7 Ways to Persist When Everything in You Wants to Give Up

Sonia Thompson

 

Have you ever felt like your lungs were going to explode?

That’s what it felt like during my hike up Machu Picchu.

The ancient city sits more than 2,400 meters above sea level and my group eagerly started climbing just after 5 a.m. I ended up alone, behind the group, with more than 1,100 meters left to go.

I never imagined the journey would be so difficult (evidenced by the shoes I chose to wear). I worked out regularly, but that didn’t prepare me for the altitude. I couldn’t seem to get enough air.

I wanted to give up. My body was begging me to stop. My weary mind wanted to follow suit.

But I persisted. And I made it to the top—lungs and heart intact.

Here are the seven things that helped me keep going that day, when everything in me wanted to quit. If you find yourself in a situation where you want to give up, these lessons can help you, too.

1. Ignore everyone else.

In the beginning of the climb, I only saw the people passing me. Every time I saw someone hiking with ease, I felt bad about myself. But when I stopped worrying and stopped comparing everyone else’s journey to my own, I began to focus on my own mission and how I was going to achieve it.

As you work toward your dream, it can be easy to get distracted when you see others achieving their goals easier, faster, better than you. It can make you feel inadequate and unsatisfied with your own progress. But when it comes to conquering a goal, what’s happening with others is irrelevant when it detracts from your ability to move forward.

When tackling a difficult task, you need every ounce of energy you can muster. Make sure to channel it to a place that will propel you forward.

2. Become your own biggest supporter.

When I started the hike, I wasn’t alone. But within 10 minutes, I was behind and alone. At first I was frustrated my companions abandoned me in my time of need. But then I realized my burden wasn’t theirs to bear.

Although it can be energizing to have others around to motivate and support you, having them there is a luxury, not a requirement. That lesson allowed me to turn inward and find in myself the strength and determination to keep going. I began to encourage and high-five myself with every step.

Sometimes on the road to success, you have to walk alone. If you find yourself in that position, find a way to give yourself what you need to continue.

3. Stop and appreciate the little things.

I began the hike before the sun was up. As I continued to climb, it started to peek around the mountain, giving glimpses of the beauty all around me. It was magical. During the catch-my-breath breaks, I marveled at the privilege of seeing nature in all her beauty. In those moments, I gave no thought to my struggle. I was too busy being grateful for being right there.

It can be easy to focus all your energy on reaching your ultimate goal. But if the only thing you can see is your end destination, you’ll miss the beauty of the journey along the way. The new experiences and welcome surprises provide much-needed fuel to keep going.

4. Focus on the next step.

It discouraged me to think how far away I was from the top. So I reframed my goal into mini-milestones that made the next steps more manageable. Just take one more step, I thought. OK, now just get over to those stones. Alright, once you get to that bench you can stop and rest for a few minutes.

When your goal seems too big, it can feel impossible, which opens the door for resistance to creep in. By breaking your target into bite-sized pieces, you can keep yourself in motion and build momentum.

5. Throw your watch out the window.

Before the trek, I read that most people make it to the top of Machu Picchu in about 45 to 60 minutes. It took me longer. When I focused on the time it was supposed to take, I was frustrated at myself for not being good enough or fast enough. But nobody cared how long it took me to get to the top and I shouldn’t have, either. All that mattered was completing my journey.

As you work on reaching your goals, stop looking at the clock. Stop measuring yourself against someone or something else. It will only serve to distract you from focusing on what you need to do right now to advance. 

6. Stop looking for a way out.

Not everyone who goes to Machu Picchu hikes. You can take a bus straight to the top and save yourself the emotional and physical strain. Early on in my climb, I thought about retreating or waving down one of the buses on their way up.

When your pain is at the forefront, it is natural to want to make it go away. But when you invest time looking for a way to abort your journey, you waste precious energy that could be used to help you overcome momentary pain and discomfort for long-term growth.

