Personlig uveckling till havs

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Nu är det snart dags för en rejäl dos inspiration!

På söndag ska jag ut och segla i den grekiska övärlden i ett arrangemang som kombinerar coaching, filosofi och diskussioner kring livsfrågor - med segling! Det är faktiskt en hängiven besökare på bloggen som bjudit in mig till denna filosofisegling Med en blogg som handlar om inspiration kan följdaktligen de mest oväntade saker hända! Med följer också två andra gäster (bla chefredaktören för tidningen PS Psykologi) och tre personer som utgör besättningen - en skeppare, en coach och en filosof.

Jag tycker filosofisegling låter som ett otroligt spännande koncept där man förenar ett utforskande av livet och den egna livssituationen med något så underbart som segling och utlandssemester. Och detta sker också i kombination med att få möta andra människor som alla har en drivkraft till att utvecklas och inspireras - vilket kan bli hur givande som helst!

Du som är nyfiken på äventyret kommer att kunna följa resan i realtid här på bloggen (under rubriken "Filosofisegling"). Jag ska med jämna mellanrum lägga ut bilder, resehistorier och egna reflektioner så att du kan få en möjlighet att vara med, om inte fysiskt så i alla fall psykiskt.



I kommentaren till ett av mina första inlägg; Om att nå sina mål berättar Johan om hur han vågat byta ett ekonomiskt tryggt liv för att leva mer i enlighet med det han innerst inne tycker är viktigt vilket resulterade i företaget Sail for life där man kan läsa mer om vad filosofisegling är för något och hur det går till. Kanske är du själv sugen på att följa med framöver?

"Hej! Tack! Tack för ett lysande initiativ, för att jag hittade det och för att jag ges chansen att bidra - jag har tänkt så oerhört mycket, så det kommer bli en utmaning att få ner en del av det här.... Jag tror att vi alla är olika och att det är en poäng i det. Jag tror också att varje människa har ett syfte, en mening. När vi fullt ut är oss själva, lever i passion och harmoni, så mår vi som bäst och är tillfreds - inte bara med oss själva, utan med andra och miljön. Tyvärr tror jag att många av oss har tappat detta, tappat oss själva, format oss efter en norm, tappat självkänslan. Många av oss har det ekonomiskt bra, vilket gör det möjligt att döva sig med konsumtion och bekräftelse utifrån. Samtidigt finns det kanske en känsla någonstans inom oss - en känsla av ett möjligt autentiskt liv och frid och känslan av outnyttjad talang. Detsamma gäller business. Det känns som om ökad omsättning och vinst är allt, men varför då? Vad är poängen? Så vad göra? Vad har jag gjort? Jo, jag klev av ekorrhjulet och tog en time-out, eller kanske snarare time-in. Jag använde mina sparade slantar till att ta reda på vem jag är och vad som är viktigt för mig. Jag definierade mina grundvärden att använda som i alla beslut. Jag konkretiserade min vision, första gången i form av en fejkad intervju av mig själv i framtiden (kanonkul och givande övning). Jag skapade en strategi mot visionen med mätbara mål. Jag började också fundera på hur business egentligen borde vara. Något där man gör det man helst av allt vill göra. Något som är gott för människa och miljö. Där pengar bara är en spin-off effekt som behövs för att man ska kunna fortsätta göra det man gör... När detta var gjort, fanns det en tuff utmaning kvar - kanske inte nödvändig för alla, men jag kände att jag vill ta mig an den: Varför finns jag? Vad är mitt syfte? Jag är i slutfasen av det jobbet nu. Så, vad händer sedan? Jo, det blir ett liv av det - mitt liv. Ett liv där jag är tillfreds. Inte en massa skutt hit o dit, utan en resa - en meningsfull resa. Hur kan det se ut då? Kolla gärna: www.sailforlife.se OK, nog för nu. MVH Johan"

Så nu är det hög tid för mig att sätta igång med alla förberedelser! På lördag den 10:e maj börjar mina filosofiska funderingar till havs. Kommer att vara borta i en vecka innan jag kommer hem visare, gladare och förhoppningsvis också lite brunare.

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Att bli lycklig. Om positiv psykologi

Positiv psykologi är en ny inriktning inom psykologin som har utvecklats under 90-talet. Traditionellt fokuserar psykologi och psykiatri på psykologiska problem, psykiska störningar och lidandet. Men i och med att det salutogena perspektivet vunnit mark har det vuxit upp ett ny gren inom psykologin som fokuserar på skyddande faktorer, människors resurser och starka sidor och hur vi kan få en utökad hälsa. En del av denna inriktning kallas positiv psykologi och har utvecklats av Martin Seligman. Den har undersökt vad lycka är och hur man kan sträva mot att få mer glädje i sitt liv. Barbara Holstein är en psykolog som arbetat med positiv psykologi länge och skrivit flera böcker i ämnet. Nedan återges en artikel som handlar om hur man kan må bättre och hitta ett nytt perspektiv på livet. Den utgår från hennes bok The Enchanted Self.

Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you!

Recipe for Enchantment: The Three R's: Remembering the Best, Restoring Yourself, Rapture

by Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein

In today's world there are so many wonderful and inspirational books. There are books filled with stories of Divine intervention, miracles happening, special positive moments never to be forgotten and stories of incredible coincidences. They help make us feel in harmony with the universe. They help us fall asleep and have pleasant dreams. They often bring tears to our eyes, reinforcing an inner sense of wisdom that all is right with the world even when appearances say that is not so.

There is one thing often missing from these books. It is the mental and emotional perspiration that we need to go through as we struggle to live a life of meaning and joy. The inspiration is there but it's the perspiration that most of us need to put into our daily lives to create for ourselves lives of enchantment. Because, enchantment for most of us, i.e., living a life of joy, a life that reflects many states of well being, again and again, is hard work. Certainly we yearn for moments when the right thing happens at exactly the right time and the world opens up for us, whether it's a lucky break, meeting the right life partner or winning the lottery.

