Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself

Every day, as you see the same people (your boss, for example, and your spouse and kids), do the same things (drive to work, perform your daily tasks, and do the same workout), go to the same places (your favorite coffee shop, the grocery store you usually frequent, and your place of employment), and look at the same objects (your car, your house, your toothbrush ... even your own body), your familiar memories related to your known world “re-mind” you to reproduce the same experiences.

We could say that the environment is actually controlling your mind. Since the neuroscientific definition of mind is the brain in action, you repeatedly reproduce the same level of mind by “re-minding” yourself who you think you are in reference to the outer world. Your identity becomes defined by everything outside of you, because you identify with all of the elements that make up your external world. Thus, you’re observing your reality with a mind that is equal to it, so you collapse the infinite waves of probabilities of the quantum field into events that reflect the mind you use to experience your life. You create more of the same.

You may not think that your environment and your thoughts are that rigidly similar and your reality so easily reproduced. But when you consider that your brain is a complete record of your past, and your mind is the product of your consciousness, in one sense you might always be thinking in the past. By responding with the same brain hardware that matches what you remember, you’re creating a level of mind that is identical to the past, because your brain is automatically firing existing circuits to reflect everything you already know, have experienced, and thus can predict. According to quantum law (which, by the way, is still working for you), your past is now becoming your future.

Reason this: When you think from your past memories, you can only create past experiences. As all of the “knowns” in your life cause your brain to think and feel in familiar ways, thus creating knowable outcomes, you continually reaffirm your life as you know it. And since your brain is equal to your environment, then each morning, your senses plug you into the same reality and initiate the same stream of consciousness.

All of the sensory input that your brain processes from the external world (that is, seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling, and tasting) turns your brain on to think equal to everything familiar in your reality. You open your eyes and you know the person lying next to you is your spouse because of your past experiences together. You hear barking outside your door, and you know it’s your dog wanting to go out. There’s a pain in your back, and you remember it’s the same pain you felt yesterday. You associate your outer, familiar world with who you think you are, by remembering yourself in this dimension, this particular time and space.

To read the entire article and to learn how to Break the Habit of Being Yourself, go to blog.gaiam.com.


This post was written by Dr. Joe Dispenza for blog.gaiam.com.

10 Steps to Starting a New Habit and Creating Lasting Change in Your Life

If you want to change a habit, and make an everlasting change, the first thing to do is raise your standards. Change the belief and desire you have of yourself in the area you wish to change. Write down all the things you’ll no longer accept or tolerate and all the things you want to become and achieve. What do you demand of yourself?

A habit begins with a number of beliefs that together create a strategy. If repeated often enough, the strategy becomes a habit ... so how can you change a habit once it’s been formed?

It’s pointless to raise your standards and not believe you can achieve them; that’s called self-sabotage. Once you’ve raised your standards and decided on the habits you want to change, you must start to modify your limiting beliefs and remove your doubts by following this process:

1. Have a firm belief.

You need to have a firm belief, without any doubt in the achievement and success of your desires. These beliefs need to be like unquestioned commands. They’ll shape every thought, feeling and action you’ll take. Within the strength of these beliefs lies the “core” to real and everlasting change.

2. Your belief needs to be under control.

If not, no matter what you decide to change, you’ll never have the conviction to achieve your goals or the desire to truly change.

3. Create a strategy. 

Once you have the beliefs that will lead to your success ingrained within you, you then need to have a strategy to achieve the results. I’ve provided the example result of getting in shape below; follow this strategy to enhance your belief in your goal.

Set your beliefs that you're in great shape and physically fit; you know what you can accomplish (such as running a marathon); and you can see yourself doing this, you can hear the applause (or whatever sound) and you have the feelings. (Don’t use the phrase “I want ...” as that will result in your goal being pushed further in the future; use “I am ...”).

Enhance the whole image you’ve set in your mind.