7. Acknowledge your limitations.

I had to be honest with myself. I was having trouble getting air and I couldn't keep the pace of the group. Pushing my body to the limit by trying to keep a faster pace wasn’t going to go well for me. My path needed to be different, and that’s OK. After implementing my new strategy, the journey was less grueling.

Your road to success might not look like everyone else’s. That’s OK. Everyone’s situation is different. Instead acknowledge where you are, so you can give yourself what you need to be successful.

As you work to achieve your goals, there will be obstacles, bumps and bruises along the way. When the journey becomes more uncomfortable than what you are used to, it can be easy to throw in the towel and retreat.

But if you follow these lessons, you can find the strength to keep going in the midst of difficulty. And when you persist, you’ll discover the reward was worth the effort.

Don’t give up.

Source: http://www.success.com/blog/7-ways-to-persist-when-everything-in-you-wants-to-give-up

3 Key Financial Decisions That Can Change Your Life in an Instant

By Tony Robbins

In all the years I've worked with people, I've found there are three key decisions we make every moment of our lives. If we make these decisions unconsciously, we end up with lives like the majority of people, who tend to be out of shape physically, exhausted emotionally and often bored with or too comfortable in their intimate relationships—not to mention financially stressed. 

But if you make these decisions consciously, you can literally change your life in an instant! What are the three decisions that determine the quality of your life? That determine whether you feel rich or poor in any given moment? The first one is: 

Decision 1: What Are You Going to Focus On?

In every moment of our lives, there are millions of things we could focus on. We can focus on the things that are happening right here, right now, or on what we want to create in the future, or we can put our focus back on the past. We can direct our focus on solving a big challenge or on appreciating the beauty of this moment, or on feeling sorry for ourselves about a disappointing experience. If we don't consciously redirect our focus, the environment we're in tends to make constant demands to get our attention. 

Ask yourself: Which do you tend to focus on more—what you have, or what's missing from your life? I'm sure you think about both sides of this coin, but if you had to look at your habitual thoughts, where do you tend to spend most of your time? 

Even those of us who are in difficult situations have plenty in our lives that we can appreciate. Almost half the world, or more than three billion people, live on less than $2.50 per day, which is a little more than $900 per year. The average drink at Starbucks is $3.25. If you can afford that, you're spending more on one purchase of a cup of coffee than what half the planet has to live on in one day. That puts things in perspective, doesn't it? 

Rather than focusing on what we don't have and begrudging those who are better off financially, perhaps we should acknowledge that there's so much to be grateful for in our lives that has nothing to do with money. We can be grateful for our health, our friends, our opportunities, our minds, the fact that we get to drive on roads that we didn't have to build, read books we didn't have to take years to write, and tap into the internet that we didn't have to create. 

A pattern of appreciating what you have will create a new level of emotional well-being and wealth. And my guess is that if you're reading this, you may be one of those people who already notices what you have. But the real question is, do you take time to deeply feel grateful in your mind, body, heart and soul? That's where the joy and the gifts will be found. Not with just the intellectual appreciation or by the acquisition of another dollar, or another 10 million dollars. 

Now, as soon as you begin to focus on something, your brain has to make a second decision, which is: 

Decision 2: What Does This Mean?

What does this mean? Ultimately, how we feel about our lives has nothing to do with the events of our lives, or with our financial condition, or what has or has not happened to us. The quality of our lives is controlled by the meaning we give these things. Most of the time we're unaware of the impact of these quick meaning decisions that are often made in our unconscious mind. 

When something happens that disrupts your life—a car accident, a health issue, a lost job—do you tend to think it's the end or the beginning? If someone confronts you, are they "insulting" you, "coaching" you, or truly "caring" for you? Does this "devastating" problem mean that God is punishing you, or challenging you or is it possible this problem is a gift from God? Your life becomes whatever meaning you give it. 

A change in focus and a change in meaning can be an emotional game changer. We can all find meaning, even in our pain. And when we do, we may still experience pain, but the suffering is gone. 

So take control, and always remember: meaning equals emotion, and emotion equals life. Choose consciously and wisely. Find the empowering meaning in anything, and wealth in its deepest sense will be yours today. 

