Attitude for Greatness

What is attitude? It is what you think, believe, feel, expect, act, in relation to yourself, life, people, and your goals. Attitude can be positive or it can be negative; it can be limiting or it can be expanding; if you have a positive attitude, you feel alive, well, loved, happy, liked, confident,...you feel good; if you have a negative attitude, you feel angry, resentful, fearful, depressed, anxious, hopeless,... you feel bad. Your feelings are your thermometer to your attitude and, as we will see below, your life is the mirror to your attitude. 

Now, how is your attitude, how is your dominant attitude? Is it positive, and expanding, or is it negative and limiting? What do you think you can achieve? Who do you think you are? What do you think about yourself? What do you think about other people? Do you think they are out there to get you or to help you? Do you expect to be liked by people or do you expect to be 'judged'? Do you expect to be lucky? Do you expect to achieve your goals? Do you expect that life is going to be difficult, that you will have to struggle to make money, or do you expect life is wonderful and enjoyable? 

Your expectations determine what will happen in your life, as very simply, what you expect, you get. So, if you are not sure of what your expectations really are, take a look at your life: whatever you have in your life right now is a reflection of who you are inside and the vibrations you send out. If you are struggling with money, with your health, with a relationship, with your job, with people, it means that somewhere your attitude is not healthy. So, if you want to change your life, you need to change yourself, you need to change your attitude. 

In fact, a healthy attitude is when you feel good about yourself, when you know that you will achieve your goals, when you know people will like and love you, when you know that things will work out, when you know you are precious and the Universe is conspiring to your happiness. A healthy attitude is when you love people, when you love yourself, when you thank God for who you are and for all the wonderful gifts you have, for all the people you have in your life, for all that has happened to you, because that has made you the person you are today. 

So, your attitude towards yourself has a strong impact on your self-love, on the way you treat yourself, and so, on your health- mental, emotional, and physical. Your attitude towards people will have a strong impact on the response you will get from them, because if you love them, if you are grateful, if you appreciate them, if you are kind, they will love you back. So, three emotions are a key to great relationships: gratitude, kindness and love. In fact, as the most important needs of any human being are the need for connection, the need to feel appreciated and the need to feel loved, and everything that happens in your life happens through people, whether is in your personal or professional life, you need to have a very positive attitude here. And this means always, really always, look at the positive and best in people, you included. Look at the positive in people and circumstances, and they will become that, you will take out the best from them, and you will attract more of that. And look at the best in you, in how extraordinary and unique you truly are, look at your gifts, qualities and strengths, and you will develop a healthy esteem and love for yourself.

And your attitude towards life will determine your success or failure, whether you will achieve your goals and be the best you can be, or whether you are going to struggle. Now, your attitude towards your goals is also something more than that, because the expectation of achievement whether is the person you want to become or a goal you want to achieve, makes you become that person and achieve what you want before you actually have done it. It is the Law of Attraction. And the more you have expectations and you take actions to achieve your goals, the faster you are going to achieve them. So, let us suppose you want to be confident or you want to be successful, if you have the attitude and the expectations of being confident and successful, you are going to feel confident and successful already now. It is simply a shift in your consciousness.

Now, let us suppose you have developed a healthy attitude towards yourself, life, people, and your goals. What do you do when you encounter negative people or negative circumstances? What do you do when somebody gets angry at you? What do you do when you are driving and someone cuts in your way? Well, we need to develop an immune attitude, learn to be immune to negativity. You need to learn not to let anything disturb your peace of mind. You can simply ignore it and smile it away. And think that things are temporary, that if you have a great attitude, you will create a life where you have all that you desire and deserve, a wonderful life, guaranteed.

So, what is the attitude you are going to choose?

How Do You Set and Achieve Life Goals?

Gurus tell us to get on in life you must set goals. Mark Twain said, 'I could show the whole world how to get what they want in life, trouble is very few people know what they want.' 

So how do you set a goal? How do you plan to reach that goal? I agree with Mark Twain but I believe that people can set goals when shown how to discover what they really want. 

You may say that it is OK for me to say this when I have my new seven series BMW outside my four-bed roomed detached villa, but where do you start? Where did the really successful people start from?

I get a bit tired of the 'I started in a caravan with walls and roof like a colander and shoes to match, now I drive an S class Mercedes, live in a six-bed roomed house right on the beach and work 15 minutes a day' type stories. Don't these individuals ever stop to think that they may turn off more people with these stories? In my opinion they do not motivate us they simply massage the over inflated ego of the story teller.

