Colours are a natural part of our life and we rarely give them much thought, or do we?
When you are getting ready to go to work you will choose your clothes based on style and colour, it gives an insight into who you are. For example if you wear bright colours: yellow, red, orange, and pink, it might suggest you have an outgoing personality and don’t mind being in the spotlight, alternatively it might suggest you need more attention than you are currently getting. if you wear dark colours: black, dark brown or dark grey it could suggest you want to keep yourself to yourself and just blend in to take the limelight away from you, and it might suggest you’re a slightly pessimistic person.
When you choose a car to drive you will most likely choose a colour that suits your personality as well. Your home furnishings will be based on colour, even the food that you buy could be unconsciously influenced by the colour of the brand
Anyway, I digress, I love the topic of the psychology of colours and find it fascinating. Today I just wanted to give you another quick quiz called What is the Colour of Your Soul, this is a great little quiz and as always this is just for fun
The post What Colour is Your Soul appeared first on Change your thoughts.
The word happiness is defined in most cases as a feeling of contentment, or as a feeling ranging from contentment to intense joy. Happiness is an innate desire of the human being, and indeed it is our birthright. The universe in which we live is arranged to provide for our happiness through the dynamics of the law of attraction. That is, we draw to us that which we place our intent upon. If we focus on people, activities, even things that we love, or positive outcomes that we desire, we will draw them to us because our thoughts are a form of energy that act upon the workings of the universe.
This seems simple enough, right? Why is it then, that so many of us are unhappy, discontent, even depressed? Because ego gets in the way. That voice in your head, that one that talks incessantly, the one you listen to because you think it’s actually your voice, is actually the voice of your ego. It is the voice of fear. Ego hijacks your life by creating fears of every kind.
Allowing ourselves to be motivated, manipulated even, by those fears is what causes us to stray from the path of our purpose. That is, when we listen to the ego voice as if it is our own we remain unaware of our power and lose track of our purpose. We begin to focus on what we don’t want, what we don’t like. The ego has, at that point, succeeded in side tracking our happiness.
The ego is crafty and insidious. What follows is only five of the tactics ego uses to sabotage us:
#1 Guilt is incredibly effective at paralyzing our forward momentum. The ego knows this. It knows just what to say to us to stir up our guilt. The triggers are different for each of us, but no matter because ego knows our subconscious better than we do; it knows our past history, it knows everything. So be watchful, listen carefully. When you get the impulse to make a change, to do something that you’ve never done before, or something that you used to do that brought you joy, listen to what comes up in response to that impulse. If it’s negative it’s more than likely your ego talking.
#2 Insecurity – we all have more than enough of it and ego not only creates it, but uses it against us. For example, I’d like to take a yoga class. Ego says, you’re overweight and not only that but you’re too old. I have a choice. I can listen to that silly, mean voice, or I can tell it to leave me alone. When the impulse comes to you to pursue an interest, and is accompanied by a pleasant sensation and a compelling energy, you must follow it no matter what that ego voice tells you, because it’s the universe talking to you, assisting you to your path and your purpose and thus, happiness.
#3 Self-Deprecation is the handmaiden to insecurity. Many people use self-deprecating humor in an attempt to hide their insecurities. Self-deprecating comments are one of the ego’s mainstays for keeping us small and we listen to them all day long. They start when we look in the mirror in the morning and continue all the livelong day. Even when we try to not engage, we still do. For example, one of my goals for the day is to be more aware of negative thoughts towards myself. At the end of the day what do I hear myself saying? You have such a short attention span you can’t even remember to listen to yourself! Oops. I could remind myself with compassion, instead. You were so busy that you forgot to listen for the ego voice today.
#4 Anger takes us away from ourselves. It balls up our energy and hurls it at another in a defensive response that is most often intended as a form of protection. Or, those of us who avoid conflict stuff that ball of energy deep down where it sours and burns us from the inside. Our ego creates our fear of losing, our need to protect. It is sometimes difficult to identify the fear underneath the anger, but frequently the issue at stake is power itself, or said another way, control. When confronted by the anger of another allowing that person some control will diffuse the anger. On the other hand, when you feel anger flare up inside, you must ask yourself what you are fearful of losing. Anger is just another mask that ego wears to usurp your power and your happiness.
