Tag Archives: Emotional Well-being

Feeling Good and Well-Being

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Feeling good means that your body and mind are working at their peak level, and you have a general sense of well-being.

To feel good day after day, according to David Rakel, MD, director of the integrative medicine program at the University of Wisconsin, means that your body and mind are working at their peak level, and you have a general sense of physical, mental and emotional well-being. Dr. Rakel suggests:

Practicing Mindfulness: Stay focused on the present moment.

When you stop, look around and be mindful of the present moment, this life is pretty amazing.

“If we can learn to recognize the clutter that our mind is in and learn to be more mindful of the present moment, that can be a tremendous asset to our overall sense of well-being,” Rakel says. The “clutter” that can make you feel bad includes regret about the past and worry that bad things might happen to you.

A practice called mindfulness can help you reduce the clutter by keeping your focus on the present moment.

Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

To be more mindful, try to:

  • Take in the colors, sounds, and smells that surround you at any given time.
  • Pay attention to your breath moving in and out of your body for a few moments.
  • Let worrisome thoughts flow out of your mind when they pop up, rather than giving them attention and dwelling on them.

Whenever you bring awareness to what you’re directly experiencing via your senses, or to your state of mind via your thoughts and emotions, you’re being mindful. And there’s growing research showing that when you train your brain to be mindful, you’re actually remodeling the physical structure of your brain.

Essentially, mindfulness lights up parts of our brains that aren’t normally activated when we’re mindlessly running on autopilot.

“Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally,” says Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of the research-backed stress-reduction program Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

Practice staying positive.

The definition of being positive is having hope and confidence in one’s ability to handle what’s tough, along with remembering that nothing is all negative all the time, states Angela L., editor for A-Lifestyle.com.

Shifting perspective can help you live a happier, more fulfilling life.

Being positive starts with changing your perspective on how you see things. The same event can happen to two people, and one views it as a positive and one views it as a negative. So try to see the good side of the things and people around you; it can help you stay free of anxiety and depression, Rakel says.

Research says that we have powerful capabilities to choose positive ways and emotions of thinking. Our emotions change our body at the cellular level. Rather than trying to get rid of negative feelings, we can choose to respond to them differently. To live a happier life, it’s essential to learn how to highlight the positive thinking and improve your outlook on life.

If you believe something is negative, then it probably will be (and vice versa). Challenge that negativity by embracing the mindset of a fixer and a doer. If there’s a will, there’s a way! That’s truly how to stay positive.

You can’t control what happens to you, but one things you can control are your perspective and how you respond. It’s up to you to look for the right side in everything and react most positively.

Make a spiritual .

As long as your happiness depends on things that are impermanent, such as new luxury vehicles or new homes, you will always be disappointed and unhappy over the long-term.

If you want to achieve long-lasting peace and serenity, then your spiritual practice must become a way of life.

Rakel defines this spiritual practice as spending time on “that which gives your life meaning and purpose.”This could be your spiritual beliefs, enjoying nature, or sharing moments with loved ones. “If we get up in the morning excited about something that gives us meaning and self-purpose, our bodies do all they can to heal,” Rakel says.

In short, your happiness must depend on something that is constant and consistent. One thing in your lives that is constant is the present moment, and this is at the core of spiritual practice.

Be around people.

Having good interpersonal relationships and a good support network of family, friends, coworkers, and other people who care about you can help you stay healthier, feel less stressed, and even live a longer life. Spend time with these people regularly, and work to keep your relationships with them strong.

References:

  1. https://www.webmd.com/balance/features/more-energy
  2. https://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/
  3. https://thriveglobal.com/stories/12-simple-ways-to-stay-positive-and-happy/

Growing Your Gratitude

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“The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now. And the more grateful you are, the more you get.” — Oprah Winfrey

By cultivating a life of gratitude, you will be able to feel joy no matter what your circumstances are. As dark as things might seem, if you can dig deep and find something to be grateful for, your whole attitude can change.

According to an article in Psychology Today, “Scientists say that these techniques (focusing on gratitude) shift our thinking from negative outcomes to positive ones, elicit a surge of feel good hormones like dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, and build enduring personal connections.”

