Start With A Baseline

 Making changes in your life is great and it is the way we grow and develop as people. Change is a constant process and part of being human. When you embark on changing anything in your life you have to start from where you are. Until you know where that is it would be difficult to effectively make the change. You have to start with a baseline.

Starting with a baseline is about honestly figuring out where you are and what you are doing so that you know exactly what needs to be changed. It may sound odd, but many of us are unaware of what we do. When my clients tell me they want to lose weight the first thing I do is have them keep a food journal for a week just to get a baseline. The next week they share how shocked they were to see not only how much they were eating, but also what they were eating. Many of us are on autopilot and we simply are not aware of what we are doing. When you track it – and this works with anything – you have a real picture of where you are and what needs to change.

I read a statistic once that said most people consistently spend about 10% more than they make. I believe that is true, and it is because what is being spent, especially on a credit card, is not tracked. I once had a client that just didn’t have enough time to accomplish everything she needed to do. When she tracked her time for a week she was made painfully aware that she was spending hours in front of the television. The first step in change is awareness. You have to become aware of what you are doing and exactly where you are before you can proceed forward. Keeping track for a week or two will provide you with valuable information that will support your change effort.

Before you embark on any type of change effort you have to know where you are. I liken it to those travel maps that have an X printed next to “You are here.” Until you are aware of exactly where you are – and many of us don’t have a clue – it will be impossible to make the needed change.

The first step in your change effort is to determine where you are. Keep a log for a week or two. This will give you a realistic idea of what you are doing. You can track anything from how much money you spend to how many hours of sleep you get. Once you know the truth about where you are you can proceed.

A Change Will Do You Good

 As the last rays of summer’s warmth ebb away and the gentle breezes of autumn waft themselves upon us, we recognize once again, that change is inevitable. Nature is constantly changing and yet, so many people have the notion that change is frightening.

People are creatures of habit and some find it difficult to adjust to changes that are certain to come our way. Life is like an old, comfortable pair of shoes. We may realize that we need new ones and we may even find new ones we really like, but, we know that changing will cause us discomfort for a little while until we break them in.

Sometimes we need to realize that life isn’t always easy. What may be better for us is not what we are used to, but it is certainly worth the trouble of breaking in new habits and lifestyle changes.

Change does not have to be painful. Just look to nature and it will give you clues to how change can be effortless. The beautifully colored autumn leaves do not hang on to the old tree for dear life. No, they yield to the changes with ease and float gently off the tree.

With the coming of autumn we have been busy in our gardens pulling up the old stuff and getting ready for a time of rest. We know that the ground must rest and next year there will be more wonderful things in our garden to delight us.

Are there things in your life that need to be gently eased out of your life? Maybe there are bad relationships or habits or thoughts that need to be weeded out of your life. Don’t be afraid to do a little gardening in your own life.

Every gardener knows that unless we get to the roots, we really are not getting rid of the problem. It may go away for awhile but unless we get to the root, it will sneak back into the garden very quickly.

Although the harvest time is here there is no time to stop weeding the garden of our minds. This garden needs constant attention in order for us to flourish and be all that we can be. The only way to keep this garden in top shape is to make sure that no weeds are there trying to strangle any good we are trying to do. The weeds of our mind, of course are negative thoughts that like to creep in and keep us from achieving that which we are striving for.

William James said, “Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.

How do we change the inner attitudes of our minds? By changing the way we think. We must put fear and negativity behind us. How, you ask? Just as the leaves of autumn gently blow from the tree, don’t try and make a change in your thinking over night and expect to get instant results. We cannot rip these thoughts out of our minds, as much as we would like to sometimes. No, we need to be gentle on ourselves and let positive thoughts replace the negative.

Yes it will take some work on your part. You must constantly fill your mind with positive thoughts. Proverbs 27: 3 says, As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. We are what we think. When the negative thoughts come into your mind, you must be ready and willing to replace those thoughts with positive ones. Just say to yourself, no, I won’t let that thought take over my mind, I will think positively. Affirmations are good to have readily available so you can replace the negative thought with the positive one. It won’t be easy, it won’t be hard either, it will just be different, like that new pair of shoes we were talking about earlier.