Decision 3: What Am I Going to Do?

The actions we take are powerfully shaped by the emotional states we're in. If we're angry, we're going to behave quite differently than if we're feeling playful or outrageous. 

But even two people who get in an angry state will behave differently. Some will pull back when they're angry, others push through. Some people express anger quietly or loudly or violently. Some people suppress it only to look for a passive aggressive opportunity to regain the upper hand, or even exact revenge. Some people confront their anger by going to the gym and working out. 

Where do these patterns come from? We tend to model our behavior on the people in our lives whom we respect, enjoy and love. The people who frustrated or angered us? We often reject their approaches, but far too often we find ourselves falling back into the pattern that we witnessed over and over again and were so displeased by in our youth. 

It's very useful to become aware of what your patterns are when you get frustrated or angry or sad or feel lonely—because you can't change your pattern if you're not aware of it. In addition, now that you're aware of the power of these three decisions, you might start looking for role models who are experiencing what you want out of life. I promise you, those who have passionate relationships have a totally different focus and come up with totally different meanings for challenges in the relationship than people who are constantly bickering or fighting. Or those who judge each other constantly. It's not rocket science. If you become aware of the differences in how people make these three decisions, you'll have a pathway that can help you create a permanent positive change in any area of your life. 

*** 
 


Source: http://www.oprah.com/money/Key-Financial-Decisions-Tony-Robbins

Want to Be Successful? Do These 7 Things in Your Spare Time

Replace your less productive habits with more beneficial ones to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Larry Alton

 

July 24, 2015

Did you know startups fail about four times as often as they succeed? Do you know why it’s so hard to get a successful business off the ground? It’s attributable to a number of factors, one of which could be the way the founders are spending their spare time.

The productivity you can generate in your free time often carries over into the success of your professional endeavors, and you can bet that successful people use their free time for much more than relaxing on the couch or binging on Netflix.

If you’re struggling to find success as an entrepreneur, you might want to take a closer look at how you spend your time away from the office. Consider replacing some of your less productive habits with ones with better benefits:

1. Exercise

Working out is good for both the body and the mind. According to various studies, people who exercise 30 minutes a day, five times a week, enjoy better overall brain health, including uplift in mood, reduced stress, increased creativity and clearer thinking. Exercise is the best thing you can do to stay alert and alive while you run your business.

2. Hobbies

Have you ever noticed that some of the most successful people you know also lead rather interesting lifestyles outside of work? That comes largely from the personal pastimes they choose to enjoy. Hobbies are a good outlet for stress and an excellent source of creativity.

3. Learning

Success often means fostering a love of learning. If you want to inspire a love of learning inside yourself, learn something new. Some people like to learn languages; others like to keep up with the latest technological investments. Most learn something that will be useful to them in their careers, such as IT basics. A strong atmosphere of learning new things can help increase personal and business productivity by 37 percent.

With online tutorials, web-based informational courses and apps that offer assistance with just a few taps, you don’t have an excuse not to learn something new.

4. Mindfulness

There’s a reason yoga has become one of the most popular health practices today: Mindfulness can help you relax, improve productivity, facilitate creativity and maintain your general overall well-being.

It’s important to note that practicing mindfulness does not necessarily mean doing yoga or even meditating, though both of those practices will do the job. It could simply mean sitting in stillness for 20 minutes twice a day, or leaning back in your chair, staring up at the ceiling and forgetting the world for 10 minutes.

5. Service

If you’re losing sight of perspective and what matters to you most, take an opportunity to serve the less fortunate. Giving back to your community helps you to think about things besides work, which may enable you to evaluate how to improve your business. It’s the best way to put your life into perspective and reduce the stress that comes from constantly focusing on your own problems.

6. Reading

The best way to stay up to date with the activities of prosperous individuals is to read. Whether you’re keeping up on the latest news, studying a business-oriented self-help book or reading the biography of a successful person you admire, reading can help boost your creativity, improve your thought processes at work and enable you to de-stress after a long day.