• Adjust the brightness to bring it to clarity.
• Adjust the color to enhance its brilliance.
• Adjust the size of the picture to make it life-sized.
• If it’s a still picture, make it a movie; if it’s a movie, make it a still picture. Adjust the speed of the movie until it feels the most realistic.
• If there are sounds, adjust these to make them heard in surround sound.
• Feel the feelings inside you; relishing how good it feels when you can create the body you want.

Allow your inner being to do its part in fulfilling your goal — letting change occur. After these changes have taken place and been performed repetitively, a new pattern will develop that will create the habitual change within you.

Determine what has to happen for you to know that you’ve made the desired changes in your life. What would be the final step? Would it be that you can fit in a dress that you purposely bought for a special day? Would it be that people comment on the "new" you? You'll need to write down this final step as your evidence step.

4. Choose steps.

Choose several steps you can take each day that will assist you on your journey toward the new you, to make this new pattern ingrained into your subconscious mind and ultimately creating new habits. For the exercise example, your steps might include:

• Set the alarm clock 45 minutes early.
• Have workout clothes laid out the night before, for easy accessibility.
• Take the dog on your walk; you’ll get companionship and the dog will benefit from the exercise, too.
• Have a healthy lunch prepared the night before.
• Stock your fridge with healthy snacks you can grab quickly when you’re hungry.
• Plan all your meals in advance.
• Schedule exercise, meals and other healthy activities into your day planner or PDA.

5. Be very specific.

Write down a date when you’ll start this new strategy and how often you'll do it. Choose the route you'll take in the neighborhood or which gym you’ll visit. State exactly in the present tense what you’re doing, as in, “I’m walking three miles today and will do so on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.” This is much better than simply saying, “I will exercise each week.” Being specific implies a commitment to your goal.

6. Make a commitment to start.

Think about what’s at stake and focus again on the list you made, thinking about how it’ll feel and what benefits you'll receive when you incorporate this strategic change into your life. We’ve all had the experience of wanting to start an exercise program “next week”; when next week comes and goes, we just put things off, and it never happens. Make the commitment to begin — and follow through.

7. Thank yourself for participating.

It’s OK to be grateful to yourself; this is a wonderful affirmation. Hearing the words "thank you" relaxes the muscles and deepens the resolve. If someone, anyone, thanks you for something, it naturally makes you feel good. You want to keep doing it to get that praise again, so praise yourself. Soon others will see the positive changes in your life and praise you, too.

8. Notice when you don’t follow through.

Ask yourself why, but be careful not to beat up yourself over a lapse. Do you need to alter the motivation or the steps to your new strategy? Was there something that created some doubt in your mind? If so, change it back. The results you get are the product of your thinking, so if you continue to be disappointed at what you achieve, you must be willing to ask yourself some hard questions and change your beliefs.

9. Use your affirmations.

Often people will take the affirmations they’ve created and make an audio recording of them that can be played back each morning as they exercise. This is a great way to start the day on a positive and upbeat note while encouraging yourself to commit to your new habit.

10. Journal your progress.

This is very important. Journaling is a way to keep track of how far you’ve come and how much you’ve accomplished, which can sometimes be difficult for you to remember. Journaling can be as simple as a brief paragraph noting what days you performed a certain habit or task and what the outcome was. You can also use a journal to record specifics of your diet and exercise regime as well as how you’re feeling as a whole and any emotional events that are occurring. It's important to do this daily. The more specific you are with your journaling, the better reference tool it will become.

This post was written by Melonie Dodaro for blog.gaiam.com.

Positive Thinking Exercises

4 Steps to prove self-worth and settle for nothing less than success

Today, millionaires, happy people, and celebrities have come forward to discuss their loyalty to positive thinking exercises. In fact, so many have pledged allegiance to the power of positive thinking that you’ve likely given it a try. However, what you’ve probably realized is what many of these celebrities and successful individuals have been saying all along — thinking positively isn’t easy.

Like any other skill, you have to learn positive thinking. And you need to have a list of positive thinking exercises that you can rely on to block out the negative and embrace the good in your life. Here are some positive thinking tips that may take some time to implement, but can change the way you think.

