Stin's Blog

Override Old Patterns and Habits

2009-06-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

The process of becoming a good swimmer wasn't easy for me.

In preparing myself for the rigors of my first triathlon I had nothing to work with for the swim portion of the race but a very chaotic crawl stroke that I had taught myself. At age seven. Playing Marco Polo in my neighbor's pool.

To transform what I had been doing for years did NOT come naturally. Even after a conscious decision to swim better, every thing I was trying to master felt unnatural. Like alien commands traveling along my nervous system.

After much more time and effort than care to admit, the only way I was eventually able to improve my sloppy swim ways was to REFUSE TO SWIM THAT WAY. Not one stroke. Ever again.

Because the "swimming" file in my brain instinctively churned out the sloppy Marco Polo crawl every time I dove into a pool, I had to stop thinking of my workouts as "swimming." My workouts instead became merely trying out just one tiny piece of perfection. By breaking the big job down into bite size parts, I could then begin to practice doing just those parts perfectly.

One skill at a time, the deep grooves in my brain and muscle systems began to be slowly over-ridden by the new and improved methods. Occasionally I even had moments of being inside the body of a strong and efficient swimmer! It was remarkable to experience myself improving, and it strengthened my faith in the process of change.

Maybe you are swimming with destructive patterns or habits in your life. If so, start now, with just one bite sized area. Have it be small--something in your life that you will now practice doing differently FROM THIS MOMENT ON.

In the same way that I was able to slowly but steadily transform my swim stroke, you too can override old patterns, habits, or addictions in your life. Here's how: EVERY TIME YOU REFUSE TO KEEP DOING WHAT YOU HAVE ALWAYS DONE, the "grooves" in your brain are softening and gradually re-writing themselves! Each time you practice TURNING AWAY from a destructive habit, doing something different each time you "jump in that pool," you are making it easier to turn away again next time. And the time after that.

Although probably unnatural feeling now, over time that new and improved response will become like second nature!

Your life right now is full of opportunities to practice and eventually become everything that you most want to be. Click here to head to www.mythoughtcoach.com for extra help as you continue to practice tiny bite sized pieces of perfection! Here are a few titles that might help you get started:

Affirmations for a More Stress Free Life
Progressive Relaxation
Easy Does It Power Nap

Buy Your Freedom

2009-06-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Ever noticed what kind of food your body craves after you have skipped a meal or two? Or gone all day without eating anything but a fistful of Oreos?

Anytime you allow yourself to get: a) dehydrated, b) really hungry, c) really low blood sugar, or d) all of the above, you kiss your freedom goodbye. You become a slave to your basic needs when the tough food choices come around. Any clarity that you might have had, to make good food choices, is shot.

Making proactive food choices is the only way to truly stay free. You buy your freedom when you choose to guzzle water and chomp on string cheese before the office pizza party. Or each time you bite into a crunchy apple a few hours before lunchtime (even if you aren't hungry quite yet). The good decisions that you make before you are faced with the coronary heart disease food choices make all the difference. They will buy you your freedom when you really need it. And freedom is everything.

So it is with so many other areas in our lives. We buy our freedom by obeying the laws of our land, by paying our taxes, by going to our annual check ups and by taking our blood pressure medicine.

We buy our freedom every time we make proactive choices in any area of our lives.

We can buy our freedom from emotional pain too, by choosing to let go of offenses and by forgiving ourselves and others quickly. We buy freedom when we replace harmful thoughts in our brains with better ones. We buy freedom and greatly increase the odds in our favor when we do life inside of a less stressed out brain and body.

Wanna feel better quick? In fairness, other options are available. Grab more Oreos and some caffeine and you'll feel perky in no time. Speed to the meeting you're late too, and you might make it. Stay offended- it feels sort of good, and they certainly deserve it.

However; not much freedom with: a headache, fatigue when the sugar and caffeine wear off, a ticket, more adrenaline than your body knows what to do with, an emergency hospital visit, or a damaged relationship that might have been easily resolved by just letting it go.

It's time to start making the better choices. . . before the crisis.

To add more Preventative Care in your own life, try listening to something great from www.mythoughtcoach.com.

How to Eat Just One!

2009-06-04T14:14:00.000-07:00

In cultures where eating rituals are widespread, people experience few eating disorders.

Ours is a culture with few eating rituals and numerous disorders. Many families almost never eat together. Instead pre-prepared food can be found everywhere: the refrigerator, freezer, cupboards and the local drive-thru--each full of family member's favorites. Calories can be microwaved (often between TV shows), or gobbled down in the car.

It's the American dream, the American way: freedom, disconnection, food as product, food as fuel. You can even avoid any interaction with other people. The basic rule is to pay very little attention to food: take a bite of food, watch the sitcom, take another bite, flip to reality tv, and take another bite. All the while baffled as to why you feel so undernourished in the midst of food plenitude!

Begin building a new eating culture for yourself by attempting to Eat Just One Potato Chip. Advertisers say that you won't be able to do it but you can. Here is the secret: REALLY Taste That Chip.

