You’re reading 3 Little-Known Benefits of Gratitude That Naturally Boost Confidence, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

That’s where it’s at, right?

That effortless ease some others have.

You know, they seem to glide through their day, deftly juggling all kinds of awkward  situations.

Getting on. Getting ahead.

Looking good.

Doing great.

But how do they do it?

Because it can feel nigh on impossible sometimes to have that ease, that self-possession and  self-confidence.

The kind that turns heads.

How do they do that?

It’s simple really.

And it’s nothing to do with genes, natural intelligence or ability.

They simply feel good… about themselves.

Hold up. That’s sounds obvious, asinine even.

I thought so too. Until I found my ease, my own self-possession and confidence.

But I don’t know if you’re ready for the  answer.

It sounds too left of center. Too simple. And too ethereal to have any real impact.

Yeah, that’s what I used to think too.

But then I discovered that gratitude is life-changing. And no more so than in the area of personal confidence.

Here are three ways gratitude naturally boosts your confidence;

1.Higher Self-Esteem

Have you noticed that how you feel about yourself affects everything you do?

It makes your day go great, or not so great, depending on how highly you rate your self-worth. Tricky situations are many times more difficult to deal with if your inner voice is whispering negative or critical comments to you.

Heck, even your routine day is harder to manage with a fault-finding, gremlin constantly carping on. Nothing you do seems good enough and everyone else seems to be doing way better… at everything.

But what has gratitude got to do with self-esteem?

Surely it’s about appreciating others, good fortune that comes our way and the other positive aspects of our lives?

Yes. But that’s far from all of it.

Practicing gratitude also includes appreciating all of your qualities, attributes and abilities. It includes recognizing all that’s great and good in you. And valuing the incredible contributions you make each and every day.

What a fabulous way to build and maintain healthy self-esteem! And there’s more…

Gratitude is shown to boost self-esteem by decreasing envy. Rather than begrudging where others have more – money, success, friends for instance – being thankful for what you have allows you to simply be happy for them.

Let gratitude naturally boost your confidence by helping you cultivate strong self-esteem

2. Better Relationships

Do you find yourself drawn to negative people who don’t appreciate kindness or good fortune?

No? Neither do other positive, thankful people. They’re drawn to like-minded souls, like you.

Gratitude makes you more positive, more upbeat, And that means positive, upbeat people  feel better around you. You light up their day. Your recognition of all the good things the day brings, gives them a boost as well.

And grateful people are much more likely to find aspects of other people’s character or personality they like and appreciate. Which means relationships of all kinds flourish the better.

And none more so than in those very important, close personal relationships.

Grateful people say ‘thank you’ more often and are also much less negative and critical of their partners, especially face to face. This has been shown to extend the satisfaction and length of the relationship on both sides.

Let gratitude strengthen your relationships at all levels. Strong, secure relationships breed strong, secure self-confidence.

3. A Greater Sense of Belonging

Did you know that practicing gratitude can make you feel a valuable part of where you live?

Appreciating all the great things about where your home is located goes way beyond just making you feel safe and secure.

Those who practice gratitude feel close to their community and give 20% more of their time and money. They have a strong a connection with those around them and experience less loneliness or feelings of isolation.

And loneliness and isolation breed self-doubt and low self-esteem.

Let gratitude give you a sense of community, a sense of confidence built on a sense of belonging.

Boost your confidence naturally with gratitude.

Life is so much easier when you feel at ease with yourself.

Self-assurance gets your back in every situation. It lets you walk tall, with poise and grace.

And confidence, that’s the ultimate air ride in life. It lets you glide where you previously stumbled.

Who would ever have thought gratitude has such an enormous and far-reaching part to play in attaining those magical qualities. The ones that seemed so impossible to grasp.

Ready to get on? Get ahead?

With Gratitude you’ll be looking good. Doing great.

And you’ll be the one turning heads.

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Laura Tong is a regular contributor on The Huff  Post and other top blogs. Laura’s latest book, The Life-Changing Power of Gratitude is available on Amazon here.