#5 Judgment of others presupposes separatism and disallows the belief of connectedness and oneness. It is an ego-based response and is always born of fear. Engaging in the act of judging others – their beliefs, behaviors, lifestyles, clothing, how they earn their money, or don’t earn it, or how they spend it – keeps us from our own lives. It distracts us from focusing on the intent of staying on our path and our purpose.
Happiness can’t co-exist with fear. In order to create more happiness in your life you must learn to identify the voice of ego and its manipulations. Ego has a lot at stake, which is why it is so determined to keep us off-balance. If in fact we become aware of our power, accept the connectedness of all life, learn to live with self-compassion and compassion for each other; if we trust the Mystery, however we choose to name it, to reveal to us our path and our true purpose for being here in this life; if we were to divest ourselves of ego – well, it would cease to exist.
Elizabeth Lehl lives in Vancouver, WA. She is the author of Journey From Ego, The Path To Healing. She can be found online at her blogs, http://ift.tt/1G6xpNM and http://ift.tt/1G6xotq, on Facebook at http://ift.tt/1G6xots and via email at author.elizlehl@gmail.com. Her book is available for purchase at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Balboa Press.
The post 5 Ways Ego Interferes With Your Happiness appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
Whether we like it or not we are influenced by others every single day, and it can be hard to stop being influenced. Our thoughts, our beliefs and our actions are sometimes led by others and unless we consciously think about it, we are likely to be influenced all of our lives.
Here’s a few things to think about.
This is one of the easiest things to do but once you catch yourself getting sucked into that negative energy, just remove yourself from the situation. Avoiding people who constantly have negative energy is a good strategy, unless obviously it’s a friend who’s going through some tough times.
Gossip is one of the worst things to get sucked into, and again it’s easy to do. Once you make a conscious effort to stop getting sucked into the gossip arena, then you’ll see the difference it makes in your work and personal life.
You deserve to have your own beliefs and you deserve to have respect for the beliefs you have so please don’t let anyone try and change your beliefs unless you’re openly looking for answers on certain subjects. But if you have a firmly held belief about something, defend it as it’s yours to own, but also be open minded enough to listen to other peoples beliefs.
Honestly, anything is possible, literally anything within the realms of the physical laws of the world. You can do anything you want to and if you have a dram, a goal, a yearning to do something don’t let other people put the idea down.
A lot of people become dumping grounds for peoples problems without giving anything in return. We all know people like this, they’re great at giving you their problems, but are never around to listen to yours. Dump the dumpers and see the difference it makes in your life.
YOU are the only person who controls you: your mind, your body, your spirit. Never let anyone control any aspect of you. When you realise it’s happening then it’s time to stand up for yourself.
An opinion is another person’s thoughts based on their beliefs and thoughts, so why the hell should you worry about what other people’s opinions are of you, the clothes you wear, the things you do, the people you see. You are totally unique and you should always remember that.
We all do things to please others, and it feels good to do it, but when it starts to take over you and you’re constantly looking for ways to please someone and it makes you feel bad, then it’s time to take stock and ask why you are doing it.
Your inner power is the life that drives you forward in life and letting others control any aspect of that should be looked at immediately. It might not be easy, but you have no one else to blame but yourself if you give your power away when you are aware of it. Sometimes we are manipulated into doing things, but once you become aware of this manipulation, then drop that person from your life.
You are so brilliantly, amazingly awesome and you deserve to know that. Stand up, be proud and drop the the leeches that exist in your life.
The post 9 Things to Stop Letting Others Do To You appeared first on Change your thoughts.
Everyone’s different: we flock together and become friends mainly because we have common interests. For example, the only reason why we’re close to our acquaintances is because we support the same sports team. In many cases, being different reached extreme levels and could have caused us to become isolated from the people around us, particularly our loved ones. In my case, I was the only regular male student in my college class for a long time. It was difficult fitting in with my classmates, but fortunately, it all worked out in the end.
However, difference can be seen as a flaw, and we all know society is cruel: people will always find ways to ridicule and insult these “flaws”. The aftermath will then pave the way for three instances: first is isolation, second is denial, and third is self-inflicted harm.
If you’re different, you should never change UNLESS if it’s for the better. Here are some steps which will help you deal with it and improve your outlook.