In order to fully and completely taste what you put in your mouth you will need to peacefully focus on what is going on in each moment by moment, as it comes at you. It won't be easy, because often thought turns toward what you wish for or fear, and glosses over each actual experience while it is happening.

During the experiment, you can hone in your focus by eliminating the most obvious distractions: TV, radio, stereo, reading material, talking, shopping or driving. Concentration is to be applied to the potato chip and only to the potato chip (no dip allowed). You are also encouraged to be seated and not to have a drink in the other hand.

While grasping the chip of your choice, begin focusing your attention by noticing: how the chip feels in your hand, how the chip looks in your hand, the smell of the chip, the intention to place said object in your mouth, how the chip feels in your mouth, how the chip tastes (moment after moment!), how the chewing sounds, and, carefully now, the sensation of swallowing.

You'll need to work on your thoughts, as they tend to save themselves for things more important than chips. Tell yourself that eating this potato chip with mindfulness is vitally important right now. You are trying to make an impression in some way from this experience to your conscious mind.

Another technique: make pretend mental notes about what you are going to tell your grandchildren about this particular potato chip: "beige ... greasy between the fingers ... exquisite curve ... cute ruffles ... urge (like a fire flaming to life) to place in mouth ... feel with tongue ... powerful crunch..." and so forth. Find your own words.

Got your ingredients together? Seated? Focused? When you are ready, you may pick up and eat (better yet, savor) that one potato chip. Get everything you can out of that chip, because for you in this moment, it's the only chip in the entire universe.

Begin today. Start eating more mindfully instead of automatically. Not only will your waistline begin to shrink, but you will begin to become aware of the simple beauties and peaceful pleasures that exist for you moment by moment!

Success in your weight management and healthy eating goals will require that you pro-actively choose better ways of thinking about food and your body. The thoughts that you have minute by minute have created what you are experiencing RIGHT NOW! Pop your headphones on and try listening regularly to one or more of Stin's guided affirmations geared towards your health. When your inner world improves, your outer world will improve!

Give these titles from mythoughtcoach.com a whirl:
"Become a Healthy and Moderate Eater"
"Energizer--Pop yourself out of a Low Energy Slump!"
"I Love, Honor and Respect Myself"
"End Emotional Eating Meditation--Part 1 and 2"

Prayer is simple.

2009-04-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Like everything else, prayer is energy. People who pray regularly know its power. They know that it works-- not as mere wish fulfillment but as a means of connecting with a much deeper layer of meaning and causality in the Universe. The act of prayer recognizes the existence of a greater whole that surrounds us, influences us, and of which we are a part.

In his book Reinventing Medicine, Larry Dossey, MD, includes an example of a clergyman who set up an experiment to test the power of prayer. Father Sean O'Laoire, a Catholic priest and psychologist working in the San Francisco bay area, presented a paper at a Harvard University Conference in 1997 on distant healing. He studied the effects of prayer on 406 distressed people, half of whom received prayer and half of whom did not. O'Laoire found that those prayed for improved in all eleven of the criteria he used to measure self esteem, anxiety, and depression. However, he also discovered that the agents doing the prayer improved more than the subjects for whom they were praying for in ten of his eleven criteria.

The findings are intriguing. Findings like these resonate not only with the experiences of those who pray, but with discoveries in modern physics. Non-Locality Theory, firmly established in modern physics, suggests that no matter where one is in the world, what happens around him or her is affected immediately by events all over the universe. In other words, the whole universe in interconnected. No man is an island.

There are no right or wrong prayers. No rules about prayer. Authenticity is all. Prayer is simple.

Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing,
and love salutations in the marketplaces,
And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:
Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers.

Mark 12:38-40

Spend some time each day in Prayer. Meditatively listen to one of the new Simple Prayer recordings in the "Personal Development" section of mythoughtcoach.com, to commune with a power much greater than you are.

Clean

2009-04-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

We all have things in our lives that must be done every day. Things we may not necessarily ENJOY doing, but we still do them. We know that when we don't they bring problems to us later on. They can range from things as simple as brushing our teeth, putting in contact lenses, or taking out the trash.

Bringing and maintaining order in your living space, a big theme in the lives of many, requires regular attention and effort. The time spent performing such daily tasks can become an ideal opportunity for growth. First, since you do them daily, they serve as an ideal occasion for reminding yourself of your core commitments and values, or of your current goals. Perhaps even more importantly, the process of cleaning, of bringing order to the space you live in, is an ideal metaphor for the practice of living thoughtfully.

An ideal time to serve yourself with this reminder is during the time you are cleaning. Take that time to talk to yourself, to release any worries and preoccupations that are bogging you down, and to bring your thoughts back to your core values. For a model of this kind of self talk, try out "Housework and Cleaning Meditation." Of course, if your problem is that you find it hard to get started cleaning in the first place, "Think Like a Clean and Organized Person" just might get that broom in your hands!