We all need at least some of those moments. But life, in reality, is filled with hundreds and thousands and probably millions of minutes that are repetitive, boring or simply ordinary. They involve getting up, brushing our teeth, driving to work safely, keeping a job, raising children, fighting off a cold, etc. It is all these times that The Enchanted Self focuses on. These are the moments that can be mundane, depressing, dull or can be captivating, enlivening and filled with joy. What is the difference? The difference is usually the perspiration. I mean the mental and emotional perspiration that is involved in what I call the three R's of enchantment.

Let's look at the first of the three R's. The first is Remembering the Best and Letting Go of the Rest. This is a critical component to general well being and a sense of happiness on a daily basis. Most of us have sustained loss and experienced pain. Yes, we've been hurt. We've been short-changed by opportunities or other people. Sometimes we've been stepped upon, left or forgotten. If we spend our daily life focusing on these disappointments then we cannot release the positive energies we need to make the most of the present moment and to plan for the future. Grudges, negative thinking, disappointments, and not forgiving all get in the way of what can be done with the present. We need our psyche energies to seize opportunities we can take advantage of. This can't happen, if our energies are used up ruminating.

Besides, there is beauty in our own story and most, if not all disappointments we've experienced have strengthened us. Often, we have even developed talents in coping with hard times that can reemerge in ways to enhance pleasure and/or help us be of service to the world. For example, the child that was neglected or yelled at has an opportunity to be particularly kind to others as he or she gets older, maybe to teach others certain parenting skills having known first hand how it feels on the other side. I hope you'll take some time this month to think about yourself and what talents you may have developed during stressful times of your life. It may be the very coping skills that you can use to make your life even more successful and joyful.

An Adventure In Story Telling: Take some time this month to tell your story, whether it be to yourself, a child, a friend, a spouse. Play with emphasizing how moments, whether they seemed extraordinary or ordinary at the time, played into future chapters of your life. Also, play with sharing the hard times in ways that emphasize growth and even later successes!

Part Two
If you remember, last time I shared with you how necessary it is to develop mental and emotional energy to live a life of meaning and joy. It is both the ways we view our lives and the actions we take on a daily basis that lead to fruitful living. The truth is, enchantment for most of us, i.e., living a life of joy, a life that reflects many states of well being, is hard work.

How do we take all the moments of life that are often repetitive and ordinary, and turn them into captivating personal times? One way is through optimizing our own sense of well being. This internal state is particularly reactive to our emotional and physical states of health. For instance, I remember occasions when good things were about to happen, but I was so overtired or anxious that I could not appreciate a special day. I also remember occasions when nothing happened, but because I felt well rested and truly at peace with myself I enjoyed every moment.

How do we work on restoring ourselves? How do we gather our positive energies to be in our own best interest? Certainly one of the most critical factors is seeing yourself in a positive light. If I don't truly value myself, I am certainly not going to take good care of myself. I am more responsive to the criticism from a negative spouse or parent than my own inner feelings of self worth. I may not take good care of myself and the results can be devastating. Over the years I have seen so many clients who were not thriving because they had internalized negative comments, criticism and opinions from others. The end result was that they began to believe the negative perceptions of themselves and ultimately saw themselves in a poor light.

It is very important to see yourself in a positive light. This means not putting yourself down and not criticizing yourself. It means becoming your own best friend. Often taking better care of yourself becomes essential. For all of us, it is important to get enough rest, eat well, learn how to sort through the negative remarks that hurt, not get caught up and lost in the feelings those remarks engendered, and to value who we really are and what each of us has to offer the world.

This "R" is extremely difficult and involves a lot of mental and emotional perspiration. We are vulnerable to absorbing criticism and negative remarks about ourselves and actually internalizing them, making them ours. So there is much work to be done when we start to sift through feelings that we are less rather than more. We need to think of ourselves as more, not less.

I remember one client who had struggled to begin think of herself as more, not less. Her husband was often critical of her and constantly interruptive. For example when eating out he would often criticize her and spoil her pleasure by suggesting she had put on some pounds and might not want to order a particular item. Around the house he would barge into a room and interrupt her telephone conversation or television show. He would then bring up a subject in which she was presented as the culprit.

It was a wonderful day in her life when she was simply able to say when her husband interrupted her, "I am leaving the house for a few hours. I hope upon my return your mood will be better and you will be treating me more appropriately." She then took the car keys and went to visit a friend. When she came back he was pleasant and in a totally different state. Although this was only part of the correction between them, it was a momentous moment in giving her a sense that not only must she think of herself as more, not less, but she also must have the courage to take positive appropriate action.

I hope you'll take some time to now think about yourself and come up with at least one or two ideas of healthy attitude changes or positive actions that will bring you closer to a wonderful sense of restoring yourself.

Part Three
This is the third article for the series RECIPES FOR ENCHANTMENT - THE THREE R'S. Remembering the best, Restoring yourself, and Rapture. This month we are going to be talking about the third "R", which is the wonderful concept that I like to call RAPTURE.

Rapture is a strong, full word that incorporates a capacity for joy that affects us in our own mind, body and spirit. It is a feeling of being in harmony in a euphoric or an ecstatic way with others or the universe at large. Obviously, we don't go around in a state of rapture all the time. To experience even states of well being on a regular basis involves tremendous daily practice. Yet, if we work and we perspire, mentally, emotionally, socially we will be rewarded. How? For one thing, the positive actions we take in our lives are pleasing to us and good for us.