Positive speaking exercises

According to RN Center’s nursing library, positive speaking can help you achieve positive results. When you say phrases like “I can’t;” “I’m not good enough;” and “I’m a bad mother, worker, person, etc.,” you start to believe that this is the truth. Instead, convince yourself that you are good enough to succeed by not only telling yourself that you can, but also repeating your affirmations — tell yourself that you’re good enough to deserve success.

Positive thinking exercises

RN Center’s nursing library recommends using a popular psychotherapy tool — creating a positive thought. Let the negative thoughts that begin to overwhelm you act as a trigger for the positive thought you’ve stored in your mind. For example, train yourself that as soon as you begin to think a negative thought like, "I'm a failure," switch tracks to your pre-stored positive thought, which could be something like, "I'm a great friend and a hard worker." Thinking negatively has the same effect as speaking negatively — you begin to convince yourself that your life is negative; you can’t be happy! When you train yourself to consciously choose positive thoughts, you choose happiness.

Negativity exercises

Even when thinking positively, you will experience some negative events in your life. However, you can choose to use those negative events as teaching tools rather than dwelling on them as exhibits of your failure. When you think of a negative event, do so in an analytical, academic way. Pick out the problem, and determine how to correct it in the future. But most of all, remember that what happened is in the past, and dwelling on it can only mean more failure.

Praising yourself exercises

When you do something well, give yourself praise. Often times, we’ve been raised to think this shows vanity. It doesn’t! It shows that you love yourself and want to improve your well-being. Every time you do something well, repeat praise for yourself in your thoughts. Also, store those positive moments in your memory bank for the future, when you can dwell on them to remind yourself that you are capable and worthy of success.

This post was written by E.C. LaMeaux for blog.gaiam.com. 

Click here to purchase my ebook 101 Affirmations for the Mother-to-Be.

Leap and the Net Will Appear

“Something in you is always calling you to dive into your greatness.” Once you do, you will discover that you have always been amazing, talented, unique, powerful, expansive, abundant and destined to live an incredible life. On some level, we always know this. The challenge is getting to a place where we leap no matter what we are currently experiencing. 

This is an excerpt of an article written by Cynthia James. Click the link to read this entire post written for blog.gaiam.com.

Celebrating You!

Take time to celebrate who you are and all that you have accomplished.  Your courage and confidence just might ignite other women to love and care for themselves with great passion and intention. 

Clear Vision

There are times in our life when we need to stop and assess the compass in our life.  We need to ensure that we are on the right path and have clear direction for the future.  There are other times, of course, when we just need to wake up and pray that we make it through the day.

Whichever scenario you faced today, there is a way to build momentum and remain focused on what is important in your life and the destinations that await you.  Create a Vision Board.

This project is relatively simple.  You will need a blank board and a glue stick to get started.  Brainstorm about what you desire to include on your board.  Will it be designed to get you up and moving in the morning?  Or will it include distant goals that you want to stay focused on?  Maybe it ill be both short and long term goals.

Brainstorm about what you desire to include on your board.  Will it be designed to get you up and moving in the morning?  Or will it include distant goals that you want to stay focused on?  Maybe it ill be both short and long term goals.  These details will help you decide on the size of your board.  

Now, get started.  Cut out images that represent significant items in your life that you desire to include in your vision board.  You can use images from magazines, newspapers, or any item that depicts a part of your vision.

After you've selected the images you'd like to include, start gluing them to your board.  You'll be surprised at how fast it comes together and how clear your vision becomes.  Add as few or as many images as you'd like. Remember, you can always add more later.  Just listen to your spirit and design from your heart.

Here's my latest Vision Board.  It represents who I am and where I am journeying to.  

I hope you're inspired to begin your personal Vision Board today.  

If you can see it and believe it, you can achieve it!

The Power of Positive Post Its

Use these quotes and websites as inspiration to fill your life with positive reinforcement!

Need courage or motivation?

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The best protection any woman can have . . . is courage.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton
“Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice.” Wayne Dyer
“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” Dale Carnegie
“Action is the antidote to despair.” Joan Baez
“Always do what you are afraid to do.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keep calm and carry on.