To live thoughtfully, which is what "My Thought Coach" is all about, is not the end of a process but the process itself. To live thoughtfully is a form of practice, a daily exercise, of bringing your thoughts back in line with your highest values and your best potential. This is something you can no more achieve once and for all than you could expect to clean your house once and for all. Or wash the last dish. Or take the ultimate shower to end all showers. Things always get messy again.

So it is with our thoughts. There are so many things out there that tug at our attention, which can so easily dominate our thoughts and emotions. To get back in the driver's seat of your own mind requires a regular return to the center, a daily reminder of who you are.

You have the power to affect change to your physical body you also have the power to affect change to your physical SURROUNDINGS. All things physical allow us to master the things going on WITHIN us. You are indelibly connected to your environment, as the world is inside you as you are within it.

Edit Your Memory

2009-04-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Did you know that your brain puts a marker on each powerful experience that you have? These tagged memories can at times wreak havoc in your life, as triggers bring them to the surface. In extreme cases, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can occur.

Guided meditation and progressive relaxation can soften these markers. They train the brain to become skilled in the rare art of "being present," instead of re-living over and over the same experience.

Listening to the guided mp3s on mythoughtcoach.com will also prepare your brain to become an "observer" instead of a powerless victim to the strong emotional responses that are bonded to these past traumatic events.

Your life will change when memories from your past lose their grip on you. You become truly free.

The link below leads to a fascinating article in the NY Times about the research that is being done in the area of memory. Neuroscience has led to an experimental drug that could block certain memories.

Brain Power
Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory
By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: April 6, 2009

I AM

2009-03-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

The two most powerful words in the English language are the words "I AM." Whenever you use them, you decree into your world anything that comes after them, whether positive or negative. Their power of creation happens regardless of your conscious use of the words. They don't even need to be physically spoken; thinking or feeling the words "I AM" will also have an effect in your life.

Think about these two words for a moment. Within them is the proof that no one outside of you has any power over your life. Absolutely no one else can say the words "I AM" for you. Only you can say those words to define what you want to enter into your life.

Whenever you use "I" or a form of it, NEVER use a negative word or statement after it. When you become aware of the creative power of these words, you will notice throughout the day how many times you and your loved ones think or say negative things after them. After the words "I AM" come the habitual, unconscious phrases such as "not good enough,""not rich enough,""not pretty enought,""not healthy enough." Notice how people will affirm their misery, lack, and sickness with the use of these two creative words. Often they get what they ask for: more misery, more lack, more sickness, and more painful experiences in life.

It doesn't take any more effort to say positive things after the words "I AM" than it does to say negative things. Even if you don't believe what you say at first, fake it until you make it! I AM perfect health. I AM rich, filled with abundance and supply. I AM the success I wish to be. I AM perfect harmony and fearlessness.

Once you change the subtle habits of decreeing negative things by your thoughts and conversations, you will begin to see a positive change in your life.

Acting! Merely Acting!

2009-02-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

Body language influences emotions.

In one well known experiment, actors were asked to portray anger and then were subjected to numerous physiological tests, including heart rate, blood pressure, core temperature, galvanic skin response, and hormone levels. Next, the actors were exposed to a situation that made them genuinely angry, and the same measurements were taken.

There were virtually no difference in the two profiles. Good acting produces precisely the same physiology that real emotions do.

Carry yourselves confidently and you will eventually start to feel confident, even in highly stressful situations. Consciously create the look on the outside that you want to feel on the inside.

You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence is not a singular act but a habit.

-Aristotle

The Answer is Within

2009-02-10T13:47:00.001-08:00

Instead of trying to change circumstances or people, examine instead the emotions you are experiencing. Instead of being angry at an individual or circumstance--or depressed, jealous, or frightened--be grateful that they have brought particular emotions to your attention. These emotions come from INSIDE of you, not from outside, and they should be seen as old friends.

The Guest House

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
When if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture,
Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice
meet them at the door laughting,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

--Rumi
from "The Essential Rumi," (New York: HarperCollins, 1995)

Each emotion is a message from your soul. Instead of rearranging external circumstances in order to make yourself feel more safe, valuable, and loved, consider looking inside yourself to find the roots of your insecurities and pull them out. Real security comes by looking inward to find the causes of insecurity and healing them. This is the path to real peace and power. Many of the guided meditations at My Thought Coach are designed to help you get there.

What the Best Part Within You Really Wants

2009-01-12T10:06:00.000-08:00

When someone is working out physically, there are moments that are very difficult to get through. People lift weights, or keep moving on the treadmill, because they believe in and desire what is in store for them on the other end of their effort.

Opposition is not just a part of the gym experience. It is a part of the life experience. It would be ludicrous for anyone to claim that life is always easy and blissfully pleasant. We all know that there are moments when life feels really hard.

Your life experience is often tailored to perfectly match your own unique potential. Because of this, what you choose to do during the tough moments in your daily experience is more important than you realize.

Difficult days, whether opposition comes from within or from your external circumstances, offer a unique opportunity for your individual growth. As you choose to stay the course, and committed to the person that you are becoming, DESPITE the opposition, you greatly accelerate your progress.