7. Family

Take a break every now and then to devote your entire attention to those you love most. For just a few hours a week, stop thinking about the things that happen at work and enjoy what’s going on at home. Healthy, happy and profitable people understand that taking a break with their loved ones keeps them sane as they climb the ladder of success.

Source: http://www.success.com/article/want-to-be-successful-do-these-7-things-in-your-spare-time

3 Things To Do If You Want To Be Happy Every Day

by Fran Sorin

It doesn't seem that long ago that the amount of money and possessions you accumulated were considered the sole indicators of your success.

Today, people are seeking deeper meaning, connections, and well-being in their lives.

In fact, I've coined the phrase "Well-being is the new success" as a reminder to myself and others that how we feel is much more important than the status we accumulate.

Mahatma Gandhi said, "Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny."

As Gandhi explained, our thoughts ultimately create our destinies. It's important to remember that our lives are limited only by our own thoughts.

In the book You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter, Dr. Joe Dispenza writes that in order to change some aspect of our reality, we need to learn to think, feel, and act in new ways.

Much like the renowned author Napoleon Hill, Dr. Dispenza suggests that you need to hold clear, focused thoughts about what you want coupled with heightened emotional energy. By combining the two, you put out a stronger vibration that pulls you toward the potential reality that you deeply desire.

If our emotions are linked to our neurology, immune, and endocrine system, then it makes sense that when we feel something, it creates a physical change. We then have a choice: We can allow that emotion to take control or use mindfulness to work toward replacing it with positive thoughts and feelings.

Here are three tips that will enable you to maintain your well-being every day:

1. Become friends with your emotions.

Take a couple of minutes to sit quietly with no distractions; focus on your breathing. Follow the rhythm of your breath and notice what thoughts or emotions grab your attention. Allow them to rise. As they do, imagine capturing each thought or emotion in a bubble.

Once your mind is quiet, visualize blowing that bubble away. Watch it drift upward, higher and higher, until it's no longer a part of you; then bring your attention back to your breath. Is your breathing now deeper? Slower, perhaps? Allow yourself a few moments to sink into this feeling of peacefulness and connect with your breathing.

Remember, your thoughts and emotions can be best friends. They play off each other and define the attitude you take into each day. At some point, whether our alarm fails to go off or we stub our toe getting out of bed, our thoughts spiral downward. We then begin worrying about that meeting with the boss or the fight we had with our partner last night. These thoughts become our attitude for the day and will follow us around like a magnet attracting other bad things.

2. Develop a gratitude practice.

When waking up or before going to sleep, run through a list of 10 things for which you are grateful. You'll be surprised how easy it is once you slow down, observe, and awaken your senses. We rush through so much of our lives that we miss out on the opportunity to appreciate the little things that contribute to well-being.

Here are some examples of things you might feel grateful for:

• Hearing the birds chirping
• A good night's sleep
• A comfortable bed
• Stretching your body (feeling healthy)
• Drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee
• Receiving and giving "good morning" hugs to family members
• Snuggling with a pet
• The sun glistening through the trees
• Arriving at work with no traffic jams
• Smiling at a stranger on the street and having them return the smile
• Making and selecting nutritious food that you love

I keep a notebook near my bed so that immediately upon waking, I can go straight into writing down thoughts of gratitude. The thoughts don't have to be associated with something that has happened within the past 24 hours. You can think about a dear friend that you haven't seen in months and experience feelings of deep appreciation and love.

If you want to take it a step further, practice feeling gratitude for things in your life that have not yet happened. For example, let's say you're working on becoming a published author. Take a few moments to feel gratitude for having become a published author; in other words, feel as if what you are dreaming about has happened.

I think you'll be surprised at how much this gratitude practice will affect your future.

3. Connect with nature.

Go outside. Even five minutes during a lunch break will do. Find a patch of grass and remove your shoes. Stand upright and visualize, sense, or imagine you have roots growing out of the soles of your feet, connecting deeply with the earth. With each breath, feel the energy drawing up from the earth, spreading all the way through your body until you feel it flowing out of your fingertips.