Take inspiration from the cliché quote, “birds of the same feather flock together”, go with people who different in the same way as you are. For example, if you’re classified as a comic book geek and ridiculed because of it, why not pair up with another comic book fan and talk about the latest releases?
Being busy will deviate your attention from the negativity of your supposed “flaws” and in turn make it an asset. Being with people who share the same interests will fill your need “to belong to a flock”, thus eliminating loneliness. Other than be in company with them, spend time with your family and siblings, even if you don’t get along with them that much. A little effort on your part goes a long way.
Sometimes, we’re alike, but it’s what makes us different. Over 650 million people around the world suffer from acne vulgaris, and this skin condition is the main reason a lot of teenagers have low self-esteem. Pockmarked cheeks, chins, chests and foreheads are targets for insults, which will render anyone to furiously cover it with makeup or make it worse by picking it. Keep in mind that seven out of a hundred acne sufferers have considered suicide.
Acne, along with other problems like body odor, profuse sweating, being overweight and insecure can be eliminated through self-improvement. By practicing proper hygiene, using organic, safe and natural acne treatments, along with other positive lifestyle changes will certainly eliminate these perceived flaws and enable you to be more confident.
A friend of mine named Keziah once told me: “You can set yourself apart from others not because you’re different, but because you make a difference”. Let yourself be known by making a positive change by using your “difference” as a catapult to do great things. For example, if you’re suffering from some sort of disability, why not put up a support group for people with the same problem? If deaf people composed timeless music and paralyzed persons explained quantum gravity and discovered black holes, then you’re definitely able to do great things yourself.
Start now.
Mikhail Blacer is a sports junkie currently the sports editor for Scoopfed, an online magazine and works part time as a peer counselor in his locality. Strike up a conversation through his e-mail (mikhailblaceroffice@gmail.com) and Twitter.
The post Being Different and Getting Over It: How To Accept and Improve appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
You’re lying in bed at night, trying to fall asleep. As you start to doze off, you are overcome with an incredible feeling. You can’t quite put your finger on it. Did you turn off the oven after dinner? No, that’s not it. Did you prepare the coffee for tomorrow? Yes, so that’s not it. That report for work…did you forget something? No, you went over it three times, so that’s not it. You feel like the room is closing in. Something is definitely wrong. You’re having trouble breathing and you can feel your blood pressure rising. Then it hits you…
…the stress that’s been building slowly, from everyday pressures, has finally got to you; you’re having a panic attack.
Life is busy, and those events and pressures create stress that has a negative effect on your mind and body. Job performance, relationships, children, schedules, traffic congestion, money problems, illness, and interactions with negative people all contribute to your stress. You’ve got to reduce the amount of stress in your life to be healthy. So what can you do?
Meditation is a wonderful long term solution to reducing stress. Meditation promotes relaxation, gives you a sense of well-being, peace and calm, and a clear the mind. It also can help ease health concerns. It helps you restore your mental equilibrium and balance. But how do you fit in another activity into your already busy life? You can combine meditation with a very basic, everyday activity that is essential to your needs, and that activity is cooking. There are many forms and levels of meditation. Start out with the enjoyment of a simple task and work your way up to the Loving-Kindness level.
One of the most basic forms of meditation is finding peace and enjoyment in simple daily tasks. Cooking is a simple daily task. You can also attempt complex recipes to give yourself more practice at both cooking and meditation. Easy soups and casseroles now become a peace-enriched event. Soak up even more peace by trying a more in-depth recipe by extending your experience in the kitchen.
Silent reflection is a great way to get in touch with your emotions and thoughts. If you let your mind wander, there are many realizations and epiphanies that you can allow yourself to acknowledge. Cooking is a great place to let your mind wander as you perform the simple tasks, and be aware of where your thoughts take you.
Repetition is relaxing and therapeutic by focusing only on the task at hand. Cooking is full of repetitive action, from cutting, to peeling, to stirring, to grating, to mixing, and much more.
Merrium-Webster defines Mindfulness as: 1. the quality or state of being mindful 2. the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis; also: such a state of awareness. Cooking is a great activity in which to practice Mindfulness. Be present in the moment to take in the sensory information of the food you are cooking. The smells, the colors, the tastes, the feeling of the food, and the sounds are all senses to be aware of. What emotions do these experiences evoke? What thoughts do they bring to mind? Be aware of these emotions and thoughts, and acknowledge them.