Of course, whether you embrace this opportunity or not, is always up to you. Certainly there are numerous other options out there, to help you numb out. Vices and addictions work, but only temporarily and come with a high price. They can quickly lead you far off the path from what you most want and cause a haze of even being able to REMEMBER what the highest part within you wants.

Try responding differently on your next less than perfect day. Coaches have proven to make a difference in assisting people towards their goals, particularly during the tough moments. At the moment of choice, arm yourself with your favorite meditation or affirmation and decide to press play, before ANY other decision is made. This act alone can shake you out of old patterns and trance-like responses.

Choose to believe in who you are becoming on the other side of every difficult moment! Be grateful for the opposition, because it is allowing you to demonstrate to yourself and the universe what you really believe in.

Every birth has a few labor pains.

Throw on a Pair of Sneakers and go Re-Boot Yourself

2009-01-04T10:23:00.000-08:00

Think of a good workout as a "re-boot" to your brain and your entire electrical system, because in many ways that is exactly what it is. Exercising the house that you live in will set the stage for a more balanced brain chemistry and quickly offer a way out of ruminating thoughts.

You’ll be working with a much cleaner mental and emotional slate than you started with, and have the perfect fertile soil to plant new beliefs and thoughts into your psyche.

Read the “Meditation Workout” post (in this blog’s archive) for more info about how this all works.

A new workout has just been added to www.mythoughtcoach.com--Interval #11.

Or, for something a little bit different in the "Health & Fitness" section, try out (or re-visit if it's been a while) "Interval #3". It is still interval training, it's still based on your own perceived level of exertion, and it will still train your body in the same way. It's just shorter in time and maybe just a tiny bit tougher.

Research on google about how the H.I.I.T. method burns fat and helps your body maintain more of its lean muscle mass is all over the internet.

Then throw on a pair of sneakers and go re-boot yourself.

Affirmations

2008-12-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

Affirmations work very powerfully. In many ways the life that you are now experiencing has been initiated by what you have been affirming to yourself.

If we listen to ourselves talk, we will hear our "limits" and other forms of affirmations come rolling out. Things like...

• "I can't sing,"
• "Making money isn't spiritual,"
• "Women can't compete in a man's world,"
• "I never seem to find the right words," etc.

. . .are affirmations that keep us right where we are. We are using them every minute of the day. They shape our lives because they reflect our beliefs and our attitudes. You are using them right now as you read this. You are consulting your existing affirmations to agree or disagree with what I am saying. Have you found yourself saying, "Yes, but..." while reading this? If so, you are affirming something. Most likely, a limit.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a Child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others." -Marianne Williamson

Thoughts and affirmations that are not working for us can be changed. Consistency is crucial as we begin to take on new ideas. The MP3s on www.mythoughtcoach.com will assist your efforts to initiate new and improved life experiences.

These efforts can be enhanced by gently tapping along some acupressure points in the body. This method is called the EFT, or Emotional Freedom Technique. Essentially it acts as acupuncture for our emotions, and releases resistance to change. They can help release some of the “yes, but. . .” responses that come up with some affirmations. This technique also works well when trying to clear out strong negative emotions that are stored in the body. Try one of the release and let-go scripts while tapping these points.

While saying your affirmations out loud or in your mind, tap the points outlined below using the first and middle fingers of either hand. With a light but firm pressure tap each area 7-10 times as you cover the area where the point is located.

1. Eye Brow - at the beginning of the eyebrow, just above and to one side of the nose.

2. Side of the Eye - on the bone bordering the outside corner of the eye.

3. Under Eye - on the bone under the eye about one inch below and in line with the pupil.

4. Under Nose - in the center of the area between the nose and top lip.

5. Chin - in the center between the bottom lip and bottom (or point) of the chin.

6. Collarbone - the junction where the collarbone, sternum (breastbone) and first rib meet.

7. Under the Arm - on the side of the body approx. 4 inches below the armpit.

9 . Top of Head - the intersection of two lines on the top of your head (the tip of one ear, over your head, to the tip of the other ear; and a line from the tip of your nose, to the base of your skull)

3 Second Rule

2008-12-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

When you have a thought about anything that you have previously experienced with ANY sort of emotion or physical response, it takes about 3 seconds for that thought to initiate a physical response. That thought then becomes the trigger for a remarkable physiological process.

Certainly you’ve experienced it. A sniff of the same cologne takes you right back to a past relationship. An old song takes you back to a high school dance.

What if some sort of pill that could get the same response out of the body, just 3 seconds after it is ingested, as remembering a good laugh? Or a relaxing experience? Or a wonderful memory?

What if there were a pill that got the same response out of the body, in just 3 seconds, that comes when you think about something that for you is very stressful? Or frightening? Or horrifying? Or painful? It would be poisonous.

You can’t always choose which thoughts will pop into your mind, but you can certainly choose which will get to stay longer than 3 seconds. You CAN master your thoughts, and when you do, you will be the master of your life and your destiny.

