Personal Development - Is It All In Your Head?

There is a lot of information available online about Personal Development. There are a myriad of different, techniques, solutions, tapes, CDs, seminars etc. But have you ever been able to get them to work? Have you have tried everything on the market? Do you jump on all the new fads and courses? If you do and your life is still not working or you have come to the point where you are seriously starting to doubt if any of this stuff really works then you need to read this article now!

Does this sound like you?

Is nothing working in your life? No matter how many self improvement tapes you listen to do you just seem to be stuck on the same merry-go-round? Is your job is unsatisfying and do your personal relationships "suck"? Are your finances a mess and could your health be better? If can answer "yes" to any of these questions, or worse you can answer "yes" to all of them, then you need to set yourself straight in your own mind!

Firstly, all Personal Development and Self Improvement starts in the mind. All of your current circumstances started in your thoughts. Take a look around you right now. Seriously stop reading this and look around you for several seconds then come back to this article.

What you just saw is your "demonstration." Everything you see around you, you have attracted into your life - from the chair you are sitting in to the building you occupy. Look at your job - you chose to apply for it (or at least you chose to accept the position). Look at your home. You made the decision to live there. Look at your car, your spouse and your friends. Yep, you chose them all. You must realise then that to change these outer circumstances (the outer experience that stems from your decisions) you must first change yourself on the inside. You must change your decisions and your beliefs about what you are capable of achieving, having and deserving.

You feel terrible because your life is not how you want it to be. But the truth is "you always get more of what you focus on." Your life is terrible at the minute because you are focusing on it being bad and if you keep doing that it will just get worse. It's all in your head!

By learning to change your focus and moving your attention to the things that are working in your life you will create more of that. In time you will start to notice more and more of what you do want in life appearing. To change your focus you must first change the way you feel. Look for the things you are grateful for now. Give thanks for them.

Be thankful that you have a job and a roof over your head. Be grateful that you are not alone in life. Have gratitude for the money you do have. Give thanks that you are alive and capable of changing your current circumstances. Gratitude is the key that unlocks your unlimited potential.

I promise you that if you practise gratitude for only 15 minutes a day your focus will begin to change to the positive and within a month your life will being to change for the better. Within a year you and your outer world will be totally transformed.

If something undesirable happens look at your reaction to it. This tells a lot about your focus. Do you know that successful people have the belief that "everything happens for a reason?" They believe that somehow, someway there will be a positive outcome from it. They believe that there is an irresistible force at work in their lives directing them through thought, action and circumstance towards their own desires. This is merely a decision they made some time ago. They decided to think this way and continued to consciously do so until the thought became a dominant thought and a belief! It takes approximately 30 days to create a new belief (even shorter if you use hypnosis or certain personal development techniques).

Try this approach. You will be amazed at what happens. Just keep telling yourself "everything happens for a reason." Convince yourself that "every cloud has a silver lining" and it will become true for you. Re-direct your focus by being grateful for the things you do have in your life now. Open your vision to the abundance that is all around you even if you are not experiencing it first hand yet. If you can see it, it's in your experience. It only takes a slight shift in your attention to bring it directly to you!

Remember - it's all in your head!

Mark Ford is a home business coach and internet entrepreneur who publishes articles on a wide range of home based business and marketing topics.

Mark Ford helps people improve their income through a home business and digital marketing. If you have taken value from this article visit http://markfordsblog.com/news-and-updates/ for my latest news and updates.

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10 Reasons Why A Gratitude Journal Could Be Your Best Idea Ever (And Why You'll Want To Start Today)

We have all heard about the 'attitude of gratitude' and how we're 'supposed' to think positive thoughts. But how on earth do you do it? How do you take the 'stuff' that life throws your way and turn it into smiles instead of sulking? Here are 10 reasons why you might want to use a gratitude journal to help you with all of this - and why you'll want to make a start today.

A gratitude journal can be an elaborate book with a beautiful cover, or it can be a simple notebook, it doesn't really matter. What counts is that you write in it regularly - and keep it somewhere that you can review it, whenever you want to. Here are 10 reasons to keep a gratitude journal - and how it can change your life, starting today!

1. It's fun! Keeping a gratitude journal is fun! Just imagine doing it every day for a year and then looking back to experience the great stuff that happened in your life! Sure that's worth a few minutes of your time, each day?


2. Your body feels every thought you think. Whether you're living in a stressful situation or just thinking back to one, your body doesn't notice the difference. It will still fire off all of those stress hormones and create the same physical, mental and emotional tension, whether or not the event is currently happening. So how about spending time getting it to fire off happy hormones, instead?


