You’re reading 7 Reasons this Book Will Change Lives, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Travis “Achilles” Williams was a Motivational Fitness Icon who was tragically killed in an accident in March 2015.  Though his time was limited, his feats were not.  He co-founded Team Fitness, a premier personal-training brand in the Southeast; he co-founded The A-to-Z Project, a charity, and helped multitudes struggling worldwide; and he helped raise a daughter, Azarria, passing on his adventurous spirit, teaching her how to live with purpose.

His timeless words and photos helped him gain international fame and continue to inspire thousands worldwide today. Achilles: A Meditation on Purpose & Inspirational Living is a biography of Achilles and a celebration of his legacy. An engaging reflection on how life is supposed to be lived, it is a compilation of Achilles’ works, accented with exclusive interviews of his closest friends, celebrating a life of passion, adventure, and purpose. 100% of profits from the book will go to Achilles’ daughter. A Kickstarter campaign launched this week to fundraise for the bulk publishing and distribution of the book.

Below are 7 reasons it is guaranteed to make an impact:
1. 100% of Profits go to Achilles’ Daughter, Azarria – Achilles can no longer support Azarria. But we can.  100% of profits will go into a college trust fund for Azarria.

2. Story Guaranteed to Inspire – Achilles’ journey was remarkably inspirational, leaving home at the age of 15, overcoming all odds to attain incredible success. He lived his life with an incredible passion and the world was left aching when he unexpectedly passed.

3. Quotes Will Shake You – Achilles would regularly spend hours brainstorming how to evoke change through his words. His quotes, profound and surreal, at times hint that perhaps he knew he was leaving soon.  For example: “In the end all that matters is what you’ve done… And I’ll sleep well knowing that I chased my dreams until they were my reality”.  Check out more at 5 Quotes Which Eeerily Foreshadow Achilles’ Death

4. Emotional Rollercoaster – Try to get through it without crying. I dare you. It even includes a contribution from Azarria about her favorite memories with her father.

5. Painful Perspective – An emotional reminder of life’s brevity, and how we must take advantage of the time we’re given. Achilles’ signature quote was “It’s never too late or too early to start living the life you want to live”.

6. Source of Healing – So many of Achilles’ friends and followers are still trying to make sense of the accident that took such a positive force from the world. As they flip the pages and relive Achilles’ life, may they gain some clarity and peace.

7. It’s Already Changed One Life – Author Calvin Bond has dedicated over a thousand hours of unpaid labor to produce the book, because it is a cause he truly believes in. Bond met Williams in 2010, and his life was forever impacted. “Achilles’ words changed my life, and I want to share them with the world. To spread his legacy. To help Azaria.” He’s pushed his abilities over the course of the project, serving as Director of Writing, Design, and Marketing. “This project has undoubtedly changed me.  Achilles’ words teach me something new each time I read them.

Interested in helping? Here is the link to the Kickstarter campaign:   http://ift.tt/2b7dqHl. Also, you can find more ways to help at 5 Simple Ways to Help Change a Life

About the Author:  Calvin Bond is an Atlanta native currently based in Huntington Beach, California. Bond is a writer and photographer, and founder of the adventure blog http://ift.tt/2b6jkVM.  Bond met Williams in 2010, and his life was forever impacted. “Achilles’ words changed my life, and I want to share them with the world. To spread his legacy. To help Azarria.” For more information about “Achilles: A Meditation on Purpose & Inspirational Living”, please visit http://ift.tt/2b7eb3g, or contact Calvin Bond at AchillesTributeProject@gmail.com. More Info and full media kit at http://ift.tt/2b6k1OP.

You’ve read 7 Reasons this Book Will Change Lives, 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 3 Tips For Tuning In To Your Conscience, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Driving in any unfamiliar city can be daunting, disorienting, and disconcerting.  Driving in a foreign country can be downright dyspeptic.  Driving in Israel can be a flirtation with catastrophe.

In some ways it’s better than it used to be.  Traffic has gotten so dense that drivers simply cannot indulge the reckless habits that once prevailed.  It’s hard to bob and weave when your car is stuck in gridlock.

But when the traffic starts moving, the experience can be harrowing, made all the more stressful as you try to find your way along unfamiliar boulevards and position yourself to make quick turns with little notice.

Thank goodness for Waze.

Just plug in your destination, follow the directions, and voila!  Oh, sure, we made a few wrong turns, but even then Waze got us right back on track.

Most of the time.

You see, every once in awhile, whether because of transliteration problems from Hebrew into English or for reasons incomprehensible to a Luddite like myself, the destination simply refused to appear on the screen.  When that happened, we were dead on the highway.

But we always managed to find our ways in the end, and the advantages far outweighed the deficiencies.

At least, that’s what I thought at first.  But after a few days, I noticed that my wife — who had the good sense to leave all the driving to me — was telling me which way to go moments before I heard the same instructions from the polite voice of the GPS.  After travelling many of the same routes to and from our rented apartment, my wife had learned her way around from the passenger seat while I had given myself over so completely to the computer that I was utterly lost if left to my own devices.

VICTIMS OF OUR OWN DESIGN

When Johannes Gutenberg introduced the world to moveable type in 1439, intellectuals lamented the inevitable death of scholarship.  It was only a matter of time, they predicted, until people would come to rely so totally upon the written word that they would neglect the real acquisition of knowledge, which is the foundation of wisdom.  The prophets of doom, were wrong; but they were also right.

In May 2010, media outlets reported that John Basinger of Middletown, CT, had memorized John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost.  It had taken the 76-year-old stage actor eight years to master the 60,000 word classic, which he subsequently rendered from the stage.

Once upon a time, such a feat would have been considered unremarkable, even pedestrian.  Even after Gutenberg, scholars commonly committed whole volumes to memory.  Jewish scholars used to play a game identifying words and passages from each successive page of their massive tomes; this was not a sign of intellectual greatness, merely refined entertainment.  Nowadays, such cognitive prowess is not only unknown but unimaginable.

One might legitimately wonder whether technology is a metaphysical response to mankind’s diminishing capacity, or whether our dependence upon every new technology is responsible for our intellectual decline.  Either way, there is no denying that dependence on technology begets ever greater dependence.

None of which presents a serious problem until our battery dies or the grid goes down.  When that happens, our inability to cope on our own leaves us crippled, if not paralyzed.  We don’t need a dog to eat our homework anymore.  A malfunctioning cell tower or a faulty modem is ample excuse for any failure.