Laura is Editor at Write To Done, one of the top writing blogs on the net and assistant Editor at Goodlife ZEN, one of the most respected self-improvement blogs. Grab her free cheat sheet: 5 Guilt Free Ways To Say No Without Offending Anyone (Even If You Hate Conflict)

You’ve read 3 Little-Known Benefits of Gratitude That Naturally Boost Confidence, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading Erin’s Things: December 5, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

This week I’m sharing everything from the stars to the best place to do sit-ups! Want to find out what made me smile last week – read on – and if you have anything cool you’d like to share please leave your finds in the comments below or DM me!

UNIVERSE – EXPLORING THE ASTRONOMICAL WORLD – Need a new coffee table book that leaves you full of wonder and inspiration? Move over quirky photo book, here comes the motherlode book on man’s journey through the universe. Everything from ancient cave paintings to animation, this book is thoroughly engrossing for everyone. 300 images depicting the stars, planets and more, an international panel of experts comment on facts as well as the beauty and mystery of our universe. Paintings, photographs, animation, sculptures, sketches and digital renderings display the work of renowned artists. You won’t be shoving this one into a random heap of books in a few years, this one is a keeper.

KAYLA ITSINES – Work out much? Need to do more? Global fitness expert Kayla Itsines has designed a ‘do anywhere’ type of workout that helps us fit it in, no matter how busy, or tired we may be. The key is to raise your heat rate and let your whole body feel the burn. Focusing on you legs, butt and core will give you the most efficient use of your short time to workout. Squats, planks and twists can be anywhere! So, let’s get moving into an excuse free fitness routine.

THE DESERT BOX – Subscription boxes are having a moment, yes, but some of them are not likely to fade into obscurity. Like this one, where you can purchase a box that comes filled with beautiful succulents and cactuses. Offering quarterly or monthly plants, you can now order them with a repurposed planter, soil, moss, plant care card, and white pebbles for decorative use. These plants are easy to care for and lend beauty to all types of home décor. And if you have too many already, gift it!

WINE N DINE – This is not just another app, this instagram style food discovery platform has added a feature that allows its users to swipe let or right on dishes and make mote of the ones they can try in their area. Bumble for foodies, I suppose. It is called the ‘swipe to discover’ feature and it allows viewers to see which are approved and which aren’t, saving time and money when choosing between the Ramen or the pizza. And the best part, you’re never left feeling rejected…

Have a great week!

Erin

You’ve read Erin’s Things: December 5, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 5 Quick Steps to Change Any Behavior, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

As a zoologist by training, I developed the Emotional Mastery techniques found in my new book Change from Within from studying wild animals. Out of this research, and the main way this work differs from other self-help philosophies, is that I don’t believe our thoughts control our behavior. Our belief systems, often unconsciously, are our true behavioral dictators. Our thoughts (like our words) are good indicators of our beliefs, but if you just focus on changing how you think without addressing the underlying beliefs, your efforts will only be a surface “band aid” solution, and the unhealthy behavior will eventually reassert itself.

If you want a genuine long-term fix for unhealthy behaviors, you have to change the underlying beliefs that are triggering your actions. Thankfully we have a built-in guidance system for uncovering our belief systems. How we feel. Our emotional body is like a weather vane for all of our beliefs. Change how you FEEL and you will change how you behave.

Unfortunately, we spend years in school being taught to think and never one lesson in how to feel, which leaves us at a disadvantage when it comes to empowering ourselves emotionally. The following steps will show you how to flex your emotional muscles so you can start to see long term results, and change from the inside out.

Here are 5 quick steps to transform any unhealthy behavior by changing the underlying emotional hooks:

1. Start by paying attention to how you feel. Before, during and after the behavior, what was your emotional state? If this is an old pattern, you will probably struggle to stay conscious of how you feel before or during, but afterwards think back on your actions. How does it make you feel? Write it down.

2. Go below the “surface” emotions you wrote down, to identify the underlying insecurity. For example, say you feel like an idiot or are embarrassed by your behavior, the root insecurity might be “I feel like a loser” or “I feel I’m not good enough”. To get the most out of this process dig deep and be brutally honest about your insecurities.