In my new book RECIPES FOR ENCHANTMENT, The Secret Ingredient is YOU!, I talk about so many occasions when people took positive actions and then had the pleasant rewarding experience of positive feelings. These positive feelings varied from person to person yet included the whole spectrum of well being, including joyousness, contentment, satisfaction, pleasure and on occasion, rapture.

In my book I share a reverie that I had one night. I imagined all of my friends and loved ones and then strangers from around the world coming together in big circles dancing in the moonlight. We danced until dawn in my reverie. There was a sense of euphoria that built leading to me to experiencing great joy and even rapture as I indulged in my visualization. I share this one with you because it points out that positive actions can take the form of positive thoughts! Often we dismiss our inner life. I think it's important to document that our inner life is a very real place where we practice many of the states of well being that ultimately take shape through expression in the real world.

Although I have not danced through the night in the moonlight with hundreds of thousands of people, the feelings I had in that reverie certainly translate into many of the positive actions that I take in sharing THE ENCHANTED SELF message. As a matter of fact, without my inner life, I doubt there would be the energy to bring these teachings to others.

Yes, obviously in this discussion we are moving toward the spiritual. Ultimately, the positive energies that we have to give the world require mind, body and spirit. And so you see that enchantment is all about putting the meat in your soul's soup. It is about the muscle that goes with living a life of joy. Perspiration, daily practice, and daily routines that enhance the possibilities of living a life of enchantment, are all of hard work.

Just remember though, before you get discouraged, it is even harder to live a miserable life. We pay for misery in so many ways. We pay for it in feeling fatigued and feeling that we don't have real purpose. We feel inside that there's a hole in our hearts or that we have missed the boat. We can feel aggravated, tense, fed up. We can feel that the future will be as miserable as the past. We can feel that we are ordinary rather than extraordinary. We can pay for a negative attitude with more physical and emotional illness so that the perspiration pours off of us in a different way.

I think it's smarter, since life is a struggle and designed so that we work at whatever we're doing, that we practice enchantment and enjoy the perspiration and inspiration that goes with the practice. So promise yourself to take the JOYRIDE OF YOUR LIFE!

Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, originator of THE ENCHANTED SELF®, a method of bringing delight and meaning into everyday living, invites you to view her new line of ENCHANTED WOMAN products, downloadable e-books, and free gifts at http://www.enchantedself.com. Visit her BLOG at : http://www.enchantedself.typepad.com/

Se en video där Barbara intervjuas.

Vad har du för tankar kring ämnet?

Andra bloggares åsikter om Lycka, glädje, passion, lust, positiv psykologi, psykologi, personlig utveckling, motivation, mental träning, inspiration, positivt tänkande, salutogent perspektiv, salutogenes, positivism

Dagens affirmation

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Tankar kring veckans citat

All good things are difficult to achieve; and bad things are very easy to get.

Morarji Desai

DrPhil brukar säga att människan av naturen är hedonistisk vilket innebär att hon söker maximal njutning för minimal ansträngning. Och visst är kortsiktiga lösningar ofta mer attraktiva än långsiktiga som kräver betydligt mer ansträngning, tillförsikt och tålamod. Men ofta står belöningen också i proportion till insatserna. Det som verkligen är värt att sträva för, kräver också sina uppoffringar. Jag tänker på att gå ner i vikt jämfört med att frossa i massa onyttigt gott, att träna istället för att mysa framför TV:n, att plugga hårt istället för att festa och njuta av en avsaknad av 9-5-krav än. Att få utlopp för sin ilska istället för att begrunda vad som hänt och återkomma när man återfått fattningen. Att köpa upp hela lönen för att vara kung för en dag, istället för att månadsspara och veckohandla och allt annat som är lika förnuftigt som det är tråkigt. Men präktighet är häftigt! Naturligtvis handlar det återigen om att hitta en balans i livet. För du kommer aldrig att njuta av din rikedom om du aldrig tillåter dig att spendera. Eller få behållning av maten om du alltid räknar kalorier. Eller uppskatta TV:n efter en hård dags ansträngningar, om du ser på TV nonstop tills nacken kröker sig.

Men i allt väsentligt får man större njutning om man vågar satsa lite högre!

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Keep on going!

Lite mer på ämnet viktnedgång så här innan sommaren står i full blom. För visst är det så att man behöver ständig input när det gäller att hålla motivationens låga brinnande, speciellt när glöden falnar och vardagens stret tar vid. Ingen kan ju påstå att det är direkt kul att gå ner i vikt! Så här kommer lite fler idéer om hur man kan ösa lite kol på glöden, även om vi känner till många punkter sen förr. Men ibland är det just det enkla som är det svåra!

Kom gärna med egna förslag på hur vi kan inspirera oss själva och varandra!

Samantha Ivy berättar för Oprah om sina bästa tips för att gå ner i vikt:

Step One: Identify that you have a problem. Take ownership of the problem.

Step Two: Take an inventory of your life. Determine what is causing you pain in your life. Recognize the things that make you afraid.

Step Three: Begin a diet that includes three square meals a day…and no snacks! You should work with your doctor for a specific meal plan for you.

Step Four: Drink lots and lots of water, at least eight glasses a day.

Step Five: Identify the things (like sugar) that you might be addicted to, and purge them from your diet. Consider giving up other foods that cause you to crave the foods you're addicted to.

Step Six: You have to decide that you want to heal yourself more than you want the food.

Step Seven: Take it one step at a time. Cut the food you eat in half, and see how you feel. Get past the guilt you feel about eating.

Step Eight: Pay attention to the labels on your food and to the food you eat. Think about what's healthy for your body and learn to love your body—and yourself.

Vad är dina bästa tips för att gå ner i vikt? Vilka är de största hindren? Vilka är dina bästa tips på nyttiga snacks?



Fler tips om att gå ner i vikt, recept, träning och motivation.