THE WAZE OF THE WORLD

There may be a more positive lesson in all this, however.  Just like some people are born with a natural sense of direction, almost everyone is born with a natural sense of moral direction.  This is commonly referred to as our conscience, the inner arbiter of right and wrong, the angelic figure hovering over one shoulder, the pang of guilt we feel when we cross over the dividing line between what we want to do and what we ought to do.

But where does conscience come from?  Why does one person’s conscience steer him in a different direction from another’s?  And why do we find it so difficult to follow where our conscience wants to lead us?

Sigmund Freud famously divided the human psyche into three components.  The id is the sense of self, the seat of survival instincts, personal desire, and immediate physical gratification.  The ego is our concern for how we are seen by others, for social acceptance, for power and influence.  The superego is the conscience, forever embattled trying to rein in the other two impulses and keep them on the straight and narrow.

According to talmudic tradition, the drive for physical gratification is a function of the body, while the impulse for social gratification is a function of the mind.  And what of the conscience?  It is a function of the soul.

But what is the soul?  It is the divine spark that elevates human beings above all other creatures, that inspires us to strive for purpose in our lives and nobility in our conduct, that makes each and every one of us a unique creation, even identical twins who share the same genetics and environmental experiences.  It is the conduit between our ethereal selves and our animal selves, the message center for receiving guidance from a higher plain of existence for harnessing our baser instincts.

In short, the conscience is our spiritual GPS, our universal guidance system for living meaningful and moral lives.

And just like the GPS that tells us which street or avenue to follow, so too the prompting of the soul can become weakened when we don’t update the software, when we travel into dead zones, when we lower the volume, or when we turn it off altogether.

So here are three simple tips for keeping the voice of our conscience clear.

Start with authority.  If we go to experts for medical advice, legal advice, and auto service advice, why do we assume that we are experts when it comes to moral and spiritual well-being?  Throughout the ages, purveyors of wisdom have pondered the definitions of good and evil, attempting to aid those of us who follow them to find our way.  So don’t try to go it on your own, and beware of charlatans who espouse virtue for the advancement of their own agendas.  As Isaac Newton said, If I have seen farther, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants.

The mind and the heart are often in conflict.  Generally speaking, the mind is a more reliable adviser than the heart.  But that’s only generally speaking.  Human capacity for rationalization is limitless, and we are exceptionally talented at finding reasons for what we want to do and ignoring that inner voice whispering that something may not be a very good idea.  So we have to do our best to evaluate our actions before we act, to re-evaluate them after we’ve acted so we can be better prepared for the future, and to continually re-evaluate as long as the head and the heart remain at odds with one another.

The majority is not always right.  The world is flat.  The sun revolves around the earth. Man is not meant to fly.  These were all once popular ideas, along with all kinds of beliefs contrary to modern sensibilities concerning equality and justice.  Just because a belief is widely held does not make it right.  In fact, the less willing people are to question or debate their own beliefs, the more reason there is to fear that their reasoning may be flawed.

No one ever said it was easy to do the right thing.  But the harder we try, the better we will become.  And the better we become, the better effect we will have on the world we live in.

Rabbi Yonason Goldson is a professional speaker and trainer.  He draws upon his experiences as a hitchhiker, circumnavigator, newspaper columnist, high school teacher, and talmudic scholar to teach practical strategies for enhancing communication, ethical conduct, and personal achievement. He is the author of Proverbial Beauty: Secrets for Success and Happiness from the Wisdom of the Ages. Visit him at yonasongoldson.com

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You’re reading The Complete Guide To Learning Languages Online, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

“How are you learning languages online?”
“Where do you connect online?
“Is that really that effective?”

These are some of the most common questions we get from our prospective customers.

Many of you reading this may be thinking the same thing. Maybe you’ve never worked with a private teacher online, or you’ve tried software solutions online that didn’t work out for you.

Today, we’ll be addressing many of the questions or thoughts you may have about learning languages online. We hope it helps you make an informed decision.

The Future Of Language Learning

As an immigrant, I’ve personally experienced the upside of learning another language. The world is becoming a more multicultural place by the second, and we’re surrounded by friends, co-workers, and even extended family members who speak another native language.

To give you some data, the language learning will have grown from $115B to $286..2B between 2012 and 2018. And online language learning will be growing 11% year-over-year in the next 5 years.

That’s massive growth. And we share this number to show you that the future of language learning (and education) is heading online.

What’s driving this massive growth?

For one, communication tools have become powerful enough where there’s very little distinction between in-person lessons and live video lessons.

But more importantly, the benefits of learning languages online are clear.

The Benefits

While there are endless benefits to learning online, the top three are: convenience, productivity, and quality.

Learn Anywhere (Convenience)

Most of us don’t have the luxury of picking up our bags and booking a one-way ticket to Argentina to learn how to speak Spanish. Nor is it necessary today.

Having lived in a foreign country for 18 months, I’ve met many people who weren’t able to learn the local language simply because they didn’t put in the effort. Sometimes it was out of laziness, but often times it was out of shyness.

If you’re an introverted learner, having the ability to learn at the comforts of your own home, or at an environment where you feel safe is undervalued.

While real-life immersion is powerful, you can reap the same benefits without sacrificing your lifestyle.

Save Time (Productivity)

With the ability to learn at the comforts of your own home, we can eliminate the biggest timesucker we have in today’s society – commuting.

An average American wastes over 15 full days per year commuting. While we can’t change our work environment overnight, we can change our learning environment.

For most of us learning languages in-person, the time wasted commuting is just as harmful, if not worse (depending on where your teacher or school is located). Since time is the most important commodity we have, learning languages online helps us win back more time instantly.

The Best Teachers Are Everywhere, Not In Your Local City (Quality)

As remote working becomes more prevalent in today’s workplace, so is the saying, “the best talents are everywhere.”

When it comes to language learning, this is especially true.

For one, language learning is as much of a cultural experience as it is an educational experience. The reason most of us learn a language (ex. Spanish) in the first place is to have a deeper connection with someone that comes from a different culture (ex. Colombia).

Yet the chances of you finding the right teacher that matches your learning style, personality, and needs, who also originates from your desired location is pretty slim.

By leveraging learning languages online, we have the power to work with the best teachers (and talent), not just the available ones within a mile radius from your home.