Now visualize, sense, or imagine your heart overflowing with gratitude and send that love back down through your feet into the earth. As you are doing this, concentrate on your breathing, become aware of your senses, feel the warmth of the sun on your face, the cool breeze on your skin, the songs of the birds. Expand your awareness and drink in the connection you are creating between your mind, body, and spirit.

Source: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-27124/3-things-to-do-if-you-want-to-be-happy-every-day.html

3 (Unexpected) Ways to Wipe Out Your Debt Fast

One of my favorite affirmations is: “I am so happy and grateful now that money comes to me in increasing quantities on a consistent basis.” Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful situation to be in? Well, if you embrace this affirmation—I mean really commit to it—you soon will be! Present-tense thinking has a profound effect on results. When you shift your thinking from “I want” or “I will” to “I am,” the universe shifts right along with you.

There is one catch, however. If you’re burdened by debt, you could have a problem making this affirmation work for you in the way it’s designed to. It isn’t the debt itself that’s the problem; it’s the amount of mental energy you’re most likely expending on it.

No matter how much of it you’re carrying, the need to eliminate debt doesn’t need to be an obstacle to creating wealth. Follow these three simple steps, and you’ll begin doing BOTH things at once, and a whole lot faster than you may have thought you could. I know—because I did it myself.

How to Wipe Out Your Debt Starting Today:

1. Stop thinking about itNotice I didn’t say stop paying it. Obviously, repaying money you owe should be at the top of your to-do list, and you need do it as quickly as possible. But that doesn’t mean you have to give ANY of your precious mental energy over to the process until it happens. After all, you attract into your life what you think about most of the time. So if you’re constantly worrying about, dwelling on and fretting over the amount of debt you’re carrying—if your debt is all you can see—you can guess what’s going to happen.You may not be able to remove the fact of your debt in one fell swoop, but you can remove it from your line of sight. The best way to do that is to …
2. Put it on autopilot
   There was a point in my life when I was making about $4000 a year … and was $6000 in debt. Right around that time, I had the magnificent good fortune to discover Think and Grow Rich. I quickly realized that the “mountain” my debt felt like resided entirely in my mind, and that it was consuming the very energy I needed to conquer it. So I set up ways to pay back my creditors what I owed them that didn’t require any of my brainpower. Back then, that wasn’t so easy to do. Today, it’s is an absolute breeze. A few minutes on your bank’s website are all you need to automatize the whole process and forget all about it.Your creditors will be paid on time, your debt will begin shrinking, and you’ll be free to …
3. Focus on its opposite
   With all that negativity cleared out of your magnificent mind, you’ll find you’ve got a whole lot of fresh space to play with. Now … FILL IT! Use this month’s affirmation as a starting point to build castles of abundance in your imagination. Form your wealth goals as clearly and vividly as you can, attaching them to very specific images. Then install those images in the forefront of your vision, literally, if you can! Surround yourself with actual pictures that represent your goals. Put them in your office, in your car—heck, tape them near your bathroom mirror! Force your mind to see only that which represents “money in increasing quantities on a consistent basis,” and soon you’ll find yourself flooded with ideas and opportunities for getting it.With plenty of additional resources to divert towards your debt reduction, that burden will soon be wiped from your life as well as your mind!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Source:   http://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/4758/3-unexpected-ways-to-wipe-out-your-debt-fast    

10 Things Emotionally Intelligent People Avoid

BY KATHERINE HURST

earning how to use the Law of Attraction is as much as about increasing your self-knowledge as it is about learning specific techniques and skills. Consequently, maintaining the right mindset for manifestation requires self-worth, a positive social environment and a high EQ—in other words, emotional intelligence.

While scientists and psychologists think some people might be genetically predisposed to a higher EQ, there’s also encouraging evidence that you can actively change and shape it. And one of the best places to start is by examining and regulating certain emotionally toxic behaviors. Here are ten major ones to avoid, and advice about what to do instead.