3. Say out loud “I accept I feel … “ and name the insecurities from step 2. Contrary to what you may think, acceptance doesn’t make things worse; it’s simply the honest acknowledgment of where you are at. In order for this Emotional Mastery process to work, we have to be in true acceptance. (Refusing to accept how we feel is like walking into the emergency room and refusing to tell the doctors where it hurts, but still expecting them to make us better.)

4. Look for the gifts or wisdom of feeling this insecurity. As I say in workshops “every negative emotion has something positive to teach us”. If you’re really struggling with this step, how are you a better person for knowing how it feels to experience this? Hint: are you more compassionate? Understanding? Patient?

5. Stop beating yourself up for your behavior and start thanking this part of you for trying to make you a better person. This disempowering behavior is actually teaching you to be more compassionate, understanding, patient, etc. Once we see it as a gift instead of a curse, we get into appreciation, one of the highest vibrational states we hold.

Congratulations! You’ve just transformed the emotion attached to your unhealthy behavior from self-abuse to appreciation, aka self-love. There are two schools of motivation: one of abuse and one of encouragement (another aspect of self-love). Which one do you think gets healthy, long-term results? Only after processing the underlying emotional hook of the insecurity into a positive, can we then “pre-pave” an empowering and healthy course of action. In your mind’s eye now visualize how you wish you’d behaved instead. Get really specific and pay attention to how you would feel as you played out this new behavior. When a similar situation arises in the future (and it will) you can then start practicing your empowering, healthy new action.

If you want to understand and practice this transformational process in more detail, read Change from Within: A Journal of Exercise and Meditations to Transform, Empower, and Reconnect.

You’ve read 5 Quick Steps to Change Any Behavior, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

>

You’re reading 5 Quick Steps to Change Any Behavior, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

As a zoologist by training, I developed the Emotional Mastery techniques found in my new book Change from Within from studying wild animals. Out of this research, and the main way this work differs from other self-help philosophies, is that I don’t believe our thoughts control our behavior. Our belief systems, often unconsciously, are our true behavioral dictators. Our thoughts (like our words) are good indicators of our beliefs, but if you just focus on changing how you think without addressing the underlying beliefs, your efforts will only be a surface “band aid” solution, and the unhealthy behavior will eventually reassert itself.

If you want a genuine long-term fix for unhealthy behaviors, you have to change the underlying beliefs that are triggering your actions. Thankfully we have a built-in guidance system for uncovering our belief systems. How we feel. Our emotional body is like a weather vane for all of our beliefs. Change how you FEEL and you will change how you behave.

Unfortunately, we spend years in school being taught to think and never one lesson in how to feel, which leaves us at a disadvantage when it comes to empowering ourselves emotionally. The following steps will show you how to flex your emotional muscles so you can start to see long term results, and change from the inside out.

Here are 5 quick steps to transform any unhealthy behavior by changing the underlying emotional hooks:

1. Start by paying attention to how you feel. Before, during and after the behavior, what was your emotional state? If this is an old pattern, you will probably struggle to stay conscious of how you feel before or during, but afterwards think back on your actions. How does it make you feel? Write it down.

2. Go below the “surface” emotions you wrote down, to identify the underlying insecurity. For example, say you feel like an idiot or are embarrassed by your behavior, the root insecurity might be “I feel like a loser” or “I feel I’m not good enough”. To get the most out of this process dig deep and be brutally honest about your insecurities.

3. Say out loud “I accept I feel … “ and name the insecurities from step 2. Contrary to what you may think, acceptance doesn’t make things worse; it’s simply the honest acknowledgment of where you are at. In order for this Emotional Mastery process to work, we have to be in true acceptance. (Refusing to accept how we feel is like walking into the emergency room and refusing to tell the doctors where it hurts, but still expecting them to make us better.)

4. Look for the gifts or wisdom of feeling this insecurity. As I say in workshops “every negative emotion has something positive to teach us”. If you’re really struggling with this step, how are you a better person for knowing how it feels to experience this? Hint: are you more compassionate? Understanding? Patient?

5. Stop beating yourself up for your behavior and start thanking this part of you for trying to make you a better person. This disempowering behavior is actually teaching you to be more compassionate, understanding, patient, etc. Once we see it as a gift instead of a curse, we get into appreciation, one of the highest vibrational states we hold.

