It’s All In Your Mind!

Many people today don’t realize that the reason they’re not happy, the reason they’re not enjoying life is simply because they have trained their minds in the wrong direction. They have trained their minds to worry. They have trained their minds to complain. They have trained their minds to see the negative. But just as you can form these negative mindsets, you can retrain your mind form godly mindsets.

I believe one of the main keys to retraining your mind and developing a positive attitude is by learning to stay grateful. When you stay grateful, you are focusing on what’s right rather than what’s wrong. The seed of the Word takes root in the good ground of your heart. This doesn’t happen automatically, you have to discipline yourself. You have to make a conscious effort every single day until a good habit is formed.

Remember, when you live with an attitude of praise and thanksgiving, you are shielding yourself from the attacks of the enemy.

The seeds of discouragement cannot take root in a grateful heart.

Neither can bitterness, envy or strife.

So today, retrain your mind and be empowered with strength to overcome in every area of your life!

I am trying very hard to… what about you?

Living Life To The Fullest - The Cival Mills Story

Many of us feel that life has been tough and feel down and disappointed. We forget to appreciate those small mercies in life that we are blessed with. Work pressure, Financial pressure, health and other issues sometimes makes us forget that we are lucky than many. We don’t make use of the circumstances we are blessed with, instead we grumble. There are many people who have made maximum use of their small mercies and look at life always from a positive perspective. Cival Mills is that one man and this is his story.

 At 26 years old, Cival Mills had a great life. He had always been a high achiever, successful in both sports and academics. He had recently earned a medical degree and looked forward to a great future. It all changed on December 8th, 2000.

 Only a couple of days away from finishing his hospital internship, he was driving to go see his girlfriend and got into an accident. When he woke up in the hospital, he found himself unable to move. Even though he was completely conscious, he wasn't able to move any muscle in his body except for his eyes. It was like a nightmare come true.

 Nobody was aware he was conscious until he laughed at a cartoon his sister showed him. He was diagnosed with locked-in syndrome and started learning how to communicate with his eye movements using a spelling chart. His first sentence was "Love you mom". It took him 20 minutes to spell out. 

Always be astonished by your abilities!

He challenged himself to reach the unreachable. The race to meet his goal would require one of the greatest medical and personal achievements ever.

In an ICU there is no day and no night; only the sound of people and machines trying to make the impossible possible. Cival Mills knew that with his intellect intact, he would one day be ready to live life again.

People from all walks of life were holding their breath as Cival Mills slowly started climbing the ladder back to life – away from the constant darkness of the unconscious mind. He started climbing up…  In an effort to do the impossible… he started to breathe on his own, he started to swallow…

Cival Mills spent 22 months in hospital; he was one of only a few patients suffering from this syndrome around the world to make it out of the hospital. He brought back with him many memories of deadly anxiety, of suicidal despair, of indescribable frustration, suffocating sadness and utter loneliness – of a weight he could not describe nor measure.

Cival Mills was piloted back to life by the many people who loved and cared for him, orbiting around him for almost 2 years in an effort to bring him safely back. He arrived back with the knowledge that nothing in life “happens by accident.”  Speechless, without any movement in his body except for some movement in his left hand, he never lost direction; he never gave up.  After 2 years of physical therapy, he regained the ability to move his left thumb. With a gadget he invented himself; he managed to type out his first inspirational book, titled "This Too Shall Pass". He has since also managed to regain movement in his neck, left arm and partial movement in his legs. In 2009, he completed a 350- mile bike ride across South Africa on a specially adapted quad bike for charity. He also scuba dives as a hobby and has written another book called "The Truth about Wheels". He is currently working as a motivational speaker

Cival Mills has today grown into a man on the move and is living testimony to his motto:

“never… never… never give up.”

Are You An Inspired Leader?

Dear Friends …

Every once in a while, as I’m reading, I come across a piece that is so powerful and thought provoking, I feel the need to share it – as is. No description … no explanation … no reinforcing of the message … no lesson from me. Just put it out there and let it speak for itself. Today is one of those times.

I encourage you to read it, remember it, and share it with your fellow leaders.

Leadership is not a top-down impulse but rather a bottom-up impact. The greatest leaders in history have not been dictators but rather directors – leadership maestros who used their gifts of vision, values and purpose to orchestrate actions that served a cause greater than themselves.