The affirmation and releasing scripts on www.mythoughtcoach.com are designed to arm you with tools to combat any negative and harmful habitual thinking, BEFORE that physical 3-second response.

End Scarcity Thinking

2008-12-02T12:01:00.001-08:00

Anxiety and worry about money or financial security is a theme in the lives of many these days. Unfortunately anxiety or worry don't bring the results that we really want or need. Physically, our bodies suffer as they are deluged with the inevitable negative effects of stress and anxiety.

Money worries can play a role in the very STATE of our financial affairs. Statements and thoughts like "There just isn’t enough money" and "We can't afford that" come with a price. It is time to put a stop to that kind of creating in your life!

The “Think Like A Millionaire” mp3 (available on my website and on my new "Meditate Now" iPhone app) can help you turn around these thoughts. As you improve your inner dialogue your financial life will begin to feel more manageable.

The "Release and Let Go of. . . Feelings of Scarcity Meditation” can also help you quickly get into a place that will allow you to be more productive and creative about your present and future.

Instead of being lost in fear or anxiety about your financial future, let go of the destructive feelings of scarcity that are keeping you stuck and creatively paralyzed. Your greatest power is in the here and now. Don't lose precious moments by staying lost in fear and panic. Put these negative feelings and harmful thoughts to rest once and for all!

Hey! You could always improve your food choices.

2008-10-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

Food is one of life's great pleasures. No one (that I know, anyway) enjoys total deprivation. However, when it comes to shifting body composition, you have to make most of your decisions based not on taste and pleasure, but on results. Fortunately, there is a middle ground between taste and results. Unfortunately, if the middle ground food isn’t getting you the results you want, then you have to upgrade your choices to a higher grade of food.

Nutritional quality traverses a spectrum - it runs in degrees. Food choices aren’t
good or bad; black or white. There are shades of gray in between. When you want to improve your results or break a plateau, you have to improve your food choices. The way you do this is to eat fewer foods that are processed, and eat more foods that are in their raw, natural state.

Here's an example: an apple is obviously "A" list. An apple gets the highest grade possible because it’s in its raw, natural state. Next down the rung you have unsweetened applesauce. It consists of nothing but raw apples and water, but it’s been pureed, so it’s not in its most natural state anymore and is therefore relegated to a "B" (still a good "grade," mind you). Turn it into apple juice and you're down to a "C" (still a passing grade). Then if you add sugar (sweetened applesauce or apple drink), now you're down to a "D". Finally, if the apples eventually become an apple pie, now you're down to an "F".

Your task is simple: look for places in your diet where you can improve your grade. Then improve it.

Can You See It?

2008-10-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

As you read or listen to your affirmations, mentally visualize them as already achieved.

Because your brain thinks in pictures, adding a bright, clear, moving mental picture of what you want to achieve will help you to penetrate your subconscious mind more rapidly and more deeply than if you just read your goals.

In the book Psycho-Cybernetics, Dr. Maltz shared an experiment on the effects of mental practice on improving basketball free throws. The study, published in Research Quarterly, divided the subjects into three groups. Each group was tested for free throw accuracy once at the beginning of the experiment and again at its conclusion.

Group one physically practiced free throws for 20 days. Group two performed no practice at all. Group three spent 20 minutes a day getting into a deeply relaxed state and visualizing themselves shooting free throws. When they missed, they would visualize themselves correcting their aim accordingly.

The results were remarkable: the first group,which practiced 20 minutes a day, improved in scoring 24%. The second group, which had no practice, showed no improvement. The third group, which practiced in their minds, improved their scoring 23%! Amazingly, mental practice yielded results almost identical to physical practice.

All great athletes and peak performers use visualization. Jack Niklaus said he never hit a golf shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in his head.

Tennis superstar Andre Agassi once told an interviewer that he won Wimbledon at least ten thousand times. When asked what he meant by this, Agassi replied, “Since I was five years old I saw it over and over and over again in my mind. When I walked on the court that day, it was my exact vision. I felt like I was stepping into the role I was made for, and I just demolished them!"

Legendary basketball Hall of Famer Bill Russell wrote about his use of mental imagery in great detail: “I was sitting there with my eyes closed, watching plays in my head. It was effortless; the movies I saw in my head seemed to have their own projector, and whenever I closed my eyes, it would run.”

Pay Attention

2008-09-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

Mastering and controlling your attention gives you the freedom to choose what happens in your life. There are countless things happening at the same time all over the world, however, as long as your attention is not directed to any of it – nothing really happens for you.

This is very important to understand. The more you can control your attention the more you attract only the things in your life that you really want. If you do not pay attention to the crime scene on your television it does not create this reality for you. If you don't pay attention to negative things in your life it will not create that reality. This doesn't mean you should ignore the parts of the world that do not produce peace and happiness for you; it simply means not to give them too much attention. Don't get absorbed in them – decide when enough is enough and move on to something you want your attention to be focused on, for example, the important goals and dreams of your life.