3. It can help you sleep better - and dream happier! Psychologists have proven that our thoughts, as we fall asleep, set the tone for at least the next four hours of dreaming. Surely it's better to spend the night dreaming about things that make you feel good, rather than reliving your worries and stresses?


4. It can change the way you think. When you decide to keep a gratitude journal, you are making a commitment to yourself, to turn your Monkey Mind's thought habits towards conversations that inspire you, instead of grumbling and criticising.


5. It builds up your strength, for when things don't go so well. Gratitude can be thought of as being a mental and emotional 'muscle' which you can build up with daily exercise. If stuff goes wrong in life and your gratitude muscle is weak, you'll struggle to find a silver lining in those storm clouds. But if you already have a strong daily gratitude habit, then your gratitude muscle will be resilient and well-trained, meaning life's challenges don't knock you off course as much.


6. It can turn you into an optimist. Having a generally optimistic attitude towards life has been shown to cut your stress levels and to improve your physical, mental and emotional health.By consciously looking for what is going well in your life, you are training yourself to have a more positive outlook.


7. It can help with 'emotional first aid'. When 'stuff happens', it can be difficult to keep things in perspective and it's all too easy to drown in the drama of the stories your Monkey Mind is telling. Your gratitude journal give you back your perspective and help you to more easily handle whatever is going on for you.


8. You can see what's great, not just what's gone wrong. If you have a long-term habit of letting your Monkey Minds grumble and gripe, then it becomes a world expert in pointing out everything that is bad and wrong and broken in our lives - and the wider world. Keeping a daily gratitude journal helps you to rebalance this, by also being able to see what is good and right and wonderful in our day-to-day experience of life.


9. It helps you let go of old limiting beliefs. We tend to see what we expect in life - and what we expect is limited by our beliefs about what is possible and likely to happen. These beliefs work as a filter in your brain, passing through evidence to support them and rejecting evidence that would contradict them. If you use your gratitude journal to deliberately write down examples of "life being good" and "I feel happy", then over time old limiting beliefs will melt away.


10. And finally... starting a gratitude journal is something that the 'future you' will thank you for! Imagine zooming ten or twenty years into your future, having kept a gratitude journal for all of that time. Do you think that the future you will be a different person to the one you are today? Do you think they might feel happier? Less stressed? More positive? Healthier? More vibrant? Generally more fun to be around? Or do you think they'll tell you that they wish you had never taken the time to spend a few minutes a day on gratitude and that they wish you had stayed stuck feeling stressed, miserable and grumpy? How about taking the first steps towards that 'future you' today - and starting your gratitude journal?

How To Start Your Gratitude Journal?

You can choose any notebook for your gratitude journal, but most people like to choose one that feels special. So you could go and buy one in your local store - or order one online. Then choose to write (or draw pictures) of 3-5 things you feel grateful for - ideally every day.

The main thing is that you make the decision to get started - and that you take some action.

And how about going a bit deeper than just writing stuff down each day? There are plenty of inspirational resources over at the Miracle Of Gratitude. They include:

• A gratitude journal, which brings you the 'how to' of gratitude, in bite-sized, practical chunks - as well as a Readers' Club, with reader-only bonuses and a supportive online readers' forum
• Monday Morning Gratitude Emails - to start your week with a smile on your face
• plus inspirational articles, videos and online courses to inspire you to make the miracle of gratitude an easy and life-changing part of your daily routine!

Brought to you, with love, by Clare Josa | Author | NLP Trainer | Meditation Teacher | Happiness Experimenter

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Dr John Demartini: The true Power of Love and Gratitude

Attitude of Gratitude: 5 Facts to Be Grateful For

Has your fast paced life and heavy workload kept you from enjoying what's around you?

When was the last time you had a good night sleep without having to take anything for it?

Do you recall the last time you took a few minutes just to savor the things that made you happy?

Here's a simple way to add more richness, relaxation, and rejuvenation into your busy work-life schedule. Try incorporating a regular dose of "Attitude of Gratitude" into your day. That's right: gratitude. This technique takes less than 1 minute to do and can boost your health and happiness with persistent practice.

First of all, let's get clear on, "what is gratitude?" Gratitude, according to Cicero, is the mother of all virtues. He said that within this simple gracious self-affirming act comes a cascade of many wonderful inner human qualities. Merriam Webster Dictionary defines gratitude as: a feeling of appreciation or thanks. Scientists since the late 1990's have studied this human quality and have found many health and happiness benefits with the constant practice of it.

Gratitude, according to Robert Emmons, the world's leading researcher in the science of gratitude, explains that gratitude has two parts. According to him, "First it's an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we've received." Second, he states that it is "a relationship-strengthening emotion because it requires us to see how we've been supported and affirmed by other people."

