed through my self help books, somewhere in them, there had to be a system that would save me from my overspending lifestyle. Some days, went quite well. I would be strong enough to resist the urge. Other days did not go so well, my “attack days” I learnt to call them, when I just had to buy yet another something that I did not need. After the purchase, I would spend the rest of the day too miserable to enjoy my purchase, but too weak to send them back. I began to live in dread of these “attack days”
As with everything in life, when you really get serious about it, the whole universe cooperates to hand you the answer.
I got a set of tapes from a friend on personal finance management and among these was a teaching on changing behavioral patterns. The examples given were actually based on dieting, how to finally win the battle of the bulge. But the situation felt so similar to my shopaholic lifestyle that I adapted the whole teaching to uncontrolled spending. As I see it, uncontrolled spending habits has a lot in common with uncontrolled eating habits.
This is what I learned.
All focus is reality. Pain and pleasure are the two motivating factors in life, Human beings would do anything to avoid pain and so the need to avoid pain is the greater of the motivation factors.
In a weight loss programme, If you focus on a chocolate bar for example, you will forget the pain of putting on weight, and if you only think about the pleasure of eating the chocholate, guess what, that is what you will do, with the usual consequence. Like I said, I replaced the focus on eating, with over spending.
I read this as, if I focus on whatever it is I wanted to buy, usually a book, thinking only of the pleasure, this becomes reality to me. all I would think about would be the pleasure and the promises on the books back cover. I would forget the debt it will put me into, this purchase like so many others, being unplanned and unbudgeted for, and the consequences attached to it.
You change your behaviour, the seminar coach informed by changing your focus.
Focus on the pain of putting on weight or as in my case, focus on the pain of spiralling debt, and its emotional consequences and the attraction or desire for the chocolate or as in my case an overspending lifestyle will die down.
This was new to me. In all my reading of self help books, I had not realized that the reason I could not change was because I was attacking the symptoms and not the root of the problem. The root was that I had a behavioural pattern , which was sabotaging my best intentions.
Being fully aware of what a strong force a habit of many years is, and wanting to be sure that when the urge comes on me to spend again, I was fully prepared to resist, I made a list of the pain or consequences of my Shopaholic lifestyle. I asked myself as the seminar coach said, what would be the pain if I continue my present pattern of spending. I went into great length detailing in writing the emotional consequences (despair), the financial consequences (crippling, always living on my tomorrow) and the physical consequences (living from paycheck to paycheck, never really affording anything).
None of this was new to me. I have intimate knowledge of it, and so I detailed everything. I painted the picture as it truly is , without having to resort to exaggeration, it truly was a grim picture.
I decided to read this every night before I went to bed, and every morning on getting up. I called it “The life I do not want ” I did not want to take chances, because as any addict will tell you, when faced with temptation, all your defence are down, and you find yourself lying to yourself in order to feed your addiction. So I wanted the truth of my life not only in my notebook, where I am sure I would not want to read in the face of an “attack”, but also in my subconscious, the idea being that once I had it there long enough, when faced with a temptation, I would react naturally,… that is from my reprogrammed subconscious self. In a very short time, the life I do not want to live became a reality in my subconcious mind.
Knowing how easy it is to get into the other extreme, stinginess that it, I made sure that I followed through with a spending plan, leaving some extra money for impulse buying, just enough not to feel deprived.
It is now one year since I embarked on this journey, I am almost out of debt, and completely cured of the spending addiction. Just like dieting, I know how easy it is to go back into the same negative pattern, so I have developed some habits that make sure that I am not in the environment of temptation. I still read daily my copy of “The life I do not want” but I have read it now so many times, that I can recite it without my note book. I know that I am not completely free, because sometimes an advertisement with its promises sneaks right through my guards and I catch myself wondering…, but not for long, because out from my subconscious mind, I see the life I do not want, and I am saved.
During the rare occassions when, I have problems putting the picture of the latest offer out of my mind, I make a note and put this new prospective purchase in the next months budget, and what I find is, that in most cases, by the time the next month rolls by and it is time to make the purchase , I find the desire tremendously weakened, once this happens, I put the budgeted amount towards increasing a debt repayment.
I have been in debt and I am almost free, freedom is better. That in itself is one roller coaster addiction!!
Maureen Mistry is a group member of the Lifestrategiescenter, www.Lifestrategiescenter.com where strategies for successfull living are mapped out and implementation tactics made understandable.
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