Being grateful shouldn’t be reserved for those times when it’s easy to be grateful, either. Gratitude promotes life. It’s optimistic. Practical. It takes courage and brains to be grateful.

Gratitude clears the way for positive choice and change. It motivates and moves you into a higher place so you feel better. Hopeful. Strong.

When you appreciate things you’re kinder. Gratitude boosts you physically, mentally and emotionally.

Gratitude helps you build wealth

Nourishing yourself with gratitude makes you feel stronger, more alert and alive. It builds up and strengthens your entire body, mind and spirit.

Six strategic steps to fill up your gratitude account:

  1. Call it “intentional gratitude” or “conscious appreciation” but build a new habit of expressing gratitude frequently. It will make you feel fortunate, powerful and kind.
  2. Create a specific daily mantra for yourself — a prayer, wish, vow or commitment —
    ‘I am grateful for_______________’. Have it in your mind. Say it to people. Write it in notes and emails.
  3. “Thank you” takes one second to say. Consciously look to express it and do good things often. Don’t miss an opportunity to be grateful.
  4. Start a Daily Gratitude Journal – Write 3 things you’re grateful for every night before bed.
  5. How does gratitude live in the world? Look for examples in music, art, literature, daily life, history, people you see and know.
  6. Acknowledge negativity and counter it with genuine appreciation and thanks.

“Gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships…regardless of the inherent or current level of someone’s gratitude, it’s a quality that individuals can successfully cultivate further.”

References:

  1. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/grow-your-gratitude-six-easy-steps-for-smart-people_b_5760096
  2. https://www.aplanforjoyinthehome.com/grow-in-gratitude/
  3. https://www.seventeen.com/life/a37198250/gratitude-quotes/

Just for Today

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Think and act cheerfully, and you will feel cheerful.

Create your happiness by follow daily program of cheerful and constructive thinking written by Sibyl F. Partridge.

  1. Just for today, I will be happy. This assumes that what Abraham Lincoln said is true, that “most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Happiness is from within; it is not a matter of externals.
  2. Just for today, I will try to adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my family, my business, and my luck as they come and fit myself to them.
  3. Just for today, I will take care of my body. I will exercise it, care for it, nourish it, not abuse or neglect it, so that it will a perfect machine for my bidding.
  4. Just for today, I will try to strengthen my mind. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
  5. Just for today, I will exercise my soul in three ways; I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do, as William James suggest, just for exercise.
  6. Just for today, I will be agreeable. I will look as well as I can, dress as becomingly as possible, talk low, act courteously, be liberal with praise, criticize not at all, not find fault with anything and not try to regulate nor improve anyone.
  7. Just for today, I will try to live this day only, not to tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do things for twelve hours that would appall me if I had to keep them up for a lifetime.
  8. Just for today, I will have a program and plan. I will write down what I expect to do every hour. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will eliminate two pests, hurry and indecisive.
  9. Just for today, I will have a quiet half-hour all by myself and relax. In this half-hour sometimes I will think of God, so as to get a little more perspective on life.
  10. Just for today, I will be unafraid, especially I will not be afraid to be happy, to enjoy what is beautiful, to love, to believe that those I love, love me.

Written by Sybil F. Partridge and printed in How To Stop Worrying, And Start Living by Dale Carnegie, 1951

Long-Term Investing

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“Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas.” — Paul Samuelson

Everyone is a long-term investor up to the moment the stock market correction or crash occurs. “During bull markets, everyone believes that he is committed to stocks for the long term,” opines Billionaire investor William J. Bernstein. “Unfortunately, history also tells us that during bear markets, you can hardly give stocks away. Most investors are simply not capable of withstanding the vicissitudes of an all-stock investment strategy.

Yet, successful investing is a long game. It takes “time, patience and discipline”, says Warren Buffett. When you put money to work in markets it’s best to set it and forget it. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett quipped, “Over the long term, the stock market news will be good. In the 20th century, the United States endured two world wars and other traumatic and expensive military conflicts; the Depression; a dozen or so recessions and financial panics; oil shocks; a fly epidemic; and the resignation of a disgraced president. Yet the Dow rose from 66 to 11,497.”