How To Make The Most Out Of Learning Languages Online

If you’ve decided that learning languages online could be for you, we’ve gathered some tips and tactics for you to make the most of it.

Starting with…

1. Quality > Price

Price shopping is the most common form of human behavior when we’re investing in anything.

But when you analyze the top performers in business, athletics, learning, they only work with the best. This is a pattern we see over and over again.

What these high performers understand is that by working with the best, you can actually save more time and money in the end.

When you’re starting a business, hiring the cheapest developer can cost your business 5x more time and money to fix the bugs and mistakes the developer made.
When you’re an athlete, working with the cheapest physiotherapist can cost you your career.
When you’re learning a language, working with the cheapest teacher can be the difference between knowing a foreign language or nothing at all.

This is because learning something new is often more about self-motivation and persistency then strategy, especially when you’re just getting started.

With that said, experience and qualifications only go so far.

Working with someone who deeply understands your goals, needs, and proficiency should be a top priority, once you’ve found a teacher that’s qualified and experienced.

2. Remove Distractions

When you’re learning languages online, it’s easy to be multitasking while you’re simultaneously on a call with your teacher (i.e. checking Facebook).

But the cost of distraction is bigger than we think.

According to Gloria Mark, Ph.D. at the University of California, Irvine, upon being distracted during a task at hand, it takes us 23 minutes and 15 seconds on average to regain our focus.

While some of us can regain our focus when we’re working on miscellaneous tasks like email or reports, it’s much harder to do when learning a language.

This is why it’s important to…

3. Learn In Shorter Periods

Through our experience in high school, and college, we’ve become accustomed to sitting in two hour long lecture halls, trying to retain as much information as our brain allowed.

Given by how little most of us actually remember from college, it’s safe to say that learning over long periods of time doesn’t work, especially if it’s inconsistent.

Our most successful students at Rype are those who have managed to consistently learn in shorter periods of time over months, versus binge learning one week, and skipping out on the next week.

Instead of learning for 5 hours once a week, try to break it down into 30 minute periods a couple of times a week.

“It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.”
― Tony Robbins

In order to ensure you can do this, we recommend you…

4. Schedule Ahead Of Time

One of the easiest and most powerful ways to build new habits (and avoid decision fatigue) is to systemize your process.

Studies have shown that willpower is limited, and the top performers have gotten to where they are by putting in more work over time.

When you’re learning languages online with a teacher, the most important thing you can systemize is scheduling your lessons. It’s often overlooked because we’re already so distracted by everything else in our lives.

While platforms like Rype directly allow you to schedule multiple lessons ahead of time, this option isn’t as convenient for other language learners.

One way to overcome this barrier if you want to book lessons ahead of time with your teacher is to set up repeat events on your calendar (i.e. Google Calendar), and invite your teacher to each event.

The point here is to make it as easy as possible for yourself to continue showing up for your lessons, because like many things in life, learning a language is mostly about showing up.

5. Use Complementary Tools

Just like you would want to leverage fitness tools like Fitbit or calorie trackers, even when you’re working with a personal trainer, you should be doing the same when learning languages online.

There’s great memorization tools like Memrise or vocabulary learning tools like Duolingo that you can use while you’re working with your language teacher.

Taking control over your own success, without solely relying on someone else is the best way to guarantee real results for anything you want to accomplish.

You can also check out our free Learn a Language Challenge, which will give you 10 new most common words every morning.

What To Do Next

If you’re already in the process of learning languages online, congrats! To make sure you’re making the most out of the experience, and filling in the necessary gaps, we hope our tips today helped.

For a quick review:

1. Quality > Price

2. Remove distractions

3. Learn in shorter periods 

4. Schedule ahead of time

5. Use complementary tools

Now we’d love to hear from you. What has been your experience like learning languages online, and what are some tips and strategies that have worked well for you? Share with us below 🙂

p.s – if you liked reading this post, we think you’ll also enjoy checking out:

• Complete Guide on How to Speak Spanish
• How to Learn Any Language in 90 Days
• 17 Language Tips From 17 World-Class Language Experts 

You’ve read The Complete Guide To Learning Languages Online, 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 7 Amazing Benefits of Meditation, 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 practice of mind and body, meditation focuses on the interaction among the body, brain, soul and your behavior. Here are 7 amazing benefits of meditation.

Increase Creativity

Researchers from Leiden University have been studying how open-monitoring meditation with focused attention can help to improve a person’s creativity after. What they found was interesting. They discovered that those who practiced open-monitoring meditation performed much better on a specific task when they were assigned to come up with any new ideas.

Meditation has been known to increase and encourage the type of thinking known as divergent thinking, which allows you to come up with the biggest number of solutions to any given problem, another component of creativity.

Decrease Anxiety Levels

Meditation has also been shown to decrease the anxiety levels in those who practice it regularly. When we are meditating we begin to loosen the connections of certain neural pathways.

A section of our brain called the medial prefrontal cortex processes the information that we relate to our experience and ourselves. Typically, the neural pathways from fear and bodily sensations to this section of the brain are strong. Therefore, when you are in a scary situation, this will trigger a very strong reaction in that portion of your brain, which in turn makes you feel anxious and unsettled.

When you do meditate, you will weaken this connection, which will allow you to react differently to the same situations. Another added benefit to weakening this connection is you will now give strength to the Assessment Center of your brain, which is known for its reasoning. Therefore, you will be better able to respond calmly to potentially nerve-wrecking situations.

Improve Memory

Those who practice meditation are better able to filter out distractions and increase productivity. This ability to ignore background distractions helps one quickly remember and use new facts.

Improve Relationships

Meditation also boosts your mood and leaves you with a better sense of connection to other people. This helps to make you more compassionate and empathetic to others. Whether you are looking to improve your relationship with your significant other or connect more to your employees and clients, meditation may be the answer.

Aid in Health Conditions

Many studies have shown that just by meditating you may be able to decrease your blood pressure if you suffer from hypertension. Additionally, those with respiratory illnesses such as the flu have been able to recover more quickly than those who did not meditate. Women who suffer from menopause may find relief from meditation as well.

Promote Better Sleep

Meditation has proven beneficial in its ability to help promote better sleep quantity and quality. While establishing a good bedtime routine and getting the best air purifier help, adding in some mindfulness meditation may help to give you a better quality of sleep and fight the symptoms associated with insomnia such as fatigue and depression.

