You’re reading 4 Ways To Stop Worrying And Take Charge Of Your Life, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Frustrating isn’t it?

You don’t know why you can’t take a pause and let go of worries.

You mull over thoughts, ponder over ideas, beat a problem to death, only to find out you
gained nothing, absolutely nothing.

You decided to stop worrying and think no thoughts.

Sigh.

First, it works and what next? The thoughts are back again.

You’re afraid of losing the past while the future overwhelms you.

Now you’re thinking about what to get done, next you’re feeling sorry about an event in the past. And the thoughts keep coming.

You can’t rest your head at night, and this is killing you on the inside.

Could there be anything wrong?

I can tell you exactly what’s wrong.

Nothing.

Why You’ll Never Stop Worrying

Could it be possible that everything you’re doing to stop worrying is a waste of time?

We’re not just talking about letting the thoughts go for a while. We’re talking about eliminating worry as a whole.

After all. Why wouldn’t you worry when you’ve got a lot to think about.

But you know what?

It’s mostly a load of crap.

Visualise this image for a while.

A drill drilling into a piece of wood, if you drill half way the board will still hold, if you drill all the way through, the board will hold nothing.

Think of the board as your mind. If you continue digging with the vicious cycle of worry, worry, and more worry you reach a point where the mind cannot hold a positive thought.

And chances are, it might even lead you to become selfish, fault finding, a gossip, spend more time pondering only to find yourself less doing.

The good news.

You can learn how to stop all worries and thoughts at the door of your mind.
But before we begin. Are you willing to change? Give up your old habitual way of thinking? Trust yourself and take a whole new way of dealing with life?

If not, you may as well stop here.

If you’re willing to take a look at your life and make a dramatic change. Then let plunge ahead.

1. Become The Silent Watcher

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” -Corrie ten Boom

Start paying attention to everything that’s happening on the inside of you.

Find some time, seat in a quiet place and listen to your thoughts. Don’t judge it, just carefully observe your thought.

It might be happening right inside your mind, or at the centre of your brain, just watch it and say to yourself, I’m aware of what I’m thinking. Keep watching the thought.
Once you go on like this, the thought will immediately disappear. Try this again whenever the thought appears and soon your mind will be awakening and fully engage in the now.

2. Be conscious And Present.

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself”- Jesus Christ.

Start becoming aware of everything that’s happening around you. For example: Watch and feel the way your hand scrolls up and down on this post, be present in the moment.

Notice how your body react to things, wash your hand in a bowl of water and feel the reaction of the water.

When thought come, watch it and say to yourself, I’m present, I’m here not in the illusion of the thought.

3. Switch And Enrich Your Thought

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you’re heading- Lao Tzu.

Instead of forcing yourself on stopping a thought, try switching it to a better one.

For example, Poverty for Prosperity· Ignorance for Wisdom· Worry for Peace of Mind· Depression for Joy· Discord for Harmony· Fear of Faith· Failure for Success.

You can enjoy Happiness, Wealth, Power, Joy and Peace of mind simply by disallowing negative thought and replacing them with a positive one.

4. Develop A Right Thinking Habit.

The reason some people can do what others don’t do is the difference in their states of mind.

The key to creating a right thinking habit is to think right continuously.

Right thinking will bring peace to your mind while wrong thinking will create worry. By thought, you can connect to the Universal mind or cut yourself off entirely from the Divine flow.

To create a peaceful environment around you, change your state of mind through right thought.

See that you control them before they control you.

When the people in your life become nicer more loving and more fun to be with. Ask yourself what changed? You did.

Check yourself out. Are you living as an Optimist or a Pessimist?

You should be living in the Optimist column. To do that put everything in this post into use.

Life will get better and better. Every day becomes an adventure rather than a chore. You’ll love who you become.