Giving orders is not leadership. Giving hope is. Leaders who serve the interests of those they lead earn far more than the obedience of their followers, they earn their respect.

Are you an inspired leader? It is good to reflect on how well we are living up to our own leadership challenges. How well are you serving your team and your organization? When was the last time you asked the people you lead how well you are meeting their professional needs? When was the last time that you took a few minutes to sit with each of your team members and asked them what you can do better to help them be more effective or more satisfied in their work? Have you ever asked your colleagues how you can inspire them to excel? Go ahead, ask the questions and do not fear the answers.

Inspired leadership is not about weak and strong; it’s about right and wrong. It’s about doing things the right way, for the right reasons and using your position of power, trust and influence to serve.

Serve as a facilitator to get things done. Serve as a mentor to grow your team members. Ultimately, the most inspired leaders serve as an example to others that the pinnacle of leadership is reached when you care more about others standing atop the summit than you do about your own view.

Cheers,

How to use the power of positive affirmations

Since recently, I’ve been feeling a bit unfocused and unsure of what the future holds. In order to tackle this, I’ve started practicing positive affirmations; something I’ve always found useful in focusing my mind and combating any negative thoughts that creep in. So, for this blog post, I’m going to talk about affirmations: what are they, why should we practice them and how can they help us?

What are affirmations?
Put simply, affirmations are statements we make to ourselves, and these can be either positive or negative.  Throughout the day our minds are filled with thoughts and chatter and this is, in effect, a stream of affirmations. For example, you might find yourself thinking: “I’m so broke. My paycheck never seems to last,” which is a negative affirmation. But at another time you might find yourself thinking something more positive like: “I love this weather. What a gorgeous day.”

Through these statements of fact that we make to ourselves we are subconsciously creating our life experiences. Our beliefs about life are just learned thought patterns which we have developed since childhood. Some of these may work to our advantage, but others can work against us, stopping us from achieving our potential.  So every affirmation we make to ourselves is a reflection of our beliefs.  If you find yourself constantly making negative affirmations it follows that your beliefs about life will be negative.

In order to turn this around, you could start practicing positive affirmations to train your subconscious mind towards a more positive state. It’s basically reprogramming your mind for the better.

How to create affirmations
Start by thinking about the different areas of your life that you would like to improve, eg health, finances, work, relationships, spiritual growth and so on. Think about each area in turn and write down a few positive statements summing up how you would like this area of your life to be. It’s important that the statements are in the present tense and are positive, focusing on what you DO want rather than what you DON’T want.

Here are some examples of positive affirmations, relating to different areas of life. You might want to try these yourself, but it’s much better to write your own as they are tailored specifically to you.

§ I have a healthy body and a happy mind.

§ I have plenty of energy.

§ My mind is calm and relaxed.

§ I have an enjoyable and fulfilling job.

§ Money flows easily and naturally into my life.

§ I radiate love and happiness.

§ I have a happy, loving relationship with my partner.

§ I am successful in all that I do.

How to use affirmations
The way to use affirmations is to repeat them on a constant, daily basis so that they sink into your subconscious. You could incorporate this as part of your daily routine. For example, as you are brushing your teeth or showering, remind yourself to repeat your affirmations. As you are doing your hair or dressing, look at yourself in the mirror and repeat your affirmations. This is a very powerful way of making these statements hit home.

Another idea is to write your affirmations on pieces of paper and leave them in places around your home where you will see them and be reminded of them. You could get together some cards and write a different affirmation on each one, place them in a bowl and draw one out each day, with the intention of focusing on that particular affirmation.

Why not use your imagination to come up with different ways to work with your affirmations?

Good luck and stay positive!

A Recipe on how to enjoy life better!

In today's post you'll discover a simple recipe that can help you to triple your enjoyment of your life ahead.

After booking her dream holiday, Emily pushed open the door of the travel agent’s office, glanced down at her wristwatch and rushed back to work.

Later that evening she caught up with a few friends for dinner and mentioned her trip to her old school friend Amy.

“Wow – You must be so excited!” said Amy.

“Yeah but… it’s SO far away at the moment it’s kind of a bit depressing” replied Emily.