Going to a seminar can be an invigorating experience. People leave the auditorium determined to get to grips with life. Then by Monday morning after a weekend of dealing with shopping, the kids, spending time with the in-laws, suddenly the words seem a little remote and have lost most of their meaning. 

A survey tells us that 98% of the population never set their goals in writing, and the 2% who do earn more than the collective efforts of the other 98%. The reason that we do not set goals could be simply down to habit? We fly by the seat of our pants, doing the best we can day by day just getting by, usually in a job we hate.

These ingrained habits can be defeated. After all 2% actually do write out their goals AND reach them. Some 'Gurus' say just write your goals on a piece of paper; put it in your pocket or a drawer and sometime in the future BINGO! You will magically achieve your goals. 

How easy! I, and no doubt you fancy the multi-millionaire lifestyle working 15 minutes a day from our six-bed roomed house by the beach, but that is just a dream. 

So what makes it so difficult for us? 

Habits destroy our dreams, and the only thing that can really break a habit is supreme motivation. So how do you not only become motivated but stay motivated.

In the process of setting, chasing, and achieving a goal, you change, grow, and improve your quality of life. Reach a challenging goal and you might just change your life forever. In the process, you will gain insight into your own mind. You'll also discover ways to motivate and inspire yourself. Learning to find your own inner motivation may be the most important skill you can acquire. 

So, what do you need to do this? Lot's of things, actually, but it's easier than you might think.

Let me give you a clue at the expense of alienating hundreds of 'motivational speakers' do not spend your hard earned cash by attending motivational seminars in the hope of changing your life. My opinion - seminars deliver outside not inner motivation. I do not know about you but although I promised myself to follow a course of action after the seminar, a few days later, somehow life gets in the way and in a short time I could not even understand my own notes.

So what made the difference to me? I was fortunate enough to meet a person who showed me HOW to set a real goal that generated enough inner motivation to make the achievement of the goal guaranteed. 

Once you set a real goal, personal to you, not one that you think others would like you to achieve or one that is set by your boss, (they are not goals), you will develop the inner motivation to keep you going until you achieve success, whatever success means to you. 

A simple method to do all this and unlike external motivation it will sustain you until you reach your goal, no matter how many obstacles you find placed in your way you will achieve what you want to achieve.

How? Inner motivation, the one thing that separates the very successful from the rest, it will place you head and shoulders above any of your competitors. I will tell you something else, you do not need to develop a hail fellow well met back slapping, happy-clappy type of personality to experience inner motivation.

The title of this post is - How do you set and achieve life goals? Simply know what you want, know when you want it by. Develop the inner motivation to get you there by using the simple technique my mentor taught me and I will teach you if you want. 

You do not need the whole route to your goal planned meticulously out before you, as Martin Luther King said, 'All you need do - take the first step. You do not need to see the whole staircase, just take the first step in faith.'

Success is not something you become. It is something you continue being.

Finding Your True Purpose

From the time I was eight years old, and wrote my first poem, I knew I wanted to be a writer. It felt right, heart and soul. With a burning desire and one-pointed focus, I followed all the right courses through high school and college in a straight path to fulfill my life's purpose.

Then, boom!

I started meditating, and my life opened up to new possibilities. I took advanced courses, became a meditation teacher and set out to help the world. Though my spiritual side continued to actively grow, I married, had babies, but then turned my attention back to writing. I worked for years, writing ten books that my critique group loved, but publishers didn't. As much as I wanted it to, my career as a writer wasn't working.

Then, again, boom!

It was as if that lifetime ended. The desire to write left. Completely. I hadn't a clue about what to do. I'd thought I knew my purpose in life, but suddenly I was searching, like millions of others in the world.

How is your search coming? What is your purpose? You do have a design for your life. It's not working/sleeping/eating/paying bills/working. It's joy and love and fulfillment. It's doing what you - and you alone - were born to do. Do you know what you are here for?

In the Vedas, ancient Indian texts, this is the principle known as "dharma" -- your own true work that nourishes you and society on every level.

Few people know there is such a thing as dharma, settling for whatever is available. Of those who do have an inkling about it, only a handful have the least clue of how to discover what it is.

Do you know your purpose in life? Or care? Most of us do. Many of us have a gut feeling that there must be more to life than meets the casual glance, and that we each have an important role to fulfill. Pay attention to those feelings. That's your intuition at work. It's easy to ignore and easier still to slide past those inward thoughts and get caught up in your normal routine.

We have each created our own pattern. As in clockworks where interlocking gears form set patterns that do not deviate (at least in a well-run clock), most people choose an established path, get on the wheel, and start running in circles for the rest of their lives. These paths could be anything from doctor to lumberjack to executive or anything else.