One simple exercise you can do to train your attention is to simply observe your attention and to speak out loud where it is in the moment.

Here is what it might look like:
●I am thinking about tomorrow . . .
●There is a cat next to me . . .
●What I am doing here . . . ?
●So many thoughts . . .
●Am I crazy . . . ?
●The carpet is brown . . .
●It's dirty too . . .
●I should get it cleaned . . .
●Ah, just relax . . .
●How busy my mind is . . .
●What's next . . .

You may find yourself thinking about how crazy this is, but this exercise actually just happens in a short time span of your attention. You may have a few thousand of these each day . . . no wonder some people feel constantly stressed, overwhelmed and light years away from their goals!

Do this every day for about 15 minutes and you will observe that several things happen. First of all, your mind gets calmer but at the same time may also feel exhausted, especially after the first few times you do the exercise. Exhausting your attention is a very interesting occurrence that happens quite often and naturally in your daily life. Training your mind not to exhaust itself will sharpen your focus and free up your attention considerably.

The more free attention you have, the happier you feel and the more power you have to control what is happening in your life!

Your Mind and, umm, Your Bowels.

2008-09-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

Irritable Bowel Syndrome anyone? Here is a clip from an article in the NYTimes today about the mind and the colon. Hmmmm . . .

Personal relationships can have a major impact (on IBS). Symptoms are worse if there is conflict in the family, better if relationships are supportive.

The brain has the ability to inhibit sensations from the gut. “I.B.S. patients tend to be hyper vigilant — too aware of what is going on in their gut.” says Dr. Gerson, a leading expert. Through techniques like hypnotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy, it is possible to change how the brain perceives what is happening in the body.

In hypnotherapy, I.B.S. patients learn to visualize their colon as functioning more normally. Patients can learn to change symptom-provoking beliefs, like thinking that their colon will always be abnormal or that a given circumstance will provoke symptoms.

In a British study of 204 patients in which more than two-thirds of them were initially helped by hypnotherapy, 81 percent of those maintained the improvement up to six years after the treatment. Learning to practice stress-reduction and relaxation techniques is as helpful as learning which foods to avoid.

Click here for the full article from the NYTimes

Worried?

2008-08-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

Everybody worries.

The concept of worry is an example of negative imagery, and it creeps up easily. Most of us can imagine events happening inside of our bodies. Many times the images come in the form of worry; perhaps we have a symptom that frightens us, like pain. We imagine something inside our bodies is going wrong. This usually makes the symptom worsen, which in turn causes a greater intensity of the symptoms. A powerful cycle of pain and anxiety is the result.

With imagery, we can imagine the good just as well. Lack of practice might keep us from doing it as effortlessly as we do when we worry, BUT if we take that negative thought process and turn it into a positive thought process, we absolutely can overcome symptoms such as illness and pain.

We can promote self healing instead.

You Choose.

2008-08-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

In most cases the actual details of our lives matter less than what we choose to become in the midst of them.

What would happen if, in our personal relationships, we just dropped all charges against those around us? What if we just happily sacrificed all bitter satisfaction, all retribution, all demand for repayment, all vengeance-we let all this go, without regret or second thoughts? -Terry Warner

The Meaner the Better

2008-07-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

Have you ever felt that many of the people around you don't value what you do, or even begin to meet your hopes and dreams?

Nearly every day the people in our lives do one or more of the following: belittle, show insensitivity or indifference, make us feel insecure, humiliate, frighten, abuse, inconvenience, demand, criticize, disappoint, lie, hurt, betray, try to seduce, misunderstand, resent, threaten, or attack us in some way.

The truth is, relationships are an opportunity for us to develop in love and personal happiness! How can we ever learn true, unconditional love unless we have a chance to practice it in the face of the opposites? Every disrupted relationship, whether in our own home or within a particular group or community, is a chance to forge and experience divine nature in ourselves, and to practice true happiness. . . despite what is going on in the world around us.

Is it possible that all the people in our lives are there for important reasons? That we stand in a sacred relationship to them because we and they cannot be made perfect without each other? With their help, it is possible to experience a much greater love than we would have been capable of in a situation where everybody agreed with us, everybody loved us, and everybody saw everything the way we do.

Perhaps the abrasive people in your life are really friends in disguise, there to teach you to perfect love within YOURSELF, not in them.

You Name It and Exercise Helps It

2008-04-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

I found this excerpt in the NY Times today, from an article by Jane Brody.

In the February/March issue of ACE Certified News, Natalie Digate Muth, a registered dietitian and personal trainer, emphasized the value of a good workout for people suffering from depression. Mastering a new skill increases their sense of worth, social contact improves mood, and the endorphins released during exercise improve well-being.

“Exercise is an important adjunct to pharmacological therapy, and it does not matter how severe the depression — exercise works equally well for people with moderate or severe depression,” wrote Ms. Muth, who is pursuing a medical degree at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Healthy people may have difficulty appreciating the burdens faced by those with chronic ailments, Dr. Nancey Trevanian Tsai noted in the same issue of ACE Certified News. “Oftentimes, disease-ridden statements — like ‘I’m a diabetic’ — become barricades that keep clients from seeing themselves getting better,” she said, and many feel “enslaved by their diseases and treatments.”