Congratulations! You’ve just transformed the emotion attached to your unhealthy behavior from self-abuse to appreciation, aka self-love. There are two schools of motivation: one of abuse and one of encouragement (another aspect of self-love). Which one do you think gets healthy, long-term results? Only after processing the underlying emotional hook of the insecurity into a positive, can we then “pre-pave” an empowering and healthy course of action. In your mind’s eye now visualize how you wish you’d behaved instead. Get really specific and pay attention to how you would feel as you played out this new behavior. When a similar situation arises in the future (and it will) you can then start practicing your empowering, healthy new action.

If you want to understand and practice this transformational process in more detail, read Change from Within: A Journal of Exercise and Meditations to Transform, Empower, and Reconnect.

You’ve read 5 Quick Steps to Change Any Behavior, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading How to Build Confidence and have Better Conversations, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Here’s a little secret: many, many people find conversation difficult. And the ones that think they find it easy, well – aren’t they the conversationalists who we so often find dull or irritating because they have no sense of self-censorship?

Learning to constructively criticize your own social skills while recognizing the value and pleasure that can come from meaningful conversation is a powerful way of making a big impact on your life, and those people with whom you share it.

What’s beautiful about conversation is that it takes at least two people to have one (unless you’re really in a quandary about something and like to debate things with yourself!). This means that if you lack self-confidence and are hesitant to focus too much on your own conversation game, you can start by reflecting outwards and engaging in chat in more subtle ways. The key to great conversation, after all, is not speaking – but listening. Work on your listening and non-verbal communication skills first, and the art of dialogue will follow.

Listening starts with giving your full attention. That means putting down phones and other devices and making eye contact with the person that you’re speaking with. Think about how babies react to eye contact: it is a fundamental part of conveying trust, attention, and togetherness.

And believe it or not, you need to learn to listen with your eyes. All sorts of statistics abound as to what percentage of communication is visual versus verbal, but a pretty convincing case has been made that 55% of meaning is conveyed by facial expression, 38% from voice tone, and just 7% from the words used. If you’ve been glued to your phone the last few years, just think how much ‘meaning’ you’ve missed out on! Pay close attention to the nuances in someone’s way of speaking, and you will start to make new connections between things they say. Be patient, and don’t expect to reach an understanding as quickly as you might in a simplified online conversation: meaningful dialogue takes time!

Listening also means letting go of your own ego for a moment. It can be easy to become distracted by your own thoughts, particularly when you’re forming an argument to what is being said or you’re excited about a great example you have to share. But while these words are forming in your mind, you’re only giving partial attention to the other person. Don’t be afraid of silences: listen carefully, then let them know that you’re thinking how best to phrase your response, rather than doing so while they’re still talking.

When it comes to upping your own end of the dialogue, you can continue by working with what the other person has brought to the table. Make it clear that you’re listening, and improve your own understanding, by repeating back or rephrasing difficult or unclear ideas that the other person has spoken about, to ensure that you understand them properly. And don’t leap in with your own authoritative ideas – especially when it comes to giving advice – because that isn’t dialogue: it’s didacticism.

It can be more constructive to ask questions and tease a subject towards resolution by working with each other’s ideas. That’s why you’re having a conversation with someone else to start with. Open-ended questions (beginning with How, What, or Why and requiring more than a Yes or No answer) are a great way of turning up unexpected information and ideas.

Telling a story is another great way to engage your friend or colleague while making your point – and all without coming across superior. Words, as they say, are given to us to hide our true feelings; a story, on the other hand, while made of words, can convey more complex feelings and concepts through the use of themes and verbal images. We also just love to hear a good story, and have done since our ancestors first sat around the campfire.

This step-by-step infographic from OnStride gathers these ideas and more into one place, so it’s easy to check in from time to time when you feel your conversation skills are lagging. It’s quite normal to be nervous of getting stuck in a conversation you can’t get out of – but just remember, the person on the other end is only human too.