Boost Libido

On top of better sleep, you may be able to increase the quality and occurrence of your intimate life. One of the biggest reasons couples do not have nearly as much sex as they could is because they are too tired. Our body’s response to stress is usually through fight or flight. When this occurs, we release the stress hormone cortisol as well as adrenaline to help us fight the stress. What this does is increase your blood pressure and suppress our immune system and another person caught in the crossfire, our libido.

A Final Thought

You may be a bit overwhelmed and think there is no possible way you can include meditating into your already busy life. However, the good news is, you can! Start out with only five minutes each day. You can squeeze in your mindfulness before breakfast or before you get ready for work. When you get more comfortable with your meditation, you can then begin to increase the length of your sessions over time.

Dr. Janet Miller is a Zen practitioner, yogi and cofounder of Jen Reviews. Connect with her on Twitter.

You’ve read The 7 Amazing Benefits of Meditation, 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 7 Surprising Ways Floating Improves Your Mental and Physical Well-Being, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

When you enhance your body, you also change your mind. When you float, your body achieves a level of relaxation that is even deeper than sleep. As your mind stays awake, large portions of the brain are free from their normal tasks of sending signals from the organs and nervous systems. With more studies about floating every day here are 7 surprising ways floating improves your mental and physical well-being:

1. Provides Instant Meditation

If there’s an easier way to meditate than floating, I don’t know what it is! Most people claim to struggle with or find meditation challenging after 5 minutes, but floating forces you to let go and just focus on breathing. The water temperature responds to the skin at 93.5 degrees. This means you can’t even tell where the water ends and you begin. There are no lights or noises to interfere with your meditation and the focus on your breath. Floating is a gentle introduction to starting a meditative practice and only requires you to relax your body into the water.

2. Resets Your Circadian Rhythm and Improves Athletic Performance

Some of the world’s greatest athletes – like Carl Lewis – have used tank visualization techniques to help prepare for training. The Dallas Cowboys have also been known to use flotation tanks since the early 80’s to develop both the psychological and physical skills of the players. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) has also been using tanks to train their Olympic squads since 1983.

Floating allows the body to maximize the benefits of physical training. High-intensity workouts stimulate the growth of muscles’ while the actual strengthening and growth occur during relaxation. This usually occurs 30-40 hours after stimulation. Deep relaxation accelerates muscle tissues’ growth and regeneration while improving circulation. Strenuous physical exercise may also cause a rapid build-up of lactic acid, which is a toxic by-product of anaerobic glycolysis. This will cause cramps, pain, and fatigue, which is also linked to depression and anxiety.

In order to reach the athletic peak performance, this depends on a coordination of mental, physical and emotional skills. Modern methods of training help athletes to develop asynchrony of body, mind, and emotions. Floating is one method that will reduce the effects of reducing waste materials and lactic acid from the body along with the risk of over-training.

3. Combats Addiction

One of the most common addictions we have is constantly using electronic devices. The tiny doses of dopamine we get from surfing the web or checking our Facebook can be dangerous. But whether you are addicted to social media, food, or even drugs, floating can help ease the brain and help battle those harmful addictions. Many users claim to become more involved with their surroundings than the desire to check for likes and notifications.

4. Helps Soothe PTSD and Anxiety

Groups including the Flat Clinic and Research Center are currently undergoing studying of floating as a potential treatment in therapy for those who suffer from PTSD and anxiety. Floating helps reduce activity in the cortex. This decreases stress hormone production and simultaneously allows the body to have a deep relaxation that causes the release of endorphins.

5. Fuels Productivity and Inspires Creativity

A 90-minute session may seem like a long to float, but after a while, your alpha or beta brainwaves transition into theta waves. The usually occurs before you sleep and before you wake up. Floating also brings your consciousness to a new level. Many people have claimed to have creative breakthroughs and have discovered solutions. Without any distractions for a solid amount of time, this will allow your brain to think more freely.

6. Increases Positive Theta Brain Waves and Reduces Negativity

During a research study in 1999, flotation increases the theta waves in the brain. Theta waves have also been shown to be activated by meditation in the same way. They are also active during REM before and after sleeping. Floating has also been shown to eliminate unwanted negativity in the body. The urinary cortisol and Plasma, ACTH(adrenocorticotropic hormone), renin activity, epinephrine, blood pressure and heart rate are all directly associated with stress.

7. Improves Magnesium in the Body

What makes floating work is the 850 pounds of Epsom salt. As water is one of the best brain foods your body can have, Epsom salt consists of sulfate and magnesium. According to research, most Americans have a magnesium deficiency and floating can help raising your magnesium levels.

There are no given negative side effects as all the effects of sensory relaxation are proven to be very beneficial for the body at a physical, mental, and emotional level. It is the easiest, fastest, and safety way to achieve relaxation, ease the symptoms of depression and the quality of daily living.

……..

David Gomes completed his M.S Professional degree in California Institute of Technology. He is work for Consumer Health Digest. He lives in Oakland, California, USA. He loves to write on a variety of topics such as joint health, weight loss, beauty and skin care for blogs and on-line publication sites. He also loves latest technology, gadgets. You can connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.

References

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You’re reading Don’t Panic! 4 Novel Ways to Reduce Anxiety and Fear, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Chance favors the prepared mind.  –Louis Pasteur

Stress and anxiety are ubiquitous in our culture.  A certain amount of stress, known as “eustress,” is good for your health.  It also increases focus and performance.  However, everyone has their limit, a point at which coping resources no longer meet the situational demands.  When this happens, performance degrades.  Awareness of this degradation sets up the potential for a fear reaction and a negative feedback loop.  As the limbic system becomes activated (fear), problem solving further deteriorates and that gap between coping resources and demands further widens.  If this progresses far enough it becomes a panic attack.  Left untreated, panic attacks can lead to Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or Depression.

Symptoms

Anxiety can manifest in a number of ways depending on individual makeup and severity.  It could be experienced as a vague sense of fear or threat.  Sometimes it arises physically as stomach or chest pain.  Other signs are shortness of breath and cold, sweaty hands.  At the extreme end of panic, it may manifest as hyperventilation, shaking, sweating, memory blackout, and dissociation.

Novel Ways to Reduce Anxiety

This article outlines a number of strategies to cope with anxiety and panic if it happens to you or someone else.  This is not meant to be a substitute for professional evaluation or treatment, but rather as potentially helpful items to add to your toolbox.