To make sure that she didn’t get disheartened by the fact that her trip was still six months away, Emily made a conscious effort to put it out of her mind and just focus on her work.

The only problem with this approach was that it worked a little too well!

Two weeks before her trip, Emily bumped into Amy at the supermarket.

“So are you looking forward to your big adventure?” asked Amy. “Yeah but… I’ve got SO much to do before I go – it’s crazy!“ replied Emily.

“I’m trying to get the new girl at work up to speed, which means I’m training her most of the day and still doing a full case load myself. Then I have to finalize my accommodation, sort out my credit cards, find someone to look after my cat, redirect my mail, and I haven’t even started thinking about packing!”

Emily’s last two weeks were a hectic blur of activity that left her feeling exhausted.

But finally – she was away…

Having waited so long for her trip, Emily was determined that she wasn’t going to miss anything. During her flight, she created a long list of things to see and do in each city she was visiting.

When she reached her first port of call, she was a woman on a mission.

Each morning she checked her list over breakfast and then got started. When she arrived at an attraction, she took lots of photos, had a quick look around and then immediately moved on to the next item on her list.

If she got delayed or wasn’t able to tick off everything on her list, Emily became frustrated by the interruption to her tight schedule.

By the end of her trip, Emily had crossed off almost every item on her list and taken over 800 photos, but she couldn’t help feel as though something was missing.

Emily felt as though she’d been on a sightseeing rollercoaster and now suddenly the ride was over and it was time to return to her normal life.

She had hoped that she’d feel rested and reenergized by her holiday, but instead she felt tired and grumpy.

When she returned to work and people asked about her trip, Emily replied that it had been fantastic and showed off some of her photos of famous landmarks. But somehow these landmarks already seemed like a distant dream.

That night, Emily lay in bed and tried to figure out why she was feeling so low. She’d just been on her dream holiday – why did she feel so frustrated and empty – what had she missed?

What Emily had missed on her holiday was an understanding of what creates true enjoyment in life. As this story illustrates, we can often get so caught up in our desire to record and capture our experiences that we forget to actually LIVE those experiences.

To help you avoid this trap, here is a simple but powerful three-part ‘Recipe for Enjoyment’ that can make a profound impact on the way you see and appreciate the world around you.

Ingredient #1: Embrace the thrill of anticipation

The first ingredient in the Recipe for Enjoyment is to embrace the thrill of anticipation. Instead of blocking things out of your mind, take the time to explore, investigate and anticipate upcoming events.

For example, instead of ignoring her trip for 5 months, Emily could have read about the culture and history of the places she was going to visit. This would have greatly increased her sense of anticipation and given her a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the attractions she was visiting.

Ingredient #2: Take time to stop and enjoy the moment

The second ingredient in the Recipe for Enjoyment is to always take time to stop, and just enjoy the moment. For example, Emily would have had a very different holiday if she had put her camera away for a few days, slowed down and really connected with the people and places she was visiting.

Ingredient #3: Reminisce about your experiences

When we reminisce, talk and write about our experiences we reinforce the neural pathways in our mind associated with those experiences and make them more vivid and real. Over time, this process of active reminiscing helps us to create fond memories that can last a lifetime.

For example, if Emily took her best photos and loaded them into a digital photo frame, they would continually remind her of her trip.
Additionally she could take the time to write an account of her trip while it is still fresh in her mind. In years to come, this travel diary would become more and more valuable and would help her to develop fond memories that she could treasure forever.

This Recipe for Enjoyment is not however limited to major events such as overseas holidays. It can also be used to improve your enjoyment of simple day-to-day events.

As this example demonstrates, by following the Recipe for Enjoyment you can triple your enjoyment of any event in your life.

First you enjoy the anticipation of the event.

Then you take time to stop and enjoy the event itself.

And finally you enjoy reminiscing about the event.

So today I’d like to encourage you to use this simple recipe in your own life for both major and minor events, because when you increase your enjoyment of the events in your life, you increase your enjoyment of life itself.

Speak Life

Dear Friends,

It’s been a while since I last posted something on my blog. Most of us have the common problem with what comes out of our mouths, Here’s something for all of you to think about.