Some people choose the nearest, easiest path - whatever job is available to earn money to pay the bills. Others go to great lengths to find what they do best, soul searching, taking aptitude tests, going to career counselors, etc. And some people choose well. The ones who are in touch with themselves.

I had prided myself on knowing who I was, After all, I'd been teaching meditation for, by that time, 30+ years and already had a strong inner sense of Self. Still, connecting it to daily activity and finding out what I wanted to do was not easy. And as connected, as in tune as any of us are, we can always connect and refine more. My work had only just begun. I asked myself some hard questions, got some unexpected answers from unexpected sources, and my life has soared. Yours can, too.

What did I do?

I looked at a few self-help books, such as What Color is Your Parachute and Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow. These are classics. There are many other, newer books on the market that can help, too. Among other things, I was advised to make lists of things I like to do, and of talents, skills and interests, along with work experience I'd accumulated. I covered several sheets of paper, then studied the results. 

Though I could no longer write them, I still loved books. I'd also had retail experience. Putting that together, I thought I could own a used book store. I moved in that direction, getting more experience by working in a book store, but it was slow.

Then - guess what? Boom! Deja vu!

What I'd thought was a minor interest in my life -- alternative healing systems --paired up with my eternal interest in the development of consciousness, and I was offered the opportunity to co-create, with the Divine, an amazing line of Divine Therapies that work on the most subtle level possible in relative existence. One of them is called "Purpose." It's designed to help you connect all the dots inside you, to bring you more in tune with nature's creative design, and help you not only discover what your true life's purpose is, but to achieve it.

I did not actively look in this area. This idea came unexpectedly, but I was alert and intuitive enough to recognize it when it came. Once you start searching for your purpose, be alert to all tidbits of ideas that come. They just might nudge you in a new, perfect direction.

I found my dharma, and discovered that living life in dharma is far from a rooted, unchanging existence. It moves as you grow, ever widening, ever deepening. It's like catching the right boat moving down the river. Hang on, and help steer! We all do have a purpose. I learned to uncover mine, take steps to achieve it, and I learned how to help steer others to their right path.

Don't give up. Your purpose is waiting for you. The way may be winding, smooth, or rough, but if you're on the right boat on the right river, with the rudder in hand, your boat will take you where you want to go.

Clear Your Way To Success

What is the secret to getting really successful?

It's clarity.

The biggest level of confusion most people face in setting goals is confusing them with methods of achievement.

As Albert Einstein once remarked, "Perfection of means and confusion of goals seem in my opinion to characterize our age."

A goal is what you desire. A method is how you go about getting it.

A goal is singular and fixed, while a method can be multiple and it can vary.

If you want to be an actor or actress, that is a goal. The acting classes you take and the auditions you go to are your methods.

While the difference between a goal and a method is clear and obvious when explained in this way, much confusion arises between the two in practice.

When some people are asked why they are not achieving their goals; they say that they don't have enough money, or knowledge, or support. They believe that their lack of resources stops them. Yet these resources are only methods. They can be substituted with other methods.

If you already had all the methods in place before you started out, it would not be a goal; it would merely be fulfilling a task.

A goal asks you to stretch beyond your current means. It asks you to explore new methods, uncover new resources, develop new strategies.

Doing what you have never done before is working on achieving a goal. Merely doing what you know how to do is just working with your existing methods.

The result of mistaking methods for goals is that people tend to shuffle existing methods around while claiming to be doing something new. They do what they've always done and yet are surprised to find that they get what they have always gotten.

When Joseph Campbell advised people to follow their bliss, he meant that they should do what they heart desired, not make do with what they already had before them.

Thus a goal is an end, and a method is a means to that end.

Confusing one with the other results in no growth at all.

Robert Fritz explained it in the following way:

"The way you activate the seeds of your creation is by making choices about the results you want to create. When you make a choice, you mobilize vast human energies and resources which otherwise go untapped. All too often people fail to focus their choices upon results and therefore their choices are ineffective. If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is compromise."

Your Power To Invent The Future

Imagination is much more important than knowledge because it gives knowledge both shape and direction.

The imagination can restore the past. It can review a future that has not as yet existed. 

A whole industry, the entertainment industry, has grown around visually representing futures that exist only in our mind's eye. 

Unfortunately, the imagination is also misused. When a small misfortune appears, our minds have a tendency to leap into the future and make it even worse. 

