Building a Positive Mindset

Off-late many of you guys are asking how to over come the negative emotions. This topic is more relevant in the current challenging circumstance. So today I want to touch upon the topic of ” How to Develop Positive Mindset”. There is nothing new I am sharing with you here, but a culmination of what ever I have learned, applied in my life, tested and now sharing for the benefit of everybody. I have studied these principles from many thought leaders like, Jack Canfield, Dr. Joe Dispenza, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Robin Sharma, Bob Proctor, Tony Robbins, Brain Tracy, Dr. Joe Vitale amongst others. Hope this helps. Also, let me know in the comments, if you would like me to write about anything specific. Happy reading!

Maintain a Gratitude Journal

Just spend a few minutes daily to take a stock of what you are grateful for. I know, this is highly subjective. A homeless man will be grateful for a square meal a day. A millionaire may not be grateful even if he is making $10000 an hour. Don`t mistake being grateful with being contempt. Being grateful for all the things in your life, puts you in a positive state of mind, while the mind is trying to look for all the things that you dont have yet. And dont blame your mind for this, since its the human evolution to be blamed. Our ancestors lived in a environment which could change in a moment and be life threatening. hence we have evolved to be in a constant state of fight or flight mode, hence our mind always looks for danger.

In the beginning, I suggest you take a note book and start to write down all the things you are grateful for. It may be small things like a cup of coffee, the cool breeze in the evening, or the fact that you are literate to be reading this. Remember this; if you have food on the table, clean drinking water and roof over your head, you are better than 40% of the world`s population. So dont be put of by the few things you wish to have, but dont possess yet. The reason why I suggested to write it down is that, when you try to sit and think about the things you are grateful for, the chances of getting distracted is higher. Also, when you write, you make it more permanent in you mind. Give it a start and you can see the difference in just a week or so. The key here is to concentrate on the emotion of Joy and Fulfilment for having said things in your life. Dont start thinking about not having a Merc, while being grateful for having a Figo. That will again put you back in the mindset of being ungrateful.

Develop an Attitude of Gratitude!

Taking Responsibility

Sheldon goes to a doctor one day;

Doctor: Tell me what is you issue?

Sheldon: I cant sleep. I have clynical depression. I dont feel hungry anymore. I dont feel interested in anything. Please diagnose what is wrong with me.

Doctor: Why do you feel depressed.

Sheldon: Where to begin doctor!! My wife is a condescending egomaniac, she keeps fighting with me day in and out. My parents often look down on me. My neighbours are always trying to bring me down. My boss is a jerk, who takes credit for all my work. My banker, Accountant and Legal counsel all are trying to steal me of my money.

Doctor: OK, I understand your problem. I know a best medicine for this problem.

Scribbles down something on the prescription pad.

Sheldon: Thank you doctor. How should I take these?

Doctor: No they are not for you, Give one tablet to each to your wife, parents, Neighbours, Boss. Go ahead and give it everyone who you come across. That might solve your problem.

As I keep mentioning in most of my posts, until we learn to take responsibility for ourselves, we can never achieve significant results in life. Its hard to accept that our life is in our control, while there are so many influences which effects our life. However, the option of responding to those influences are always with us. Whatever the event may be, the repose will be our choice. Be mindful about the response you choose irrespective of the events. This will always keep you in a positive attitude.

Nevelizing

Those of you who follow my blog regularly, already know how much importance I place on visualising. Nevelizing is an advanced visualisation technique, where you imagine or script the dream you wish to manifest as a thing of the past. Ex; you want to achieve a said sales target, or finish a project on time. Now sit down and imagine, talking to a friend, narrating how you achieved this. What were the obstacles and how you overcame the same. Its like a movie in flash back. Imagine everything in absolute detail. This automatically put you in a state of achievement and gratitude and help your mind calm itself. What you want to be when you are 85. Where you want to be. Who is around you. What are your accomplishments. Visualise them in detail.

For those who have difficulty visualising, you can script it down. Date your journal to a date in the future, when you want to achieve this target of yours. Then write down, in detail, how you feel now that you have achieved this said target. Concentrate on the emotion you feel on that moment and enhance the same.

Question your BELIEFS

Beliefs are the most powerful construct of our mind. Our belief systems are formed at a very young age and carry us for most of our lives. It is imprinted into our sub-conscious minds and is generally hard to over-write. An event leads to an Emotion (good or bad). Emotion, carried for a longer period becomes mood. Mood, if persistently maintained, turns into temperament. And Temperament turns into our attitude. Hence if we do not fix our belief system, however hard we work, our results will never be substantial.

Every year, Australia hosts 875-kilometre endurance racing from Sydney to Melbourne. It is considered among the world’s most gruelling ultra-marathons. The race takes five days to complete and is normally only attempted by world-class athletes who train specially for the event. These athletes are typically less than 30 years old and backed by large companies such as Nike.