Maybe you aren’t where you want to be in life today. Could it be because of the words you’ve spoken in your past? Have you spoken words of death by saying things like, “I’ll never rise any higher; I’ve gone as far as I can go?” Or maybe you’ve said, “I’ll never break this addiction. I’ve had it too long; it’s too hard.” Now, you are eating the fruit of those words — you’re still in the same place.

If you are ready to change your situation, then it’s time to change what you say about your situation. If you want a different harvest, you have to change the seeds you are sowing. Today, choose to speak life over your future. Let your attitude be, “This may be the way it’s been in the past, but this is not the way it’s staying. I’m coming up higher. I may feel weak, but my declaration is that I am strong.” Speak life, choose life, and move forward in victory and blessing.

Cheers,

Do You Have A "Winning with Accountability" Attitude?

Dear Friends,

There is no doubt that accountability is the hidden secret of high performing individuals and high performing organizations. And, here are some perspectives on accountability that you, as a leader, need to remember:

Webster’s Dictionary defines “accountability” as “the quality or state of being accountable; an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility for one’s actions.”

People deal with us based on what they think about us, not what we think they should think about us. So, when we make a commitment, we have to fulfill that commitment in the eyes of others. It is not good enough to fulfill the commitment in our eyes – we have to fulfill the commitment in the eyes of others. That is the tricky part.

When we’re accountable, it is necessary for us to go to our customers, our suppliers, and the people we work for – and yes, the people who work with us – and ask them, “How am I doing?” We allow them to hold us accountable – in their eyes – for our commitments. Accountability is – first and foremost – about being reliable. To get a good picture of your personal accountability, you may want to periodically ask yourself, “Can people count on me to do what I say I’ll do, as I said I would do it?”

Accountability is about high performance and not fear or stress. It’s about being willing to hold yourself to a standard that improves the performance of your organization and also having a willingness to be held accountable by others.

Give every person more in use value than you take from them in cash value.

Dear Friends,

The fastest way to receive is to give, because giving starts the reciprocal action of receiving. We all receive according to how much we give. Give the best of you everywhere you go. Give a smile. Give thanks. Give kindness. Give love.

Your giving should be a giving without expectation of return – a giving for the sheer joy of it.

Cheers,

How to Rest Better and Enjoy Improved Well-being

Dear Friends,

Stress has become a literal killer in the current economic environment. Even if you have managed to keep your job as millions have been laid-off, there’s no Easy Street in sight. Office workers are doing more with less and dealing with constant uncertainty and fear of job loss. To stay relevant in boss’ eyes, professionals are working longer hours and taking on more high-pressure projects.

All of this adds up to a high stress lifestyle. Unchecked, stress can cause insomnia; eating disorders, including anorexia and binge eating; ulcers; hypertension and high blood pressure. In some extreme cases, stress has been known to trigger cardiac arrest and strokes.

That’s the bad news. The good news is there is plenty you can do about it. Exercise, eating well, hobby-like diversions and other similar activities can go a long way in rejuvenating mind and body. But the single best thing you can do to reduce the negative effects of stress and improve overall well-being is to sleep longer and better. The irony of that statement is that fitful sleep is usually one of the first casualties of stress.

That doesn’t mean you should succumb to stress and accept 3 a.m. pacing as normal. There are simple ways you can create a more suitable environment that is conducive to getting the sleep you need. To help you get started, here are 5 simple ideas that will help you get better sleep:

Avoid substances that can make sleep difficult. Specific items to avoid – at least in the afternoon and evening – include drinks with caffeine or alcohol and anything with nicotine.

Make your bedroom a sanctuary. Remove electronics including televisions, smart phones and computers so that you can disengage and relax without distraction. Control lighting and other sound as needed.

Maintain proper diet. That’s right; food can affect how well you sleep. Eat balanced meals that avoid items that could cause indigestion or other stomach discomforts. Some scientists believe that food deficiencies can aid insomnia, so make sure vitamins and minerals are at proper levels.

Get on a schedule. If you go to sleep and rise at the same times each day, your body will become more accustomed to maintaining that schedule. If your sleep cycle is erratic, it’s not surprising that the body can become confused about when it is appropriate to sleep.

Therefore I have decided to take Challenges on a daily basis. "One day at a Time".

Hope 2012 will bring all of you success with good health and with less stress.