Time for stillness...

“We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it's all about.”

-- Joseph Campbell

The sages all say that the path to liberation is found in entering the stillness within. To experience that stillness, we need to be willing to regularly stop the activity for a while.

How do we do this in a busy life? We set our priorities. Perhaps it means giving up a TV program or using a coffee break to grab a few moments of solitude. Perhaps we have to ask our partner, relative or neighbour to give us 30 minutes of time away from the kids. If we really want something, we can make it happen.

"Learn to pause... or nothing worthwhile will catch up to you."

-- Doug King

Step by step, progressively learn basic meditation methods to relax, concentrate, focus, reflect, contemplate and illuminate...

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Smart questions to keep handy...

“Quality questions create a quality life. Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” -- Anthony Robbins Last time, we talked about questions to avoid. Today, let’s consider some that are truly empowering: - Is there a message for me in this experience? - What’s the gift in this situation? - What can I learn from this? - What’s the most loving thing I could do now? - What’s the most important thing for me to focus on now? - What would I do if I knew I could not fail? - What would I do if there were nothing to fear? “A prudent question is one-half of wisdom.” -- Francis Bacon Access your own inner wisdom by tapping into your subconscious and intuition. Release stress, blocks and negative emotions, and spark imagination and greater vision. Go deeper… Reach higher...

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Questions that aren't helpful

“We accept many notions because they seem to be the logical answers to our questions. But have we asked the right questions?” -- Harold L. Klawans Sometimes we ask questions for which we really don’t want the answer! Nonetheless, when we ask a question, our subconscious minds will get to work to answer us. Here are some examples of questions we want to avoid: - What’s wrong with me? - How long could this take? - What could go wrong? - How much trouble could it be? - How hard could it be? Asking questions can be empowering – as long as they’re smart questions! "The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a very creative mind to spot wrong questions." -- Anthony Jay

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Change...

"I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change." -- Jim Rohn "Slowness to change usually means fear of the new." -- Philip Crosby “Just as the tumultuous chaos of a thunderstorm brings a nurturing rain that allows life to flourish, so too in human affairs times of advancement are preceded by times of disorder. Success comes to those who can weather the storm.” -- I Ching No. 3 “If you want things to be different, perhaps the answer is to become different yourself.” -- Norman Vincent Peale

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Awareness through love and fear...

“There is nothing holier in this life of ours than the first consciousness of love -- the first fluttering of its silken wings -- the first rising sound and breath of that wind which is so soon to sweep through the soul, to purify or to destroy.” -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Our inner journey takes us through the following stages relative to love and fear: 1. UNCONSCIOUS LOVE: When we are born, we exist as pure love but we are not conscious of our love. 2. UNCONSCIOUS FEAR: Our souls have set the stage for our evolution. As we grow, unconscious fears arise in our personalities that draw experiences to us that wound us. 3. CONSCIOUS FEAR: Our wounds bring pain and suffering that enable us to become conscious of our fears. 4. CONSCIOUS LOVE: When we've suffered enough pain, we are motivated to move through our fears to consciously experience the love that supports all. “Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.” -- Alexander Smith We don’t change overnight. Personal growth requires persistence...

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Growing ourselves...

“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.” -- Oliver Wendell Holmes We are all on a life-long journey. It is a search for who we are and why we are here. It is a journey that expands our consciousness. There is an urge within each of us to move forward in life. It is an urge to become more whole, to find more meaning, and eventually to help others. It is human nature to strive for a sense of well-being. We all go through the same growth cycles, though our experiences may appear entirely different. By understanding the process of personal and spiritual growth, we can work more effectively with the process, instead of fighting and resisting it. “We can learn to be the catalysts for our own change.” -- Sarah Ban Breathnach

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What inspires you?

“It is never about how good your voice is; it is only about feeling the urge to sing, and then having the courage to do it with the voice you are given.”

-- Katie in ‘True to Form’ by Elizabeth Berg

How often have you allowed fear and your inner critic to stop you from doing something you were inspired to do?

Helen Keller said, "Life is either a grand adventure or nothing.” When we allow fear and criticism to stop us in our tracks, we give up that grand adventure. What a waste!

“Be an all-out, not a hold-out.”

-- Norman Vincent Peale

Why are you here? Open to more meaning and fulfillment by exploring your life purpose...

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Remove the filters...

“You got to look at things with the eye in your heart, not with the eye in your head.”