You’ve read How to Build Confidence and have Better Conversations, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

>

You’re reading How to Build Confidence and have Better Conversations, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Here’s a little secret: many, many people find conversation difficult. And the ones that think they find it easy, well – aren’t they the conversationalists who we so often find dull or irritating because they have no sense of self-censorship?

Learning to constructively criticize your own social skills while recognizing the value and pleasure that can come from meaningful conversation is a powerful way of making a big impact on your life, and those people with whom you share it.

What’s beautiful about conversation is that it takes at least two people to have one (unless you’re really in a quandary about something and like to debate things with yourself!). This means that if you lack self-confidence and are hesitant to focus too much on your own conversation game, you can start by reflecting outwards and engaging in chat in more subtle ways. The key to great conversation, after all, is not speaking – but listening. Work on your listening and non-verbal communication skills first, and the art of dialogue will follow.

Listening starts with giving your full attention. That means putting down phones and other devices and making eye contact with the person that you’re speaking with. Think about how babies react to eye contact: it is a fundamental part of conveying trust, attention, and togetherness.

And believe it or not, you need to learn to listen with your eyes. All sorts of statistics abound as to what percentage of communication is visual versus verbal, but a pretty convincing case has been made that 55% of meaning is conveyed by facial expression, 38% from voice tone, and just 7% from the words used. If you’ve been glued to your phone the last few years, just think how much ‘meaning’ you’ve missed out on! Pay close attention to the nuances in someone’s way of speaking, and you will start to make new connections between things they say. Be patient, and don’t expect to reach an understanding as quickly as you might in a simplified online conversation: meaningful dialogue takes time!

Listening also means letting go of your own ego for a moment. It can be easy to become distracted by your own thoughts, particularly when you’re forming an argument to what is being said or you’re excited about a great example you have to share. But while these words are forming in your mind, you’re only giving partial attention to the other person. Don’t be afraid of silences: listen carefully, then let them know that you’re thinking how best to phrase your response, rather than doing so while they’re still talking.

When it comes to upping your own end of the dialogue, you can continue by working with what the other person has brought to the table. Make it clear that you’re listening, and improve your own understanding, by repeating back or rephrasing difficult or unclear ideas that the other person has spoken about, to ensure that you understand them properly. And don’t leap in with your own authoritative ideas – especially when it comes to giving advice – because that isn’t dialogue: it’s didacticism.

It can be more constructive to ask questions and tease a subject towards resolution by working with each other’s ideas. That’s why you’re having a conversation with someone else to start with. Open-ended questions (beginning with How, What, or Why and requiring more than a Yes or No answer) are a great way of turning up unexpected information and ideas.

Telling a story is another great way to engage your friend or colleague while making your point – and all without coming across superior. Words, as they say, are given to us to hide our true feelings; a story, on the other hand, while made of words, can convey more complex feelings and concepts through the use of themes and verbal images. We also just love to hear a good story, and have done since our ancestors first sat around the campfire.

This step-by-step infographic from OnStride gathers these ideas and more into one place, so it’s easy to check in from time to time when you feel your conversation skills are lagging. It’s quite normal to be nervous of getting stuck in a conversation you can’t get out of – but just remember, the person on the other end is only human too.

You’ve read How to Build Confidence and have Better Conversations, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading 6 Effective Tips For Yoga Newbies — To Attain A Life Balance., originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Yoga is a form of exercise used to increase strength, flexibility, and VO2 consumption. It helps in shaping the mind and body to attain a life balance. Meanwhile there are some key points yoga newbies needs to take note of.

Daily yoga practice can help you stay more productive, happy and more reasonable. This exercise reduces high blood pressure, increases flexibility, muscle strength and tone.

It also improves respiration energy and fertility, also helps in weight reduction.

This and more benefits of this exercise has encouraged several people especially, entrepreneurs to consider yoga as a key practice for productivity and maintaining life balance.

As a matter of fact, the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) reveals that yoga is the sixth most commonly use complementary health practice for American adults. This survey also discovered that more than 1.5 million children practice yoga annually.

As a yoga newbie, it’s normal to lack confidence and motivation in the beginning. Most times you feel intimidated by the die-hard yogis who warm up with headstands. But seriously, you shouldn’t be bothered with that; they also started as a beginner before getting to that stage.