If, for example, a bill shows up in your mailbox and you don't have enough money to cover it at the moment, your imagination may instantly take off to configure the most dire consequence. Before you know it, your imagination has you standing on the street corner with a cup in your hand begging for quarters.

The imagination gone astray is worry; the imagination gone wild is neurosis; and the imagination gone berserk is psychosis.

Yet, by the same token, the imagination can be used to build fantastic futures, and the reason why our century looks very different than a millennium before is because we have over time imagined different things and found new knowledge and invented new experiences for ourselves.

The imaging faculty of the human mind can do incredible, even impossible, things. You can imagine yourself on the moon in seconds. Now, here's the rub. Some of these incredible, even impossible, things can come true.

President John Kennedy imagined that a time would come when a man could walk on the moon. When he declared this image as a goal, then the forces of knowledge were put to work to invent the technology that would make it possible.

He did not extrapolate on what already existed. He made a leap to a new dimension of possibility.

As an individual, you can, in a similar way, harness the power of imagination to create what you not have enough of right now. You can imagine much more money, spending more quality time with the love of your life, or achieving some pinnacle of success that really turns you on.

The imagination, then, is a double-edged sword.

You can use it to take some uncomfortable personal incident or something terrible you saw on the TV news channel, and blow it up to an extent that frightens the living daylights out of you.

Politicians use imagination to incite people to go to war; and insurance agencies make billions of dollars from it. Imagination. It's powerful stuff.

On the other hand, you can take full control of your imagination and create something wonderful. You can start rehearsing your dreams. You can start reliving your most joyful moments. 

The proper use of imagination demands that you become more conscious, more aware, more attuned to how a single thought, inspired by a book, a movie, or a real live event can expand rapidly and in a huge way.

An aware person will not allow a negative idea to go to far and will allow a positive idea to go much farther. 

Using your imagination can raise you to the zenith of hope or plunge you to the nadir of despair. It all depends on what you want in life. A great wonderful, prosperous, happy, fulfilling life is only a thought away. You are not a creature of circumstance, but the creator of your reality. And the way you do it all is through your imagination.

5 Simple Steps To Manifest More Money With The Law Of Attraction

Almost everyone I know wants to know how they can increase their cash flow. 

Perhaps you have questioned why some people seem to always have money while others struggle just to make ends meet. 

I think it is safe to say that most of the world uses and needs money to survive. Although everyone uses and needs money, not everyone has a healthy view about money. Many religions teach that money is the "root of all evil". They hold on to cliché's such as "the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.". 

If you want more money in your life, then you've got to show money love. This may sound strange to you, but the law of attraction simply stated says "like attracts like". 

Attracting money into your life is much like a love relationship. If you want to attract that sexy woman or that handsome guy into your life, then you call them on the phone. You meet together on a dinner date. 

Perhaps you write love letters or sweet poems. You find out what the person likes and make a little surprise gift. You keep a picture of that person in your wallet. You are in love. This is basically what the law of attraction is about. It's not just saying or writing affirmations. It's not just using pictures to visualize things. It's putting your whole heart, soul and mind into it. 

With money, it has to be the same way. First step to attracting money is;

1. Realize money is like electricity. In of itself, it is not good or evil. Much like electricity, you can use it to do a lot of good or cause a lot of unhappiness. Many people blame money for their mistakes and are afraid to face responsibility for their own life.

2. Everything that you want to manifest requires a specific spirituality accordingly. Spirituality is an intense feeling for something. It is a healthy and balanced love for something. If you are afraid to love money, how can you ever expect it to want to come to you? Remember, this is a healthy and balanced love. 

3. Keep pictures or symbols of money to help you focus and remind you of your intention. You can use pictures of money, real money, or symbols such as rocks or marbles. Use whatever works best for you.

4. Take action. Don't just take an action for action's sake, but meditate and think it through. Trust your subconsciousness to lead you to do the right action, but nontheless don't expect for things to just fall out of the sky into your lap.

5. Imagine. Use your imagination of what you would feel like if you were wealthy. Exactly how much money would you like to have. When? Make it crystal clear into your mind and then work with the feeling of already having it now. I recommend this should be done on a daily basis for at least half an hour, but again, do what works best for you. Remember that you want to do this regularly and you want this to be a fun thing, not a chore.

Victimhood or Victory?

Are you a victim? Is your life one long saga of victimhood? Our society is full of people who, through their own limiting beliefs, have settled into becoming victims of their circumstances. They feel powerless to make changes in their lives because they think that the elements of their lives are out of their control. All too often they're quick to ask, "Why do bad things keep happening to me?"