1. Paradoxical Intentions

There is an old saying by Carl Jung, “That which we resist, persists.”  Did you ever get that jingle stuck in your head and the more you wanted to get rid of it, the more it stuck around?  Anxiety is something like that. When we don’t want to have a feeling, we tend to ignore it until it turns into background noise known as anxiety.  Anxiety is not an emotion in the proper sense.  Rather, it is what happens when we avoid emotion.  With enough avoidance, it can somaticize completely into stomach issues, chest pain, or headaches.  So how does this help?  Let’s try to reverse the process.  That means bringing your attention back to what has been avoided. The place to start is where the sensations currently exist.  Most people find the sensations in the area between the stomach and the head.  Get curious about the experience that is anxiety.  How do you know that you are anxious?  What does it feel like in your body?  Become aware of it as if you were reporting your symptoms to a physician.  The key is to focus on the physical experience and not get caught up in the thoughts about it.  During the self-examination, look intently for any signs of resistance to what you observe.  Muscle tension is an obvious resistance, but there are likely other subtle types of resistance there as well.  As you discover resistance, give the intention to let go.  You may find it helpful to “breathe” in and out of this area.  It may take a few moments for things to begin to dissolve but stay with it.  If you find this difficult, check out a guided body scan meditation.

2. Trust Your Heart

Sometimes people with anxiety or panic will fear they are having a heart attack.  This can be precipitated by a loud noise or intrusive thought that triggers adrenaline makes the heart pound.  This fear will obviously make the anxiety worse and establish a negative feedback loop as the limbic system becomes more and more activated.  If you have been unfortunate enough to have panic attacks in the past, then you know what this is, and you know that it will eventually pass.  The more you try to control what is happening, the worse it will be.  Remember that the body works perfectly fine without your thinking about it, such as when you are asleep. Surrender is the only viable option.  Repeat this statement “The body will take care of itself.” over and over until things start to subside.  It doesn’t matter if you believe this or not.  The unconscious does not have a truth filter.  Just keep repeating it until you are calm.

3. Make It A Happy Ending

Many of our neuroses come from some fear of the future.  It is such a mysterious place and completely unknown.  We can concoct some horrendous fantasies about what will certainly befall us.  As we indulge these stories again and again we are rehearsing for a perpetual tyranny of intrusive catastrophic thinking.  If your attempts to replace this with unicorns and rainbows have been unsuccessful, then you might try to just go with it.  Instead of watching that internal horror film and hitting pause at the scariest part, let it play on through.  Imagine the worst does happen, then imagine how you would cope if all those fears came true. Keep playing that movie into the future until you get to a place where you are okay.  Once you see how you will survive your worst fears, then there is less to be anxious about.  Once you have made your new ending, play it every time that old fear resurfaces and you will find you need it less and less.

4. The Old Bait and Switch

This is the brute force approach.  Fortunately, the rational part of the brain (frontal cortex) has braking power on the emotional part of the brain (limbic system).  Unfortunately, these brakes are very weak.  However, if you are clever and persistent, you can overcome this limitation.  Shift power from your emotional mind to your rational mind by doing a task only the rational mind can do. For example, try counting backwards from 1000 by 4’s or 7’s.  The task shouldn’t be too easy or too difficult.  You need to be in the Goldilocks zone of difficulty.  After a few minutes of this, the rational part of the brain will be back in control.  If this doesn’t work, it’s because the task is too easy, too hard, or you quit too soon.  Keep at it; it takes a few minutes for those stress hormones in your blood to metabolize away.

Getting Professional Help

If you have recurrent panic attacks, then you should seek help from a professional counselor who specializes in treating Panic Disorder.  Make sure he or she is well-versed in applying Exposure Therapy, the gold standard for treatment of panic.  If OCD is co-occurring, then the standard treatment is Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP).  Many people suffer needlessly from these disorders for years because they haven’t received the proper treatment.

Dustin Johnson is a Licensed Professional Counselor at Peak Clarity  in Fort Collins, Colorado.

You’ve read Don’t Panic! 4 Novel Ways to Reduce Anxiety and Fear, 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 Ways to Get Productive and Stay Productive, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

With our smartphone, tablet and computer at arm’s reach it can be a challenge to be productive.

All it takes is a simple login to Netflix or seeing a youtube video of a bunny eating asparagus with electronic rave music playing in the background for 4 hours to go by without a trace.

There’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself with some internet time or other activities you enjoy. But if you constantly find yourself stressed out, trying to keep track of your many tasks and convincing yourself you have more time than you do (a la procrastination), maybe you need to start finding the thrill and joy in productivity!

Yes. Being productive does not cause stress, but rather, relieves it. And it gives you energy, motivation and direction towards your goals. In other words it feels great, almost as great as watching Ser Ilyn cut off Lord Eddard’s head.

Ok so you want you to be more productive. But where do you start? Here are 5 Ways to Get Productive and Stay Productive:

1. Specify Your Goals

Goals not only help to measure your progress, but they give you a sense of direction and purpose. Setting goals will keep you motivated and willing to keep up with day to day productivity.

A good way to keep track of your goals is, you guessed it, to write them down! Write them in a journal, on a calendar, or leave sticky notes on a bathroom mirror.

The more specific the better. For example instead of: My goal is to become healthier, you could say: My goal is to drink 8 glasses of water per day. Or instead of: I want to be more organized, you could say: I want put aside 15 minutes per day dedicated to organizing my tasks for work. These are very concrete, specific goals that are easy to track.

The feeling of accomplishment when completing a goal is so worth the effort and allows you to start seeing other possibilities that you otherwise would not be open to in your everyday life. The key is to dream big, but to also, dream specific!

2. Calendars, Calendars, Calendars!

There was a time when I thought I was above calendars, scheduling and e-reminders. I don’t need a schedule running my life! I make up my own rules. But all it took was taking on a part time job and starting a freelance writing business to learn that calendars are actually awesome and essential in many people’s busy lives.

It’s a little counter-intuitive but if you set aside time to find the time, you will feel more organized, less stressed and supremely motivated to do your thing, whatever that may be!

A good time to set your calendar is before bed. Your mind will be buzzing with things you need to do the next day so it makes it a good time to fill it in. Relax and make filling in your calendar a ritual, knowing that a little planning now will make you feel so much better later.