1. Emotional Repression

Firstly, and most obviously, emotionally intelligent people don’t push away their feelings—even the unpleasant ones. They’re in tune with everything from joy to fury, anxiety and ambivalence, and they let themselves truly experience the whole gamut of emotions. To enhance your capacity to do this, schedule a simple daily mindfulness exercise in which you ask “How do I feel?” and let the unfiltered reality flow through you.

2. The Drama Triangle

Explained by a Stephen Karpman, a therapist who played a major role in shaping transactional analysis theory, the Drama Triangle illustrates three positions you can take when it comes to responsibility and conflict–and all of them are generally avoided by the emotionally intelligent person. Taking the “victim” role robs you of your power and also of your accountability. Meanwhile, being a “persecutor” makes you controlling, blaming and critical–a thoroughly negative way to be. Finally, while it might sound good to adopt the “rescuer” role, you actually focus all your energy on others as a way of avoiding your own issues. Monitor the roles you take in your relationships, and strategize ways to step out of the drama triangle when it arises.

3. Uneven Power Dynamics

Relatedly, focus on forming bonds with people who treat you as equals, and who you treat as equals. Emotionally intelligent people know that letting others control or talk down to them erodes self-esteem and agency, while surrounding yourself with people who look up to you and never challenge you will hinder your growth. Your real allies will engage in reciprocal, respectful relationships and help you along your path to manifesting a better life.

4. Self-Absorption

There’s a fine line between introspection and counterproductive navel-gazing—and the emotionally intelligent person knows how to walk it. Check in with your feeling, explore the underlying beliefs and assumptions that drive them, but don’t get so lost in your inner world that you fail to notice or appreciate the outer one.

5. “Buying” Regard

You can get people to spend time with you by giving them things and doing favors, but this way of relating to others sends out the message that you are only worth what you contribute. To be happy and to vibrate on the right frequency for manifestation, you need to know you’re worthy just for being you. Bring your authentic self to the table, and those who deserve to know you will love you regardless of whether you’re “useful.”

6. Pressure to Conform

All around you, there will be people telling you to be a certain way, follow a certain career path or want specific things. In the long-term, emotional intelligence requires resisting this pressure, and instead looking to your own core values to determine the road you’ll walk. Don’t be afraid to go against the grain—you’re more likely to regret conforming than you are to regret breaking free.

7. Fruitless Conflict

While it’s good to stand up for yourself and be direct in communication, it’s emotionally smart to avoid becoming embroiled in fights that go nowhere. Pick and choose your battles according to what truly matters—don’t waste your energy on bickering or on jealous competitions, and save that power for positive interactions instead.

8. Gossip

Gossiping is another type of negative interaction that’s best avoided. It’s pointless at best and harmless at worst, and it marks you out as the sort of person who can’t be trusted. Emotionally intelligent people strive for deeper, more meaningful conversations rather than focusing on rumors, and they’re mindful of the fact that words can wound.

9. Over-Extending

Saying “yes” to everything that’s asked of you will only drain and destroy you. Do find ways to give back to your community and to the world, but know when you need to set aside time for recharging and rejuvenating your soul. It isn’t selfish to take care of yourself—it’s smart, and it’s necessary.

10. Seeking Approval

Finally, emotionally intelligent people have moved on from the need to ask others to sign off on every action or belief. When you want something, have the courage of your convictions and go ahead and pursue it! Learning how to validate yourself leads to stable self-confidence, a positive outlook and a strong heart that can achieve anything it sets out to do.

Source: http://www.thelawofattraction.com/10-things-emotionally-intelligent-people-avoid/

Overthinking Everything? Use This Strategy to Get Out of Your Head

Mel Robbins

October 3, 2016

Overanalyzing every decision you make is a terrible habit to fall into. We’re all guilty of it. Our feelings of uncertainty drive us to overthink. Collecting more data and noodling about every potential outcome might make you think you are advancing toward a goal when you’re really just spinning your wheels.