The most important thing is to prepare your body and make up your mind to get through the beginners stage, and with time, you’ll naturally find motivation to practice yoga at will.

Below therefore are 5 effective tips for yoga newbies to achieve a life balance.

1. Prepare for it:

Do you know that by spending time out preparing for this exercise, you can actually optimize your yoga experience?

Effective preparation before the exercise brings about optimum results and helps loosen up the body before venturing into the real yoga exercise.

To start with, set up a soft warm-up routine for 5- 15 minutes before starting the real yoga exercise.

Here are few warm-up exercises you can implement:

• Rotate your neck both clockwise and anticlockwise to know if there’s any stiffness.

• Pump your shoulder and shake your hands to shrug off the lethargy

• Message your head, browse, nose and chick

2. Start simple:

Being a yoga experts is not an instantaneous activity. The process starts from being a yoga newbie to becoming an expert. So, start simple!

As humans, we love to get to the peak of our activity even right from the scratch, but most times it requires great commitment of yoga newbies to attain and maintain a balanced life.

“You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great”- Les Brown.

As a newbie, it’s advisable to learn simple yoga posts first before proceeding to the tough ones. So as not to loose motivation at the beginning of your experience.

3. Get a yoga kit equipment:

As a newbie, there’s high desire to get new steps in yoga practice. It’s more important to acquire yoga kits, in other to get the most effective result out of your practice.  

In addition, getting yoga kits gives you a sense of professionalism at the exercise, and as well, protects you from unnecessary injury. While there are some auto transport service that helps customers ship their cars, there are also some shipping services that can help in conveying your yoga kits to you, so worry less about the market. 

Here are 5 bit of yoga kit and equipment for beginners.

• Yoga mat: This will provide cushioning on a hard floor and a non sleep surface for standing. Also, it grants friction, padding and increases safety when doing yoga positioning.

• The Yoga block: Yoga block is also known as foam block. It’ll help stabilize standing positions when you can’t reach the floor easily. 

• Bolster: Yoga bolster is used to support the leg, spine or abdomen in certain positions.

• Yoga belt: This type of  belt is made of cotton or nylon, it helps to support your back and extend your grasp.

• The Blanket: The yoga blanket keeps you warm and comfortable at the end of each yoga postures.

4. Get and Communicate with a seasoned yoga teacher:

As a newbie it’s important to learn under a good instructor or teacher — that would observe and assist you during practice.

Communicate with a professional yoga instructor if you have any medical  condition. It’ll help the teacher to customize a special training that’ll not affect you physically but help your health condition. 

One more important thing is to have the ability to say no. If a pose feels wrong or too painful for your health status, communicate with your teacher and say it out, your teacher may know a simple way to help.

5. Be consistent:

As a newbie it’s important to make sure you practice frequently. Little and often is more effective than occasional long session of yoga.

Practicing for just 20 minutes daily, with a few well chosen poses, can have a positive effect on your physical and emotional well being.

Be dedicated with constant practice to strengthen your inner desire. And as time passes, your body will begin to feel comfortable and familiar with the process and the exercise becomes a part of you.

6. Wear a comfortable clothing:

You’ll have to put on a comfortable clothe and put away body gadget like belt or jewelry as it could get in the way of your yoga practice. You’ll need to stretch your body to different directions, so you must not put on anything that’ll restrict your movement.

It is advisable to wear all natural materials, for example 100 percent cotton and hemp (which will allow circulation of air into the entire body) is good for yoga practice. 

You can also check various materials to find out the one that best fit you for your yoga activities.

You’ve read 6 Effective Tips For Yoga Newbies — To Attain A Life Balance., originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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You’re reading The Power of Forgiveness: How to Forgive (and Ask for Forgiveness) to Regain Inner Peace, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Accumulating research supports what spiritual teachers from nearly all traditions have long taught: forgiveness heals. It improves our mood and optimism, brings inner peace, and helps us recover from challenges of all kinds. Even medical doctors are endorsing that forgiveness helps patients recover from injuries and ailments. Forgiveness improves the quality of our lives, helping us to be healthier and happier.