As someone who has learned the power of scheduling, I’ve extended my calendar to include everything from blocks of time for exercise, cleaning, shopping, cooking, writing and personal goals. It may seem like it’s limiting to be so scheduled but it can actually be seen as a way of eliminating that constant sense of urgency and stress that accompanies the simple thought of: What do I need to do today?

Some more tips for calendaring at top form:

• Have your calendar where you can see it (posted on the wall). Or as an app on your smartphone home screen.
• Fill in calendar before bed or during down time.
• Colour code! Use different colours for social events, work, exercise, shopping, studying, family time etc.
• Put as much info as possible on your calendar for each day (ie. Addresses, phone numbers, reminders etc.)
• Be flexible! Your calendar should merely be a tool to help organize your tasks. So don’t worry if you find you’re not sticking to your calendar like you expected to. Make changes as you go.

3. Recognize the down the days

So you’ve started writing that screenplay you’ve always wanted to write. A love story set in 1825 between a young countess and a smooth talking hay bailer…it’s like Titanic without the iceberg and sinking ship, trust me, its gonna be big. You’ve given yourself a timeline of 1 month, that’s doable. And you’ve looked up some ways to submit it to script-seeking producers when the time comes. It’s gonna happen, you’re gonna do it, life is looking pretty great!

Except the next day you only get 2 and a half pages done….and self doubt is setting in. Will this sell? Maybe I should have made the hay bailer something better, like a pirate or like a feral man who was raised by wolves…wait, how am I going to get Leonardo Dicaprio to play the lead role?

Most often, projects are abandoned or given up on when a “down day” is reached.  But down days should be recognized just as that, a down day.

If you can recognize that today you just aren’t feeling it, and make a pact to yourself to get back to it the next day, nothing is really lost. The human mind isn’t designed to focus on one thing constantly over a long period of time. So make sure you aren’t overworking yourself and give yourself breaks when needed.

I find it useful, if I am lacking motivation, to choose something smaller and more manageable I can accomplish that day. An example of this is if you don’t feel like exercising on a certain day, try a short yoga video instead. Or if you don’t feel like cleaning your whole house, clean only one room.

4. Limit Technological Distractions

This is a big one. Just about everyone can attest to being distracted by their technological devices. There is nothing wrong with being connected to your family and friends. But it becomes an unnecessary distraction when you are trying to live a productive life.

In an ideal world, the time allotted for personal goals and tasks should be greater than time on technological devices. In order to limit time on these devices, consider limiting all social media feeds.

There are options on facebook, twitter and social media sites to limit news feeds as to not include every single piece of information under the sun. From experience I’ve found  this to be a great way to gradually stop investing so much time on social media and start investing more time on personal goals.

Another trick to moderate your use could be to allow internet time upon completion of a task, as a sort of reward. I personally haven’t found this as effective as simply deleting news feeds but has been known to work for some people.

5. Use the power of Now!

And finally, the last tip to kickstart your productivity journey: Do it Now!

It doesn’t mean do it tomorrow, or do it in an hour, it means do it NOW.

Doing things now seems simple enough, but it turns out not to be so simple with the number of distractions present in our modern lives. There are an infinite number of reasons not to do things now, but the simple fact is doing things now makes more time to do other things you like to do, later.

Doing it now will make you feel like you have more time to actually do the things you like to do, it will bring you closer to your goals, you will find you have more time for relaxation and you will most definitely be happier for it!

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psysci is a psychology blog covering all things psychology, from the latest research to the latest self-improvement trends,  founded by Marcus Clarke who has worked in the field of psychology for several years.

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You’re reading 11 Reasons Why Your Relationship With Money Is Keeping You Poor, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

What are your beliefs about money (and success) that are keeping you back? Here are 11 false beliefs about money and what to do about them.

You Serve Money

First and foremost, get this relationship correct: Money serves you, never the other way around.

If you believe that you are a slave then you will carry an undercurrent of bitter resentment.

Rather, think of money as your faithful, good, and obedient servant. Money is a vehicle that allows you to live comfortably and helps you to do good in the world.

The Rich Are Crooked

Many people incorrectly believe that the rich acquired their wealth through ill-gotten ways. I can hardly blame them. Turn on the news and you hear about white-collared crooks swindling billions of dollars from thousands of investors.

Yet, I have also met many wealthy people who just want to make a difference in the world with what they have to offer. Many support philanthropic causes.

I Don’t Want to Become a Snob

Having money hardly makes one snobby. Yet, some people do hold the belief that the affluent are picky, prissy, prim, and too proper for the rest of society. This is as far removed from the truth as television is a reflection of reality. Most wealthy and successful individuals are humble and very giving.

Money Isn’t Everything

Usually, people who say this also believe that money can’t buy happiness. They mistakenly think that in order to be happy they must also live in poverty. Or at the very least, just enough to get by.

I don’t know about you. But I would rather be wealthy and miserable than poor and miserable. With money, I can always buy time so that I can find what brings me joy and happiness.

Living with an abundant mindset means having the best of both worlds. It means to be wealthy and happy.

I Don’t Know How to Receive

Do you know what your services are worth if you were to run your own business? Do you know how to ask for money?

After removing malware from a friend’s computer at her place of business, she wanted to pay me for my services. I didn’t know how to ask for money at the time so I said to forget about it since it took me less than an hour to do so. Fortunately, I would learn a lesson that day about how much my services are worth

She insisted on paying me, and it was then that I realized that you have to ask in order to receive. I also relearned a basic tenet of providing services: Sure, it might have taken me less than an hour to fix her computer. But it took me twenty years of concentrated study and countless hours in front of a computer to learn these skills, among many others.

Lack of Gratitude

Just as I didn’t know how to receive, I also failed to express gratitude whenever I would find a dime or quarter just laying on my garage floor. Having an attitude of gratitude is important to reframing your mind in order to expand your awareness and start looking for what’s possible. Too many of us hold a narrowness of mind by concentrating on what we don’t want.

It is in expressing gratitude that we open ourselves more to receiving.

So now, whenever I find a quarter on the floor or a dollar in a pair of freshly laundered jeans, I express gratitude.

Poor Self-Image

How you view money, your relationship to it and the value you provide to facilitate its reception is important, too.

If you believe yourself undeserving of money, then you will push it away long before it ever comes your way. If you want someone to offer you a six-figure salary, then you better believe that you are deserving this number long before you ever ask for it.