But the feel-good hormones released through exercise can help sustain activity.

“With regular exercise, the body seeks to continue staying active,” wrote Dr. Tsai, an assistant professor of neurosciences at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. She recommended an exercise program tailored to the person’s current abilities, daily needs, medication schedule, side effects and response to treatment.

She urged trainers who work with people with chronic ailments to start slowly with easily achievable goals, build gradually on each accomplishment and focus on functional gains. Over time, a sense of accomplishment, better sleep, less pain and enhanced satisfaction with life can become further reasons to pursue physical activity.

“Even if exercise is tough to schedule,” Dr. Moffat said, “you feel so much better, it’s crazy not to do it.”

Here is a link to the full article.

Your Inner Compass

2008-04-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed by now that not ALL of your inner thoughts are helpful or even remotely truthful. If we listen to and follow every thought and feeling, our daily lives, future, and inner peace are precarious indeed.

You have an inner compass, an inner "truth detector" that can allow you to navigate through life with greater peace and confidence. With practice, you can identify what is truth and what is not as clearly as you can tell daylight from darkness. It is one of the great tools that we each have access to.

Truth comes as a feeling or a sense. It is a whisper, and caresses so gently that if you are preoccupied you may not feel it at all.

There is a sure way that you can know if what you are thinking or feeling is true. Ask yourself: Does it persuade me to do good? to rise? to stand tall? to do the right thing? to be kind? to be generous?

You can always recognize truth by the fruit that it bears--if it enlightens, builds up, leads you to better thoughts and better words and better deeds, it is truth.

Begin now to work on developing and enhancing your innate ability to discern truth by practicing with the following MP3. It contains statements of truth. If you listen with more than just your ears, you will feel impressions within you.

As you listen, pay attention to how you FEEL inside as you hear and repeat each statement to yourself. How does it feel PHYSICALLY? That feeling, that place within you where that feeling lies, is your inner compass. In order to do this best, take just a few moments to be still. Inner stillness is vital to being able to FEEL truth.

MP3 File

Truth creates a unique FEELING within each individual. For some it is a feeling of inner warmth and strong emotion. For others, it is a quickening of the intellect and an inner stirring. As you begin to recognize what it feels like in you, you will soon have an anchor to come back to, letting you know when you are on track . . . and when you aren't.

Hard at Work as a Human Have-ing?

2008-04-15T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ever felt that in order for life to work that first you have to HAVE something, before you can DO something, before you can really BE something? Like you had to HAVE money so you can DO the fun things in life that you want to do, so that you can BE happy?

It is the other way around, you know. You and I are better off BE-ing first, so that we can DO, so that we can HAVE.

HAVING is a natural by-product of BE-ing.

BE forgiving.
BE non-judgmental.
BE accepting.
BE loving.
BE grateful.
BE caring.
BE understanding.
BE happy.
BE willing to admit you don't know everything.

BE the best you can BE in every moment.

BE efficient.
DO your best work.
HAVE the best pay.

Life works better this way.
I'm just saying.

Q&A with Stin

2008-02-26T11:52:00.000-08:00

I was recently interviewed by a woman's magazine. Here is the crux of the Q&A.

The whole gang (from left to right) Anders, Tatiana, me, Lucianna, Scott my amazing husband, and Mackenzie.

Tell me a little bit about yourself...interests, etc.

I grew up on a ranch in Central California in a big family. I am now continuing in the big family tradition with my fifth child on the way. I recently competed in a triathlon, am an avid reader, play guitar and sing. My greatest joy is found in my friendship with my husband and children. I love doing life with my family.

How important do you feel meditation and fitness are to young women today?

If there were a manual to success for doing life as a young woman in this century, it would without question include a daily practice of meditation and fitness. These small and consistent steps, done REGULARLY, offer the physical and spiritual strength needed to thrive and stay grounded. They are so simple, and require so little time, that we think that it must be more complicated than it is. It isn’t. Adding these two things will simply bring greater happiness and success to your life.

Things are tougher in many ways than they have ever been, but young women today are completely up to the task! In many ways the unique experiences in our individual lives are much like a classroom. We find ourselves constantly being tested and given opportunities to learn, as we prepare for each new stage to come.

How and when did you first start getting interested in metaphysics?

I was initially introduced to a holistic approach to healing in high school, when my mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer. With the grim diagnosis, my mom turned to eastern medicine and affirmations with miraculous results. She is still alive, and healthier than ever. It was then that I began to learn about the impact our thoughts and beliefs could actually have on our lives. I began to see that we had a CHOICE about what we thought about! This was a radical but very exciting shift for me.

Explain a little bit about what you mean when you talk about metaphysics and the mind?