You probably know someone like this. They are the "why me?" people who always seem to have an excuse for the things in their life that aren't working. And much of what is in their lives isn't working as well as it could be. They have poor health or bad relationships; they have dead-end jobs or chronic financial problems. They have a hard time taking responsibility for themselves, their actions, mistakes, and even their own decisions. In short, being a victim requires a giving up of most, if not all, personal responsibility.

When we allow ourselves to be victims, we are letting the people and circumstances in our lives dictate how we will feel, and ultimately, who we will be. No one - no matter how hard they try - can ever make someone else feel something that they don't want to feel. Think about that for a moment. You are ultimately capable to respond to much greater degrees than you do. True responsibility can be redefined to mean your ability to respond, fully capable to respond powerfully to the occurrences of your life. Because you are the only one able to choose your feelings and your responses to what is happening right now.

We have all heard people say, "You make me mad." Or, "Don't make me feel guilty." But the truth is that no one can make us feel something - good or bad - unless we allow them to. More accurately, we're the ones at the helm of our feelings. We get to choose to feel mad or happy, bad or good. But this choice is only possible when we first choose to be response able, able to respond to this moment's occurrence. To relinquish this ability to respond is what makes being a victim appear possible.

Now I'm not saying that there aren't people out there who are genuine victims of crimes or injustices; I am saying that our response to each moment's occurrences, circumstances, situations, events, scenarios or people is what defines us. Remember, at root, nothing in life is ever just happening to us. Our life, as we choose to live it, is occurring withinasthru us. In short, we create our realities by virtue of who we're choosing to show up as, moment by moment. Who we're being dictates the thoughts we hold in our minds, the words we say and the actions we take.

If we show up knowing life to be hard, and the obstacles we face are roadblocks, then we will stay stuck in that place of defeat. If we instead come to see life's challenges as the very opportunities for us to be more, to grow and expand into larger experiences and expressions of our self, then a whole new set of possibilities will arise at every bend in the river. Even in the midst of a terrible experience, we always have the power to choose our response. We are always able to be responsible for who we're being in relationship to the experience.

The victors choose to show up victorious, always growing from their experiences. Victims choose to be defeated by them. Who we show up as then becomes the living mirror of our life.

Again, nothing in your life is happening to you. Your life, exactly as IT IS this moment, as unique or bland as you're choosing to live it, is occurring withinasthru you. And it has always been so whether you've been living aware or unaware of this truth, conscious or unconscious.

However, if you're adamant about being a victim; about letting other people or the events and circumstances of your life control your future, then you are still traveling down a path of pure choice. You've simply chosen to be victim. And if you are committed more to being a victim than living your life on purpose and with passion, that's okay too. Because as you choose to be either victim or victor, so shall your life reflect your choice. The choice is always this simple. The choice is always now.

Those who hold onto the "victim mentality," will probably not agree with most that has been offered here and might adamantly oppose the invitation to live withinasthru complete responsibility, because to be fully responsible feels like too much burden. But feeling burdened comes not from being completely responsible for your life. It comes from your all too often limited responsibility. Until you willingly accept that you are the only constant in your life, the only one who's been with you during every experience, every situation, every scenario, you probably will not choose to accept or receive the abundance that is yours to accept. In other words, you cannot be a victim and a victor; the two are mutually exclusive in this moment's choice.

It doesn't make any difference how hard your life has been up to this point. One of the great beauties of this universe is that we have the option to change the course of our lives at every moment. In deed, only when we're willingness enough to be responsible to this moment, exactly as it is, do we truly have the power to choose a brighter tomorrow. Every moment of now holds the promise of a new choice. Ask yourself, "Do I want to be the victim or the victor; the receiver of life's abundant joy or a sufferer of life's miseries?"

Am I Really That Powerful?

People often speak of miracles by saying that they experience the power of God as if the power of God was beyond anything we can readily imagine or experience. But the truth is, as we develop the receptivity to OWNING God's power as our OWN and start to realize that it is within each and every one of us, we begin to develop what has been called the mental equivalent of that which we want to create. We get the KNOWING that it is already ours. "The Secret" reminded us and the Law of Attraction teaches us, but do we really know our power?

I can remember the first time, way back when, that I did a spiritual mind treatment or affirmative prayer. I remember feeling? Wow? What I am speaking is really going to happen. In fact, it is happening as I speak. Do you remember the first time that happened to you? We get that there is a Power that we can use. We get to the knowing and owning that it is already ours. That's when we come to see the miraculous as the ordinary in our experience. Do you really know how powerful you are? Do you know that the same power that is "out there" is in each and every one of us?