“Henceforth I ask not good fortune. I myself am good fortune.” Walt Whitman
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” Henry Ward Beecher
“The best way out is always through.” Robert Frost

Life is beautiful.

“Happiness resides not in possessions, and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul.” Democritus
“Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.” Walt Whitman
“I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars.” Walt Whitman
“Life is the only real counselor; wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissue.” Edith Wharton
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anais Nin

This post is an excerpt of the original taken from HealingLifestyles.com.

BE YOU.

This is an excerpt from The Hot Mom's Handbook.  I'm enjoying this book.  If you need a good dose of motivation, you'll enjoy it too.

"It's time to be more than a mom.  It's time to be every bit of everything that you are.  It's time to be who you want to be and not who anyone else thinks you should be.  It's time to be bold, to be smart, to be true to your inner self.  It's time to embrace and nurture who you are because there is absolutely no one in the whole world like you- own that.  Be you and be proud."

The Hot Mom's Handbook: Moms Have More Fun!

By Jessica Denay

Home Safety

June is Home Safety Month.  Check out the website of the Home Safety Council that's full of resources to keep your home, health, & family as safe as possible: www.homesafetycouncil.org

The Bookshelf

I've decided to post at least one book each day for the remainder of the year.  I want to empower mothers to be, and live, the best life possible.  By reading the experiences of others and being filled with encouragement and inspiration, I believe that we all can do just that.

I encourage you to find and cultivate your passions.  Understand that each book will not interest or speak to you, but there are tons of opportunities to enhance who you are and where you are and be fueled on toward your destiny.

I'll start filling The Bookshelf tomorrow.  So be sure to checkout the Books category each time you return to This Holistic Life.

Image taken from homewithpurpose.blogspot.com 

Financial Fitness

As a new Stay at Home Mom and Small Business Owner, my relationship with money has changed drastically over the past year.  I have to be more calculating and creative with the way I allocate my dollars and recognize how this new correlation is affecting me.

Yes, even our finances can affect our health and wellness.  Let’s face it, money does not equal happiness, but it does give us options.  We need to make wise financial decisions and clear up previous monetary mistakes.  Undesirable financial situations can weigh heavily upon us and take a toll on our mental and emotional well-being.  This ultimately affects our sense of balance and may also affect our physical and spiritual wellness.

We want to give our children the best, teach them to use money wisely, & have enough left over to treat ourselves to something nice.  Check out this great resource that I use to keep me financially fit:

DailyWorth

A Community of Women who talk Money.

“In early 2009, Amanda Steinberg founded DailyWorth to build a trusted platform for women to learn about money management. DailyWorth was born out of a shocking realization that we women need solid advice – dished up in their own language – to get on top of our personal finances and work toward what we like to call “money harmony”.

But beyond the tactical steps to move the needle in your bank account, DailyWorth seeks to empower women around the topic of finance—to replace the negative, defeated thoughts with positive, empowering ones—by providing an open and honest community of women who talk money. DailyWorth has become the leading website connecting thousands of women nationwide—from all walks of life—around their money.” –taken directly from the About page of DailyWorth

Know Your Worth!

Text4Baby

Text4Baby is an educational program that provides weekly text messages to your cell phone throughout your pregnancy and your baby's first year.

To sign up or learn more go to www.text4baby.org.

Stay Inspired

Now that Mother's Day is over and you've enjoyed the celebration, it's vital that you stay inspired.  It would be nice if we could bottle up all of the love and praise that was received yesterday and just open it for a sprinkle or two every time we need it, but life doesn't work that way.  So here are a few suggestions:


Surround yourself with people who inspire you:  Whether in person, online or in a book, soak up the presence and experiences of those who you admire and challenge you to be greater.  Having positive examples around you helps you to remain focused on what is important in life and strive to be your best.


Go places that inspire you:  Whether you like the great outdoors or prefer to stay inside, frequenting the places that excite you and stir up your imagination will help you to remain positive, energized, and inspired.