The Loving-Kindness level of meditation takes the most focus and attention. You may need to work up to this level before you attempt it. You must develop a love for yourself first, and then work toward others. Infuse the food with love and kindness by actively reflecting on yourself or the loved ones you are cooking for as you cook. Love is the secret ingredient of the tastiest dishes, after all! Typically, you would visualize yourself or your loved ones smiling at you, and feeling happy. Visualization is just one form of the Loving-Kindness Meditation. To incorporate this into cooking, visualize yourself or your loved ones smiling and happy as they (or you) eat the food you have prepared.
So what will you cook to help you relieve your stress?
Crystal is the founder of Simply Playful Fare, a food blog with an emphasis on cooking from scratch and a twist of humor. She’s a native Montanan who loves to create. She has always been passionate about cooking, baking, and eating, and food has been a huge part of her family. She learned how to cook from her Grandmother (who learned to cook from her French Grandmother) and her Mother. Writing is her other passion, after her husband of course. She has a degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing.
The post 5 Reasons Cooking is Actually Good Meditation in Disguise appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
You’re driving in a new city (perhaps going over to a friend’s place for the first time). The roads are not familiar to you. You have a destination to reach but aren’t sure how to actually get there.
Using trial-error approach, you try to figure out which road is going to take you to the destination. Now unless you’re really lucky, it may take you hours (or even days) to figure out how to reach your friend.
Now consider using a GPS system installed in your car. You set the destination and it quickly plots out the shortest path to destination. No need to worry about being in an unfamiliar place. The GPS will guide you. Turn left here. Go straight there. Turn right there etc.
The fact that you’re reading this post proves that you’re a fairly smart person who has dreams and wants to make them come true. Perhaps you’re a regular reader of blogs like this one and are constantly looking to grow and improve.
You understand a lot about growth and development and can surely talk intelligently about it; however the rate of your own growth is average at best. Somehow the ideas are failing to convert into tangible results. And you’re looking for the answer to this question. What is missing?
You are missing the GPS that’ll guide you.
WHY THE COMMON WAY IS NOT THE BEST WAY FOR YOU?
If you browse through various self help blogs, you’ll find that most posts are based on defining the tips, tricks and steps needed to achieve a certain goal. 5 ways to do this, 7 tips to achieve that, 9 things to avoid…. the topics are endless.
While there is nothing wrong about these ideas and most of them make good sense, they are not enough to “skyrocket” your growth. Most of the advice gives you a whole list of possible options. But how do you use them effectively? How do you find the option that is best suited for you personally, from a post that is intended to help an audience as a whole?
BUILDING A FOUNDATION
In order to pursue focussed growth, give up the idea of using the exact tips and tricks as they are presented.
Instead, you can build a “foundation”. The foundation helps you to decide what will serve you best personally. You still use the principles you learn from the books and blogs but now you can use them in a focussed way to create the best results for you.
The foundation acts like a GPS that helps you to find the fastest route to your destination. There are other roads. They shall take you to different destinations in the future. But for now, you’re concerned with meeting your friend.
But before we formulate our own foundation, let’s take a look at some real life examples to get an idea of what the foundation will look like.
HOW TRUE GROWTH ACTUALLY TAKES PLACE?
These real life stories put things in proper perspective.
The creator of this website, Steven Aitchison has an interesting story. At the early stages of his life, Steven had serious doubts about his identity and role in life. He even considered committing suicide at the age of 19/20 (just read the “About” page). But the book “Think and Grow Rich” helped Steven to make a profound realization of the “power of thoughts”. Creating an amazing life is a choice was an amazing discovery. Steven went on to earn a Bsc in Psychology, become an addiction worker and create this amazing platform “Change Your Thoughts”.
You are probably familiar with Steve Pavlina. Steve got into the destructive habit of shoplifting while in college, getting caught multiple times. A couple of days in jail cell sent Steve thinking seriously about redefining his life. The experience was enough to make Steve commit to become the best human being he was capable of becoming. With a new sense of purpose, Steve re-enrolled for college (he got expelled from his previous college), taking triple than normal course load and graduated with two degrees in just three semesters. Time management became top priority. After college, he went on to run a successful games business for ten years creating the award winning game Dweep. Later he gave up games business and launched StevePavlina.com that went to become a pioneer of personal development.