Myopic Loss Aversion

Investors must manage the battle between fear and greed in their heads and stomachs to be successful in building wealth in the long term. Unfortunately, the fear of loss is generally a more powerful force that overwhelms many investors during periods of steep losses in stock prices.

Even though they don’t plan to liquidate the investment for decades, many investors panic during market corrections and bear markets; causing them to miss out on the often sharp recovery in prices that follows.

Being a long-term investor is more about inner attitude, about positive mindset and about behavior then the asset holding timeframe. Being a long-term investor requires a confidence based on clarity of purpose, rigorous research, and insightful analysis.

Long-term investors should invest in sustainable and growing companies – companies that are likely to be around and that are increasing their intrinsic value for the long term.

Behavior is an essential value of a long-term investor since behavior drives results. Thus, staying calm during a downturn is indeed a critical quality of any long-term investor,

For long-term investors, if you are clear about your investment principles, confident in your investment’s thesis, and genuinely believe in your investment strategy, a market downturn is the best time to invest in companies.

Overall, investing is all about focusing on your financial goals and ignoring the noise and mania of the markets and the financial media. That means buying and holding for the long term, regardless of any news that might move you to try and time the market. “There is only one way of investing, and that is long term,” says Vid Ponnapalli, a CFP and owner of Unique Financial Advisors and Tax Consultants in Holmdel, N.J.

Investor, Mohnish Pabrai, says it best, “You don’t make money when you buy stocks, and you don’t make money when you sell stocks. You make money by waiting.”

“Successful Investing takes time, discipline and patience. No matter how great the talent or effort, some things just take time: You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.” Warren Buffett

References:

  1. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/tips-for-long-term-investing/
  2. https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b18x07sykt3psy/What-Long-Term-Investor-Really-Means
  3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbes-shook/2022/05/10/an-investors-mind-6-ways-it-can-block-the-path-to-long-term-wealth/?sh=7ca749405f7c

The Great Benefits and Joy of Movement

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“Anytime you engage in regular activity, you’re becoming this version of yourself that is more hopeful, more motivated, more energized, and better able to connect with others.” ~Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.

Knowing only great benefits and happiness will result from movement, why are Americans so resistant to making movement a priority in their day?

While our brains and bodies reward us for moving and exertion, we also are built with an instinct to avoid overexertion, conserve energy, to rest, to avoid discomfort, and avoid failure and embarrassment, says Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., a research psychologist, a lecturer at Stanford University, and an award-winning science writer and author of The Joy of Movement.

To retrain our bodies to encourage movement, we must first start with self-compassion and the practice of gratitude. We must remove the negative connotations from movement and recognize how the practice of movement can be really rewarding on its own.

“Exercise is health-enhancing and life-extending, yet many of us feel it’s a chore.” Kelly McGonigal

Research shows, according to Dr. McGonigal, there are three motivations that keep people moving:

  • Enjoyment – doing something you actually enjoy
  • The activity provides social community or sense of identity (i.e. “I’m a runner”), … positive social connection, and
  • It’s a personal challenge and meaningful to you as you’re making progress toward a goal.

If you can find an activity that gives you all three – you’re hooked for life! Exercise is health-enhancing and life-extending, yet many of us feel it’s a chore and burden.

Movement can be a source of joy and is intertwined with some of the most basic human joys, including self-expression, social connection, and mastery–and why it is a powerful antidote to the modern epidemics of depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

Basically, bliss can be found in any sustained physical activity, whether that’s hiking, swimming, cycling, dancing, or yoga. However, the runner’s high emerges only after a significant effort. It seems to be the brain’s way of rewarding you for working hard.

McGonigal tells the stories of people who have found fulfillment and belonging through running, walking, dancing, swimming, weightlifting, and more, with examples that span the globe.

Along the way, Dr. McGonigal paints a portrait of human nature that highlights our capacity for hope, cooperation, and self-transcendence.