Things that inspire:  Each person is inspired by something different.  What things inspire you?  Do you have those things at home or in your bag?  Do you use or view them when you need a boost or are they stuffed away in the closet?  Figure out what things you enjoy and keep them handy.


Living holistically means that there are times when you have to inspire yourself.  Learning how to stay inspired will enable you to maximize every moment and experience while sharing all of your amazing qualities with the world around you.

Pay close attention to the things that excite you and don't be afraid to use them!  When you remain inspired, you're always prepared to impact and inspire all those you encounter.

Massage Matters

Massages have many benefits which is why I believe that they're more of a necessity than an indulgence.

Some of those benefits include relief of pain, stress, insomnia, migraine headaches and other aliments.

Massages have a therapeutic hormonal affects as well.  They help to decrease the stress hormone cortisol and increases dopamine and serotonin.  These affects ease pain, improve your mood, lower your heart rate and blood pressure and promotes healing in muscle tissue.

Some hospitals and insurance companies are offering massages as a regular therapy because of these, and other, known benefits.  Be sure to check on the therapies available to you and take advantage of these great benefits.

Stay tuned to This Holistic Life for the Self-Massage Series.

You're An Inspiration

Just in case you haven't heard it in a while, You're An Inspiration! As a woman and a mother, you inspire the lives of others each and every day.  


Just wanted to shower you with a bit of inspiration to encourage you to keep being wonderful!  Have a great day!!!

Get Organized, Get Cozi

One major stress reduction tip is to get organized.  As moms we have tons of things to do and remember and staying organized can become a challenge.  Cozi is a wonderful, free online calendar and mobile app to organize your whole family.  This system gives you the ability to color-code each family members tasks and to send you email or text reminders.  Whether you need to organize your shopping list or doctors appointments, this program is a great resource for busy families.  Check out the demo:

Cozi Demo

www.cozi.com

What I Know For Sure

I recently received some subscription information for O magazine in the mail. One of the inserts included a postcard written by Oprah Winfrey entitled What I Know for Sure. She describes being stumped by the question “what do you know for sure” and how she has never stopped asking herself the question since. Here is her all-time top 10 list:

1. What you put out comes back all the time, no matter what. (This is my creed.)
2. You define your own life. Don’t let other people write your script.
3. Whatever someone did to you in the past has no power over the present. Only you give it power.
4. When people show you who they are, believe them the first time. (A lesson from Maya Angelou.)
5. Worrying is wasted time. Use the same energy for doing something about whatever worries you.
6. What you believe has more power than what you dream, wish, or hope for. You become what you believe.
7. If the only prayer you ever say is “thank you,” that will be enough. (From the German theologian and humanist Mesiter Eckhart.)
8. The happiness you feel is in direct proportion to the love you give.
9. Failure is a signpost to turn you in another direction.
10. If you make a choice that goes against what everyone else thinks, the world will not fall apart.

After reading Oprah’s list, I immediately wrote my own list of what I know for sure (right now). Here they are in no particular order:

1. You are what you think and speak. Eventually you’ll speak what you think about yourself. Those thought and words have life and will become your life.
2. Change is inevitable so face it with grace and optimism. Complaining about it is a waste of time and energy. Expect great things to from every situation.
3. What I do and don’t do impacts the world and everyone in it. My decisions effect history.
4. I was wonderfully created and I’m full of purpose. (So are you!)
5. I have the capacity to love and forgive unconditionally. I chose whether or not I’ll operate at maximum capacity.
6. The mind, body, spirit connection matters. If one is off balance, it will eventually cause the others to be off balance as well.
7. We are all different on purpose. We meant to need, perfect, and complement one another.
8. Everyone wants and deserves to be loves. (Even if you never admit it.)
9. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. –Eleanor Roosevelt
10. If I worry about what everyone else is doing or thinking, I’ll never have time to figure out and carry out my own purpose, vision, and plan.

Take a few minutes and write your own list. You’ll be surprised of what you know for sure.