Thursday, September 3, 2009

How Harmful Can Some Words Be

Could you imagine someone telling you that if you don't do something, you're going to suffer a horrible punishment and possibly death, because you chose to ignore their message. Can simple words create powerful beliefs, isn't this what some religious doctorines create? Even the media does it, think about it the next time you turn your television on or read the newspaper.

You seem to believe something because someone told you that's how it is and when you go to question them, they simply repeat the simple statement, that's how is. It's hard to imagine a few words, articulated almost perfectly can create an overwhelming emotion in someone.

The Germans used propaganda to create fear with a few of these words. It's not just a few of these words, there's more power behind these words if their repeated often. These words can build up someone's hopes and dreams or tear them apart.

Is there a quote that you're fond of? You probably memorized it and it has some sort of significance or creates a certain feeling when mentioned. Quotes are organized words that create powerful beliefs in some people.

If I mention the words," I have a dream" you probably think of Martin Luther King. These four words meant a lot to people that were struggling for their freedom, not only in America but around the world. These words are a example of powerful words that have created a wonderful feeling.

When these powerful words create fear you know it. If you watch the news, night after night and they keep telling you how bad the economy is, it doesn't take long before you believe it. You tighten up your budget and stop spending money, because you are now fearful and don't want to lose what you have. When everyone starts holding onto their money, the economy actually does become worse over time.

Can simple words create powerful beliefs? Yes obviously they can and they do, so be careful when listening to words that create fear and try not to spread this fear around to others. Fear can be turned into relief if the right words are used, I would suggest using happy words to create a happy world. Have a nice day.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, The Magic of the Believing

Greg is currently working on a self improvement articles filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Self-Help Anxiety Advice - Stopping Worries From Transforming Into Anxiety and Panic

Self-help anxiety advice can teach you effective methods to control worries that get out of control and turn into outright panic attacks. Worries can become a frequent unwanted guest in our lives that just won't go away. When worry takes up a significant portion of your minds daily activity, the chances of that worry boiling into a panic attack become soaringly higher.

Worry and anxiety are normal and necessary human reactions. Mankind has always had to contemplate the "fight or flight" dilemma and anxiety is the ingredient that fuels the answer. Without worry we would likely get ourselves in a ton of trouble. It's unlikely that our species would have survived this long without some old fashioned fear to let us know when to run and hide. Like all animals, a little bit of anxiety is key to our survival.

Worry can also become our worst enemy when it appears in all aspects of our lives. When you're mind is riddled with worries, anxiety soon occupies your mood. At some point this overabundance of anxiety can trigger a terrifying panic attack. Self-help anxiety methods that minimize worry may be the solution to such a problem. Learning effective ways to lessen the amount of worrying you do throughout the day will start you on the path to a calmer mindset.

Awareness of when your mind starts worrying or thinking negative thoughts can make a big difference in the amount of anxiety you deal with. Most chronic worriers rarely realize when they're worrying. It becomes such a normal activity, therefore it's hard to imagine life without it. Negative thoughts will run rampant if they are allowed to. Self-help anxiety methods like conscious mindfulness of worrisome thoughts can begin to interrupt the familiar flow of negative thoughts.

When you can actively identify the negative patterns of your mind, you gain the ability of being able to make the decision to stop worrying. When this awareness is practiced, you become an active participant in what kind of thoughts rule your day. If you choose to let worry continue, it will manifest physically into the common symptoms of anxiety. Stop worrying and you stop the cycle.

It's normal to worry about things effecting our life; so don't drive yourself crazy trying to eliminate every ounce of worrying. Allow the common initial worry that may accompany stressful events. But also be aware of how long it lasts, or if the same worry surfaces again and again. This is the kind of worry that is completely unnecessary and guaranteed to transform into anxiety.

This repeating pattern of negative thoughts is what brings about the symptoms of anxiety. Self-help anxiety curing methods are designed to end these harmful patterns and restore order back to your life. Just realizing that this cycle of worry and stress is what causes so much anxiety can make a substantial change in the amount of anxiety you deal with and will have a lasting effect on your overall well-being.

Awareness if the first step in ending the anxiety cycle. You need to practice this awareness of your thought patterns everyday. With enough practice, those anxiety causing thoughts will give up trying to rule your life.

