Don't wish it was easier, wish you were tougher!

The title is a quote by Jim Rohn, an author and motivational speaker known for being the mentor of Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy and T. Harv Eckar, all very accomplished authors in the self development industry.

The quote struck me as I am going through a stressful period. Those who have accompanied my writing  might have noticed that I haven't written in a good long time. Writer's block is what some call it. Others call it drying up. I certainly felt blocked and dried out of ideas!
I felt panic. Is it going to last forever? Am I never going to be able to write again? Will I ever finish the book I am writing? Then I would enter a high voltage zone of self torture and think of all the things I SHOULD be doing to circumvent this horrific dry-block!

Nothing worked. Days went by and the dryness culminated to a drought. This drought in writing reflected the way I felt inside.

VIA Freaque Waves

Today I had an a-ha moment (this a-ha moment is such a cliche, yet it does explain it pretty simply) and realized that I was stuck in a dry block out of shear fear. I am going through a challenging period in my life, having to make life changing decisions while living in a debt and crisis ridden country, where nothing other than how poor everyone is becoming is talked about, anywhere!

It is a stressful period, I resignedly admit. I tried my best to hide (from myself and others) the fact that I was feeling stressed, overwhelmed and most of all scared.

Today after reading Rohn's quote, I understood that I was secretly wishing it would be easier. I was secretly waiting for the universe to send me a buoy that would guarantee everything would turn out the way I wish it would. And I was feeling scared.

No wonder I had a block, I was frozen with fear.
Fear usually does this - either makes you move forth in a rage or freeze up like a fruit popsicle.

Frozen and scared thoughts - frozen and scared feelings - frozen and scared action (or rather, inaction)!

Today I was liberated when I realized it's only my focus that's at fault. Focusing on external circumstances, wishing and praying they would be more favorable. Focusing on measuring how big my problems are and how deep the dryness. Wishing it was all much easier.

Today I decided I will focus on me!
Am I focusing on thinking positive, happy and self loving thoughts? Even after the scary ones come along?
Am I focusing on taking planned action, keep on walking, regardless of fear? After all, isn't this world made of daily opportunities?
Am I focusing on my heart's goal, despite the hardships that make it look so far away at the present moment?

Today, I remembered that I have reached my fullest potential when I had positive thoughts that led me to have positive feelings that led me to take positive action!

If I can dispense one message while emerging from a cold (and dry) and obstructed place, it would be:  Constantly focus on you - your thoughts, feelings and actions!
From wishful thinking to toughness in the most powerful way!

Keep the faith!

I came across a very interesting picture the other day and wanted to share it with my esteemed readers. (credits to facebook!)

It is not my intention to turn this into a scientific or philosophical conversation, yet I do wish to express some of my own thoughts on faith. 

I often talk to people who tell me they have no faith in God (or whatever you want to call it) because He has never been proven. No one really knows  the truth about it and some have even "proved" that there could be no such thing. 

In my opinion, having faith (in something bigger and outside of ourselves) is not about proving if there is or not something out there. 

Having faith is about constantly and blindingly feeding myself with the thought that the creative force that made the infinite space around us, the burning sun, the scented flowers and my toenails, is always available to me. 

It is about indiscriminately believing that this creative energy is within me and you as it is without. 

My faith does not lead me to believe in this or that God, it leads me to believe that everyday of my life I can choose to be this or that person. 

My faith allows me to align my brain in accordance to all the beauty that surrounds me. 

Yes, there are ugly sights to be seen and hardships to be faced, yet my faith helps me believe that even without seeing them at this moment, brighter days will surely arrive. 

My faith allows me to keep positive and positivity is the only road to keeping open for whatever I want to come my way. 

Having faith in God, in the Universe, in the Stars, in my eternal Spirit, allows me to remember that I am at the same time insignificant and colossal. Just like our vast earth is one more spec in the sky, I too can be anything and still everything can come my way! 

Therefore, keep it real and keep the faith, brother!

How NLP can help you deal with anxiety and fear

Faced with a tough choice/decision to make, I just realized how I was unknowingly allowing myself to feel sorry for myself.  Poor me, times are so tough and I am so young! Poor me, I don't yet know how to achieve my goals. Poor me, how am I going to become who I want to become when the government doesn't cooperate? Bla, bla, bla! Mind fog, that's what it all is!