The third story is my own, because there is no better way to learn than from our own experiences. At the age of 16, I came across a book that totally contradicted the path I would have taken automatically in life. Growing up in a middle class family, the model of living the ideal life was to get good grades in school, get admission in a good college, find a job, settle down, don’t create waves, don’t ask too many question, be happy in the little you have. However, “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David J Schwartz made a strong point about thinking big in life and how it can help you to live your dreams. I did not blindly believe in the book but it did invoke a strong curiosity. I remember thinking to myself, if what this book says is true, I don’t have to settle for mediocrity in life. I can create a beautiful and amazing life. Fast forward seven years, I feel grateful for having read the book and constantly strive to improve and seek to create a life of meaning, abundance and freedom. I launched my personal growth blog about a year back (I am re-launching it now).
If you observe the details of the stories above, you can conclude the following –
A conscious choice was made in the moment of profound realization.
Steve Pavlina realized that he needed to redefine his life and chose to create a better life. Steven Aitchison realized the power of thought and chose to center his growth around this idea of self reliance. I chose to break social pattern of mediocrity with the help of empowering big thoughts.
The growth that followed from the moment of realization was based on a certain “theme”.
Steve Pavlina began to focus extensively on time management to maximize his growth. Steven Aitchison growth was centered the power of thoughts, actions and beliefs. I focussed exclusively on thinking big to expand my options for a better future life.
To stress the importance of conscious choice, realize that many people end up in jail, many people read books on creative ideas, and yet these same events triggered a turning point in Steve Pavlina and Steven Aitchison’s life. See the role of conscious choice? They chose to make things different….
The “theme” helps you to create focussed results. It helps you to clearly define which are the habits, tips and ideas that will directly help you to grow, and which ones won’t. It is the GPS in your journey of life.
It would have been highly unlikely for Steve Pavlina to explore spirituality while working hard on his time management. At that moment, graduating with two degrees in three semesters was the goal. Nothing else mattered. Time was of primary value. Not spirituality, not simplicity. Only productivity.
FOUNDATION = FOCUSSED THEME FOR GROWTH
There can be many more themes that can be used to centre your growth around. Here are a few common ones that are very intuitive to understand and use.
Courage/Fear
You need this theme when you have unrealized dreams but hesitate to go after them in the fear of disrupting what you already have.
Habits
You need this one when you’re disorganized and seriously wish to put your life in order. You want get rid of disempowering habits.
Personal Excellence
This one helps you to improve the overall quality of life and not just in a few specific areas.
Simplicity
You need this if you feel that your life is cluttered with lots of unnecessary things and activities. You strive to get rid of the unessential to create some space and peace.
Freedom
You wish to create the freedom of creating the kind of life you want. This includes career choices, financial stability, travelling etc.
Finance
Money has its own role to play in life and you want to ensure you create plenty for a smooth living.
The list is not exhaustive so feel free to come up with your own themes. The idea is to simply find an area for focussed development.
USING THE FOUNDATION
Once you define your foundational theme, you can begin to find what actions will help you achieve your goals.
The foundational theme acts like the GPS. The GPS plots the shortest path and helps you to decide which roads to take and which ones to avoid. Similarly, your foundational theme acts as a guidance system to help you realize the actions that will help you to accomplish your goals.
Over time, you can move from one foundational theme to another, but at any given moment of time, the fewer themes you use, the better it will be. Overall you may want to develop in various areas of your life like career, habits, beliefs (different themes) but you want to focus on them one at a time (for example, You may want to focus on increasing your work productivity this year).
IMPLEMENTING FOCUSSED GROWTH
What you’ve read and understood so far will be of no value unless you can implement it in your daily life. So here’s a simple action plan to help you effectively implement the above ideas. All you need is a pen and paper. Get it right now. Why wait to improve your life?
Answer these two questions –
Which area of your life needs most attention right now OR which area of your life do you want to improve the most?