You’ve read 4 Ways To Stop Worrying And Take Charge Of Your Life, 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 Train Your Brain with 8 Ways to Learn Faster, 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 encountered such a situation where you remember a person by face but failed to recall his name? Often times we find ourselves totally helpless simply because our mind is in sleep mode for a while when we need it to behave actively. So what are you going to do for that? Thinking to take NZT like Jake? Well, the good news is, you can still make your brain active by changing few habits.

Read along to find out how you may train your brain and remember more things than you do now.

1- Quit Smoking ASAP:

When I say to  quit smoking ASAP, you might think of it as an impossible thing. But yes, quitting your smoking habit will help you gain a more active mind. A study conducted by University of Michigan researchers revealed that smokers have lower IQ levels in comparison to non-smoker participants. It may appear a stylish act to hold a cigarette in your hand while you talk to your friends but it slows down your ability to think the way you can.

2- Try Remembering Things:

Even if you have a weak memory, you still need to try this one. You need to give yourself little tasks of memorizing something from your routine activity or anything you get your hands on. Initially, it might appear exasperating but as you practice and create the habit of memorizing little things, you’ll see positive changes in your memory and brain power. This useful practice of sharpening your memory comes from renowned choreographer and author of the book ‘The Creative Habit’ Twyla Tharp who applied the same in her professional activities.

3- Acquire A New Skill:

Another effective way to improve your memory and brain is to acquire new skills whenever you can. Doing routine tasks, again and again, might reduce our brain’s ability but when we learn something new, our brain reacts in a different way. You may try learning a new language (how about the Chinese language you’re putting off from years?) or try any physical skill that you like. As you work on yourself to acquire that new knowledge, you’ll find out some changes in your mind and how it works in your favor.

4- Tweak Your Mind With Mobile Apps:

It’s true that we rely on technology in most of the things that affected our normal IQ level. As a matter of fact, our reliance on digital devices made us think less. So how about that if we change the way we use technology and use it in our favor? If you want to make your memory strong enough, you may use that smartphone you’re reading this post on. Yes, there are so many best brain training apps specifically developed to enhance your cognitive abilities and remember things efficiently. Offering different exercises to tweak your mind power, Elevate is a nice option to try. It offers different sets of training programs.

Another way to improve your mind power is by using BrainHQ mobile app allowing you so many tools to improve your memory. You may play games specifically designed to improve your mind. If you want to remember little but important information of various kinds, you should try Eidetic. The app is designed to help us memorize such information that we usually skip easily like dates, key figures from history vice versa.

One amusing way to sharpen your mind is by playing games, unlike solving exercises, on Lumosity. It offers you different games exclusively designed to train your mental muscles.

5- Try Something New Continuously:

Our brain works the way we want it, so in order to improve your memorization skills you need to train your mind a little bit. Think of a habit you dislike in yourself and compel your brain to do the opposite. It might appear a little hard initially but as you go along with it, you’ll achieve your objectives. For instance, if you’re the lazy person who doesn’t like to do much work. You simply need to keep telling yourself to do some more work. Try small and then go big as you get hold of previous work quantity.

6- Exercise for a Sharp Mind:

Here comes the very common tip you might get every now and then – Exercise. Okay, you have heard this tip already but now is the time to finally take action. The reason to exercise is it helps the brain create new neural connections that help you learn things fast and become more proactive. If you can’t manage a dedicated routine to hit the gym, you must find 20 minutes a day to work on your body that will improve your mind as well.

7- Be More Outgoing:

Talking does help you improve your memory. So try it and make this a routine to talk about something either with a friend or someone special on a daily basis. Studies show that people with outgoing attitudes have more active minds than those who behave reserved or anti-social.

8- Eat Wisely:

Try improving your memory by incorporating healthy choices . Eat delicious foods that contain proteins, and fiber to make your mind healthier. Nutritionists recommend eating fish as it contains EPA and DHA that is effective for mental health. You may even consider a vegetarian diet as red meat has been proven to slow you down. Don’t be too upset though, there are some treats – even dark chocolate is recommended for a healthy brain!