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Om förändring

Growing Wings: The Phases of Human Metamorphosis
By Martha Beck

What goes on in the cocoon of change isn't always pretty, but the results can be beautiful. Martha Beck talks you through the four phases of human metamorphosis. Get ready to fly!

I used to think I knew how some caterpillars become butterflies. I assumed they weave cocoons, then sit inside growing six long legs, four wings, and so on. I figured if I were to cut open a cocoon, I'd find a butterfly-ish caterpillar, or a caterpillar-ish butterfly, depending on how far things had progressed. I was wrong. In fact, the first thing caterpillars do in their cocoons is shed their skin, leaving a soft, rubbery chrysalis. If you were to look inside the cocoon early on, you'd find nothing but a puddle of glop. But in that glop are certain cells, called imago cells, that contain the DNA-coded instructions for turning bug soup into a delicate, winged creature—the angel of the dead caterpillar.

If you've ever been through a major life transition, this may sound familiar. Humans do it, too—not physically but psychologically. All of us will experience metamorphosis several times during our lives, exchanging one identity for another. You've probably already changed from baby to child to adolescent to adult—these are obvious, well-recognized stages in the life cycle. But even after you're all grown up, your identity isn't fixed. You may change marital status, become a parent, switch careers, get sick, win the lottery.

Any transition serious enough to alter your definition of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinking but a full-on metamorphosis. I don't know if this is emotionally stressful for caterpillars, but for humans it can be hell on wheels. The best way to minimize trauma is to understand the process.

The Phases of Human Metamorphosis
Psychological metamorphosis has four phases. You'll go through these phases, more or less in order, after any major change catalyst (falling in love or breaking up, getting or losing a job, having children or emptying the nest, etc.). The strategies for dealing with change depend on the phase you're experiencing.

Phase One: Dissolving

Here's the Deal
The first phase of change is the scariest, especially because we aren't taught to expect it. It's the time when we lose our identity and are left temporarily formless: person soup. Most people fight like crazy to keep their identities from dissolving. "This is just a blip," we tell ourselves when circumstances rock our world. "I'm the same person, and my life will go back to being the way it was."
,br> Sometimes this is true. But in other cases, when real metamorphosis has begun, we run into a welter of "dissolving" experiences. We may feel that everything is falling apart, that we're losing everyone and everything. Dissolving feels like death, because it is—it's the demise of the person you've been.

What to Do
When we're dissolving we may get hysterical, fight our feelings, try to recapture our former lives, or jump immediately toward some new status quo ("rebound romance" is a classic example). All these measures actually slow down Phase One and make it more painful. The following strategies work better:

• In Phase One, live one day (or ten minutes) at a time. Instead of dwelling on hopes and fears about an unknowable future, focus your attention on whatever is happening right now.
• "Cocoon" by caring for yourself in physical, immediate ways. Wrap yourself in a blanket, make yourself a cup of hot tea, attend an exercise class, whatever feels comforting.
• Talk to others who have gone through a metamorphosis. If you don't have a wise relative or friend, a therapist can be a source of reassurance.
• Let yourself grieve. Even if you are leaving an unpleasant situation (a bad marriage, a job you didn't like), you'll probably go through the normal human response to any loss: the emotional roller coaster called the grieving process. You'll cycle through denial, anger, sadness, and acceptance many times. Just experiencing these feelings will help them pass more quickly.

If you think this sounds frustratingly passive, you're right. Dissolving isn't something you do; it's something that happens to you. The closest you'll come to controlling it is relaxing and trusting the process.

Phase Two: Imagining

Here's the Deal
For those of us who have just a few tiny control issues, Phase Two is as welcome as rain after drought. This is when the part of you that knows your destiny, the imago in your psyche, will begin giving you instructions about how to reorganize the remnants of your old identity into something altogether different.

The word imago is the root of the word image. You'll know you're beginning Phase Two when your mind's eye starts seeing images of the life you are about to create. These can't be forced—like dissolving, they happen to you—and they are never what you expected. You're becoming a new person, and you'll develop traits and interests your old self didn't have. You may feel compelled to change your hairstyle or wardrobe, or redecorate your living space. The old order simply seems wrong, and you'll begin reordering your outer situation to reflect your inner rebirth.

What to Do
Here are some ways you may want to respond when you begin spontaneously imagining the future:

• Cut out magazine pictures you find appealing or interesting. Glue them onto a piece of butcher paper. The resulting collage will be an illustration of the life you're trying to create.
• Let yourself daydream. Your job is to try out imaginary scenarios until you have a clear picture of your goals and desires. You'll save a lot of time, effort, and grief by giving yourself time to do this in your head before you attempt it in the real world.

Phase Two is all about images: making them up, making them clear, making them possible. Moving through this stage, you'll start to feel an impulse to go from dreaming (imagining possibilities) to scheming (planning to bring your vision to fruition). Write down both dreams and schemes, then gather information about how you might create them.

Phase Three: Re-forming

Here's the Deal
As your dreams become schemes, you'll begin itching to make them come true. This signals Phase Three, the implementation stage of the change process. Phase Three is when you stop fantasizing about selling your art and start submitting work to galleries, or go beyond ogling a friend's brother to having her set you up on a date. You'll feel motivated to do real, physical things to build a new life. And then…(drum roll, please)…you'll fail. Repeatedly.

I've gone through Phase Three many times and watched hundreds of clients do the same. I've never seen a significant scheme succeed on the first try. Re-forming your life, like anything new, complex, and important, inevitably brings up problems you didn't expect. That's why, in contrast to the starry eyes that are so useful in Phase Two, Phase Three demands the ingenuity of Thomas Edison and the tenacity of a pit bull.