The autumn leaves fall to make way for new life. We too must go through changes that will bring new growth to our bodies, souls and spirits.

Change is inevitable, so why fight it? Why be afraid of it? Yes, change will requireus to do a bit of readjusting but it is always worth it. Don’t be afraid of change,change will do you good.

Replace The Negatives In Your Life With Positives And Move Your Life Ahead

 If you want to move your life ahead, you should replace the negatives in your life with positives. This article will show you how to take the negative influences in your life away and replace them with positives, so you will have increases in morale, and productivity. Focus on the positive for success and peak performance.

Most of us are not aware of the amount of negative influences in our lives. We are bombarded with negative messages from the media, the people around us, and most damaging of all, ourselves.

The first step in the process in replacing negatives with positives in your life is to make a decision to start looking for the negative messages and ways to replace them with positives. Decide that you will focus on the positive in this world.

Begin to drastically cut down on the amount of news you take in. Most people start their day with the news. And of course most of the news is bad news, fires, floods, etc. Then it is on to traffic and weather, which also stresses the negatives. So by the time you have finished your coffee, you have had enough bad news to last a week. Does all this bad news make you want to throw open the door and greet the new days, no quite the opposite. And how about the way we end the day? Many of us watch the news before going to bed and get a big dose of negative information just before trying to go to sleep. Is it any wonder so many people have trouble sleeping? The mood we are in before we go to sleep carries over to the next morning, so you are setting yourself up for starting the next day in a bad mood. Odds are you don’t need all that negative information you are taking in from the news, and you will function just fine without it.

Replace the news you were taking in with such things as, motivational tapes, uplifting music and sites such as happynews.com, that stress good news. Also reading empowering books helps a great deal. Books can be a fantastic way to recharge your life. Look for success stories, biographies of successful people, etc and see what works for you. You will begin to feel better right away.

Your next step is to limit the amount of TV you watch. A recent study showed that 78% of the people watching TV, are not interested in the program they are watching at any given time. So watching TV is probably making you bored at best, and taking you away from actives that would be more fun. Prime time is the period when most people are watching TV; you can make it your prime time by turning off the TV and using that time to move your life ahead.

Next you need to limit your exposure to negative people. Most people don’t realize how draining it is to be around negative people, but they drain your energy and spirit in many ways. Negative people pull you down, so work to remove them from your life to the extent you can. Never get involved in the office pity party, or complaint sessions that come your way. Seek out people that support you and that you feel good being around and use these people to replace the negative people in your life.

The most damaging source of negativity is ourselves. Most of us generate lots of negative self talk that our minds accept as the truth and results in our being held back in many ways. We focus on our shortcomings, our problems, and spend our time predicting more bad news for ourselves, generating lots of fear and worry, while undercutting our ability to try new things, etc. Begin to focus on the positive aspects of you. What are your unique strengths, what have you accomplished, how are you different and better than other people? Use visualization and affirmations to build images of yourself accomplishing the things you want and use these to replace the negative images. Give yourself lots of credit for everything you do right, so you are getting even more positive news about yourself. Also, set aside three minutes every day to think about all the good things you have in your life right now. The process of thinking of the good things in your life, will generate good feelings for you that will last much of the day.

Don’t forget to take care of your body. Eat healthy, cut out some bad habits, and get regular exercise in order to boost your self-esteem while building your strength and endurance, so you can accomplish more.

Helping others will also help you feel better about yourself. Take time to get involved in a charity, animal shelter, or other activates that help others. You will get good feedback from others and develop a genuine sense that you are a good person. What you put out comes back to you, so make sure it is good that goes out.

By replacing the negatives in your life, with positives, you will make yourself and probably the world a better place. You will feel better mentally and physically, plus accomplish many of the things you wanted to. Nothing is ever accomplished without action, so start now to move your life ahead.

Motivational Sayings Ten Great Ones

 Why read motivational sayings? For motivation! You might need a bit, if you can use last year’s list of goals this year because it’s as good as new. All of us can benefit from inspirational thoughts, so here are ten great ones.