If you're interested in learning about the single most effective anxiety curing method, visit Mike's self-help anxiety website:

http://self-helpanxiety.blogspot.com/

Are You Caught Up In A Life Of Guilt

Guilt is one of the largest causes of stress in your life. Stop reading this article for a second and think about the people in your lives that often make you feel guilty.

Now did you really stop reading the article and think about the people in your life who make you feel guilty? Okay well if you did this get back to the guilty feelings so many of us have. Guilt goes all the way back to your childhood, your parents, teachers, friends and relatives have gotten to be pretty good at it over the years, often learning from the same group of people when they were children.

Guilt is definitely a big part of our society and can be found almost everywhere you turn. Have you ever turned the television on to notice a commercial about weight loss. A large majority of Americans are overweight and are targets for a guilt creating society.

I was reading a book on writing magazine articles, when they mentioned a fact that I never thought of, most women's magazines run articles on dieting in every issue. Guilt sells magazines.

Do you think weight loss, dieting or nutritional eating habits, sell magazines? If your answer is no, you should check the financial statements of these companies. They know what sells magazines and guilt or fear is one of their best friends. If you answered yes to the question, you won't have to suffer from the guilt of not knowing the answer.

Guilt seems to work on our subconscious mind in negative ways, often producing harmful thoughts that create stressful feelings in our lives. The longer these negative thoughts are held as truths, the harder it's going to be on our self esteem.

If you find yourself around people that make you feel guilty for something you do or don't do on a regular basis, I would suggest finding new people to hang around with. Gathering negative information from people you consider your friends can only create more damage to your conscience.

If you truly and sincerely do not like something about yourself, tell your friends in a nice way, that you would rather talk about your problems in a negative way. If they have constructive and helpful comments, you would love to hear them. Guilt causes stress and stress can lead to death. If you don't believe that, do some research on stress related illnesses.

Greg Vanden Berge is a published author, internet marketing expert, motivational inspiration to millions of people all over the world and is sharing some of his wisdom with experts in the fields of writing,marketing, and personal development. Check out one of his recommended books, The Intuitive Way

Greg is currently working on a personal development library filled with great subjects on a wide array of topics, like religion, self help and spiritual changes in the world. His views on religious freedom are slowly changing the way people think about institutional religion.

Why Aren't You Using the Secrets of Self Help to Be Happy?

Now that you are reading this article, chances are, you are looking for tips and self help to be happy in your life. In today's hectic world, there are many people who are stressed out so this is not unusual. The real object of human existence is after all to be happy. In fact, this is why we want more money, more quality time, more comfort and so on. As the Dalai Lama said "The purpose of life is to BE HAPPY".

Because the sad part is that there are many people who do have more money, more quality time and more comfort but still feel unhappy.

One of the biggest information searches is for free self help ebooks and personal development articles to help people to be happy.

There is many a free self help ebook online. The key is to find something that feels right for you at the time of your search. There are self help books that were written many years ago by authors of a different era, some were written about a decade ago and some, only a few years ago. The self help books of long ago may be interesting, but these are cumbersome in the fact that the English used is more complex than what we are used to now.

Getting the self help to be happier in life should be simple and straight forward. Like C. Kingsley said "We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us really HAPPY is something to be ENTHUSIASTIC about."

I have found a self help website created by Helene Malmsio that has around 200 free self help books in many subjects to suit the various areas of your life that needs some self improvement. It is unusual, as this site doesn't need you to register or pay membership fees, or even to subscribe to a newsletter, to be able to download as many self help ebooks as you want. Some sites actually require you to be a registered member in order for you to use its online self help features which you can access through the links on the site, or through an interface.

The following is an excerpt from the site to help you better manage your emotions:
You might look at the following strategy and think "Oh No! Not more of this simplistic - quick fix - nonsense". Please don't discard this powerful concept just because it is so SIMPLE. Simple doesn't always mean EASY. You have to apply yourself - consistently - with a genuine desire to improve your emotional wellbeing, THEN you will get powerful results.

Go on - Try this straightforward self help exercise - answer the questions and notice how you feel when you think about the answers......

"What am I most enjoying in my life right now?" (as Tony Robbins says, don't say "Nothing!" Instead ask yourself "If I could be enjoying something in my life right now, what would that be?")

Then ask yourself: "What about that do I enjoy?"