Whatever area pops up in your head is going to be the “foundational theme” for your growth. Use your intuition and simply pick one area. If you are having trouble in choosing from the many possible options, just pick any. The order in which you grow in different areas of your life won’t matter. What really matters is that you grow.
If you’re someone who has always been shy, you can choose “confidence” as your theme. If you feel fear in chasing your dream, perhaps you need “courage”. If you feel overwhelmed by the way you normally spend your day, then “simplicity” needs to be cultivated.
What people and resources will help you to achieve growth in your foundational theme?
If you’re reading this post, then this question should be easy to answer (assuming you read such self help blogs regularly). What you need is a few books, development blogs, audio podcasts that guide you to grow in the field of your chosen theme. Look for the ideas and advice that are directly related to your selected theme to implement them.
ONE WEEK PLAN
You should look forward to implement any one of the following ideas for a week.
Read one book on your theme and implement its ideas. OR
Find the top three blog posts that are directly related to your theme and implement their ideas. OR
Listen to an audio podcast and follow the lessons mentioned there.
Will focussed actions for a week be enough for you to succeed?
Probably not. Any worthy goal takes time. But a start is better than no start and a good start can take you pretty far.
THERE IS MORE TO THE PICTURE THAN YOU REALIZE
Why should you grow?
Life has a natural tendency to strive for a higher ideal. Take a look at how plants grow. As the seed ruptures and a small plant emerges, it grows towards the direction of sunlight. It wants to grow and live. It should therefore, be of no surprise to you that you yourself have dreams and want them to come true.
You affect everybody
It may not be obvious but how you live your life directly affects the whole planet (I am not exaggerating).
GO FOR IT
If I were to summarize this whole post, it will be just two words.
Focussed growth…
Next time you go through a self-help blog, don’t just read through all the advice. Don’t just aim for the feel-good factor. Hold an attitude of intentional learning. You’re looking to grow in a specific field and you want to find out valuable insights that will help you to achieve your goal.
Answer the above two questions. Go mad chasing your dream this week. And then report back in the comment section to inspire others as well.
Grow Conscious.
The post The Zen of Personal Development: How to Skyrocket your own Personal Growth appeared first on Change your thoughts.
Happiness can be seen as a state of mind. It’s how we perceive our lives and the world around us. But our inside thoughts can be radically shaped by our actions and behavior in the outside world. Just like forcing a smile can make you feel better, our habits can subtly influence our feelings.
And people don’t necessarily build the healthiest habits. How many people do you know that smoke or drink to excess? We all have the potential to build destructive habits that could be hindering our happiness.
Since happiness is so important, it’s essential to discover these destructive and damaging habits so we can correct them. Otherwise happiness might just become harder and harder to find.
Here are seven destructive habits that might be keeping you from being happy.
1. The need to please others
There’s nothing wrong with finding joy when people are pleased with you. But there’s a big difference between “liking’ when people are pleased with you and “needing” to please people. It’s that “need” that becomes troublesome.
Needing other people’s approval is harmful because you give away your own personal power. Instead of doing things for your own reasons, you start to do them for the sake of others. Instead of listening to your heart for guidance, you listen to other’s opinions.
Your life is yours to live. Once others start dictating your actions and decisions, it becomes much harder to live the life you want.
2. Defining success too narrowly
We all define our own success as a goal or vision based upon what we want out of life. But when we define success too narrowly and it becomes specifically about reaching “X”, we can make ourselves unhappy.
If you’ve set in your mind that success only happens when you reach that goal, you’ll always feel like a failure until you’ve reached it. As a result, you’ll feel unhappy and dissatisfied with how your life is going.
Rather than using only one narrow measure for success, think of multiple ways to define it. If you take a good look at your life, you’ll probably notice a lot of things you’re doing well. Don’t discount all the things that are going great in life simply because you haven’t reached a narrowly defined goal.
3. Complaining too much
Complaints can serve a real purpose if they help you get something off your chest or bring about real change. Voicing your frustrations is a natural way of dealing with them.
But complaining too much is counter-productive. Rather than serving a useful purpose, it becomes about bitterness and negativity.
Instead of getting upset at important, meaningful problems, you get mad at the little things that normally don’t matter. That can make it seem as if the world is full of problems and difficulties that really aren’t there. It’s hard to feel good about yourself when the whole world seems negative.