What do we mean by forgiveness? Simply put, we mean to consciously, lovingly pardon someone; to forgive a debt or release a mistake. It’s not about who’s right or wrong. It’s about freedom and acceptance. It’s about letting go of expectations, resentment, and blame. Forgiveness frees us of negativity we might otherwise hold, which is like swallowing poison.

But true forgiveness goes farther than offering forgiveness when we are hurt or harmed. To truly regain our inner peace, we must also seek forgiveness. Most people believe that “what goes around comes around.” This is the essence of the law of karma. When we offer loving and helpful service to others, good karma is accumulated, which blesses us. When we offer unpleasant service to others, bad karma is accumulated, which can block us.

The good news is that we can transform our karma and our lives through forgiveness practice. It helps to consider that our current life experiences are somehow a reflection of our past and present karma. Thus, when we are upset or believe others should ask for our forgiveness, this is also the time that we should go into our hearts and ask for their forgiveness, for any time we or our ancestors may have hurt them similarly before. This is not always easy, but it is quite a beautiful and transformative practice.

While forgiveness can be hard to accomplish, we can succeed with some well-designed practices. We will share a practice with you, but first, here are some tips that may help you open your heart to practice forgiveness more easily:

Keep in mind that we all make mistakes. People who hurt others are also hurting inside. This will help you find compassion, which will help you forgive.

Even if you are not a Christian, you can benefit from the story of what Jesus said during his final hours: “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” This helps us understand that people often hurt others in ignorance. With this wisdom, we may again find compassion for our offenders.

Remember how it feels to receive forgiveness. This will also help you offer it. Recall a time you made a big mistake and were forgiven. Remember how it felt to be forgiven. This will help you understand how important it can be to forgive.

Finally, according to karma wisdom, a very good practice is to turn your situation around. In other words, consider that you have harmed the one(s) who have harmed you, in the past. Sincerely apologize (at the soul level) and ask for forgiveness in addition to offering it. You may be totally surprised by the impact.

Here is a simple forgiveness practice you can do, adapted from the book, Greatest Love – How to Unblock Your Life in 30 Minutes a Day with Unconditional Love by Dr. & Master Zhi Gang Sha, Master Maya Mackie and Master Francisco Quintero:

Dear ____ (name your higher power, such as “God, Divine, the Creator, the Universe), 

I love you. 

Could you please bless my forgiveness practice?

I am very grateful. 

Thank you.

Dear _____ (name any soul(s) you are practicing with, or you can practice with “all souls”),

I love you. 

I deeply apologize for ________ (anything specific, or “all the mistakes my ancestors and I have made that have hurt or harmed you in any way”)

I sincerely ask for forgiveness

Please forgive us.

I forgive you unconditionally.

I would be grateful for your forgiveness.

Thank you.

Dear the “Greatest Love”

I love and honor you.

You have the power to help us love and forgive

Please bless our practice.

Thank you.

Repeatedly chant silently or aloud the mantra, “Greatest Love”. Close your eyes and visualize the beautiful light of Greatest Love coming into your hearts to help you forgive. Feel the Greatest Love helping you to love and forgive unconditionally while you chant. When you are finished, simply close the practice by thanking all the souls.

Love and forgiveness are the golden keys to life. This is a practice you can do daily. You can practice for any challenge by calling the souls that are involved. There is no downside. Everybody wins. Practice love and forgiveness for a happy, healthy and successful life.

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Master Francisco Quintero is the co-author of Greatest Love (BenBella Books). He is a Certified Master Teacher trained by renowned spiritual teacher and humanitarian Master Zhi Gang Sha, and the author of Divine Joy: How to Find Joy in Daily Life. A leading teacher at the Tao Academy™, Master Francisco has developed training programs worldwide. With his expertise, wisdom, and knowledge, he has assisted in training over 6,000 soul practitioners and teachers around the world. For more information, please visit http://ift.tt/2nkoIQv and follow the author on Twitter.

You’ve read The Power of Forgiveness: How to Forgive (and Ask for Forgiveness) to Regain Inner Peace, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

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