Movement is integral to both our happiness and our humanity. By harnessing the power of movement, you can create happiness, meaning, and connection in your life.

The latest theory about the runner’s high claims that: Our ability to experience exercise-induced euphoria is linked to our earliest ancestors’ lives as hunters, scavengers, and foragers.

As biologist Dennis Bramble and paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman write, “Today, endurance running is primarily a form of exercise and recreation, but its roots may be as ancient as the origin of the human genus.”

The neurochemical state that makes running gratifying may have originally served as a reward to keep early humans hunting and gathering. What we call the runner’s high may even have encouraged our ancestors to cooperate and share the spoils of a hunt.

In our evolutionary past, humans may have survived in part because physical activity was pleasurable. It takes about six weeks of consistent moderate movement to see structural and neurochemical changes in your brain. And, increase intensity amplifies the benefits. The harder stuff seems to payoff. Exercise gets easier and more pleasurable sooner.

The key to unlocking the runner’s high is not the physical action of running itself, but can be achieved on continuous moderate intensity exercise. And in fact scientists have documented a similar increase in endocannabinoids from cycling, walking on a treadmill at an incline, and outdoor hiking.

If you want the high, you just have to put in the time and effort. 

References:

  1. https://getmadefor.com/blogs/perspective/the-joy-of-movement-how-looking-backwards-moves-us-forward
  2. https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Movement-exercise-happiness-connection/dp/0525534105/ref=nodl

Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., is a research psychologist, a lecturer at Stanford University, and an award-winning science writer and author of The Joy of Movement.

An Attitude of Gratitude

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“Be in a state of gratitude for everything that shows up in your life. Be thankful for the storms as well as the smooth sailing. What is the lesson or gift in what you are experiencing right now? Find your joy not in what’s missing in your life but in how you can serve.” Wayne Dyer

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful. It’s a readiness to show appreciation

Gratitude is a foundational element to building wealth. Gratitude allows you to find joy in and focus on what you already have because envy is the stealer of wealth and comparison is the thief of joy.  If you are constantly comparing yourself to others you will never have enough. You will feel empty and inadequate. You will not find happiness.

As media mogul Oprah Winfrey explains, “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”

“Gratitude turns what you have into enough.” Unknown

“Mother Theresa talked about how grateful she was to the people she was helping, the sick and dying in the slums of Calcutta, because they enabled her to grow and deepen her spirituality,” explains Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., is the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude and professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis.

Like Mother Theresa’s spiritual growth, there are several important reasons that gratitude can have transformative effects on your own life, according to Dr. Emmons. Additionally, there are four effects he sites:

1. Gratitude allows you to appreciate and celebrate the present. It magnifies positive emotions.

Research on emotion shows that positive emotions wear off quickly. Our emotional system likes newness and novelty. It likes change. You adapt to positive life circumstances so that before too long, the new car, the new spouse, the new house—they don’t feel so new and exciting anymore.

But gratitude makes you focus on and appreciate the value of something, and when you appreciate the value of something, you extract more benefits from it; you’re less likely to take it for granted, states Dr. Emmons.

In effect, gratitude allows you to participate more in life. You notice the positives more, and that magnifies the pleasures you get from life. Instead of adapting to goodness, you celebrate goodness. You spend more time watching and doing things with gratitude. Effectively, you become a greater participant in your life as opposed to being a spectator.

2. Gratitude blocks toxic, negative emotions, such as envy, resentment, regret—emotions that can destroy our happiness. A 2008 study by psychologist Alex Wood in the Journal of Research in Personality, showed that gratitude can reduce the frequency and duration of episodes of depression.

You cannot feel envious and grateful at the same time. They’re incompatible feelings. If you’re grateful, you can’t resent someone for having something that you don’t.

3. Grateful people are more stress resistant. There’s a number of studies showing that in the face of serious trauma, adversity, and suffering, if people have a grateful disposition, they’ll recover more quickly. In short, gratitude gives people a perspective from which they can interpret negative life events and help them guard against post-traumatic stress and lasting anxiety.