-- Lame Deer, Medicine Man of the Oglala people

Whenever we’re thinking, our experience is being filtered through our minds. For example, when I say to myself, “What a beautiful sunset!” I am not fully experiencing the sunset because I am involved with the words in my mind.

Explore letting go of the thoughts, the words, and connecting directly with your experiences. Tune in to the silence and the sensations in your body. Be aware of the spaciousness this brings because this is truly living in the present moment.

Being present doesn’t mean that we have to abandon thinking entirely. That’s not feasible, of course. But we can experiment with what it’s like to stop thinking once in a while!

“Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.”

-- Hans Margolius

Awareness is the key to all change. Begin to trust yourself more deeply as you uncover new dimensions of who you are...

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Wonder-full!

“...we can't survive without enchantment... the loss of it is killing us.”

-- Thomas Moore

“There is one thing that all true spirituality has in common, whether that spirituality is derived from faith, from science, from nature or from the arts – a sense of wonder.”

-- Andrew Schneider

"There are only two ways to live your life: One is as though nothing is a miracle, The other is as though everything is a miracle. I believe in the latter."

-- Albert Einstein

“We live in a world of theophanies. Holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary. There are burning bushes all around you. Every tree is full of angels. Hidden beauty is waiting in every crumb. Life wants to lead you from crumbs to angels, but this can happen only if you are willing to unwrap the ordinary by staying with it long enough to harvest its treasure.”

-- Macrina Wiederkehr

Why are you here? Open to more meaning and fulfillment by exploring your life purpose...

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Getting down to essentials

"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials."

-- Lin Yutang

Do you feel a desire to simplify your life?

If you say ‘yes,’ then set an intention to reduce the demands, stimuli, interruptions and busyness in your life. We each have the power to do this – we simply have to begin to say ‘no’ to those activities that don’t directly serve what we want for our lives.

Everyone of this planet deserves to have some free time to think, relax and have fun. If you long for this, begin now to clear your plate and allow a new level of experience to happen in your life. Take charge. Eliminate time wasters. Make some decisions about what matters to you.

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak."

-- Hans Hofmann

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Feeling safe...

“Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are -- chaff and grain together -- certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.…” -- Dinah Craik We cherish our best friends and our special communities because we feel safe to be vulnerable when we’re in their embrace. And yet I have discovered that as long as I identify with my self-image, with my ego, there’s no safety possible anywhere. When the ego is on watch, even a dear friend’s truth may trigger reactions like anxiety, self-criticism and fear. The only true safety exists in living the truth of our soul, our essence. “Open your body and your mind to the subtler levels of experience, letting go of your attempt to control, to be right, not worrying about appearances, not trying to be safe.” -- Stephen Levine

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Opportunity...

“We are continually faced with great opportunities which are brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems.”

-- Margaret Mead

“A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds.”

-- Francis Bacon

"What is opportunity, and when does it knock? It never knocks. You can wait a whole lifetime, listening, hoping, and you will hear no knocking. None at all. You are opportunity, and you must knock on the door leading to your destiny. You prepare yourself to recognize opportunity, to pursue and seize opportunity as you develop the strength of your personality, and build a self-image with which you are able to live -- with your self-respect alive and growing."

-- Maxwell Maltz

We don’t change overnight. Personal growth requires dogged  persistence. 

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Struggling with a decision?

"You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind."

-- Dale Carnegie

My anxiety level spiked the other day as I wrestled with whether to choose option A or option B. I was so afraid of making the wrong choice!

And then I remembered, with deep gratitude, Susan Jeffers’ sage advice: There are no wrong decisions! Whatever we might choose in life will bring valuable experiences if we are open to receive them.

“Lighten up! Whatever happens as a result of your decision, you’ll handle it!”

-- Susan Jeffers

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Commitments to serve...

“Our deepest need is for the joy that comes with …knowing we are of genuine use to others.”

-- Eknath Easwaran

Holding an intention to be in service shapes our overall attitude towards life in many ways. For example, it brings a greater sensitivity and awareness of others, a commitment to harmlessness, a willingness to put others’ needs before our own and a desire to be in harmony with all.

An attitude of service also involves a willingness to be served when we truly need support.

"… there is no such thing as just existing. Everything is in service to everything else. Existence is giving and receiving. A stone gives and receives no less than a saint."

-- Jacob Needleman

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Distinguish personality desires from soul needs...

"Human history is the sad result of each one looking out for himself." -- Julio Cortazar We indulge ourselves when we seek to meet our longings through desires of the personality. We indulge ourselves when we buy more clothes to make us happy, when we eat another snack to ease the hunger, when we have an affair to feel powerful or loveable. Any pleasure we get, if we get any at all, is shallow and short- lived. The only lasting satisfaction can come from meeting the deep spiritual needs of the soul. We discover what we are really after in life when we identify the spiritual qualities and needs that lie behind our desires for material pleasures. "But life lived only for oneself does not truly satisfy men or women. There is a hunger in Americans today for larger purposes beyond the self." -- Betty Friedan

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Transformation...

"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

-- William Faulkner

Longing for a miracle that will transform your life? Miracles happen, and if we don’t want that magic to disappear on us, we need to learn from each epiphany -- to integrate it, apply it, and build on it so we can permanently shift to a new level of being.

The real key to fulfillment lies in ONGOING transformation: building our awareness of daily opportunities to change our perceptions and raise our consciousness. Life is about dissolving the old and creating anew. The more we open to accepting and learning from every life experience, the more our lives transform.

"Enlightenment must come little by little -- otherwise it would overwhelm."

-- Idries Shah

Who are you, REALLY? To truly know yourself, you need to explore your subconscious mind.Can you do that????

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Honesty...

"Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

What level of honesty are you living now?

How honest are you with strangers, institutions and businesses, acquaintances, friends, family, spouse?

How honest are you with yourself?

"Our lives improve only when we take chances - and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves."

-- Walter Anderson

Access your own inner wisdom by tapping into your subconscious and intuition. Release stress, blocks and negative emotions, and spark imagination and greater vision...

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Self-deception...

"The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat one's self."

-- Phillip James Bailey

Are you hiding in some way from your own inner light?

I wouldn’t dream of stealing things but I do steal from my own potential. I can be a master at rationalizing, at justifying why it’s not the right time to do something challenging. My arguments seem valid but deep down, I know they’re excuses.

"The longer the excuse, the less likely it's the truth."

-- Robert Half

"When we know deep down that we’re acting with integrity despite impulses to do otherwise, we feel gates of higher energy and inspiration open inside of us."

-- Dan Millman

Know Yourself – An adventure in self discovery!! Become aware of your subconscious limitations, your character strengths, weaknesses and potentials, your life challenges, gifts, talents, and your deepest desires and aspirations...

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Remember...

"Never forget what you need to remember."

-- Garrett Bartley

What do you want to remember from this past week?

Reflect on your experience over the last 7 days. What was memorable about it? Write a short summary.

If you are not learning and moving forward, you are unconsciously entrenching older patterns more deeply. You are actually going backwards. So take a few minutes each week to reflect on what matters most in your life.

"Memory is the cabinet of the imagination, the treasury of reason, the registry of conscience, and the council chamber of thought."

-- Basile

Discover the empowerment that comes with focus!!

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What is soul consciousness?

"You are a holistic being with both non dualistic energy and the energy of the physical plane as a part of your being at your disposal."

-- Wayne Dyer

Andrew Schneider helps us understand our human experience of being soul. He says, "Soul consciousness arises when we stand facing in opposite directions at the same time - toward eternity and toward time, toward infinity and toward space, toward unity and toward complexity. We stand in that dualism without being dualistic, for in consciousness we can accommodate the opposites. We do this by identifying with both. This identification results in the experience of being an individual while at the same time being the whole, and finding no contradiction in this experience."

"Give your difference, welcome my difference, unify all difference in the larger whole -- such is the law of growth. The unifying of difference is the eternal process of life -- the creative synthesis, the highest act of creation."

-- M. P. Follett

Journey through the traps of ego into a life of meaning, purpose, joy and service. Embark on your own soul journey... 

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A perfect Tuesday,courtesy DB!!!

It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

 

No person was ever honoured for what he received Honor has been the reward for what he gave

Time is our valuable asset,yet we tend to waste it, Kill it and spend itrather than Invest it

Opportunities are like sunrises if you wait too long, you miss them

Just because something is difficult, does not mean we should not try But it only means that we should try harder.

Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life.

 

Don't Let What You Saw Or Heard Discourage You In Life,Believe In Yourselve And Keep The Fire Burning If ONLY You believe You Are Doing The Right Thing

 

Time never waits for anyone but one can wait for someone

 

Not many people on earth know their destiny,if you know your's,you are lucky.

 

Only one will soon be past; only what's done for CHRIST will last.

 

Those who understand see themselves in all, and all, in themselves.

 

We're afraid of losing what we have, whether it's our life or our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we understand

that our life stories and the history of the world were written by the same hand.

 

PS:  Come, let us take our fill of love : let us solace ourselves with loves.

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Security...

"Let us never confuse stability with stagnation." -- Mary Jean LeTendre "Many people think that by hoarding money they are gaining safety for themselves. If money is your ONLY hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a person can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. Without these qualities, money is practically useless." -- Henry Ford "One has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out to the risk of living with both arms. One has to court doubt and darkness as the cost of knowing." -- Morris L. West "One thing we can do is make the choice to view the world in a healthy way. We can choose to see the world as safe with only moments of danger rather than seeing the world as dangerous with only moments of safety." -- Deepak Chopra "The only peace, the only security, is in fulfillment." -- Henry Miller

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Water wisdom...

"When flowing water ... meets with obstacles on its path, a blockage in its journey, it pauses. It increases in volume and strength, filling up in front of the obstacle and eventually spilling past it.... "Do not turn and run, for there is nowhere worthwhile for you to go. Do not attempt to push ahead into the danger ... emulate the example of the water: Pause and build up your strength until the obstacle no longer represents a blockage." -- from the ‘I Ching,’presented in  ‘To Build the Life You Want, Create the  Work You Love: The Spiritual Dimension  of Entrepreneuring’ by Marsha Sinetar As we are spiritual beings, the root of all of our life challenges lies in the spiritual realm. Get in touch with your spiritual nature and get a sense of the bigger picture of your life.

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Recognizing abundance

"If your everyday life seems poor, don't blame it; blame yourself; admit to yourself that you are not enough of a poet to call forth its riches; because for the creator there is no poverty and no indifferent place."

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

Where do you now experience abundance in your life?

If you are hard-pressed to find abundance in your finances or possessions, look to spiritual qualities. Do you experience abundance in a special relationship? In a quiet moment in a park? In a good laugh with a friend? The more you acknowledge abundance in your spirit, the richer your life will become.

"Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance."

-- John Petit-Senn

Tackle your financial challenges holistically! Self-learn the basic steps to managing money, explore your beliefs around wealth, and open to the spiritual laws of abundance 

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A hot tub for the mind

"Imagine a hot tub for the mind. That is what meditation is; it can bathe your mind in relaxing thoughts."

-- Eknath Easwaran

With today’s fast pace of life, too many of us don’t have any sense of how it feels to be free of stress. It’s difficult to relax if we have physical pain or irritation, strong negative emotions or scattered, worrisome thoughts.

The practice of meditation helps us find the peace within that is so elusive in our outer world.

"Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes."

-- Etty Hillesum

Step by step, progressively learn basic meditation methods to relax, concentrate, focus, reflect, contemplate and illuminate...

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Perception defines our reality

"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend."

-- Henri Bergson

Our entire universe is energy -- vibrating waves of pure potential. The electromagnetic vibrations of our consciousness interact with the energetic potential that exists everywhere as the life force to ‘collapse’ the waves and create matter. So the patterns of our minds create the form of our world.

By simply observing a form, we influence it. We in turn are influenced by others. This challenges us to be more aware of the quality of our being and the vibrations we transmit.

"There is no reality in the absence of observation."

-- The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

We don’t change overnight. Personal growth requires persistence.Are you up to it...????

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Know yourself through journaling...

"The blank page gives us the right to dream." -- Baston Bachelard Journaling takes us on adventures of self-discovery that explore two different directions: - DEEPER into the realms of the subconscious where we can clean house of personal problems, pains, patterns, and reactions; and, - HIGHER into the realms of our potential, where we can connect with intuition and higher guidance and uncover our essence and purpose. "Life is a narrative that you have a hand in writing." -- Henriette Anne Klauser "I want you to get excited about who you are, what you are, what you have, and what can still be for you. I want to inspire you to see that you can go far beyond where you are right now." -- Virginia Satir Access your own inner wisdom by tapping into your subconscious and intuition. Release stress, blocks and negative emotions, and spark imagination and greater vision. Go deeper… Reach higher...

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Embrace your life.

