Gratitude Mind

May 6, 2009 at 12:34 pm · Filed under goals, gratefulness, relaxation, self development, self mastery, stress reduction, the mind

The cornerstone of our philosophy at Focused Awareness, is that you make the final decision about where your going to place your attention. We don’t promise the existence of chakras or any kind of magic enlightenment experience when you practice the techniques we put up here, but I can guarantee you that with the right effort, any of these techniques and ideas can and will change your life.

That leads me into what I wanted to talk about today, something that I read alot about from other self-improvement junkies now a days, which is the idea of gratitude training.

Gratitude training in and of itself might be one of the greatest examples of the kind of ‘focused awareness’ we’re trying to promote on the blog. When you stand back from your life and really look at its ups and downs, your bound to have a mixed bag. But how you choose to interpret and read that data is entirely a choice a person has to make for themselves.

Your going to have some ups, and your going to have some downs in life. Thats a given. But the very mind we use to perceive those events makes a decision to either interpret this as a wall preventing you from getting to your dreams, or as the late Professor Randy Pausch said in his lecture on pursuing your dreams “The challenges are there to keep out the people who don’t want it bad enough.”

You must learn revel in the pursuit of the things you’re passionate about. You have to be empowered by the sense of desire that you know will seperate you from the rest of the pack and inevitably allow you to succeed where those who don’t want it bad enough fail.

3 Simple Techniques to Cultivate a Mind of Gratitude.

1. Start a gratitude journal. Every day take a few moments to jot down a few things that you are grateful for having happened during the day. (Remember, you don’t necessarily need to feel grateful for something the moment it happens. Frequently something might bother or upset me but in hindsight writing about it later in my journal I realize there was a lesson in it to be grateful for.)

2. If keeping a journal isn’t really your thing you could always practice a simple gratitude meditation before going to bed at night or waking up in the morning. While still awake in bed or sitting somewhere quietly, take some time to visualize and go over all the people and things you’re grateful for.

3. Tell someone what it is about them that you’re grateful for. This is the most powerful, and my personal favorite if only because this technique shares the gratitude all around. You find someone whom is a great friend/lover/parent in your life and tell them, face to face, eye to eye if possible, just how much you love them an how grateful you are for their presence in your life. Schedule a time to take someone out to lunch, really demonstrate, not just with your words, but with your energy how much that person means to you.

This is all perspective. Those people who stand in front of a challenge and sigh heavily to themselves bemoaning the difficulties of their life will just make failure a self fulfilling prophecy. Those of us pursuing self mastery know that we already have enough to be grateful for… and in having enough, we are strong enough and fulfilled enough to make the effort necessary to do more.

We can’t control the circumstances of our existence here on this little rock but what we can do is decide that no matter what happens, we will choose to accept it with gratitude. Whether its a blessing or a challenge, we’ll remember that just existing at all, from the right perspective, can be viewed as a miracle.

-Chris

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The Art of Auto-Suggestion

April 17, 2009 at 8:02 am · Filed under Uncategorized, anchoring, attention, focus, meditation, mindfulness, neurolinguistic programming, self development, self mastery

“Every day in every way, I am getting better and better”

This is the mantra of late nineteenth century doctor and creator of his own brand of autosuggestion Emile Coue.

Every night before he went to bed and every morning when he just woke up he would repeat this to himself, gradually instilling new optimism in his unconcious mind.

The way we talk to ourselves internally is often treated as second importance to building will power and doing what we ought to be doing anyway. Its not uncommon to hear someone say something to the effect of:

‘Just put one foot in front of the other and learn to do it even when you don’t want to.’

While this is good advice in some sense, it doesn’t take into account the fact that most people aren’t ever going to do it. They simply won’t. When you have a meeting to go to and your fellow co-workers are all there waiting, you have a certain negative social leverage to motivate you to get dressed and show up. I.E. if you don’t they will all be very very upset with you tomorrow.

However, if your goal is to do something for yourself, such as hitting the gym more regularly or starting to write that novel you’ve been thinking about in your spare time… then the outside motivation of other people holding you accountable isn’t there. You’re going to need something more than just pure willpower.

In this instance having the right self talk is critical.

Self Talk Golf Lesson – The funniest home videos are here

Heres a few easy ways to get started with Auto-Suggestion:

-Set a timer on your watch to go off at various intervals during the day. Take this moment to become aware of your thoughts and internal voice taking careful note of the tone, volume, and attitude you normally speak to yourself with.

-Repeat the same ritual that Coue performed every morning and every night. Laying in bed repeat to yourself ‘I am getting better and better every day’ or a mantra specific to your goals. The key here is to say it like you really believe it. Smile to yourself and don’t be cynical, let the idea creep in little by little that you really are getting better.

-Place written positive affirmations/mantras all over your house or apartment and repeat the statement three times every time you see it. This is a very effective method I highly recommend to everyone who struggles with self-motivation.

-Check out the theory of Autogenic Training, a type of auto-suggestion created by a German psychiatrist named Johannes Schultz.

Hopefully with these starting points you’ll be able to get a feel for the power of autosuggestion and the difference it can make when it comes to self mastery. Start to talk to yourself like you would a friend, like someone you care about. Who knows… before you know it… you may start believing the things you tell yourself.

To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.-Oscar Wilde

-Chris

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