Act Your Way Into Feeling Good

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John C. Maxwell, in Failing Forward makes the following comment:

“Don’t wait until you feel positive to move forward. Act your way into feeling good. That’s the only way to start thinking more positively about yourself.”

I can vouch for the truth of this statement. Waiting only burns time and little else. By changing my thinking and acting more positive, I became more positive. Did the change happen over night? Hell no, but it happened and continues to happen as I choose to start my day positive and have a partner who prods me when I don’t!

Amy Cuddy has proven this with her 2 minute power pose idea that she shared in her iconic TED Talk and in her book. People who stood or sat in a powerful confident pose for 2 minutes a day developed confidence.

As I pointed out in a previous post, we can only Be as much as we already Are. We have to change who we Are to become someone different. Consciously changing our thoughts and actions begins this metamorphosis into the new person we have chosen to be.

So, stop waiting for the right moment or feeling, start acting the way that you want to be.

Until next time

metta

Garth

We are Living in Uncertain Times

At the moment we are all living in unprecedented and uncertain times. The COVID-19 disease is sweeping the world and impacting everyone’s lives in same way.

As someone wise once said, “This too will pass”.

But in the meantime, stay well and look after yourself and family. Also remember to look after your mental as well as physical health.

The Be Do Are Paradox

A lot of us try to Have by Doing the activities we identify as needing to be done to get the goal. Isn’t it a logical to start at A and progress through B, then C then D etc to get to our goal.

The challenge is that who we are and how we think will invariably get in the way of a logical progression and in many cases, stop us from achieving our goal.

Charles Haanel put it very well when he wrote: “We must “be” before we can “do”, and we can “do” only to the extent which we “are”, and what we “are” depends upon what we “think”.“

Our success depends largely on how well our thoughts and thinking are aligned with where we want to be. These will drive our actions, the Do, and determine our results. Either being on target or a miss.

A good example of this is from my own life. Many years ago, when my children were quite young, I thought it would be great to have a ‘flying fox’ line in our backyard. The backyard had a great slop on it and a bit of space for a 20 metre line. I had the plan in my mind of what the set-up would look like. I put in a post for the start, and then got no further.

The trouble was that I was thinking about all the reasons not to continue and the challenges that I needed to overcome. End result, a stalled project that never eventuated and the children missing out on having a great amount of fun.

A better state of mind would have been to acknowledge the challenges, talk some of them over with my then wife and her builder father to find solutions. To think of success, rather than obstacles.

Change your thinking, change your outcomes

meta

until next time

Garth

A Great Bookend to My Last Post

In my last post I talked about Every Child should be taught to expect Success.And how labels are applied to some of us as we are growing up.

This interview points out the challenges that we have created for our children by going in the opposite direction. Of removing barriers, of giving medals for just participating, of not creating strong character and strong self-esteem.

This interview of  Simon Sinek speaking about Millennials in the workplace of today, and social media addiction

A very thought provoking and inspiring speech with Tom Bilyeu

 

 

metta

Garth

Every Child Should Be Taught to Expect Success

Orison Swett Marden wrote “Every child should be taught to expect success, and to believe that he was born to achieve, as the acorn is destined to become an oak.”

He then went on to say: ” It is cruel for parents and teachers to tell children that they are dull or stupid, or that they are not like others of their age. They should inspire them, instead, with hope and confidence and belief in their success birthright. A child should be trained to expect great things, and should believe firmly in his God-given power to accomplish something worth while in the world.”

How many adults have thus been programmed from an early age and are therefore not living up to their full potential. What mindsets have been set so a to limit their belief in what they are truly capable of?

I’ve written previously in this blog about Labels and Glass Ceilings. For this is what this programming creates: false labels and false ceilings of ability.

The first challenge to removing the false labels and glass ceilings is to understand that we are capable of more than we think we are.

The second challenge is to learn believe that the impossible is possible. To dare to dream just a little and then to go out and get runs on the board. This will build the self-esteem which says – I can do this.

From this position of I know I can do this then starts to grow the belief that I can do something that I haven’t tied yet! This is the birth of self-confidence.

Getting small runs on the board builds the belief that I can do this. Celebrating these runs builds the neural networks of capability and possibility. We start to learn that we can fly. Bit by bit as we gain confidence through small wins each day, then bigger win and bigger wins. As we build this storehouse of success, we build the foundation of confidence to tackle bigger tasks and goals that we wouldn’t have thought possible before we started the journey.

It all starts with getting small wins on the board and celebrating them!

I am back after a break

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a post. A lot has happened since I’ve been away. Life has moved on and changed. In the time I’ve been away, I’ve read more books, experimented more and ruminated on life.

I’ve buried a parent, attended two weddings, one as Best Man and looked at life with the knowledge I have gained over the years.

We have amazing potential. Sometimes we rise up and express it. Sometimes briefly, then drop back as life consumes us, or our ‘environment’ and programming takes over. Holding us back from what we could be.