Our subconscious drives 95 percent of our decisions, according to Gerald Zaltman, a Harvard Business School professor emeritus, who studied consumer-buying patterns. How you feel about the decision stalls your progress. If you feel uncertain about choosing, guess what? You’ll just keep thinking about it. The project or business doesn’t start until you do.

The first step is taking control. Despite what you might think, you are always ready to start. If you make the wrong decision at some point, you can adjust. You don’t have to know all of the answers, you just have to start and then you’ll figure them out.

Richard Branson is a great example of someone taking action. He had never flown a plane and didn’t know anything about engineering them, but he started an airline regardless.

How?

It’s simple: He started his business and then figured it out along the way. If Branson tried to think his way to starting a company, he’d still be in his head. Instead, 22 years and nearly $3 billion later (he sold Virgin America for $2.6 billion this year) his airlines are leading the world in aeronautic innovation and commercial spaceflight.

Try the following strategy. It takes less than a minute and will help you break analysis paralysis.

What would my idol do?

Early in my media career, as I was trying to break into the business and build a platform from scratch, I was constantly uncertain. I devised a simple strategy that helped me ignore my feelings of self-doubt so I could make important calls. I picked someone I admired and thought about what she would do in my situation.

I chose Martha Beck, an author and Oprah Winfrey’s life coach. I wanted to build a business and media platform similar to hers, write a magazine column, and build a training company. Whenever I was faced with a choice and I doubted myself, I asked, What would Martha Beck do? as a way to help me make decisions based on what I wanted, not how I felt.

Asking this question is a form of cognitive restructuring. By stopping your thoughts and asking yourself a question, you interrupt your emotions and can focus your mind.

Now the hard part. You need to do it. What would your hero do? No thinking. No reconsidering. No uncertainty—just push yourself. Trust me, you’ll figure it out from there.

Another tip: When in doubt, flip a coin. My Martha Beck strategy uses logic, but flipping a coin taps into your heart and soul. If you must choose between two things, label them Choice A (heads) and Choice B (tails).

As the coin flies in the air, you’ll secretly root for one or the other. That’s how you’ll know what you truly want.

Source: http://www.success.com/blog/overthinking-everything-use-this-strategy-to-get-out-of-your-head 

“Sleep On It”: The Power Of Our Dreams | Asha Gill

Here’s a little riddle for you:

What do Frankenstein, the structure of Benzene, James Cameron’s The Terminator, Dali’s Persistence of Memory, a sewing machine, the Periodic Table, Paul McCartney’s Yesterday and Jack Nicklaus’s winning golf swing, all have in common?

All of the above and millions of other creations, inventions, world-changing decisions and discoveries in medicine, art, music, history, film, sports and just about every field that requires human thought, have arisen through the world of dreams.

Literally, people through the ages have gone to bed and switched off the light, snuffed out a candle or turned away from the fire keeping them warm, then dozed off and woken with fragments of ideas to full blown solutions. All seemingly arisen out of nowhere from the slumbering depths of their dreams.

The only difference between Mary Shelley, Cameron or Dali and us, is that they used these insights, took action and created the reality of their dreams in their waking world.

Imagine if we could do that?

Well, it is not just possible, but already actually happening to us every single night. The only difference is that we aren’t paying enough attention to what our dreams are saying.

Let’s face it, most people “poo poo” dreams as nothing but nonsensical gibberish.

You hear people say, “Oh, I had the strangest dream last night,” and they go on to explain the absurd, have a laugh if it was funny, feel a little unnerved if it was odd or even scary, but nothing more comes after this except for a dismissive “Oh well” before they move on to the next agenda for the day.

But what if your dreams were actually messages from you — to you?

What if all your dreams were trying to tell you something significant, important, a warning, a reminder or even give you that answer to a question you have been mulling over?

Perhaps all the guidance, advice, truth and help you are so desperate to get from your higher self or even your intuition — which you find so hard to feel or hear — are helping you at night, in your sleep, when you aren’t being so controlling?