What to Do

• Expect things to go wrong. Many of my clients have an early failure and consider this a sign that "it just wasn't meant to be." This is a useful philosophy if you want to spend your life as person soup. To become all that you can be, you must keep working toward your dreams even when your initial efforts are unsuccessful.
• Be willing to start over. Every time your plans fail, you'll briefly return to Phase One, feeling lost and confused. This is an opportunity to release some of the illusions that created hitches in your plan.
• Revisit Phase Two, adjusting your dreams and schemes to include the truths you've learned from your experimentation.
• Persist. Keep debugging and reimplementing your new-and-improved plans until they work. If you've followed all the steps above, they eventually will.

Phase Four: Flying

Here's the Deal
Phase Three is like crawling out of your cocoon and waiting for your crumpled, soggy wings to dry and expand. Phase Four is the payoff, the time when your new identity is fully formed and able to fly.

What to Do
The following strategies—which can help you optimize this delightful situation—are about fine-tuning, not drastic transformation.

• Enjoy! You've just negotiated a scary and dramatic transformation, and you deserve to savor your new identity. Spend time every day focusing on gratitude for your success.
• Make small improvements. Find little ways to make your new life a bit less stressful, a bit more pleasurable.
• Know that another change is just around the bend. There's no way to predict how long you'll stay in Phase Four; maybe days, maybe decades. Don't attribute your happiness to your new identity; security lies in knowing how to deal with metamorphosis, whenever it occurs.

Vad har du för erfarenheter av förändring? Vad har du lyckats förändra?

Andra bloggares åsikter om Martha Beck, förändring, metamorfos, mål, målsättning, målsättningar, att lyckas, framgång, personlig utveckling, mental träning, inspiration, utveckling, psykologi

Dagens affirmation

Målet är ingenting. Vägen är allt.

Andra bloggares åsikter om Affirmation, affirmationer, citat, ordspråk, bevingade ord, kloka ord, positivt tänkande, mental träning, personlig utveckling, citat

, motivation

Om affirmationer

Här är en beskrivning av hur man kommer igång med att använda affirmationer i sitt liv. Peter Murpfy förklarar vad affirmationer innebär, vad de kan innehålla och hur de fungerar.

Your Daily Affirmations
What do you do when you get up in the morning? Do you stagger around like a zombie looking for brains? Do you require that morning cup of coffee, or several cups, to get you going?

In this article Peter goes over some daily affirmations which will lessen that desire for brains and bring about some nice improvements to life.

How to Give Yourself a Motivational - Warm Up When You Wake Up

Peter Murphy

Question:
What is the worst thing you can do when you start your day?

Answer:
Wake up feeling lethargic and expect yourself to perform at 100% from the moment you get up in the morning; and then compare how you are doing during the day against this unrealistic benchmark.

There is a better way!
As you wake up in the morning take charge of your thoughts in that early morning awareness before you fully awake. Do this before you get up out of bed by repeating some affirmations. Affirmations work very well WHEN you say them with strong feelings in a state of deep relaxation.

If you have heard about affirmations before and never got the maximum benefit from them it is because you did not know how to take a very ordinary approach and supercharge it.

Supercharging affirmations depends on four factors:

• Phrasing affirmations in the right way
• Choosing ones that are right for you
• Saying them while in a state of deep relaxation
• Speaking them with a strong feeling
  

At the end of this message I will tell you how to get free tips from an expert that will explain the nuts and bolts of affirmations.

But for now...
When you use affirmations correctly their impact will last for at least a few hours - long enough to get you started on the day ahead.

Pay close attention now because I am going to reveal details of some of my personal and very private habits...

I use the following affirmations to help me get up in a positive state of mind:

• Positive thoughts bring me the benefits I desire
• Negative thoughts have no influence over me
• Everyday and in everyway I am getting better and better

To start the day with confidence...

• I am confident and charming with the people I meet
• I radiate confidence and relaxation
• I start great conversations easily and effortlessly
• I approve of myself and feel great about myself
• I have sky-high self-esteem

You can do the same.
Remember to say these affirmations with feeling and do so quietly inside your head while in that relaxed awakening state.

Unless I use this ritual each morning I tend to feel negative about the day ahead. The difference from feeling negative to feeling positive is huge for the sake of those few minutes in the morning.

You can also go one step further and imagine the day ahead working out well. See yourself doing your best and easily dealing with challenges. Imagine yourself feeling confident and behaving in that way no matter who you deal with.

Imagine you will have a great day in this way and you are directing your unconscious to make it happen in the language it understands best - feelings and images.

Forget about will power.

Will power is a waste of time because it´s like talking to the most powerful part of your mind in a language it does not understand.

Get simple software to simplify your daily affirmations, here: http://www.affirmware.com.au/?hop=keepmoney

About The Author
Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report: 10 Simple Steps to Developing Communication Confidence. Apply now because it is available for a limited time only at: http://www.howtotalkwithconfidence.com/report.htm

Hur använder du affirmationer?

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Tre nyckelord för att gå ner i vikt

Sommaren står för dörren och då kan det passa bra med inspiration för att komma igång med nya träningsvanor och få hjälp med att gå ner i vikt . Oavsett om det handlar om att hinna bli snygg inför bikinisäsongen eller att bara få lite bättre matvanor och ny träningsmotivation så är här några tips från siten Warrior Fitness World där det finns mycket att hämta om kost, motion och hälsa skrivet av personliga tränare.

The 3 D's for Success with Diet and Exercise

Patrick Birmingham

So you want to lose weight and/or get back into shape, but you just can't seem to do it. You just can't find the time with having a job, school or family. By the time you get home from work you are too tired. You created a plan to exercise and diet, got started, but after a few days, you went right back to your old habits. You quickly got discouraged because you didn’t see any improvements.

Well I'm here to tell you, you are not alone. You are the typical person. So what's the solution? The solution is; you first have to obtain the 3 rules of success!