Money Tore My Family Apart

Folks whose parents struggled to make ends meet, living from paycheck to paycheck, likely believe that money tears families apart. I held a similar belief. My parents worked twelve hours a day, six days a week, all to just remain at the poverty line. As a result, I hardly ever saw them or spent time with them. For us, money was always that mysterious entity that was elusive to come by.

Overtime, I have come to accept money as an inanimate object. My failings with money are just that—my failures. It was up to me to adopt a different set of beliefs and to see money as nothing more than just pieces of paper to which we assign value, be they good or bad.

I dedicated myself to study and specialization, for the world pays handsomely and well for specialized knowledge in which you help to solve problems. After all, that is the reason businesses exist.

I Know Jack Sh!t About Money

This was a hard one for me to accept. Yet, once I accepted responsibility for my own shortcomings things started to change for the better. I adopted a whole new set of beliefs about money, such as the ones you read about today. I also realized that money is simply an indicator of success. The more specialized knowledge we hold and the more we are able to apply that knowledge, the more successful we are.

Wrapping up

Astute readers likely noticed a common thread running through the above reasons: blame. We tend to blame money for our problems. It’s silly to blame pieces of paper and metal for our own problems. When we stop living as victims and start taking the initiative then wonderful things start happening in our lives.

We set goals, but realize that goals aren’t about getting. They are about growing. In the end, as Earl Nightingale puts it, “Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal or goal.”

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Benson was at one time in his life feeling down and out. Through humbling experiences, a pioneering spirit, and just plain stubbornness, Benson dug himself out of that deep, dark hole. Now, he chases his dreams much more confidently and self-assuredly. If you want more success and confidence so you can chase after what really matters, claim your audioset blueprint today.

You’ve read 11 Reasons Why Your Relationship With Money Is Keeping You Poor, 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 9 Signs You’re Fooled by Arrogance, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Do you remember the famous fable of the tortoise and the hare? They were having a race and the hare was obviously everybody’s favorite for champion. But because of silly arrogance, the hare ended up losing to the tortoise and became the laughing stock for everybody, including you.

Also, have you ever seen someone who is charming, likeable, and always surrounded by people as if he or she has a gravity that pulls people around him? Have you ever wondered what makes him or her so special? Let me tell you, one of the secrets is humility.

Humility is a trait that will be advantageous to you. People like being around humble people because they make them feel comfortable – they don’t need to worry about someone attempting to humiliate them or stealing their spotlight. They also make people feel good – because they don’t focus on themselves but on the people around them.

So do you possess this admirable quality or are you actually trapped in arrogance like the hare instead? Perform a personality check on yourself with the list below:

1.    You Secretly Feel Better than Anyone Else

Even though you never outright say that you’re far more superior to everybody else, you constantly feel like that on the inside. You think you’re smarter, prettier, more competent, basically better than anybody else. No, not saying it doesn’t make you humble. It is the thought that counts (because, who are you kidding? You may think secretly but your attitude and behavior will give you away anyway).

To avoid this superiority complex, think about this: no matter how much better you are than everybody else right now, in the end there will always be someone that will be better than you. Think about everybody’s good points and accomplishments. They maybe aren’t as grand as yours, but still, it’s impossible for you to have all of everybody’s good point and accomplishment. Everybody has advantages as everybody has flaw, including you.

2.    You Never Greet First

When you’re being arrogant, you want to make everything a competition, because you’re hungry for glory. Even something as warm and as mundane as greeting, you treat it like a competition. You think you’re better than everyone else, so they should greet you first and not the other way around. You feel like if you greet them first, you’re acknowledging that you’re inferior to them. So, you never acknowledge your colleagues except when they do it first

Well, surprise, you have it backward! In social interaction, the better person is always the one who greet first. It is because greeting other first makes the other feel respected and valued. In turn, they will reciprocate the respect. It also improves the likeability of someone.

Now, to get rid of this mindset, shift the direction of your competition. If before it was all about power play with the other, now it’s all about who can greet others first.

3.    You Ignore Others

Of course, sometimes there are times when we feel like we’re surrounded by idiots all around and we need to ignore them to stay sane. The keyword in that sentence is “sometimes”. People don’t act idiot all the time although sometimes they look like they do. For example when they keep pestering you with question like “is it true the killer boss is actually afraid of his wife?” when said boss is waiting for you to finish your report in 15 minutes.

But, most of the time people are talking about small thing like the weather, their favorite food, or their children. It is normal and it is not stupid. Arrogant people think these kinds of conversation are beneath them and always ignore other people’s attempt to include them in the conversation.

4.    You Interrupt Others

Ask yourself: when did the last time you listen to people? You may say “oh, just several minutes ago”. But did you really listen to what the other person said? Did you wait until the other finish and then respond accordingly? Arrogant people tend to dismiss the importance of listening to other people until he or she finish their sentence. They think they’re so clever they can deduce the rest of the sentence themselves. That or they think the other person is unimportant so the less they talk the better.

Now every time you have a need to interrupt, hold yourself. Bite your tongue if you need, but train yourself to listen before you respond. People will feel like they were respected and in turn will trust you.

5.    Your favorite subject is none other than you

Ah, this is such a humanly trait. Everybody likes to talk about themselves, but if you like it a tad bit too much than other person, then you’re probably being arrogant. Try to notice how many times you mention the word “I”, “my”, and “me” in a conversation. Notice whether you automatically respond every story told by your conversation partner with a story about yourself like “oh so you went to Spain last summer? I went to Italy. Let me tell you what I’ve done there!”

Now, imagine you’re the other people conversing with yourself. Would you like to talk with yourself? Imagine how annoyed you’d be when you’re trying to talk about an important subject but your conversation partner keep talking about himself? Remember his story and start responding the story with inquiry about your partner, not with another story about yourself.

6.    Every word you speak is the truth

You think you are truth and therefore all the things coming out from your mouth are truth. When it is proven otherwise, you will go out of the way to prove that you are right, or at least partly right. You can never, never ever live in the reality where you’re proven wrong.

This kind of mindset is surely not good for your ego. Learn to admit that people make mistake and it’s completely normal. Understand that people won’t look down on you just because of a small mistake. The root of arrogance is actually your fear of not being the right one. You’re afraid people will shun you and humiliate you. But remember, making mistake is human and admitting mistake is what makes you a better human being.

