Ever heard of constructive meditation?

This is October 30th of my book:  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At ATime‘.

Take the opportunity today to make something.

I find that the act of making something can either be so absorbing that the clutter of daily thoughts fades into the background, or, making that thing is so automatic that your mind can drift away almost like meditating.

Whichever experience you have it will be valuable, plus you end up with something at the end of it. Maybe it’s dinner! Maybe it’s a painting or a sculpture, or a textile object.

Whatever it is it’s therapeutic to make it. It didn’t exist until you created it. That in itself is worth doing it for.

I call this ‘Constructive Meditation’.

Enjoy

Stu

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Want to know how to create more focus and increase productivity?

This is October 29th of my book:  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At ATime‘.

Take the opportunity today to be mindful – stare at something for 10 minutes.

Today’s exercise is all about how to stay focused on your goals using Mindfulness.

Mindfulness is a mental strategy that allows you to be aware of your ‘state‘ of mind at any given time and a tactic to control that state.

The idea is that when you feel a bit down or demotivated or confused etc. you can spiral downwards into those negative thoughts if you’re not careful. By observing that you’re in a negative state you can then decide to choose a positive state instead. One of inspiration, motivation and focus.

If you’re able to do this at will you can spiral upwards instead of downwards and therefore remain on track more easily.

Using Mindfulness you can learn to stay more positive for much longer and get much more done.

So, here’s the simplest way of being Mindful that I’ve experienced and it can be done anywhere, anytime:

1. Sit down somewhere reasonably quiet

2. Choose something to focus your attention on (anything in a fixed position will do) – your vision board if you’ve done one, if you’re at home at the time

3. Focus all of your attention on that thing for 10 minutes

4. Notice everything about that thing, wonder about how big it is ‘exactly’, wonder how it was made, notice it’s colours and textures – put ALL of your attention on THAT thing!

5. As your attention drifts to other objects or thoughts, gently bring yourself back to that object you are focusing on.

This exercise repeated as often as you can will train your mind to focus on what YOU want to focus on. Remember what you focus on becomes what you attract, so your vision board is a good place to start. It will help you tune out distractions on the outside and on the inside.

When you do it for the first few times you’ll find yourself easily distracted and 10 minutes will feel like an hour! KEEP PRACTISING!

This is powerful so I urge you to take the time to do it – I started with watching a candle flame just before bedtime. Trouble is if you want to do it during the day that becomes a bit difficult.

Enjoy this process.

NOTE: As you become more proficient at this you’ll start to notice some of the thoughts that are distracting you are actually making a lot of sense. They might be answering questions you have about projects on the go or relationship issues etc. Start to notice these and take notes about them before getting back to your Mindfulness. These are Golden Nuggets of wisdom coming through your subcon- scious.

Not every distraction is junk! 🙂

Enjoy

Stu

PS: BUY yourself the BOOK, OR someone else, right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).

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How important is trust?

This is October 28th of my book:  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At ATime‘.

Take the opportunity today to trust.

Be open. Be transparent. Tackle issues head-on. Be discerning about how much ‘character trust’ and ‘competence trust’ you give.

1. How much integrity do those around you have and do you have? and

2. How competent in getting the job done are they or you?

Without trust we could not function in society. We have to trust that other drivers on the road will not run into us for the hell of it. We have to trust that the doctor at the hospital knows how to heal us. We have to trust the justice system is protecting us. We have to trust that those close to us are being honest and loyal.

A lack of basic trust will make us paranoid, I imagine a lot of conspiracy theorists have very low levels of trust. Of course, we have to remain vigilant to the truth, you can’t believe all you read or hear on the news. Advertising and election campaigns can be misleading at best.

But keep a healthy level of trust and accept that it’ll be misplaced at times.

“ See, when you make a commitment you build hope. When you keep a commitment you build trust. ” ~ Stephen M. R. Covey

Enjoy

Stu

PS: BUY yourself the BOOK, OR someone else, right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).

36 GOLD Star reviews so far!

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Do you get enough deep and meaningful conversations?

This is October 27th of my book:  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At ATime‘.