The first rule to success is “DESIRE”. If you want to be a doctor, an athlete, an entrepreneur, an actor/actress, a good mate, a good employee, a good parent, or whatever, you first have to want it. If you don't want to be a doctor, you will not become a doctor. If you tell yourself, it would be nice to be a doctor, but you don't pursue it, then you never wanted to be a doctor. But if you have the “strong” desire to be a doctor, guess what, you will become a doctor. You will do whatever it takes to become a doctor. The initial reason why so many people fail to diet and exercise is because they don't have a strong desire. If the desire isn’t there, you will never become successful. It's unfortunate that when a serious health issue arises, that's when most people obtain the strong desire. But most times, it's way too late. It's difficult for someone that had a heart attack to suddenly try to get in shape.

The second function of success is “DISCIPLINE”. To be successful in anything, takes discipline. You have to do “it” day-in and day-out usually with a lot of effort and work. You can’t do it for a few days and then stop. Back to our doctor example; if you want to be a doctor, you can’t take a few courses and stop. You can’t study for one exam and stop. You can’t go to a few classes and stop. You have to hit the books, day-in and day-out for years to be a successful doctor.

Discipline is needed to diet and exercise. It’s a permanent lifestyle change. You can’t diet and exercise for a few weeks or months then stop and go back to your old ways. This is why diets don’t work. Diets are temporary. Many people, diet, lose weight, and then return to their old habits. Most of the times they gain back the weight they lost and more!

The third function of success is “DETERMINATION”. You have to be determined to never give up. No matter what it takes, you will be successful. Even when things look bleak, you never give up. You realize that life is a series of events that have hills and valleys. When you are going up the hill, appreciate it and enjoy it. However, when you are going down the hill, you have the determination to ride until you hit bottom because you know that the upside will be coming.

The umbrella to DESIRE, DISCIPLINE and DETERMINATION is ATTITUDE. You have to believe in yourself. I read before a research study about what traits successful people have. After analyzing hundreds of successful people, (success being whatever they wanted to be successful in) the only thing they found that these people had in common was that they all had a positive attitude, which meant they all had the DESIRE, DISCIPLINE and DETERMINATION to be successful.

So the questions for you are:

1. Do you have the Desire to diet and exercise?
2. Do you have the Discipline to diet and exercise?
3. Do you have the Determination to diet and exercise?

If you don’t, you will have to change your attitude. Make diet and exercise the most important thing in your life. More important than your job, your money or your material possessions! Create an intense desire to have your dream body. However, realize that you will have to permanently change your lifestyle to attain this. Discipline yourself to do it. And no matter what, be determined to be successful! Follow these 3 rules and I guarantee you success!

Fler råd om viktminskning.
Hur man kan bränna 250 kalorier på olika sätt.

Vad har du för tips för att gå ner i vikt?



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30 dagar på försök

Nya val

Det är inte alltid konstruktivt att hårdnackat hålla kvar vid sina föresatser. Ofta behöver man med jämna mellanrum utvärdera om man är på rätt väg, om man är tillräckligt effektiv och om målet man strävar mot forfarande kvarstår. Det kan också vara bra att ha en förlustmariginal - att bestämma att exakt så mycket kommer jag att satsa utan att se några resultat för att sedan lägga sin energi på något annat eller leta efter nytt sätt för att nå det man vill ha. Steve Pavlina har utarbetat en metod som går ut på att man på liknande sätt helhjärtat satsar på något i 30 dagar för att ge det en ärlig chans och se om det fungerar i ens liv. Innan man ger upp för tidigt, eller torrkokar sina ansträngningar. I ain't over til it's over.

30 Days to Success

Steve Pavlina

A powerful personal growth tool is the 30-day trial. This is a concept I borrowed from the shareware industry, where you can download a trial version of a piece of software and try it out risk-free for 30 days before you’re required to buy the full version. It’s also a great way to develop new habits, and best of all, it’s brain-dead simple.

Let’s say you want to start a new habit like an exercise program or quit a bad habit like sucking on cancer sticks. We all know that getting started and sticking with the new habit for a few weeks is the hard part. Once you’ve overcome inertia, it’s much easier to keep going.

Yet we often psyche ourselves out of getting started by mentally thinking about the change as something permanent — before we’ve even begun. It seems too overwhelming to think about making a big change and sticking with it every day for the rest of your life when you’re still habituated to doing the opposite. The more you think about the change as something permanent, the more you stay put.

But what if you thought about making the change only temporarily — say for 30 days — and then you’re free to go back to your old habits? That doesn’t seem so hard anymore. Exercise daily for just 30 days, then quit. Maintain a neatly organized desk for 30 days, then slack off. Read for an hour a day for 30 days, then go back to watching TV.

Could you do it? It still requires a bit of discipline and commitment, but not nearly so much as making a permanent change. Any perceived deprivation is only temporary. You can count down the days to freedom. And for at least 30 days, you’ll gain some benefit. It’s not so bad. You can handle it. It’s only one month out of your life.

Now if you actually complete a 30-day trial, what’s going to happen? First, you’ll go far enough to establish it as a habit, and it will be easier to maintain than it was to begin it. Secondly, you’ll break the addiction of your old habit during this time. Thirdly, you’ll have 30 days of success behind you, which will give you greater confidence that you can continue. And fourthly, you’ll gain 30 days worth of results, which will give you practical feedback on what you can expect if you continue, putting you in a better place to make informed long-term decisions.

Therefore, once you hit the end of the 30-day trial, your ability to make the habit permanent is vastly increased. But even if you aren’t ready to make it permanent, you can opt to extend your trial period to 60 or 90 days. The longer you go with the trial period, the easier it will be to lock in the new habit for life.