Here are some interesting facts about the practice of gratitude:

1. It leads to increasing levels of optimism and other positive emotions, which will eventually help you live a longer and happier life (R. Emmons and Sonja Lyubomirsky).

2. It's nearly impossible to be grateful and feel envious at the same time. The positive emotion of gratitude cancels out negative emotions (R. Emmons).

3. Grateful people sleep better (Wong Wing-Sze, et al).

4. Grateful people tend to exercise more than those who don't practice gratitude (R. Emmons).

5. Gratitude is an immune booster (R. Emmons and M. McCullough).

Are YOU ready to start applying this powerful technique into your life?

Here are 3 simple ways for you to choose from to begin your "attitude of gratitude" practice:

1. Do the 3 Blessings exercise, created by Robert Emmons, where you list the 3 things, big or small, that you consider being a positive experience.

2. Say more Thank You's to people around you --- especially when they seem to be correcting you. (A technique I learned from one of my Acupressure Shiatsu teacher, Caroline, over 10 years ago.) This made me feel less inadequate for making a mistake but appreciative for the potential for being better in my practice.

3. Just like the old saying, "Stop and smell the roses!" Literally stop and smell the beautiful scents of nature around you whether you are in your kitchen cooking up a quick meal or outside on your way to your car for an errand. Stop for 30 seconds and take in all the good around you.

Debbie Lyn Toomey, RN, Health & Happiness Specialist, offers quick, practical, and powerful programs to today's busy women that will triple their energy level, clarity, productivity, and enjoyment within minutes so that they will have more time to rejuvenate their body, quiet their minds, and express their inner divas. For FREE tips on how to gain more by doing less, visit http://www.ultimatehealingjourney.com

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Gratitude “Prayer” by Louise L. Hay

Deep at the center of my being there is an infinite well of gratitude. I now allow this gratitude to fill my heart, my body, my mind, my consciousness, my very being. This gratitude radiates out from me in all directions, touching everything in my world, and returns to me as more to be grateful for. The more gratitude I feel, the more I am aware that the supply is endless. The use of gratitude makes me feel good, it is an expression of my inner joy. It is a warm fuzzy in my life.

I am grateful for myself and for my body. I am grateful for my ability to see and hear, feel and taste and touch. I am grateful for my home, and I take loving care of it. I am grateful for my family and friends, and I rejoice in their company. I am grateful for my work, and I give it my best at all times. I am grateful for my talents and abilities, and I continually express them in ways that are fulfilling. I am grateful for my income, and I know that I prosper wherever I turn. I am grateful for my past experiences, for I know that they were part of my soul’s growth. I am grateful for nature, and I am respectful for every living thing. I am grateful for today, and am grateful for the tomorrows to come.

Louise L. Hay - The Universe Loves Grateful People

"Every thought we think and every word we speak is creating our future."

Oprah's Gratitude Journal - Oprah's Lifeclass - Oprah Winfrey Network

How Gratitude Serves You

Many times we get too busy trying to reach our goals, trying to acquire wealth and all the other good pleasures of life. We get choked by our regular activities that gratitude is pushed to a corner. We get overwhelmed by the many negative things that are happening around us. This write-up will help you focus on the positive side of life, read on...

Gratitude shifts your focus away from problems

When you are truly grateful for the things you have, you will automatically shift your focus away from lack and other problems. The ability to be grateful for the things you have is an ability you can decide to develop today. You can decide to see the good in everything that happens, you can decide to be thankful no matter what happens. When you develop the mindset that everything that happens to you happens for your good, things naturally begin to fall in place.

Gratitude attracts more of what you desire

The easiest and fastest way to get the things you desire is not to worry about them. Worrying doesn't solve anything, it doesn't attract good things to you. As a matter of fact, the things you worry about tend to happen most times. Gratitude repels the negative force of worrying, it diminishes your lack and helps you get more of those things that you desire. From this moment henceforth, be thankful for all you have and all you need will come to you. Use the force of gratitude to attract the things you need.

Gratitude gives strength and vitality to your body

A merry heart does well like medicine to the body. Ingratitude produces negative energies in your body, decreases your capacity to focus on tasks and greatly reduces your productivity. There is a strong connection between your mental and physical well-being. When you have a healthy mind, you have a healthy body. When you are grateful every time you build up a strong and healthy mind.

It takes just about the same effort to be grateful as it takes to be ungrateful. However it is much more beneficial for you to be grateful. From today, decide that nothing that happens will take away your ability to be grateful. Program your mind to think positively of everything that happens to you, surround yourself with positive people, read good books and listen to good music. Do not let anything steal away your ability to give THANKS.

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