The difficulty comes from the fact that our “sleeping” brain uses metaphors and images as a form of communication whilst our “waking” brain uses language. So there seems to be a disconnect until you take a closer look at how the two are part of the same “24-Hour Mind” that you use and they are in fact your partners in crime!

Your “sleeping brain” can’t talk to you, lest you start fearing nightly possession, worry you’re next if a resurrection of the Salem Witch trials comes around, or worse — you are going insane (also considered by some to be the Devil’s work 

So what your “sleeping” brain does is simply this:

Pulls a collage of images that you will recognize into a constructed sequence to tell a story that you will be able to decipher. Kind of like your own personal hieroglyphs a-la-modern picture flash cards. It will use snippets from movies, bring up certain emotions and put them into play by adding people, animals, a song, settings and places, things from the past and some seriously odd additions — like in one of my dreams — a melting sandwich of jam and gooey oozing cheese that I was unsuccessfully eating in the middle of a meeting with my boss.

This is why we think they are ridiculous and don’t deserve attention because they are so “whack,” “out-there,” or “wrong.”

When in fact, they are evidence of how crazily creative we truly are, that we have pulled together such a fantastic and realistic movie message just for us that screams for attention.

The only bummer is that we forget most of our dreams upon waking. However, that is often remedied with a simple journal and a pen.

If you’re still not convinced about looking into your dreams further, let’s just go to a very common phrase that is always bandied about:

“Sleep on it.”

I am sure you have said this or told someone else to do this. At that time, it might have been an off-handed comment to buy some time or create a distance between needing an answer now so you can give a more considered one later.

But seriously, think about this phrase, “‘Sleep on it.” Where did it come from?

To a large degree whilst it’s common to dismiss dreams, we don’t dismiss the idea of sleep being the provider for solutions, clarity, and therefore inspiration. We just don’t connect the dots of dreams + solutions.

Aha! You see that gap? So when sleep helps us get to the answers, we readily gobble up the solutions and off we go with them, never wondering where they came from.

And usually, it’s because we can’t remember our dreams, that we have forgotten where our ideas actually came from.

Let’s use Elias Howe, the man who invented the Sewing Machine, as an example, 

In 1845 Elias Howe had an idea about creating a machine that would use a needle to stitch a piece of cloth, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out the head nor tail of how it would work.

Then one night he had a nightmare about a group of cannibals who grab him and take him outside, where they danced around him and then, one by one, started stabbing him to death in a most gruesome frenzy!

Because this was a dream, instead of dying, he noticed the holes they were puncturing into him from the thrust and angle of the spear. When he woke up, he knew exactly how to create his machine.

Maybe he remembered the dream because it was so scary, but, say you didn’t remember the thrusting of spears because you just remember a nightmare about cannibals. Later on, as you sat at your desk, taking up yesterdays problem and trying to figure out how it would work, the solution might just “pop” into your head, seemingly out of nowhere!

You think you’re lucky, but actually, you are smarter and more creative than you could ever imagine, because you provided the right answer for yourself — you just don’t realize it yet.

Our dreams are a great barometer to what’s really happen with us — emotionally, mentally, in our relationships and life.

They help us see what we are really afraid of, what we really need and how to fix certain things. Most importantly, though, our dreams are a way to get to know ourselves so much better.

Knowing ourselves well leads to having a more authentic life, a stronger connection with our intuition and so much more self-belief! And when you get really good at this, you can go to bed at night with a problem and relax, knowing that by the morning, you are well on your way to the solution. How amazing is that?

So give your dreams a chance by embracing your inner artist, scientist, mad inventor. Don’t just keep a daily diary. Get yourself a special journal and pen for your dream diary. Keep it by your bedside and the minute you wake up, whenever that is, jot down the first things or images that come to your head. Try to capture the message you have for yourself.

Remember, even our nightmares, just like Elias Howe’s, may have some very amazing information for us.

— Asha Gill, Host of Mindvalley: Spirit & Soul

Source: http://blog.mindvalleyacademy.com/spiritual-growth/power-of-dreams-asha-gill