In 1983, a man named Cliff Young showed up at the start of this race. Cliff was 61 years old and wore overalls and work boots. To everyone’s shock, Cliff wasn’t a spectator. He picked up his race number and joined the other runners. The press and other athletes became curious and questioned Cliff. They told him, “You’re crazy, there’s no way you can finish this race.” To which he replied, “Yes I can. See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2,000 sheep on 2,000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d always catch them. I believe I can run this race.”

When the race started, the pros quickly left Cliff behind. The crowds and television audience were entertained because Cliff didn’t even run properly; he appeared to shuffle. Many even feared for the old farmer’s safety. All of the professional athletes knew that it took about 5 days to finish the race. In order to compete, one had to run about 18 hours a day and sleep the remaining 6 hours.

The thing is, Cliff Young didn’t know that!

When the morning of the second day came, everyone was in for another surprise. Not only was Cliff still in the race, he had continued jogging all night. Eventually Cliff was asked about his tactics for the rest of the race. To everyone’s disbelief, he claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping. Cliff kept running. Each night he came a little closer to the leading pack. By the final night, he had surpassed all of the young, world-class athletes. He was the first competitor to cross the finish line and he set a new course record.

This shows what significance beliefs play in our lives! We manifest what we believe. There are many stories like above, where the underdog has won, just because they believed (or refused to believe its not possible, like Cliff)

Learn from the best

Genius Leaves Clues!!

One of the greatest acheviement of the man kind is the ability to pass on the knowledge. Imagine, starting over every generation, from the scratch. Would we have acheived this progress?

Read books, especially biographies. They are rich sources of clues on how to make the most of your life, and most importantly, what mistakes not to make!! From Mien Kemp of Hitler, to My experiments with Truth of Gandhi, from Elon Musk to Steve Jobs, study the lives of others. It will help you choose the tactics they have used to navigate their lives.

Also, in this digital age, we have the guru of gurus, Google! its upto us to engage in pointless chatter or follow blogs like this to learn a thing or two 🙂 (a little self promotion never hurt anyone) But seriously, there are tons and tons of materials available for self development. Subscribe to those you tube channels, Newsletter, if you can, enroll to those courses which teach you life skills.

Declaring game

I know the post got really big this time. But this is the last point! and its kind of cool and funny to do as well.

Take a piece of paper and write down what is that you want to achieve. Unlike the previous exercises, let this be brief. It’s like placing an order on Amazon. Do you keep checking with the supplier about your order. No! You know that the order will be delivered in time. Just like that, write down what you want and it will be manifested. Give it a try 🙂

Have a Positive and Productive week!

Morning Habits for Success

“Our levels of success will rarely exceed our level of personal development, because success is something we attract by who we become.”

– Jim Rohn

Here are six timeless personal development habits complied by Hal Elrod, if performed every morning, will create ‘miraculous’ changes in your life:

Silence

If you want to immediately reduce your stress levels, to begin each day with the kind of calm, clarity, and peace of mind that will allow you to stay focused on what’s most important in your life, and even dance on the edge of enlightenment—do the opposite of what most people do—start every morning with a period of purposeful Silence.

Instead of checking your phone and seeing what’s happening in the world, check in with yourself by starting the day with a period of mindfulness. When you start the morning with either seated or walking mediation, you establish a calm and peaceful reference point for
the remainder of the day. Think of your morning meditation like lighting an internal candle you use to find peace of mind during a noisy and chaotic day.

I was a skeptic about meditating, may be due to its religious roots. But I was hooked, once I experienced the Mindfulness Meditation with Jack Canfield. Just 5 Mins of this small exercise, where you try to focus your attention on the breathing, will bring your energies to the present and rid you off worries and fears. Gratitude Meditation is also helpful, and helps you speeden your manifestation.

Listen to My Friend Jess Guide you Thru a Brief Meditation

Affirmations

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. Once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”

‐ Muhammed Ali

Daily affirmations are to the mind what exercise is to the body. Repeating affirmations helps to reprogram the subconscious mind for success. It helps eliminate negative and limiting beliefs and transforms your comfort zone from a limited one keeping you trapped in mediocrity to a more expanded one where anything is possible. It helps to replace your “I cant’s” with “I cans,” and your fears and doubts with confidence and certainty.

Whether you know it or not, you are always using affirmations… but usually not ones that will bring you what you want. Like, “I am never Good Enough”, “Bad things always happens to me”

The daily use of positive affirmations interrupts and eventually totally replaces this barrage of negative thoughts and beliefs. To achieve this, you must continually flood your subconscious with thoughts and images of the new reality you wish to create. Affirmations are reminders to your unconscious mind to stay focused on your goals and to come up with solutions to challenges and obstacles that might get in the way.

Consider a transformation you want to make and phrase it as, “I [your name] will be [transformation].”

Here are the eight guidelines for creating effective affirming statements. These are derived from the book The Success Principles.