4. Trying to control everything
Life is inherently unpredictable. Even if you plan everything out, something can always come along to change things.
Trying to plan out and control everything will only drive you crazy. There’s simply no way to account for every contingency.
There is always an element of uncertainty about the future. Nothing is completely predictable. Sometimes you just have to let things happen and stop trying so hard to control everything.
5. Comparing your story to everyone else’s
There’s a lot of truth in the saying, “the grass is always greener on the other side”. No matter how good you have it, someone somewhere will always seem to have it just a little better.
It’s hard not to compare yourself to others. Often that’s how we gauge our progress and find motivation to do even more with our lives.
But if you’re constantly examining how good others’ lives are, you start to forget all the good things going on in your own. And that can lead to low self-esteem and depression.
Instead of spending so much time noticing what others have, start reflecting on all the wonderful things you have going for you.
6. Dwelling on negative experiences from the past
If you spend a lot of time thinking about the mistakes and regrets from the past, it will come at the expense of today. Anger, frustration and resentment can act as emotional dead weight and make it difficult to find happiness. Until you learn from them and move on, you’ll spend too much time on events that are completely outside of your control.
Your past is over and done so there’s very little you can do about it. Any time and energy that you spend thinking and worrying about them would be better spent on situations that are happening in your life right now.
7. Being too hard on yourself
Sometimes it shocks me how critical people can be of their own mistakes and failures. They’ll say horrible things to themselves, even about the simplest errors.
It’s important to live and work in a mindset that is free of harsh criticism and self-deprecating thoughts. By coming down on yourself too harshly, you’ll second guess trying something new or hold back from taking risks. The last thing you want to do is limit an action that might make you happier.
Instead of being a critic, you should be your own cheerleader. Cheerleaders keep rooting for their team even if they’re not doing well. If you get into this “cheerleader” mindset, you’ll keep your spirits high and feel the freedom to move your life in the direction you want.
Steve is the writer behind Do Something Cool where he blogs about travel, motivation, self improvement and adventure. He’s always looking for ways to make life more interesting. For fresh ideas on living life to the fullest, join his newsletter.
The post 7 Destructive Habits to Get Rid of If You Want to Be Happy appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
So you’ve been working in your job for years and finally that opportunity for promotion which you’ve been waiting for comes along but it’s not going to be that simple is it? You see the rest of your colleagues and team have been waiting for it too and suddenly you’ve turned from a close-knit group of comrades to rivals all vying for this rare opportunity. God only knows when the next chance for a promotion will come up – probably when Stefan, your current line manager, dies but he looks to be in good shape and you can’t see that happening unless he gets hit by a bus. To make matters worse he drives everywhere so there’s definitely no chance of him catching a bus let alone get hit by one. No – You’re going to need to get this job and beat everyone else – so how do you do it?
You will have to be the one that stands out, that’s how – but it’s not going to come down to this application alone – you see when it comes to working in a close knit team your boss already has a good idea of who is capable and who isn’t so you need to sow the seeds for promotion well before such an opportunity arises.
Here are 5 things you can start to do that will help you standout for that promotion when it comes along.
Bio: Saj Devshi teaches psychology students on his website Loopa Psychology Revision– You can find him lurking there.
The post 5 Ways To Standout and Get That Promotion appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.
In Sanātana/Hindu and tantric/yogic traditions and other belief systems, chakras are energy points or nodes in the subtle body. Chakras are part of the subtle body, not the physical body, and as such are the meeting points of the subtle (non-physical) energy channels called nadiis. Nadiis are channels in the subtle body through which the life force (prana) (non-physical) or vital energy (non-physical) moves. Various scriptural texts and teachings present a different number of chakras. There are many chakras in the subtle human body according to the tantric texts, but there are seven chakras that are considered to be the most important ones.
Their name derives from the Sanskrit word for “wheel” or “turning”, but in the yogic context a better translation of the word is ‘vortex or whirlpool’.
The concept of chakra features in tantric and yogic traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism.
What is Your Chakra Personality?
Take a look below at the seven major chakra points and their corresponding colours and intuitively pick one that might represent you. Now click the button below to find out what your chosen chakra says about your personality. What is your chakra personality?
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The post Take The Chakra Personality Test appeared first on Change your thoughts.