In the 1970's, the Soviets and East Germans were the first to formally use structured mental rehearsal. At that time, they dominated in several Olympic sports. Today virtually all elite athletes use visualization extensively, as we now know that the brain cannot differentiate between real practice and practice that is vividly imagined.

Our brain is cybernetic in nature, which means that it is literally like a computer, waiting for a program to be installed. As it turns out, our own thoughts, repeated daily, are one of the primary ways that our "mental computer" is programmed on a sub-conscious level-- the level of beliefs, habits and automatic behavior. CHOOSING TO FOCUS ON NEW POSITIVE THOUGHTS, FEELINGS AND IMAGES WILL LITERALLY CREATE NEW NEURAL PATTERNS IN YOUR BRAIN.

What inspires you?

My biggest inspiration comes from reading my old journals. When I look with some distance at the miracles and growth that have taken place throughout my life, I am able to see myself in a broader context. Every time I read I am given courage to keep progressing and dreaming.

How do you deal with situations that leave you feeling discouraged and wanting to give up?

I have a “three second rule” that I really try to follow, which means that if discouragement and despair creep in I am only allowed to let it stay for 3 seconds. After that amount of time, I know it will begin a physiological response in my body, and that a slew of additional despair is on its way. This method of prevention has saved me from otherwise impending discouragement on many occasions.

What are your goals with all of your endeavors? What would be the perfect result of all of the work you do?

The deepest desire of my soul is to utilize my talents in building up, empowering, encouraging and strengthening others.

How do you deal with stress?

Any time I allow myself to get into a funk, it is remarkable to me how effective a quick workout can be. There is always a lot of resistance to get started, but once I get moving the hardest part is over. When I am done I feel mentally and emotionally re-booted. Optimism returns, and I am provided with a window of opportunity to change direction with my thinking and actions. I am able to step out of the box and respond with fresh perspective to whatever is going on.

To me, the greatest benefit of exercise is the emotional well being that always accompanies it. We miss the boat when we view it as merely a way to become more thin. It is a doorway towards re-inventing ourselves! Moving our bodies literally re-boots our brains.

How do you deal with negativity in your life, be it from internal or external sources?

I have had many difficult things to overcome in my life. The most effective tool for me in getting through some tough times in my life has been, oddly, through gratitude. It is a strange concept, because instinctively we are grateful for the good things in our lives but dread and hate the difficult things. I read a book during one of the darkest times of my life that proposed expressing “gratitude in all things.” It takes a huge leap of faith to be grateful for situations that are nearly killing you, but I decided to try it because nothing else was working! Every time I would feel pain inside from the situation I was going through, I would express gratitude for it. Eventually I began to see my life with a completely different perspective. As I accepted and even began to embrace my trials, I began to find new solutions and build the strength that was required to move beyond them. Most of my most prized traits were born from very intense labor pains!

Were you ever faced with pressure from those around you to conform to a certain norm, or to follow a certain path in life? If so, how did you deal with that?

I spent the early years of my life as an absolute chameleon, shifting and changing to meet my perception of what others wanted me to be. This method of doing life eventually failed, most perfectly. I was left exhausted and without a clue of who I was. I spent a couple of precious years trying to figure it out, and it was WRITING in journals and taking time to be still every day that eventually anchored me much more firmly into who I am today, how I spend the hours of my day, and where I am headed in my life.

What is something that you absolutely cannot live without?

I used to play a game with myself and try to eliminate one thing that I thought I couldn’t live without for a full week. My first one was no music for a week, and I discovered that I could actually live without it. Then it was sugar. Tough, but do-able. Television--hard habit to break but still possible to live without and even GREAT to live without once you realize how much time you get into your life! I haven’t done that game for a while, but I have learned that I am not as afraid as I used to be of suffering. It is the quickest way to see how blessed you really are, and identify those things that are most dear to you.

What guidance would you give to a young person who is unsure of which direction she wants to take with their life?

Get messy! Make mistakes! The quickest way towards figuring out what you WANT often comes through contrast, by discovering (often first hand) what you DON”T want. Write a lot and get a clear idea of what you WOULD create for your life if you could. Writing engages both parts of the brain in the creative process, and is very powerful. Everything that I have ever written about as being a desire of my heart has come to pass. The first thirty years of my life were a great "information gathering" phase and paved the way for the wonderful life that surrounds me know.

What do you think are the biggest challenges women face today? Do you experience them? If so, how do you overcome them?

One of our biggest challenges and opportunities as women is to find a way to become “beyond sexy”—to embrace our feminine power and beauty yet not rely on it in any way for our strength or identity. Many aspects of popular culture objectify women, put them on unrealistic pedestals, and then turn their backs when they fall short from perfection. We can and need to re-define what sexiness means for us personally and socially, and this is the generation that is going to see that happen!

What advice do you give to anyone who feels like they just don’t know how things will work out? If this feeling ever sets in, how do you deal with it?

I have found that faith and fear really can’t exist at the same time and that I am given constant opportunities in my life to decide where I stand.

What brings you the most joy in life?

Being a woman, walking by faith, and being inside my own skin as a mother.