Try these tips and save yourself from the embarrassment of forgetting names or keys as you might be doing now.

You’ve read Train Your Brain with 8 Ways to Learn Faster, 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 18 Muhammad Ali Quotes to Help You Bring Out Your Inner Champion, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

On the 3^rd of June the world stopped when one of the most recognizable men of the 20^th century, and one of the greatest boxers of all time, Muhammad Ali, passed away.

Ali was widely known for his boxing ability, particularly fast and flashy for a heavyweight, but was also celebrated for his charisma and courage.

In 1966 at the age of 24, just two years after he had won his heavyweight title Ali refused to be conscripted into the U.S military, which resulted in his arrest and stripping of all boxing titles. Unable to fight for four years, he lost a large time that would have been at his athletic peak.

As a conscientious objector Ali became a public icon for the civil rights movement and the antiestablishment counterculture of the time.

However, what may be most memorable about the champion were his words. Sometimes silly, sometimes serious, always slick, they revealed a deep personal philosophy and showed the world exactly why he was such a successful human being.

So without further ado, here are 18 Muhammad Ali Quotes to help you bring out your inner champion.

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

“Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything.”

“The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.”

“What you’re thinking is what you’re becoming.”

“You lose nothing when fighting for a cause…In my mind the losers are those who don’t have a cause they care about.”

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

“A man who has no imagination has no wings.”

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

“Champions aren’t made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.”

“Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.”

“Inside of a ring or out, ain’t noting wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.”

“It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.”

“I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”

“A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”

“Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you’re going to be right.”

“Don’t count the days; make the days count.”

—

Do you want to take control of your mornings like a true champion?

Grab a free copy of our new eBook: MORNING MASTERY: The Simple 20 Minute Routine For Long Lasting Energy, Laser-Sharp Focus, and Stress Free Living.

Ben is a freelance writer, and the co-creator of Project Monkey Mind—a new blog for the 21st century solopreneur and young professional who wants to lead a more free and fulfilling life.

You’ve read 18 Muhammad Ali Quotes to Help You Bring Out Your Inner Champion, 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 Ageless Proverbs for Self-Awakening, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

Curiosity killed the cat. That much is known. Lost are the details. Also unknown, to some, is the miracle of her resurrection.

A second coming might come as a surprise. For most children, the cat meets a definite and hairy end. The proverb is a ghost tale pedaled by parents to spook them from mischief.

The later half of the proverb, that “satisfaction brought it back,” gets erased from the telling. Curiosity kills the cat. Then mom buries it alive.

But there’s yet another version of the story. In the original, which dates back to the 16th century, the cat succumbs to misfortune, all the same, though at the hands of a different culprit. “Care”—that is, worry—”killed the cat.” (And it does not, by the way, manage to sneak back from that.)

Proverbs get used, misused, and modified this way: to pass morals from one generation to the next, from one person to the next, to forward along our personal and societal agendas.

Whether a half-truth gets passed, “Curiosity killed the cat;” or a fantastical one, “Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back;” or an antiquated one, “Care killed the cat;” we often find ourselves shaped by the underlying wisdom.

***

During a trip to Burkina Faso last summer, I was reminded of the role proverbs play in communicating wisdom, complex and simple.

A friend there, witnessing my stilted gait, slowed from the many worries I was dragging around, turned to me during a walk and said, “Justin, put some water in your wine.” (Mettre de l’eau dans ton vin.) In other words, lighten up.

We shared a laugh as he explained the meaning and uses of this French proverb, the peculiarity of which rescued me, if only momentarily, from my thoughts.

This was only one of many lessons I’d receive during the trip, my first return there since leaving the country in 2009, after serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer for two years. In my time away, I’d forgotten how the Burkinabé use proverbs to teach lessons, to influence moods, to confront difficulties and surmount them.