4. Grateful people have a higher sense of self-worth. When you’re grateful, you have the sense that someone else is looking out for you—someone else has provided for your well-being, or you notice a network of relationships, past and present, of people who are responsible for helping you get to where you are right now.

Once you start to recognize the contributions that other people have made to your life—once you realize that other people have seen the value in you—you can transform the way you see yourself.

Thus, it’s imperative for you to cultivate gratitude and to overcome the challenges to gratitude. You must put conscious and deliberate effort into practicing gratitude.

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” Zig Ziglar

First is to keep a gratitude journal as a way to cultivate gratitude, says Dr. Emmons. This can mean listing just five things for which you’re grateful every week. This practice works because it consciously, intentionally focuses your attention on developing more grateful thinking and on eliminating ungrateful thoughts. It helps guard against taking things for granted; instead, you will see gifts in life as new and exciting. People who live a life of pervasive thankfulness really do experience life differently than people who cheat themselves out of life by not feeling grateful.

Another gratitude exercise is to practice counting your blessings on a regular basis, maybe first thing in the morning, maybe in the evening. What are you grateful for today? You don’t have to write them down on paper.

Additionally, you can use concrete reminders to practice gratitude, says Dr. Emmons. For example, a Vancouver family developed a practice of putting money in “gratitude jars.” At the end of the day, they put spare change into those gratitude jars. They had a regular reminder, a habit, to get them to focus on gratitude. When the jar became full, they gave away the money to a good cause within their community.

Gratitude journals and other gratitude practices seem simple and basic, but studies have shown that people who keep gratitude journals for just three weeks realize results that have been overwhelmingly beneficial in their lives, according to Dr. Emmons.

The bottomline is that having an ‘attitude of gratitude’ is the key ingredient to living your best and most rewarding life. It’s a practice and habit that we must all embrace.

“The ultimate path to enlightment is the cultivation of gratitude. When you’re grateful, fear disappears. When you’re grateful lack disapears. You feel a sense that life is uniquely blessed, but at the same time, you feel like you’re a part of everything that exists and you know that you are not the source of it.” Tony Robbins

References:

  1. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/why_gratitude_is_good
  2. https://thestrive.co/gratitude-quotes/
  3. https://blog.gratefulness.me/gratitude-quotes/

Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., is the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude. He is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Positive Psychology. He is the author of the books Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity and Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier.

The Optimist

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“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Winston Churchill

Research shows that optimists enjoy many health and lifestyle benefits, including greater achievement, greater health, a sense of persistence toward goals, greater emotional health, increased longevity, and lower reactivity to stress.

Promise Yourself

To be SO STRONG that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the GREATER ACHIEVEMENTS of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance AT ALL TIMES and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have NO TIME to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Eckhart Tolle, author of The Power of Now wrote, “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the now the primary focus of your life. Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the now, have your dwelling place in the now and pay brief visits to the past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation.”

Optimism is about seeing potential and working creatively with—but not being limited by— the challenges. Optimism combines having a positive outlook of what’s happening now and having a positive vision of the future.

The key to optimism is understanding how you are narrating the story of the events and experiences of your life. A story has many angles. But all the angles of the story don’t matter. What only matters is how you perceive the story, how you accept it and how you react to it. While we don’t have control over what’s occurring on Wall Street or Main Street, we do have control over how we interpret the events playing out in our own lives.

Optimism is about being positive and confident regarding our work and effort, something each of us is capable of doing in our own way. Research in Positive Psychology tells us that those who adopt an optimistic mindset are healthier, less prone to depression, live longer, and lead happier more satisfying lives.

Optimists look for opportunities for growth and positive change, but more importantly, they stay tethered to the present reality. It’s not about pretending that all is well or about avoiding challenging situations. It’s about thinking accurately, acting with confidence, making calculated risks, and when things go wrong, perceiving those setbacks as temporary, and using innovation, flexibility and resilience to learn from the fall and move forward.