"It is impossible for an anxious person, a worried one, or a fearful one to perceive truth. All things are distorted and thrown out of their proper relations by such mental states." Wallace D. Wattles

If you, like me, find yourself feeling sorry for yourself, feeling anxious about your future, feeling scared of what tomorrow will bring...

STOP!

Stop and breathe!

(READ BELOW AND THEN CLOSE YOUR EYES!)
Just close your eyes for one full minute (what is one minute out of the 1440 that make up our day?) and BREATHE!

Breathe in deeply and fully! Breathe in and feel the miracle of life that is within you and outside of you alike.

While you are breathing, remember something that happened to you that made you feel real good inside. A happy moment. It could have happened when you were 5 years old or last night, it doesn't matter. Just get in touch with that warm and happy feeling inside, while you are breathing.

Breathe and feel the happiness. See the scene, what happened exactly to make you feel so happy? Where were you? Who was around you? What did you hear? What were they telling you? Were you speaking at all, or laughing out loud? Breathe and see and hear and feel the image of your happiness.

While doing this, anchor the feeling! To anchor the feeling you simply have to choose a spot to touch yourself while you are breathing and feeling the happiness. You can touch your left knuckles with your right hand, or you can touch your right elbow with your left hand or you can touch your thigh, or your forehead, your choice.

Breathe + Feel the happiness + Anchor (touch a spot)

Then, you can go back to thinking about the problem, fear, stressor. While you think about that unpleasant situation, gently touch the spot you had previously touched when feeling happiness (the anchor).

You will never perceive that problem in the same way!

The G.O.B.

You know those days when everyone irritates you? Those days when you are feeling judgmental, critical and nothing anybody says can make you feel better! Your significant other is getting on your nerves, your client is driving you up the walls, your mother keeps calling to check if you have food in the fridge and to top it all off, your assistant asks for a raise!

UUUGGGHHH!!!

For days like these, you need to remember the GOB!

I was introduced to the GOB by my own coach, Rich Litvin, and it has saved me a lot of headache and heartache.

To remember the GOB is to remember the Glimpse Of Brilliance that exists in each person. Everybody has it! It can be the way your significant other looks at you with admiration, or the way your mother ends all her speeches with "I will always love you" or the way your assistant is always willing to stay late hours to help you out. It can be any small thing the person in front of you possesses that reminds you of his/her inner beauty, power and brilliance!

For those days when you want to send the person in front of you to where the sun don't shine, remember the GOB. Take time to get in touch with and honor it. You will see that you will immediately start feeling better. You might even catch yourself smiling!

Go ahead, try it out for yourself, it's easy, it just needs practice:

Catch yourself feeling angry
Look at the target of your anger (or think of him/her)
Get in contact with what is radiant and glorious about them
Honor the GOB and...
SMILE!

The beauty in life is that we ALWAYS have the power to choose.
Choose finding the GOB in every person and you will always have a reason to smile!

Regrets, I had a few...

Sometimes I forget I am only human! 


Sometimes I expect so much of myself and am left dumbstruck when I make a mistake. As if mistakes are only acceptable when others make them. 


Have you ever felt this way? Have you ever felt the weight of regret so heavy on your shoulders you wish you could just lie in bed and wait for this feeling to pass...in 100 years preferably! 


Feeling a little blue, I stumbled across the following quote:


"Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future" 
Sivananda 


I couldn't control my feeling of anger towards this enlightened being who so simply put forth the command to "not repeat them in the future"! How dare he make it sound so easy?! 


Choosing to ruminate over the deplorable mistake kept me stuck in thoughts of self aversion. How could I have been so wrong? How could I have done something so bad? Judgement, judgement, judgement!


It took me a few days to realize that what would really help me get over dropping the ball, and moving on to simply "not repeating it in the future" is to evaluate how useful was it? 


How useful is  bringing into my life more of what I don't want? Like author Caroline Myss once said in a lecture, our life is like an investment. Who would keep investing in shares that don't bring them sufficiently high returns? If the return on investment in not high or satisfactory, one simply does not invest again. Simple as that! 


Humans make mistakes. It's part of being human! We are constantly on the road to growth and evolution, and there is usually little growth without pain and suffering. 


So next time you, like me, make a mistake, simply thank the heavens for the teaching and do not repeat it again. Like a wise investor, take it as a lesson, keep on investing else where and don't waste your precious time judging yourself. 


To our prosperity!