  1. Start with the words “I am.” These are the two most powerful words in the English language.
  2. Use the present tense. Ex: “I am Happy, Now that I can drive my car well”
  3. State it in the positive. Affirm what you want, not what you don’t want. Ex: Affirm “I am a good driver“, Not “I will not hit my car to the curb
  4. Keep it brief.
  5. Make it specific.
  6. Include an action word ending with –ing.
  7. Include at least one dynamic emotion or feeling word.
  8. Make affirmations for yourself, not others.

Repeat your affirmation out loud with intense conviction. Affirmation forms belief; belief leads to action; action leads to progress; progress strengthens belief.

Visualizing


“You must expect great things from yourself before you can do them.”

‐ Michael Jordan

Using visualization techniques to focus on your goals and desires yields four very important benefits.

1.) It activates your creative subconscious which will start generating creative ideas to achieve your goal.

2.) It programs your brain to more readily perceive and recognize the resources you will need to achieve your dreams.

3.) It activates the law of attraction, thereby drawing into your life the people, resources, and circumstances you will need to achieve your goals.

4.) It builds your internal motivation to take the necessary actions to achieve your dreams.

Visualization is really quite simple. You sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and imagine — in as vivid detail as you can — what you would be looking at if the dream you have were already realized. Imagine being inside of yourself, looking out through your eyes at the ideal result.

Be like the Olympic downhill skier who imagines going down the mountain, executing each turn perfectly. Visualize yourself executing the work you need to do today to become the person you aspire to be. When see yourself executing a task in your mind’s eye you make the task easier to execute later in the day, because visualization fires and strengthens the same neural circuits you’ll use to complete the task.

Although a daily practice of visualization is vital, we don’t need to spend all day thinking about our goals for this technique to work. In fact, spending too much time in visualization can rob you of something essential – living in the moment. Daily rituals help to establish the right balance between thinking about the future and living in the moment. Start by picking a time during which you’ll review your goals and visualize your success. Ideally, do this twice a day – first thing in the morning and right before you go to bed. The process typically will take 10 minutes or less.

If you meditate, guided or not, do your visualizations immediately after your meditation. The deepened state reached during meditation heightens the impact of visualization. For greatest effect, read your goals or affirmations out loud. After each one, close your eyes and create the visual image of the completed goal in your mind. To multiply the effects, add sound, smells, and tastes. Most importantly, add the emotions and bodily sensations you would be feeling if you had already achieved your goal. This is a powerful visualization technique.

Research has revealed that images or scenes that are accompanied by intense emotion will stay locked in our memory forever. The more passion, excitement and energy we muster during visualization, the more powerful the results will be. Once you have visualized each goal as complete, it’s time to release. Let go of your goals, and spend the rest of your day being in the present moment.

Exercising

I cannot stress enough on the benefits of exercising. Not long ago, I too was a couch potato, and never in my life had experienced the bliss of sweat. When you increase your heart rate with aerobic exercise, you trigger the release of neurochemicals (dopamine, norepinephrine, and BDNF), which significantly increases your ability to focus during the day. John Ratey, a researcher at Harvard Medical Schools, says, “A dose of exercise is like taking a bit of Ritalin.”
You dont have to do reps of crunches to get this benefit, although it has its own advantages. Just a 20 Min Brisk walk, or even few minutes skipping the rope will do the trick.

Since I have already written much about physical wellness, and also there are plenty of materials available regarding the same, lets move on to the next point.

“In order for man to succeed in life, he is provided with two means, education and physical activity. Not separately, one for the soul and the other for the body, but for the two together. With these two means, man can attain perfection.”

‐ Plato


Reading

After purposeful silence, affirmations, visualisation, and exercise, your brain is hungry to learn – pick up a personal improvement book and start reading!
Whatever area of life you want to improve (relationships, health, finances, happiness), there is a book to guide you.
Books are the richest source of high‐quality, curated knowledge. Skim a book every morning to find one big idea that may advance your life.

Many of you already know that I spend a considerable amount of my time reading and writing. Honestly, it is one of the things I love doing the most. Last year I read 63 books. I didn’t actually try to read that amount. I was just reading. I honestly felt like I was not reading enough. Then I checked my Kindle and it told me I had purchased 71 Books and have completed 63 out of it. This year I decided that I’d be intentional about my reading time and spend a lot of time deliberately reading.


Scribing

Ever wondered why history’s great minds including Isaac Newton, Abraham Lincoln, Andy Warhol, Leonardo Da Vinci, Marcus Aurelius, Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, Benjamin Franklin, Ernest Hemingway, George Bernard Shaw and Maya Angelou would spend so much of their precious time writing things that will never be seen by another soul?

Many famous creatives, writers, innovators and original thinkers of our generation keep journals— for many, it is a creative necessity, for others, a place for exploration, and for some an art form in and of itself. “Writing accesses your left hemisphere of the brain, which is analytical and rational,” says Maud Purcell, a psychotherapist and journaling expert. “While your left brain is occupied, your right brain is free to do what it does best, i.e. create, intuit and feel. In this way, writing removes mental blocks and allows us to use more of our brainpower to better understand ourselves and the world around us.”

https://www.wikihow.com/Keep-a-Journal