Reflecting on my time there, I have recently wondered what all I had been missing, what instructions the Burkinabé could offer on the question of how to be. I stumbled across a 1982 collection of old Mossi (the major ethnic group of Burkina Faso) proverbs, Le Proverbe chez les Mossi du Yatenga (Haute-Volta), and began reading in hopes of finding out.

What follows are my favorite sayings in that collection, three much needed drops of wisdom to be infused into the muddy wine of life.

***

1.) “The hawk wants the goat, but does not have the strength to catch it.”(L’épervier veut la chèvre, mais n’a pas la force de l’attraper.)

The hawk wants the goat, a prisoner her freedom, an old man his youth. It is the nature of the beast to want what it can’t have.

This proverb likely originated as an observation of this. Within the Mossi Empire, same as most others, a king is born into his lot; the son of a king inherits the kingdom. But this does not stop some villagers from passing their days in reverie of power. A many a villager wastes his days dreaming about a royalty he was born outside.

So do we all, at times.

And while the proverb is, at face, a mere acknowledgement of this, its true value lay as a reminder to respect one’s biology, external and internal. In this, the proverb seems to unknowingly look to the East, teasing the Taoist principle of Te, perhaps revealing a universal truth in the process.

In Taoism, every being has her own inner nature, and adhering to this inner nature is called Te. When we respect our inner nature, our lives find harmony; when we do not, they find noise. Our lives, like pots, become a series of clanks and bangs against the steady crash of knives.

I am not on social media*—and such a simple declaration hides a very noisy struggle.

I tried to make it work for years. I wanted to be the kind of person that shares his life with confidence and ease. I wanted to be the kind of friend that roots for his buddies in public, daily. I wanted to be someone who gets likes. And I still do.

Turns out, my way of honoring that is different. The way I share my life confidently is through essays not status updates. The way I cheer on my friends is by privately showing up not publicly checking-in. The way I get likes is through the habitual practice of self-love—exercise; writing; meditation—not the thumbs-up of admirers.

As author Benjamin Hoff mentions in The Tao of Pooh, an exploration of Taoism though the adventures of Winnie the Pooh, “When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don’t belong. One man’s food is another man’s poison.”

To seek another man’s food is to risk poison. But to stay within one’s comfort zone is to miss the point of the proverb. Instead of a warning to “play it safe,” the proverb is an encouragement to push the end-point of one’s truest path, and that path only.

The Tao of Pooh offers further clarity on this:

That doesn’t mean that we need to stop changing and improving. It just means that we need to recognize What’s There. If you face the fact that you have weak muscles, say, then you can do the right things and eventually become strong. But if you ignore What’s There and try to lift someone’s car out of a ditch, what sort of condition will you be in after a while… The wise know their limitation; the foolish do not. 

“Respect your inner nature” is helpful advice for any one of us seeking to make best use of our unique talents and desires, and it lies at the core of this proverb.

 

2.) “It’s because the kitchen has cooled that the dogs come here to lie down.”(C’est parce que le foyer s’est refroidi que les chiens viennent s’y coucher.)

Whether it’s hot or cool in the kitchen, baby, it’s cold outside.

In my hometown of Chicago, with its bleak housing market, tepid job growth, and slick politicians, it often feels cold even when it’s not. Winter is coming and going, at all times.

I feel the chill. I recently moved back to the city—and into my parents home—after two winters in Austin, TX and one in Nicaragua. And despite growing up here, I was ill prepared for the icy slip backwards.

Mild as this winter has been, the unease of returning home, along with the agony of confronting the missteps that led here, not to mention the fatigue of battling a Chicago January, February, and March again (“mild” or not), has cast me naked into the storm, distressed by the effects of climate change.

I want out. I’ve contemplated a way out each, and every, day of 2016. I’m great at out. I’ve been finding outs since the age of 17, the first of time I moved away from home, the last time I spent three consecutive years in one place.

At 30, however, I finally get it: the only way out is through.