I remember once a woman coming to see me, whom I had not met before. She had only been to our church once, so she didn't really know any of this teaching. She started telling me about a serious problem she was having with cancer. And as she was speaking, I got real clear that her problem had nothing to do with cancer. She began to share more and more, and began to tell me about the fact that she had been and was still in a very abusive relationship. She began to say to me, "I think that's the issue. I'm terrified of stepping out on my own. Where would I ever get insurance? 

Who would take care of me? (Not that he was taking care of her!) I just listened and didn't say a word to this woman. She sat there and looked at me and said, "I think I brought this into my life." I would never have said to her, "You brought cancer into your life." I don't believe in that. You don't want to look at people and say, "You have a cold? You must be doing xyz." She said to me, "I'm beginning to realize that my allowing these experiences is actually causing and creating my experiences." 

She was sitting in a chair and she suddenly jumped up out of the chair and said, "I'm powerful, aren't I?" I said, "Yes, you are." Then she said, "If I can do that, I can change my life." She looked at me and started to cry, saying, "I've been through years and years of therapy and I've never felt free. I'm free." I didn't do a thing. She heard herself and in my presence, while I held a conscious space, she began to see her own power.

So, for all of us who are creating muck in our lives, see how powerful we are? Look what we can do. When we speak our word, and know what it is very clearly that we want, we can create it.

How To Deal With Challenges

Wherever you are and however much of an adventure you are having, it is safe to say that more than likely that you will be faced with challenges and obstacles on a regular basis. This is what life is made up of. Some of us though seem to have the knack of making it all seem so easy, while others get caught up in the negativity of the challenge and only see problems ahead of them.

Challenges can consume you if you let them. You can, on the other hand choose to focus on your strengths instead and see challenges as a part of life, which is exactly what they are. If you allow yourself to focus on the difficulty of the challenge, that is what's going to grow in size, yet if you focus on solutions for your dilemma, the chances are you will find one or even more possibilities for solving your problem. Through trying times, we do not want to believe that some good can come out of our challenging periods. Yet, if we look back on the difficult times in our lives, whether it be about a relationship, one's business, an addiction, financial problems or other ... have we not learnt more as a result of each challenge? Have we not grown and become stronger, more compassionate human beings?

I am not saying that we need deny the severity of the challenge and the pain it may be causing. It is essential to feel the emotion that has surfaced to be able to accept the challenge and what it means to us. Give yourself time, but then put on your obstacle boots, do what you have to do about it, do all you can do and when that is done and no more can be achieved at that time, let it go and trust that it will be taken care. Wait and be patient for the right time and then take another step forward. Do not expect that all challenges can be solved immediately. Some need time and there always seems to be a reason for this. When challenges arise do not think you are being singled out and punished. Challenges are the stuff life is made of. However, how you choose to overcome the challenge will determine your rate of success.

Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what!. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more successful.

Relaxation Techniques to Combat Stress

With the increased pressures of modern life more and more people find it difficult to switch off and relax at the end of the day. This can lead to sleepless nights which creates further anxiety that can make life feel more unbearable.

Eventually this can create a feeling of being overwhelmed or stressed out. However, there are lifestyle changes that you can make in order to reduce your stress and promote relaxation in your life:

1) Get regular massages
We all know about the reputed benefits of a massage in aiding relaxation of the body and mind. Whilst you could get a partner or close friend to give your shoulders, back or feet a good rub down, to truly feel long-term benefits you should enlist the services of a trained professional to give you regular massages.

Don't think of this as an indulgent treat but rather an essential part of your well-being routine. For as well as relaxing the muscles (and making you feel as chilled out as an Eskimo), the benefits of regular massage include improved blood flow and a boosted immune system.

2) Hang up your phone
When you leave the office you need to be able to switch off from work - and that includes your phone! This is important to do as once your work colleagues get into the habit of being able to contact you at all hours they will. Remember, the phone is there for your convenience, not just the caller's.

3) Compile some chillout tunes
Put together or buy a CD of relaxing music to ease your mind and help you switch off from the outside world. Research has shown that even from the womb relaxing/classical music can be beneficial in promoting well-being.

4) Read a good book
Emily Dickinson wrote, " There is not frigate like a book to take us lands away," which is a great way to sum up the way in which reading a good book can help you to get your mind off your worries - if only for a while.

5) Practice yoga
Yoga is a great way to escape from everything going on around by taking you into your own little world. As well as being a good form of working out, it can help you to build your self esteem and confidence, helping you to bring about a positive change in your life.