“Believe it can be done. When you believe something can be done, really believe, your mind will find the ways to do it. Believing a solution paves the way to solution.” – David J. Schwartz

References:

  1. https://www.verywellmind.com/become-more-of-an-optimist-3144818
  2. https://tamarchansky.com/tools/safe-optimism/
  3. https://www.optimist.org/Documents/creed_poster.pdf

 

Health, Wealth, Emotional Well-Being, Purpose and Success

Visualization: Your Life In Focus

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“The key to effective visualization is to create the most detailed, clear, and vivid a picture to focus on.”

Research shows that the more you focus on the things you desire, the better chance you have at getting them. Thus, knowing what you want and focusing on what you want are essential for success and achieving your best life.

As you might ascertain, having a clear direction of where you’re headed or where you want to go is essential. Without a clear purpose and goals, it can be very easy to get caught up in things that aren’t actually moving you forward in your life’s journey.

For example, struggling comedian and actor, Jim Carrey used to picture himself being the greatest actor in the world. When Carey was still a “wannabe” during one of his appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, he spoke about his early days trying to make it in the entertainment business. He was broke and had no future. But he took a blank check and wrote out $10 million dollars to himself for acting services rendered and dated it five year in the future.

Subsequently, he carried that check in his wallet at all times and looked at it every morning, visualizing receiving $10 million. Five years after he wrote the check to himself, he found out that he was going to earn $10 million from the movie “Dumb and Dumber.”

“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.” Oprah Winfrey

Vision boarding is an excellent way to get clear on your goals. Creating a vision board is a powerful way of getting to know yourself and what it is you truly want in your life.

A vision board is essentially a physical (or digital) manifestation of your goals. Vision boarding involves collecting images or objects that speak to the future you want to create and arranging them on a board for a tangible and aesthetically pleasing reminder of where you’re heading.

References:

  1. https://seatgeek.com/tba/articles/oprah-winfrey-2020-vision-tour-dates-tickets/
  2. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-20630/8-successful-people-who-use-the-power-of-visualization.html
  3. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/how-to-make-a-vision-board

 

“Success = Knowing, Growing, Acting and Serving.”

The Power of Visualization

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“Successful people, such as professional athletes and other top performers, have used visualization techniques to visualize their desired outcomes for ages.”

Visualization is one of the most powerful tools you can use to accomplish any goal you set for yourself. Visualization can be applied to help you improve your performance and be successful in all aspects of your life.

Visualization works because when you visualize, your mind and body don’t really know the difference between what you visualize and reality. When you visualize your goal, you create the thoughts, focus and energy that will help to pull that goal towards you.

The Power of Visualization.When you visualize, your body and mind react as if they were true. Many people believe that when you believe something to be true, you attract it to you – you make it true.

However, believing something to be true doesn’t necessarily make it happen. For many people taking action is challenging due to lack of confidence or a lack of belief in their goal. Visualization, because it taps directly into these emotions, can strengthen your belief in yourself, in your abilities and in your goals.

Additionally, visualization helps paint the scene so you can better plan and prepare for success. When you visualize your success as reality you can also visualize your path to get there.

Before taking the stage to speak to a large audience, Matt Mayberry, Maximum Performance Strategist and a former NFL linebacker, always picture himself giving the “perfect” speech. He would begin weeks in advance by picturing the audience and the positive reaction from the crowd. 

Top performers, among many others, have mastered the technique of positive visualization and openly credit it as a success tactic. Practice makes improvement. Practicing visualization isn’t just a fun exercise – the better you become at visualization the faster you will achieve the success you desire.

When you think of a big goal or dream that you want to achieve, it’s natural to think of all of the obstacles that will come your way. 

All top performers, regardless of profession, know well the importance of and consistently practice of picturing themselves succeeding in their minds before they actually do in reality. It is extremely effective when harnessed and used correctly.

“The key to effective visualization is to create the most detailed, clear, and vivid a picture to focus on.”

Research shows that the more you focus on the things you desire, the better chance you have at getting them. For example, struggling comedian and actor, Jim Carrey used to picture himself being the greatest actor in the world. When Carey was still a “wannabe” during one of his appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, he spoke about his early days trying to make it in the entertainment business. He was broke and had no future. But he took a blank check and wrote out $10 million dollars to himself for acting services rendered and dated it five year in the future.