“Be more concerned with your character than with your reputation. Your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” – Dale Carnegie

“Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right.’ Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.” – Napoleon Hill

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Some men see things as they are and say, “Why?” I dream of things that never were and say, “Why not?” – George Bernard Shaw

“A small trouble is like a pebble. Hold it too close to your eye and it fills the whole world and puts everything out of focus. Hold it at a proper distance and it can be examined and properly classified. Throw it at your feet and it can be seen in its true setting, just one more tiny bump on the pathway of life.” – Celia Luce

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard

“I’m not telling you it is going to be easy – I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it” – Art Williams

Motivational Sayings – Attitude

Attitude “There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.” – W. Clement Stone

“Nothing on earth can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

“A person cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.” – James Allen

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” – Mohandas Karamchand (Mahatma) Gandhi

These are quotes that mean something to me. Hopefully one or two of them are also inspiring to you. If not, maybe they will motivate you to create your own motivational sayings.

Mind Power The Ultimate Success Formula

 What does it take to be successful?

Ask around and you will find different answers to the formula of success. The truth is, success leaves clues and you can achieve the success in the area you desire by observing the common qualities and principles. They are simple and considered to be common sense but most people simply do not follow them.

Let me share with you one of my favorite quotes:

“There are no secrets to success. It is the results of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure” Colin Powell

As stated in that quote, there are three key factors to achieve massive success in your life:

1.Preparation

You don’t have to wait for everything to be perfect. Start with the first step and keep moving. Success doesn’t happen over night. Prepare, prepare, and prepare. You must be ready to receive the success you desire. Set your sight to the destination that you want to achieve, then work and prepare for the moment when the opportunity knocks your door.

2.Hard Work

Success needs hard work. Don’t listen to these ‘get rich quick’ schemes. You need to build your character and work hard on yourself and your business to achieve greatness. Work hard and work smart. Do the right things and do them in the right way. Don’t procrastinate. Take bold actions. Work long hours and craft your legacy.

3.Learning from failure

Successful people do not see failures as failures. They see them as important learning lessons. Lessons that are capable of giving them insights to prevent such mistakes from happening again. By adopting this mindset of turning each failure into a learning lesson or opportunity, you can never fail until you yourself quit.

Preparation, hard work and learning from your failures are the fundamentals to building your bright future.

Are You Struggling In Life?

 Do you recognise the following.

You’ve a partner, a lovely child and most things aren’t running smoothly these days. You’re not feeling down or depressed but you’re quickly irritated, a bit tensed and anxious. Your spouse feels that situation and talks with you about it.

You wave the problems away telling they don’t exists.

At work you’re having a busy period. Several major decision are made for you and you’re about to tell some employees that they might lose their job.

It isn’t your call but yet you’re feeling uncomfortable with the whole situation.

Time comes closer for those bad-news-conversations.

You’re wondering if you should have done something to prevent the lose of jobs.

You think you did the best you could but in your mind there still are doubts. You over look the whole situation again. You talk at home about it and you even consult some friends. They tell you that you shouldn’t worry to much. Easier said then done.

At home things are running smoothly. There are no problems between you and your spouse. You are able to keep work and private situation separated from each other.

In the mean time days, weeks run by and D-days approaches. You are starting to feel worser and worser.

You know this most been done, it’s for the benefit of the company. But still ……..

The whole situation reminds you of a period a few years ago. You also weren’t feeling well, but you couldn’t relate it to a specific moment.

The not-so-feeling-good period didn’t last a long time.

You went on with your life as thing improved by themselves.

Just now you think of that period again and wonder what you did then to find more peace at mind.

You can’t exactly recall the moment but someone spook to you about meditation.

You didn’t think that it was something for you. So you didn’t inquire or did some reach about it.



After the confronting conversations with the employees life goes on.

The company is running fine. You’re keeping track and at home things come in smoother water. Life looks nicer these days. You don’t have that much sorrow and pain in your neck-shoulder area then within the troubled period.

In the meantime your spouse has without your knowledge been talking to several people about the situation.She talks to a colleague and he gives the advice that you should read a book about self-awareness.

Just tonight you both talk about the situation and you hear the advice giving by that colleague.

You’re thinking of reading books about meditation, selfhypnosis. All this for selfgrowth and personal development.

You sit behind your computer and type the words self-awareness, development , manifestation of life into the search query and hit the ENTER button.

Want to find a way to help you with the struggle of life.