Take the opportunity today to start a philosophers club.

Every tuesday night I go training and have done for many years. Afterwards the handful of members go down the pub for a pint and a chat. Some time after this had been going on we found that most of our conversations were pretty deep and meaningful (as meaningful as a bunch of blokes can get that is).

Eventually we branded the pub gathering ‘The Philosophers Club’.

Over the years we have had many many great conversations ranging from the social ills of the world, the economy, war, life and death and the hereafter. We now look forward to ‘The Philosophers Club’ as much as we look forward to the training.

This is a mind expanding experience especially if you have members from all walks of life with differing opinions. Think about starting one today. You’ll engage with others as well as engaging with yourself. This is a great opportunity to change other people’s minds and for them to change yours.

Enjoy

Stu

PS: BUY yourself the BOOK, OR someone else, right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).

36 GOLD Star reviews so far!

PPS: Get my F.REE daily thought provoking  ’Ponders, Quotes and Questions‘ emails by visiting my NEW blog and putting your email in the box you’ll see there (new season starting Nov 1st), click here: http://howtochangeyourlifeblog.com

 

 

Do you hate other people getting things wrong?

This is October 25th of my book:  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At ATime‘.

Take the opportunity today to accept your friend’s mistakes.

Some find it even harder to accept mistakes their friends make than they do their own. Especially when it’s personal, it can feel like inconsideration at least, betrayal at worst.

Take a moment to think about letting go of your own mistakes, mistakes you may have made that upset someone close to you. Were you forgiven, did you want to be forgiven but weren’t? How did it make you feel?

See if you can use those feelings of wanting to make it up to that person and apply them to your friend when they have upset you. We’re all just doing the best from where we are in our lives and sometimes that’s not very good. We all deserve another chance though.

Enjoy

Stu

PS: BUY yourself the BOOK, OR someone else, right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).

36 GOLD Star reviews so far!

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Do you hate getting things wrong?

This is October 25th of my book:  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At ATime‘.

Take the opportunity today to accept your mistakes.

Fortunately for me I’ve never made a mistake in my life!

Yeah right!

It’s a bit of a cliché to say we must learn from our mistakes but here’s the thing – if you become afraid of mistakes you take less risks. If you take less risks it means pushing yourself less. If you push yourself less you’ll achieve less, get less, experience less and ultimately, live less of a life.

Not all of us are bungee jumping, skydiving, white-water-rafting thrill seekers, but, we each have to find our own risk limits. One of those bungee jumpers may be terrified of starting their own company for instance.

So, find your comfort zone, then step outside it a little. Then a little bit more, and so on. When you make a mistake, retrace your steps, find where you went wrong, apply an amended strategy and go again.

Mistakes are our teachers – look forward to meeting them, embrace them, then suck every ounce of wisdom out of them as you can.

It takes a level of commitment and effort – but what worthwhile doesn’t?

Enjoy

Stu

PS: BUY yourself the BOOK, OR someone else, right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).

36 GOLD Star reviews so far!

PPS: Get my F.REE daily thought provoking  ’Ponders, Quotes and Questions‘ emails by visiting my NEW blog and putting your email in the box you’ll see there (new season starting Nov 1st), click here: http://howtochangeyourlifeblog.com

How to see the bigger picture in your life.

This is October 24th of my book:  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At ATime‘.

Take the opportunity today to chunk up.

Chunking Down helps you get specific, but Chunking Up helps you see the bigger picture. Both are useful techniques to help individuals get clearer about certain issues, but chunking can be a highly productive negotiation process.

Using Chunking Up one can get multiple parties to get agreement about common objectives whilst Chunking Down to find the details of the agreement.

An individual conversation might be something like this:

Q: ‘Why do you want to write a book?’

A: ‘Because I find it exciting.’

Q: ‘What’s exciting about it?’

A: ‘That I’m creating something completely new.’

Q: ‘And why would that be exciting to you?’

A: ‘I like the idea of other people getting enjoyment from my book.’

Q: ‘Why is it important that other people enjoy it?’

A: ‘Because if a lot of people enjoyed it I could earn a lot of money.’