Other times, we surprise ourselves, and we grow into the potential that exists within us. We embrace new beliefs about what is possible and let go of the old ones that say that only what we have and do is possible and all else is impossible. As we adopt the new beliefs of greater possibility, we begin to stand taller, to move outside our comfort zone, to claim a larger, bigger area that we operate within. An area that continues to grow as we gain the wisdom to know that we are only limited by our beliefs and past programming and current thoughts.

The first precept of Huna states:        Ike: The world is what you think it is!

This is true. Our individual worlds are a reflection of our thoughts and beliefs.

As Henry Ford said all those years ago:

“If you think you can, or you think you can’t, either way you are right!”

What can we be? Well that is up to you to determine. We can blame circumstances, our parents or any number of other things. But history has shown us, and life continues to show us, that we can rise above these limitations and be great by tapping into what is within us. By breaking through the fear.

Kala: There are no limits!

Until next time

meta

Garth

 

 

Personal Change Is an Inside Job

Personal change is an inside job. Yep, it all starts from inside the brain/mind!

A number of years ago I read about a group of people who were moved out of a slum into a brand new apartment block. Their old building was run down and quite frankly a dump. There was a lot of unemployment, poor health and there was a lot of crime. It was believed that the move would bring about positive changes for them.

Well in time, the new apartment looked very much like the old slum they had come from. You see, the authorities had tried to change the people from the outside! They still carried their old beliefs and behaviours with them to the new building. So nothing really changed.

Oh some people took the opportunity an changed, but the majority didn’t.

To get the get the changes we want in our life, we must first change the image in our minds. Bring our desired changes to life in our minds with strong images and feelings.

These images start creating changes in the structure of the brain. In the neural connections within the brain. Slowly these changes in the brain start to change our mind and how we think and act. The more we engage in visualising the changes the stronger the new neural connections become.

This then starts to bring about changes in our outside world!

As Steven Covey has said – “Start with the end in mind!!” Start with the vision. Live the vision in your minds eye. Be a part of the movie you see on the screen of your mind. Then you will start to see the changes in your life!

Use self-hypnosis to help you create the vivid image and live it!

until next time

metta

Garth

 

Choose Better Words To Talk To Yourself With

In a previous post I talked about how the sub-conscious is always listening to what we say to ourselves (and to others). Words have power!!

We use different words in the different environments we live in each day. The environment of home, family, extended family, play, work, work colleagues, friends, money, social….the list goes on.

Each environment can be thought of a bubble. Individual bubbles or paradigms may intersect with another bubble or paradigm. That is, we may use a certain set of words in one environment and not in other, or we can use words in two or more environments.

The above sounds pretty complex, but what I am trying to convey is that we define ourselves and our abilities in each of those environments. Our definitions of ourselves is reflected in the words that we use.

Lets take the environment of work. We may define this environment with words like: “I’m no good at ….; or I can’t do that…; or I don’t know, I’m not sure, I’ve not done that before….”

These words show a reflection of our mindset and beliefs about ourselves.

When we continue to use these words, we continue to reinforce the neural pathways associated with that thinking and set of beliefs.

The beauty is that we can change and rewire our brains. By using better words. Words that are supportive and positive like: “I can do this! I don’t have the skills at the moment, but I am giving myself the time to develop them! I believe in myself!!”

The old adage – the pen is mightier than the sword – is very true!

Words can build us up or knock us down. And keep us down!!

What words are you going to choose to change to support a better tomorrow for yourself??

until next time

metta

Garth

You hold your future in your hands today!

If you knew that you held your future in your hands, right now, today, what would you do differently? What would you change in your life?

Well, stop for a moment and think about what I’ve just asked. You do in fact hold your future in your hands right now!!!

Scary thought isn’t it?

We don’t need a crystal ball to look into the future. Why not?

It’s quite simple really. “Because if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got!!”

We are where we are today as a result of our thinking. Our thinking is mainly based on our beliefs. We develop a lot of our beliefs at an early age and many are unconsciously added.

When was the last time that you questioned your beliefs? Which ones are supporting you? Which ones are holding you back?

So what are you going to do differently today? What are you going to do to have that better, brighter future?

You do hold your future in your hands today.

 

metta

Garth

Create new Supportive Habits

Many of us have mental habits that are negative and unsupportive in helping us to achieve in life. How do you develop new supportive habits?

Use self-hypnosis to help develop new mental habits to replace those that are negative or unsupportive. Review the new habits daily – morning & night to create and strengthen the new neural pathways.

Start with writing a script using positive life affirming statements. The review the script each day. First thing in the morning, either before you get out of bed, or just after you get up. This is when the brain is still in the Alpha state. Then again just before you go to sleep.

Remember to continue to do this for as long as it takes to instill the new habitual thinking. It takes time to create then strengthen new neural pathways in the brain. (Neurons the fire together, wire together).

The more you focus on the new positive, life affirming habits, then the old habits connections in your brain will start to weaken.