"If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life, as in hoping for another life, and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life." -- Albert Camus Have you taken ownership of your life? When we own our lives, we accept what we’ve inherited and the experiences we hold in our memories. We also lay claim to our right to create new conditions if we’re not happy with what’s come before. We assume responsibility for changing what does not suit us. We acknowledge our own special talents and skills, and truly comprehend our right to enjoy the journey. In short, we embrace the meaning and purpose, the mystery and the beauty of our lives. "Recognize that life is what you get when you’re born ... living is what you do with it." -- Jim Allen "It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between." -- Diane Ackerman Access your own inner wisdom by tapping into your subconscious and intuition. Release stress, blocks and negative emotions, and spark imagination and greater vision. Go deeper… Reach higher...

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Mind control...

"Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing when it is absolutely necessary." -- Ray Knight "Eventually, meditation will make our mind calm, clear, and as concentrated as a laser which we can focus at will. This capacity of one-pointed attention is the essence of genius. When we have this mastery over attention in everything we do, we have a genius for life itself: unshakable security, clear judgment, and deep personal relationships." -- Eknath Easwaran "The successful man is the average man, focused." -- Source Unknown Step by step, progressively learn basic meditation methods to relax, concentrate, focus, reflect, contemplate and illuminate...

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Review your choices...

"I was part of that strange race of people aptly described as spending their lives doing things they detest to make money they don't want to buy things they don't need to impress people they dislike." -- Emile Henry Gauvreau Once again, we invite you to look closely at what you are choosing for yourself. Why are you doing what you are doing? Would you prefer to be or do something different? How can you bring that ‘something different’ into reality? "You make what seems a simple choice: choose a man or a job or a neighborhood -- and what you have chosen is not a man or a job or a neighborhood, but a life." -- Jessamyn West "Choice is destiny’s soul mate." -- Sarah Ban Breathnach Confused about what you want and where you're going? You need self support in getting clear so you can plan your life and live your plan!!Discover the empowerment that comes with focus in your own self!!

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Ponder the rules...

"To do exactly as your neighbors do is the only sensible rule."

-- Emily Post

Do you have strong and clear definitions for what is acceptable and what is not?

Where have these rules come from? What’s the purpose of these judgments? What do they protect?

Can we explore new territory for ourselves and others by allowing and even welcoming spontaneity, exuberance and surprises?

"The idea that men are created free and equal is both true and misleading: men are created different; they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to become like each other."

-- David Riesman

Journey through the traps of ego into a life of meaning, purpose, joy and service. Embark on your own soul journey...

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Stop the battles...

"When you fight something, you’re tied to it forever. As long as you’re fighting it, you’re giving it power." -- Anthony de Mello What are you fighting? Resistance always brings pain. Examine your struggle. What does your personality want from the situation? What does your soul want? What can you learn from this? Always strive to mend separation and achieve unity. Always choose love over fear. If you can embrace whatever you are struggling against, the struggle will disappear. "What you resist persists. And only what you look at, and own, can disappear. You make it disappear by simply changing your mind about it." -- Neale Donald Walsch Clearing blocks transforms our lives.  Discover a whole new way of working with life's challenges...

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Problems or solutions?

"If you expect the best, you will be the best. Learn to use one of the most powerful laws in this world; change your mental habits to belief instead of disbelief. Learn to expect, not to doubt. In so doing, you bring everything into the realm of possibility."

-- Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

Stop and be aware! Have you been thinking about what you want or what you don’t want?

It’s so easy to lock our minds onto problems rather than opening to receive solutions. But what we think is what we get. This is so important! If we continually focus on problems and negatives, that’s where we’ll stay.

"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit."

-- Helen Keller

Who are you, REALLY? To truly know yourself, you need to explore your subconscious mind. You need to help your own self to reveal and release the subconscious beliefs that sabotage your highest intentions...

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Procrastination

"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday."

-- Don Marquis

Most of us struggle with procrastination -- the 'I'll do it later' syndrome. If this is one of your key time wasters, take time to become more aware of your behaviour.

- Identify what you are procrastinating.

- Identify why you have not done these things. Seek out your deepest reason.

- Is there a fear underlying your reason? There is for most people.

We typically procrastinate because of unclear goals, lack of information and/or skills, fear of moving into new territory, fear of failure or success, feeling overwhelmed, lack of time due to over-commitments, poor timing, and general disorganization.

"Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they started."

-- David Allen

And, just for fun:

"The best labor saving device is doing it tomorrow."

-- Source Unknown

Never have time for what you really want in life? Take control of the time of your life by changing your mind!!!!!

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