Another benefit of this approach is that you can use it to test new habits where you really aren’t sure if you’d even want to continue for life. Maybe you’d like to try a new diet, but you don’t know if you’d find it too restrictive. In that case, do a 30-day trial and then re-evaluate. There’s no shame in stopping if you know the new habit doesn’t suit you. It’s like trying a piece of shareware for 30 days and then uninstalling it if it doesn’t suit your needs. No harm, no foul.

Here are some examples from my own life where I used 30-day trials to establish new habits:

1) In the Summer of 1993, I wanted to try being vegetarian. I had no interest in making this a lifelong change, but I’d read a lot about the health benefits of vegetarianism, so I committed to it for 30 days just for the experience. I was already exercising regularly, seemed in decent health, and was not overweight (6′0″, 155 lbs), but my typical college diet included a lot of In-N-Out burgers. Going lacto-ovo vegetarian for 30 days was a lot easier than I expected — I can’t say it was hard at all, and I never felt deprived. Within a week I noticed an increase in my energy and concentration, and I felt more clear-headed. At the end of the 30 days, it was a no-brainer to stick with it. This change looked a lot harder than it really was.

2) In January 1997, I decided to try going from vegetarian to vegan. While lacto-ovo vegetarians can eat eggs and dairy, vegans don’t eat anything that comes from an animal. I was developing an interest in going vegan for life, but I didn’t think I could do it. How could I give up veggie-cheese omelettes? The diet seemed too restrictive to me — even fanatically so. But I was intensely curious to know what it was actually like. So once again I did a 30-day trial. At the time I figured I’d make it through the trial, but I honestly didn’t expect to continue beyond that. Well, I lost seven pounds in the first week, mostly from going to the bathroom as all the accumulated dairy mucus was cleansed from my bowels (now I know why cows need four stomachs to properly digest this stuff). I felt lousy the first couple days but then my energy surged. I also felt more clear-headed than ever, as if a “fog of brain” had been lifted; it felt like my brain had gotten a CPU and a RAM upgrade. However, the biggest change I noticed was in my endurance. I was living in Marina del Rey at the time and used to run along the beach near the Santa Monica Pier, and I noticed I wasn’t as tired after my usual 3-mile runs, so I started increasing them to 5 miles, 10 miles, and then eventually a marathon a few years later. In Tae Kwon Do, the extra endurance really gave a boost to my sparring skills as well. The accumulated benefits were so great that the foods I was giving up just didn’t seem so appealing anymore. So once again it was a no-brainer to continue after the first 30 days, and I’m still vegan today. What I didn’t expect was that after so long on this diet, the old animal product foods I used to eat just don’t seem like food anymore, so there’s no feeling of deprivation.

3) Also in 1997, I decided I wanted to exercise every single day for a year. That was my 1997 New Year’s resolution. My criteria was that I would exercise aerobically at least 25 minutes every day, and I wouldn’t count Tae Kwon Do classes which I was taking 2-3 days per week. Coupled with my dietary changes, I wanted to push my fitness to a new level. I didn’t want to miss a single day, not even for sick days. But thinking about exercising 365 days in a row was daunting, so I mentally began with a 30-day trial. That wasn’t so bad. After a while every day that passed set a new record: 8 days in a row… 10 days… 15 days…. It became harder to quit. After 30 days in a row, how could I not do 31 and set a new personal record? And can you imagine giving up after 250 days? No way. After the initial month to establish the habit, the rest of the year took care of itself. I remember going to a seminar that year and getting home well after midnight. I had a cold and was really tired, yet I still went out running at 2am in the rain. Some people might call that foolish, but I was so determined to reach my goal that I wasn’t going to let fatigue or illness stop me. I succeeded and kept it up for the whole year without ever missing a day. In fact, I kept going for a few more weeks into 1998 before I finally opted to stop, which was a tough decision. I wanted to do this for one year, knowing it would become a powerful reference experience, and it certainly became such.

4) More diet stuff…. After being vegan for a number of years, I opted to try other variations of the vegan diet. I did 30-day trials both with the macrobiotic diet and with the raw foods diet. Those were interesting and gave me new insights, but I decided not to continue with either of them. I felt no different eating macrobiotically than I did otherwise. And in the case of the raw diet, while I did notice a significant energy boost, I found the diet too labor intensive — I was spending a lot of time preparing meals and shopping frequently. Sure you can just eat raw fruits and veggies, but to make interesting raw meals, there can be a lot of labor involved. If I had my own chef, I’d probably follow the raw diet though because I think the benefits would be worth it. I did a second trial of the raw diet for 45 days, but again my conclusion was the same. If I was ever diagnosed with a serious disease like cancer, I’d immediately switch to an all raw, living foods diet, since I believe it to be the absolute best diet for optimal health. I’ve never felt more energetic in my life than when I ate a raw diet. But I had a hard time making it practical for me. Even so, I managed to integrate some new macrobiotic foods and raw foods into my diet after these trials. There are two all-raw restaurants here in Vegas, and I’ve enjoyed eating at them because then someone else does all the labor. So these 30-day trials were still successful in that they produced new insights, although in both cases I intentionally declined to continue with the new habit. One of the reasons a full 30-day trial is so important with new diets is that the first week or two will often be spent detoxing and overcoming cravings, so it isn’t until the third or fourth week that you begin to get a clear picture. I feel that if you haven’t tried a diet for at least 30 days, you simply don’t understand it. Every diet feels different on the inside than it appears from the outside.

This 30-day method seems to work best for daily habits. I’ve had no luck using it when trying to start a habit that only occurs 3-4 days per week. However, it can work well if you apply it daily for the first 30 days and then cut back thereafter. This is what I’d do when starting a new exercise program, for example. Daily habits are much easier to establish.