In an article titled The Difficult Joy of Not Escaping, author Joshua Becker writes about his worst day at work and the hard-won joy of choosing to journey inward instead of onward. He decides to question his behavior that day, along with his underlying intentions and motivations, illuminating why staying—that is, patience and reflection—is so important.

About this, he writes:

It was important and worth every hard-fought moment of not giving in to the urge to turn away and escape. I was intimately introduced to my ugliest motivations and fears.

It can indeed be a humbling experience to search our hearts, to be reminded of their depravity, and have our true motivations exposed to us.

I think that is why so often we choose to escape instead. We turn on the television, a video game, Facebook, or Pinterest. We turn to alcohol, tobacco, or other substances. We eat, we run, we shop, we go back to work, or we turn to unhealthy relationships.

But when we escape our present circumstance too quickly, we miss the difficult joy of looking inward. We lose opportunity to discover the motivations behind our pride, jealousy, anger, loneliness, narcissism, or selfish pursuits.

Chicago is my opportunity to look at myself, lacks and fears and all. It’s my time to confront my hopes for the future, by engaging the demons of past and present. It’s my time to wait.

The above Mossi proverb is a reminder of that. The dog can enjoy the kitchen, and its fruits, because it had the patience to wait for them. The dog has seen himself through the dog days. So can we.

 

3.) One hundred slides do not prevent the tortoise from entering the pond.(Cent glissades n’empêchent pas la tortue d’entrer dans la mare.)

The tortoise gets it done, against all odds. First she outmaneuvers the hare. Now, according to this Mossi proverb, she manages to reach the apex of her goals, the pond, even after one hundred slips. Her hustle is legendary.

The tortoise has grit.

Much is being made these days of the magic virtue of grit, defined by psychologist Angela Duckworth as the “passion and perseverance for long-term goals,” said to be a better predictor of success than IQ.

Grit is of utmost importance, second perhaps only to the object upon which it’s directed: the goal. Where girt may be the principal ingredient in the recipe, the goal is the recipe in full. No recipe, no grits.

J.C. Penny, iconic founder of the retail chain bearing his name, puts it this way: “Give me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll give you a man who will make history. Give me a man with no goals and I’ll give you a stock clerk.”

It is the greatest courage to make specific and vocal one’s goal, a goal that lies at the intersection of her dreaming and her being, fueled by enthusiasm not prestige. And that comes from someone who is decidedly not goal-oriented or, more accurately, from someone who’s lacked the courage to define his own goal and move towards it.

For nearly three years, I woke up at 5AM to write. The discipline grew from a need to express myself, to make something beautiful, before the distractions of the day intruded. Sometimes I journaled; sometimes I wrote an essay; sometimes I worked on a short story. It didn’t matter, I would tell myself, as long as I was writing.

Truth is, as gleaned from my scarce work product during the time, the objective matters more than anything else, the “what” rooted in the “why.” And the why has to be bigger than the pursuit of beauty and self-expression, also more specific. On this, and the why of writing, author Sarah Manguso comments:

The purpose of being a serious writer is not to express oneself, and it is not to make something beautiful, though one might do those things anyway. Those are beside the point. The purpose of being a serious writer is to keep people from despair. If you keep that in mind always, the wish to make something beautiful or smart looks slight and vain in comparison. If people read your work and, as a result, choose life, then you are doing your job.

The writer must seek to affect lives, whatever his chosen medium. This is true for him, as well as the baker, the shopkeeper, the artist, the friend. They, we, must each endeavor to make this more concrete, then resolve to make it manifest.

The tortoise arrives at the pond because she has had the unfaltering commitment to reach it—but also, because she must. Our destinations, at least recognizing them, are no less imperative.

***

Respect your inner nature; experience the joy of not escaping; define your goals; these lessons form a soft outline of a picture of how to be. For color, consider sifting through the proverbs of your culture and others’.

 

*With the exception of a personal blog, Medium.com, and a defunct Twitter account. 

You’ve read 3 Ageless Proverbs for Self-Awakening, 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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