6) Drink herbal teas
Herbals teas such as peppermint and chamomile make better options than caffeine-infused drinks such as tea and coffee. The key to helping you to adapt your choice is to try different types until you find flavours which suit you taste buds. Many varieties are now widely supplied at most supermarkets.

7) Eat Right
All too often, and perhaps because of the hype of all the fad diets out there, people underestimate the impact of diet on our health and well-being. Simple steps such as cutting down on caffeine, alcohol and food high in fat or calories can produce beneficial effects such as helping you to feel healthier and less highly strung out or irritable.

8) Work Out
Now we're not talking about hours every day or "going for the burn." If you haven't exercised for a while you will want to take it easy and start off with manageable sessions. As well as the physical benefits of exercise, regular sessions can help to reduce your anxiety levels as "feel good" hormones are released.

9) Breathe
It's just like they say when you have a moment in which you feel you're going to have a meltdown. Take a deep breath and count to ten. Whilst this is a good start, you should aim to set aside time to sit down relax and focus on your breathing to the point that it slows down and feel more in control.

10) Get back to basics
Escape the hustle and bustle of your everyday stresses and strains by getting out to the countryside or a place close to nature. This can often provide the space you need to clear your mind, find focus and perhaps inspiration.

The Major Hurdle For Most Aspiring Dancers

Most people with an ounce of talent in dance will never realise it. There is one hurdle, one major obstacle which will stop most in their tracks. Even the most ambitious and enthusiastic to start with won't be able to pass it. It can discourage the most enthusiastic and make fools out of otherwise cool people. What it is I'm talking about...it's the first dance class.

My word, what a freak show! You'll watch some MTV video, realise you can pull off a few of the moves and that you're pretty good. Then wham, you go to a dance class that seems to be teaching the hardest routine in the world, and wham! It'll knock the balls out of most people from ever going again!

I'd love to say this is an exaggeration but it's not. Most people who walk into a dance studio will only walk through it once. Statistics will back me up. If you watch the first-timers in a dance class, you'll find that half of them you'll never ever see again. Which is a great shame, because a lot of them probably had enough talent to pull off the same routine that frightened the hell out of them...with a bit of practise of course.

Learning to dance is I've found as much to do with the attitude as it is with what you're body can to. Everyone has the same body, the same neurology that can be taught the same things. But it's attitude that makes the difference.

A lot of people who are otherwise comfortable doing most things, who will easily get up and give presentations in meetings, who'll ride the theme park rollercoasters that seem to start on the Moon, will be terrified of being in a room full of people learning to dance. You can try and entice them with all the Diet Coke in the world and they'll still hunch up like a little mouse.

The 2 things that'll sound the death bell for a first-timer are:
1. The worry that comes with looking like a fool
2. Ridiculously high expectations

You see, the thing that most dance studios don’t tell you is that when a dance class is described as 'beginner' it doesn't mean that a beginner can easily cope in the class. It means that once you can pull off the routines at beginner standard you will be at a good level of dancing and can progress to harder classes. So a 'beginner class' for a beginner is actually very hard.

And you certainly shouldn't expect to be pulling it off first time. No one does at their first attempt! So what should a beginner do? Firstly accept that you are in a dance class to learn and yes, you may look like a fool to begin with, but believe me, everyone including the experts in class has been through this experience, and know what it's like.

And secondly, take your time learning and go in with no expectations. Be like a child. If a child learns one new word a day, that's a good day's learning. If you go to dance class and can only do one or two moves, that's a good day's learning too. Because all the learning you do is cumulative and will add up to an impressive skill. If you learn 2 moves a day and do 2 classes a week, that's 4 moves a week and 16 moves a month. In a year that's nearly 200 moves, or 200 different combinations – and that's a lot. SO think of the bigger picture.

Most of all have fun when you're dancing. After all, you should only be doing it if you enjoy it and want to learn badly enough. The more you enjoy it, the more relaxed and calm you'll be and this is the perfect state to learn in, in the warm, humid atmosphere of the dance class.

Realistic New Year’s Resolutions

This is a time where people are really talking about New Year's resolutions, new starts. It's a brand new year, brand new day and they'd really love to break free of some of the old stuff--go into some beautiful new green pastures in their life.

I was at the gym the other morning and of course, the gym this week is busier than it's been all year. But give it a couple of weeks, and it's probably going to be back to normal again. One of the personal trainers came up to me, and thought he was making kind of cordial talk and he said, 'Hey, it's a new year. Do you even remember any of your resolutions?" I said "Well, absolutely, I do" and he said "Well, how many have you all of them yet or forgotten them yet?" and I 'm like "No, I really haven't." But you know that's kind of the current state of affairs.

What a lot of us do, we set those New Year's resolutions and then, if we're not careful we don't check in to see how we're doing until New Year's next year. And so, what I really encourage people to do is find a point of inspiration. You know, we tend to overestimate what we can do in a year and underestimate what we can do in a decade.

You know, so many of us want to turn around, you know states of affairs that we've created over years and years of habits in a nanosecond and it probably isn't going to work. You don't turn a battleship around on a dime. You know, you turn it around over time staying the course and holding steady. So what I would encourage everyone to do is find a program like Science of Success.

This program, as much, if not more, of anything I've ever been exposed to will get you clear, not only of what you're capable of creating, but exactly how to do that. So when you sit down, which I ask you to do in the program and define your vision for your life, come up with something that really inspires you. You know, something that, that makes you enthusiastic because if you, you know, set some kind of goal or vision for your life that is someone else's. It's not going to inspire you, and you're probably going to burn out.

And that's where I find a lot of people who are depressed. You know, a lot of people who are overwhelmed or are not excited about their life. When I begin to talk to them, they're living someone else's life. It's more noble to imperfectly pursue your own passions than to perfectly pursue someone else's.

The Need for Personal Growth

More than ever we are in need of Personal Growth on a global level. We are in dire straits because of a general worldwide lack of knowledge and awareness of what’s possible when we create extraordinary lives for ourselves and each other. We can all contribute to the one world community and make the planet a bet ter place. The norm has been people who spread negative news, promote fast food and pharmaceutical concoctions rather than address the cause of real life issues.

We have been trained, to varying degrees, to obey authority, work hard, and to speak when called on. The educational system instills an early model for learning that conditions our behavior as adults. Some of you may be going through life, day-in and day-out, just working hard, watching TV, eating junk food, and falling into bed at night. You may be living on autopilot rather than directing your energies and living life to its fullest.

Think about it: You are the producer, director, and actor of the movie called your life. To live an outstanding life, which includes doing what you love and being all you can be, you need to be proactive and deliberate on designing your destiny.

Today’s world demands that powerful people step up and take a stand for what’s important. Together we can challenge systems that no longer serve us and create new structures that will be designed more effectively to set us up for success.

The quality of our lives depends on us and how we choose to live. The choices we make ultimately shape our lives and many of us are waking up to this fact. With movies such as The Secret, people are becoming aware that there is more to life than what meets the eye. The Power of Personal Growth offers you significant awareness and knowledge so you can make empowering choices to positively impact your life.

Believe Your Soul Mate is Out There

Believing that your soul mate is out there is critical to the preparation of manifesting him or her into your life. The basic law of attraction states that you will attract to you those things that match your state of belief.

I believe that the Universe is always mirroring back to us our beliefs about ourselves and the world. If we believe the world is a loving and friendly place, then most of the time that will be our experience. If we believe the world is a chaotic, stressful and fearful place, then that becomes our reality. So, believing and knowing that your soul mate is out there is part of the formula for manifestation. If you do not yet believe with 100% certainty that your soul mate is out there, let’s begin to look for things that will make a believer out of you.

Do you believe you are loveable? If you are reading this then I am certain you are loveable. Why? Because, loveable people want more love in their lives. But, if you believe you are not loveable, I’m going to ask you to challenge that belief. Take a moment to identify at least three (or more) lovable traits that you possess, such as being generous, compassionate, friendly, kind, considerate, thoughtful, interesting, funny, etc. Write these down and then memorize them. You will be using them shortly for your treasure map.

I know many very attractive, successful single people who have some very negative, limiting beliefs when it comes to finding their soul mate.

The list usually goes something like this:
I’m too old.
I’m too fat.
I’m too damaged.
I have too much baggage.
I am too successful.
I am not successful enough.
All the good ones are taken.
Nobody I want wants me.

These are just knee-jerk excuses to keep you stuck. There is plenty of evidence that love is available to everyone regardless of age, weight or income or any other feeble excuse. What if I told you that it’s not your job to know HOW your soul mate is going to appear? It’s only your job to be ready, willing and open to love.

You don’t really know where air or water comes from but you totally believe that they are there for you. As a human being you know that air and water are your divine right. You know that no matter what mistakes you have made in the past, you are still going to wake up every day and have access to air and water. The same is true for love. It’s there for you. It’s always been there for you. You just need to remember the love that you are and once you do, the Universe will deliver to you the perfect soul mate. There is nothing for you to do, there is only a way for you to BE.