Here are some other ideas for applying 30-day trials:

• Give up TV. Tape all your favorite shows and save them until the end of the trial. My whole family did this once, and it was very enlightening.
• Give up online forums, especially if you feel you’re becoming forum addicted. This will help break the addiction and give you a clearer sense of how participation actually benefits you (if at all). You can always catch up at the end of 30 days.
• Shower/bathe/shave every day. I know YOU don’t need this one, so please pass it along to someone who does.
• Meet someone new every day. Start up a conversation with a stranger.
• Go out every evening. Go somewhere different each time, and do something fun — this will be a memorable month.
• Spend 30 minutes cleaning up and organizing your home or office every day. That’s 15 hours total.
• List something new to sell on ebay every day. Purge some of that clutter.
• Ask someone new out on a date every day. Unless your success rate is below 3%, you’ll get at least one new date, maybe even meet your future spouse.
• If you’re already in a relationship, give your partner a massage every day. Or offer to alternate who gives the massage each day, so that’s 15 massages each.
• Give up cigarettes, soda, junk food, coffee, or other unhealthy addictions.
• Become an early riser.
• Write in your journal every day.
• Call a different family member, friend, or business contact every day.
• Make 25 sales calls every day to solicit new business. Professional speaker Mike Ferry did this five days a week for two years, even on days when he was giving seminars. He credits this habit with helping build his business to over $10 million in annual sales. If you make 1300 sales calls a year, you’re going to get some decent business no matter how bad your sales skills are. You can generalize this habit to any kind of marketing work, like building new links to your web site.
• Write a new blog entry every day.
• Read for an hour a day on a subject that interests you.
• Meditate every day.
• Learn a new vocabulary word every day.
• Go for a long walk every day.
  

Again, don’t think that you need to continue any of these habits beyond 30 days. Think of the benefits you’ll gain from those 30 days alone. You can re-assess after the trial period. You’re certain to grow just from the experience, even if it’s temporary.

The power of this approach lies in its simplicity. Even though doing a certain activity every single day may be less efficient than following a more complicated schedule — weight training is a good example because adequate rest is a key component — you’ll often be more likely to stick with the daily habit. When you commit to doing something every single day without exception, you can’t rationalize or justify missing a day, nor can you promise to make it up later by reshuffling your schedule.

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Tankar kring veckans citat

Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.

Francis of Assisi

Veckans citat får mig att tänka på att varje stor förändring börjar i små steg. Och om man inte förtvivlar eller försöker greppa hela förloppet på en gång så kan man så småningom skörda frukterna av sina ansträngningar. Det är så lätt att ge upp i förtid och tänka ”Vad ska det här tjäna till?” innan man ser några resultat. Men precis som DrPhil brukar säga är det inte resultaten vi kan kontrollera, utan våra egna ansträngningar. Och varje sjumilavandring börjar med ett enda litet steg.

Dessutom är det så att när man väl börjar kämpa för något och tålmodigt fortsätter, så kan det även förändra även inställningen till andra området i livet. Speciellt när man efter ett tag upptäcker att man har lyckats! Jag glömmer aldrig när jag lärde mig jonglera. Det tog en hel sommar vilket antagligen är ovanligt länge, men för mig var det helt omöjligt att tänka sig att JAG skulle kunna lära mig det som såg så ofattbart svårt ut varför jag tycker en sommar var kort tid för att klara av det otänkbara. För nog måste man ha talang för det, eller i alla fall en extraordinär förmåga att lära sig avancerade balansakter? Men jag hade en bra lärare som delade upp det i mindre steg. Och det var ju inte särskilt svårt att bara kasta två bollar i händerna. Och sen när man skulle kasta bort den tredje utan att fånga den var det inte heller helt så konstigt. Och att sedan fånga upp den bara en gång, ja det gick ju också med lite träning. Och sen insåg jag att jag faktiskt jonglerade! Det var en otroligt berusande känsla och jag upplevde att om jag nu klarade detta så fanns det ju ingenting jag inte heller kunde lära mig! En övertygande känsla som ingen kunde ta ifrån mig. För jag hade just bevisat för mig själv att jag klarade av något som jag aldrig hade trott om mig själv!

Det behöver inte vara något spektakulärt eller ovanligt man ska lära sig. Det räcker med att känna den där vissheten att man nog kommer att fixa det om man inte ger upp för tidigt. Om man inte tappar modet vid lite hinder. Livet är fullt av tappade lustar och bara de som vågar satsa energi, tid och tålamod har förutsättningar för att lyckas med projekt som inte ger omedelbar utdelning. För visst är det så att man gärna vill smaka lite på segern eller i alla fall få en glimt av hur det känns att lyckas, innan man helhjärtat ger sig in i något. Man vill ha någon slags garanti för att tycka det är värt det. En försäkran om att man också har förutsättningar att klara av det. Och gärna lite kortsiktiga vinster på vägen så att man kan njuta lite och i alla fall har fått ut något av sina ansträngningar.

Men kanske är det så att vi måste öva upp en tillit till oss själva. Att det finns långsiktiga vinster men att de inte går att skymta förrän vi vågar satsa ordentligt. Jag tror att det är lätt i dagens informations, konsumtions- och quickfix-samhälle att odla en otålighet och förväntan på att saker kommer att gå snabbt. Man vill leva i nuet och ha allt som är kul nu! Saker som är långsamma och arbetskrävande är per definition något outvecklat och gammalt som inte ger utdelning för den energi man behöver investera. Samhällets takt ger en illusion av att allt går att klara av nu eller kanske redan igår utan att vi själva behöver offra någon del av oss själva. Det blir därför en stor uppgift att ge oss tillit till att vi klarar av saker även om vi inte ser slutet av bågen på en gång. Även om vi inte omedelbart märker att det fungerar. Vi måste helt enkelt våga lita på att saker får lov att ta tid och att det enda vi kan göra är att sätta ena foten framför den andra. För om vi inte försöker har vi definitivt ingen möjlighet att lyckas!

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