Then ask yourself: "How does that make me feel?"

Then next ask yourself: "What am I most happy about in my life right now?"

Then ask yourself: "What about that makes me feel happy?"

Notice how your emotions react to the experience of dwelling or thinking about the good and sweet things in your life. If you like the feeling and want more of it, just keep asking yourself the right questions.
When you start each day asking yourself questions that generate a feeling of pleasure, excitement, enthusiasm, just by the act of answering them, your day gets off on the right path.

Try designing self help questions that suit your life or interests, maybe straightforward ones like

* What am I excited about in my life now?
* What am I grateful about in my life now?
* What am I most looking forward to in my life today?

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to apply this self help strategy, do you? All you need is the DESIRE to improve your day and then make the commitment to actually APPLY it every morning for at least 30 days. It will work.

Any self help tool, no matter how powerful, only works when you work it.
So what is stopping you from using the secrets of self help to be happy? To quote Abraham Lincoln "Most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be."

Again, the key is to look for places that give you plenty of online free resources and tips on self help to be happy. Then remember, you need the commitment to becoming happier by implementing the tools and technology that you learn from them.

If you would like to get some of those free self help ebook downloads I mentioned in the article , just go to the site below where you can also get hundreds of self help articles on how to be happy and love your life here: http://www.personal-enterprise-self-help-resources.com/HAPPINESS-EMOTIONS.html

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Book Review - The Highly Sensitive Person's Survival Guide

The Highly Sensitive Person's Survival Guide: Essential Skills for Living Well in an Overstimulating World

By Ted Zeff, Ph. D.

Copyright 2004 Published by New Harbinger Publications

Get ready for many suggestions and alternatives to life as usual when you read this book! Liberally sprinkled with real-life examples, you get to see how other HSPs like you have adjusted factors in their lives to suit them.

So many suggestions makes this a valuable book and somewhat overwhelming at the same time. Even with the author's own words encouraging you to take it slow and adopt a few things at a time, it holds the possibility of stopping a HSP in their tracks. You might want to read this one slowly, working on chapters with their suggestions one at a time.

What's very valuable about Zeff's perspective is his no-nonsense look at what really has to happen to be a happy HSP. He deals directly with the inner journey that is so important to reshaping life. He asks you to get clear on your goals, whether living the way you are now is either helping or harming you, how the impact of low self-esteem and not loving yourself affects you and how to constructively look at your beliefs to change your habits. He even gives a healthy six-month time frame to cement a new habit -- the longest I've ever heard quoted.

Valuable topics include:

  • Coping with time pressure
  • Calming your senses
  • Finding agreeable foods
  • Sensible exercise (at about 50% of your capacity, which is great for those of us who hate sweating)
  • Getting external support while you are changing habits
  • Thinking ahead to prepare in advance
  • Learning to be more in control and other attitude adjustments
  • The importance of routine and pacing your activity
  • Nurturing your sensitive soul
  • Finding health practitioners and healers

While highly instructive, Zeff's writing 'can be somewhat annoying. He is very repetitive in his points. For example, food choices, television and yoga seem to come up in every chapter. Additionally, his choice of words can appear somewhat judgmental in how he labels society and cultural norms. Still, I find some assurance in this as I know it was written by someone who is highly sensitive.

You may have heard or read some of this advice before cracking the cover of this volume. It is still good reading because perhaps for the first time, you are getting from someone who shares your sensitivity. That slight twist of perspective shows you how to take what the rest of the world does and modify it for your own peace of mind and body. That's a valuable skill to hone!

Then, there are areas included here that you might never have considered as alternatives otherwise, like Ayurveda. Exploring these choices can lead you in new directions and benefit you at the same time.

With each chapter ending with lists that recap the valuable points, you can easily morph this book into a refresher guide that keeps you in tune with your own nature. Read a list each day and you will keep valuable choices on the top of your mind. How much easier could it be to tune up your life?

Sarah Dolliver is the Founder of InnerVantage, the online community for inner-directed individuals (those who focus inward to restore). Her vision is to remove the stigma from being introverted or highly sensitive (HSP) to allow these individuals to lead rewarding lives that bring distinct contributions to the world. She educates, inspires and empowers them to use their gifts, talents and strengths as the basis from which they approach life.