Q: ‘And why would a lot of money be exciting to you?’

A: ‘Because I would be free to write more books.’

Q: ‘And would you get more enjoyment from getting even more money?’

A: ‘Of course, but the thought of people liking my work is more important.’

Q: ‘More important than the money?’

A: ‘Equally, I think! It would be great for thousands of people to like me and think I was creative.’

Hmm, I think I’m finding out something about myself here!! 🙂

Try it with a topic and see what answers you get – if you have a trusted friend or family member that could act as the questioner more the better.

Enjoy

Stu

PS: BUY yourself the BOOK, OR someone else, right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).

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What’s the ‘real’ cause of your fears?

This is October 23rd of my book:  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At ATime‘.

Take the opportunity today to chunk down.

Chunking down (or up for that matter) is a psychological process used in hypnotherapy and NLP to help get specific about a certain issue. An example conversation might be something like this:

Q: ‘So, why are you feeling angry today?’

A: ‘Because my boss keeps criticising my work.’

Q: ‘Why does that make you feel angry?’

A: ‘Because there’s nothing wrong with my work.’

Q: ‘So why does that make you feel angry?’

A: ‘Because it feels like he’s picking on me.’

Q: ‘And why does that make you feel angry?’

A: ‘Because I’m worried that I might get fired.’

Q: ‘And why would that make you feel angry?’

A: ‘If I got fired I couldn’t pay my mortgage etc.’

Q: ‘Why would that make you feel angry?’

A: ‘Because I don’t like feeling uncertain about stuff like that.’

Q: ‘So why does being uncertain make you feel angry?’

A: ‘Because my family depends on me.’

Q: ‘Does your family depending on you make you feel angry?’

A: ‘Yes, it puts pressure on me.’

You see from this simple example how a critical boss is blamed for the pressure someone might feel from family obligations – that might not actually be real. From here a discussion with the family could ensue to find out if there really is this dependency.

Good NLP books will deal with chunking in more depth.

Enjoy

Stu

PS: BUY yourself the BOOK, OR someone else, right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).

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How do you recover when others put you down?

This is October 22nd of my book:  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At ATime‘.

Take the opportunity today to ignore any negative comments you hear.

Do you have people in your life that are just totally negative about everything you do? OK, maybe not everything, but quite a lot of things? Hmm, you must learn to let those comments wash over you. Those people may wish you the best, they may even love you, but they don’t know your strength, your resilience or your perseverance. Hell, you might not even know those things about yourself – but they are there.

So, avoid those negative people that you can and ignore the negative comments of the ones you can’t. Just say in your mind ‘They don’t know me’ every time they bring you down with words like: ‘…be realistic…’ or

‘…you’re no good at that…’ or ‘…I don’t think that’s your strength…’ etc.

As you learn to do this you will start to believe in yourself more and more. It’s a good feeling.

Enjoy

Stu

PS: BUY yourself the BOOK, OR someone else, right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).

36 GOLD Star reviews so far!

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How to turn fear into motivation.

This is October 20th of my book:  ‘How To Change Your Life One Day At ATime‘.

Take the opportunity today to write the opposite of being afraid.

Yesterday I asked you to write a list of things you were afraid of and today I want you to try and write the opposite of that list.

For instance the opposite of my fear of dying before I achieve much more might be: I am confident that I will achieve everything I wish to well before I die.

This might take a bit longer than the first list, due to you navigating the words needed to turn it into the opposite. Spend the time though.

Done it?

Good, now burn the previous afraid list. Why?

Because symbolically you are telling your subconscious that that list is unimportant, that in fact it doesn’t even exist.

Enjoy

Stu

PS: BUY yourself the BOOK, OR someone else, right here on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ahfW7R (you’ll see my listing right at the top – it’s the cheapest place to get copies at the moment and YES they’re brand new AND signed).

36 GOLD Star reviews so far!

PPS: Get my F.REE daily thought provoking  ’Ponders, Quotes and Questions‘ emails by visiting my NEW blog and putting your email in the box you’ll see there, click here: http://howtochangeyourlifeblog.com