7.    You Take Criticism the Bad Way

What is criticism? You never hear that. All you ever hear is blame instead. Every single criticism, even the most constructive one, sounds like an attempt to destroy you instead of fix you because you’re perfect and you don’t think you’re in a need of any fixing.

So your reaction to criticism every time is either ignoring it or get angry with it, sometimes both. Think again, when your friends say you should consult an interior designer before you renovate your store instead of using your own design, did you ignore them? When your colleagues told you to use a translator instead of translating that document alone, did you told them to “go mind your own business!” instead?

If you do, start to accept that criticism is people’s way to show you that they care about you, or at least your work. Learn to distinguish constructive criticism from the junk one, and you’ll be surprised at how stupid you were all of this time!

8.    You Don’t Do Self Reflection

Why would you? You’re perfect anyway. It is unthinkable to you to take a moment and look objectively on yourself because what can be wrong with you? Even when you were having an argument with someone and you’re told to reflect, did you actually do it? In fact, I’m sure you think about self reflection only just now because you’re reading this.

Everybody, not just you, should reflect once in a while. Take some time to be alone and look back at your attitude. Did you do something to other people that may hurt them? Did you do something you would never want other people to do to you? When you look back, you’ll notice your mistake and you can avoid the same thing to happen in the future.

9.    You Can’t Share the Spotlight

Imagine yourself winning an award with your team. Do you see yourself receiving the award alone representing your team? Do you see you and your team go to the stage together to receive the award? Do you see yourself letting other team member receive the award? When you’re being arrogant you’ll find much difficulty imagining that you have to receive the glory with other people. You think they don’t deserve the award because the success is purely because of your existence in the team, right?

But actually, people don’t become arrogant because they think they’re superior to others. In fact, they’re only afraid people’s attention won’t be focused on them but on their other mates. That’s why they want to hog all the spotlight themselves.

If you’re feeling exactly like this, then you need to learn to be confident. Understand that when you’re working in a team, everybody has their strength amd weakness. You’re not superior or inferior to your mates, and then understand that people can recognize brilliance. Even if you’re not the one giving the speech, if you really contribute yourself in your project, people will recognize you signature in the project. And remember that the spotlight on the stage does not get shinier or dimmer depending on the number of people on the stage.

 

So, do you think you have either one of those signs? Or do you recognize someone with those signs? Carry on the conversation on Facebook!

 

You’ve read 9 Signs You’re Fooled by Arrogance, 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 3 Tips To Stop Making Excuses and Start Getting Spiritual, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Have you ever considered doing something “spiritual,” like a yoga class or meditating, but didn’t because you don’t think of yourself as “that kinda person?” Or have you ever caught yourself five episodes deep in some TV series thinking about how much that choice clashes with your spirituality? Or how about the reverse–have you ever stopped yourself from doing something you felt to do because you thought it wasn’t spiritual enough?

No matter what siphons us off from either our spirituality or our desires, there’s a common thread: the belief that spirituality is a compartmentalized area of our lives. From that belief comes the idea that some of us are spiritual, and some of us are not. Some things are spiritual, and other things are not. And the further along we go on that trip, the more that belief becomes an excuse for not going deeper into our spirituality and living a more full life.

The thing is, real spirituality is when the spiritual practice is all of life itself, from eating pizza, watching TV, and finding ourselves in arguments to meditating, being with friends, and communicating with love. Indeed, when we are fully present with these moments, and we are soaking them up for all they are worth–willing to learn, grow, be accountable, and keep returning to love–then we are in an intimate union and a reverent flow with life that can only be spiritual.

To be sure, spiritual experiences aren’t all bliss, glitter, and angelic harps on repeat. That idea only fuels the excuse that when there isn’t obvious sacred beauty, then well, this isn’t meaningful or spiritual and therefore, it has no value for me. Let’s be clear, spiritual experiences include all of it: the dirt, the tears, the confusion, the mundane, the profane, and the glorious. The meaningfulness is always there for us to tap into, so long as we are present, vulnerable, and accountable for ourselves.

So, what can we do to more easily connect the sacred meaningfulness of life through the less obviously “spiritual” moments?

1. Get Present

In most moments, we are in the past or the future and anywhere but here. We are present when we collect all of our attention and orient completely into the moment that is here, now. When we engage with the mundane moments of life as an opportunity to anchor our presence in our bodies, then we are helping ourselves to remain in that space of clarity that serves us so greatly in our lives. For example, as you drink your morning coffee, drink it slowly—feel the warmth of the liquid on your tongue—feel it slide back your tongue and into your throat. Breathe deeply in between your sips. This is the way of anchoring your presence in your body, and you can do it in every moment of life.

2. Confront Your Ideas

Most of us have all sorts of ideas about nearly everything. The thing is, those ideas often prevent us from clearly seeing what is actually happening in the present moment. When you catch yourself being limited by a belief, such as I shouldn’t be honest about how I feel (because that would be unsafe/inappropriate) or, another common one, I should work 24/7 because that is what it takes to be successful (and therefore, I must sacrifice my needs), be bold enough to face it. Be courageous enough to explore the possibility that it is not true. Be brave enough to experience what happens when you allow that belief to fall away, and instead, allow yourself to simply be present, vulnerable, and open to whatever the moment is inviting you into for your growth and your joy.

3. Explore Your Vulnerability

We are all vulnerable beings, from the sternest CEO to the most sensitive child. Denying or rejecting our vulnerability only makes us feel cut off from our divine nature and the kindness of life. So first, accept the simple fact that you are vulnerable.

Once we have accepted our vulnerability, we are in a place to discover meaning. For example, if I feel angry when my partner goes out with his friends, perhaps when I explore that feeling, I might discover that it is triggering an abandonment wound from childhood. Because of that insight, I would have an opportunity to help any old pain be released and resolved. Or perhaps I discover that I feel anger because I am in need of more quality time with him, and for realizing that, have an opportunity to express that in a healthy way.

The point is, only once our vulnerability is explored can we walk the bridge to meaning. It is always taking us deeper into ourselves and into our power to live a life that fulfills our hearts.

So rejoice, we’re all spiritual and it’s all spiritual, and that means we have endless opportunities to co-create with life in a way that fulfills our hearts. I’ll drink to that!

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Teyha Sky is a published author. Here new book A Ceremony Called Life is out now!

You’ve read 3 Tips To Stop Making Excuses and Start Getting Spiritual, 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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