Subscribe to the Awakening Your InnerVantage newsletter or get other free resources at http://www.InnerVantage.com

Sarah holds a Bachelor of Science in Management (Bentley College, Waltham, MA) and is a graduate of Coach U and The Graduate School of Coaching from CoachVille.

Random Acts of Kindness and Pay it Forward

You can actually push the envelope a bit more in your life by practicing good deeds for no seemingly special or specific reason.

One very powerful action and attitude you can embrace is the practice of random acts of kindness while also creating the pay-it-forward system of living. Random acts of kindness are just that: They're random, and they're kind.

When you give out of your pure desire to give and you expect nothing in return, AND you do this only to benefit others, then you're practicing random acts of kindness. Think about the energy you're sowing: Love, acceptance, care, support, and generosity. These are all very powerful seeds to be planting in the garden of your life.

And although you do this without any expectation of return (in fact, you do it just for the sake of doing it, which in itself is a precious gift), the truth is these acts will benefit you in countless ways. I've never met anyone, given the choice to do anything they wanted to do, who wouldn't want to give merely for the purpose of helping humankind in some way.

Pay-it-forward comes from the movie of the same title. It was a system dreamed up by a very wise, very young man who proposed, as part of a homework assignment, if we each did something positive for three other people and asked them to do the same for three other people, in a very short time everyone in the world would be positively affected.

It's easy to pay back people when they've done you a favor. But this system is about doing someone a favor, then asking them to return it by doing one for someone else. Again, you're planting the seeds of lush abundance and prosperity by practicing random acts of kindness and by adopting a pay-it-forward attitude.

What can random act of kindness can you pay forward today? Get started and plant those seeds today that will provide you with a fruitful harvest tomorrow.

Ken Donaldson has been offering counseling, coaching, and educational programs since 1987. His programs are focused on empowering people to have more successful lives, businesses and relationships. Claim your FREE Relationship Success Special Report at http://www.marryufirst.com/ Ken is the author of Marry YourSelf First! Saying "I DO" to a Life of Passion, Power and Purpose.

Exercising Your Self-Efficacy

Self- efficacy is the conscious awareness of ones ability to be effective in producing a desired outcome of ones task and/or the ability to deal with life challenges. A person that is self-efficient possesses a level of self-awareness that gives them an innate ability to realize that they already possess everything he or she needs to know to not only solve their problems, but to bring their goals, needs and wants into fruition.

As in each of our lives, there are 6 life areas that complete a self-efficient individual: emotional, physical, spiritual, financial, social and intellectual. Furthermore, when we have all these areas balanced we feel happy and fulfilled. The trick becomes how do we balance these areas and meet our basic needs of belonging, power / recognition, freedom and fun. The answer is to meet these needs internally rather than externally.

Think about it for a minute. If we all possess the innate ability to solve our own problems and bring them into fruition, then why are so many of us basing our own fulfillment on the needs, wants and perceptions of others and things (external). We should not be and the reality is; we will never become self-efficient if we do.

So what will it take to become a person with self-efficacy? It takes a decision, a commitment, a strategy and action.

Your Decision- you decide what you feel is your purpose and meaning. You then make up your mind that that you will start living a life that is based on your values and belief system and not from others. For those of you who are spiritual, your foundation of beliefs can be based in the principals and doctrines of your higher power.

Your Commitment- you pledge to yourself that you will utilize all of your strength, skills, talents and resources to accomplish your decision. Take your time and make sure you are being honest with yourself about your strengths, skills, talents and resources.

Your Strategy- you figure out healthy and empowering strategies that will help you bring your decision to fruition. If you realize that, you lack important resources and skills to bring your decision to reality. Strategize how you can use the strengths, skills, talents and resources you do possess, to acquire the critical ones you are lacking.

Your Action- you take positive steps toward your decision. You are simply making movement in the intended direction. Progress is progress. It is not based on how big the growth, it is based in simply growing. If you are growing your progressing, and if you are progressing you are changing, and if you are changing, action is taking place.

If you exercise your self-efficacy, you are one step closer to authenticating your spirit.

Interested in receiving more advice on healing, wellness and personal growth? Or are you interested in booking this writer for trainings, workshops, keynote presentations or seminars? Please visit us at http://www.wcwallc.com to sign up for our newsletter or request Christian F. Johnson at a speaking engagement.