Subsequently, he carried that check in his wallet at all times and looked at it every morning, visualizing receiving $10 million. Five years after he wrote the check to himself, he found out that he was going to earn $10 million from the movie “Dumb and Dumber.”

Consider two other examples:

  • Boxing champion and legend Muhammad Ali was always stressing the importance of seeing himself victorious long before the actual fight. 
  • Michael Jordan always took the last shot in his mind before he ever took one in real life.

As the examples demonstrate, you to can visualize and create an image of what you most desire. You create a detailed mental scene of what it looks like as you achieve your goal. Visualize it happening now, and the scene that is playing out.

There is a big difference in imaging your goals and making them feel so real your mind believes it has already happened. The more you surround yourself with imagery or words related to your goal, the more real it will become to you.

To make any habit stick, you need to continue to do that habit. The same goes for visualization, the more you practice the quicker you will be in the frame of mind that helps pave the way to success.

Visualization is extremely powerful in helping you achieve success and realize your goals. However, you will still need to put in the hard work and dedication. Don’t forget to repeat, repeat, repeat!

  • Picture yourself victorious – If you can’t see it, then it’s not going to happen. In order to achieve your biggest goals and dreams, you have to picture yourself victorious. You have to look beyond your current circumstances and past failures. While visualizing, it’s necessary to visualize as many details as you can. Re-create any feelings that are in alignment with your dreams. Make it part of your daily routine. You will be amazed at the improvement in your life and astounded when your dream is realized.
  • Create a vision board. – A vision board gives you the opportunity to actually see your goals. This vision board can be a poster board, a piece of paper, the back of a cardboard box, or anything. On the vision board, put pictures that illustrate what you desire in your life. On your vision board, you can also post quotes that embodied what you want and read them every single day.
  • Utilize the power of a trigger card – Your biggest goal and dream can be placed on a note card to serve as your trigger card. From your 3×5 index cards, read daily the goal you desire most. Get in the habit of doing this every day. Each morning and each night, read those index cards, close your eyes, and imagine yourself accomplishing and following through on that major goal of yours.

Get in the habit of putting together a positive vision into your everyday life. Visualize yourself succeeding, achieving every goal, accomplishing every task. The key is to make your positive vision stronger than anything that can set you back. The more vivid you can get, the better it will work for you. Start thinking of your personal goals in life. Spend about 10 to 15 minutes picturing yourself achieving each one.

Get as detailed as possible. Picture what you will do once your goal is reached. How amazing does it feel? How will this change the course of your life? Remember, the little details increase the likelihood of the big picture.

It’s important to understand that visualization alone isn’t enough. But, it is an integral part of the process of you becoming the best version of yourself. That’s the power of visualizing your dreams. That’s the power of dreaming. That’s the power of relentlessly believing and working toward your vision every single day.

If you can’t visualize yourself being extremely successful, dominating your profession, and running a phenomenal business, then chances are you never will.

References:

  1. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242373
  2. https://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/How_Visualization_Creates_Wealth_and_Success.html
  3. https://www.mbswithcalie.com/visualization-for-success/
  4. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/283241
  5. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242373

Albert Einstein Best Quotes

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“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein, a German-born physicist, has been widely regarded as one of the greatest minds and physicists of all time. In December 1932, he emigrated to the United States, renouncing his German citizenship after Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany.

In 1921, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to theoretical physics and discovery of the photoelectric effect.

Einstein was best known for developing the theory of relativity and the mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc2, often dubbed “the world’s most famous equation”.

During his life, he made many sayings about science, education, religion and life that continue to resonate today:

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

“Logic will get you from A to Z, imagination will get you everywhere.”

“Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.”

“It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.”

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

Einstein’s words have inspired generations around the world to live life fully, and in a more positive, self aware and rewarding manner.

References:

  1. https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/remembering-albert-einstein-inspirational-quotes-of-the-nobel-laureate-on-143rd-birth-anniversary/ar-AAV19qr
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein