Category Archives for "Self Awareness"
Who am I and what is my soul purpose?
25 Ways To Nurture Your Soul
Start to nurture your soul to improve the quality of living. If you are currently starving yourself of love, warmth and all things chocolate, it is time to do things differently. Starving your soul is tantamount to a refusal to say yes to the joy of enjoying rich beauty and abundance around.
By starving your soul of needed nourishment, you end up carrying a negative vibe. It is evident when you are constantly swearing, complaining and being rude to others. Soul starvation makes you bitter, needy, angry and resentful. It is even possible that you feel lonely because friends inadvertently shy away from you.
Conversely, when you nurture your soul, life feels full. You become a lover of life. Every little experience opens you to delight. Rose buds unfolding their miracles. Unicorns riding on rainbows in the sky. Red strawberries coated in fresh cream. And the scent of early morning dew. Invariably, living life with an exuberance puts you in a heightened state of energy consciousness
How To Build Intuitive Awareness For Inspired Actions
For the law of attraction to work, taking both obvious and inspired actions is necessary. For abundance to manifest, you must move towards your desires both on an internal and external level. Internally, your desires must be clear, strong and in alignment with your soul purpose. Externally, you must take appropriate affirming actions.
“An idea not coupled with action will never get any bigger than the brain cell it occupied.”
— Quote by Arnold Glasow
How To Do Pendulum Dowsing
“That was when I saw the Pendulum. The sphere, hanging from a long wire set into the ceiling of the choir, swayed back and forth with isochronal majesty. I knew — but anyone could have sensed it in the magic of that serene breathing — that the period was governed by the square root of the length of the wire and by pi, that number which however irrational to sublunar minds, through a higher rationality binds the circumference and diameter of all possible circles. The time it took the sphere to swing from end to end was determined by an arcane conspiracy between the most timeless of measures: the singularity of the point of suspension, the duality of the plane’s dimensions, the triadic beginning of pi, the secret quadratic nature of the root, and the unnumbered perfection of the circle itself.”
— Foucault’s Pendulum, Umberto Eco
Pendulum dowsing is a skill that I have been trying to hone since last year. It is the practice of asking your subconscious mind/Higher Self/Spiritual Guide (depending on your intent) questions and getting the answers by noting the swing of a pendulum. It is a process of discovering answers to questions that do not normally come through your five senses or through logic, but as conscious feedback. Basic dowsing gives a yes/no response to questions asked. Because the steps are so simple and do not require you to be a psychic, anyone can learn it!
Discover The Law of Attraction In Silence
 Photo from Personal Album; Silence All Around |
Yesterday, I came upon the quote below while reading The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel . I had picked up the book from where I left off before going to Thailand for my meditation retreat. SaiF had reminded me that “Silence” was mentioned in this book, in his comments to my post on Experiencing the Gap: The Space Between Thoughts. While searching for what Charles Haanel said about being in the Silence, the word “law” from the quote caught my eye as well.
Five Hindrances To A Successful Meditation
After reading some of the comments to my previous post, I realise that some of you may also be experiencing some of the same hindrances I had or occasionally still face, while meditating. Many of these obstacles were pointed out during the Happiness Retreat that I attended more than a week ago.
(Photo Credit: Premasagar on Flickr; Photo Taken in Bangalore, Karnataka)
In fact, if you do not already know this, Buddha described five hindrances to a successful meditation in one of his teachings. I shall attempt to explain them simply in my article today. Hopefully, an understanding of the likely obstacles faced can help you deal with them and to get more out of your sittings.
Experiencing The Gap: The Space Between Thoughts
In the most popular sense of the word, Gap is the label of an all American clothes brand with stores worldwide. Over in London, the term “Mind the Gap” is an announcement often heard at its Underground railway system when a train arrives at a station. Passengers are told to look out for and to avoid the significant gap between the train door and the station platform. In economics, “Gap analysis” refers to a business resource assessment tool.
Of lesser known, is the concept of Gap from a meditative perspective. Spiritual teachers and meditation masters tell us to not only recognise the Gap but Be in It. They recommended that much benefits can be derived when we do this. Admittedly, the Gap is a profound concept, which in its simplicity, not quite as easy to grasp especially if we have not been conscious about it. Yes, it is possible that you have experienced it at one time or another, as you go about your hectic life.
My Happiness Retreat In Khao Lak
Le Meridian Khao Lak
It was easy to see why the 5-star and very luxurious Le Meridian Resort was selected for the Happiness Retreat in Thailand. Set in acres and acres of landscaped gardens, and situated on a beachfront, it was conducive for meditation. The resort was pretty much secluded, since it was situated in Khao Lak (which was not on the more popular and crowded Phuket Island). In the night, the resort was awashed with sounds from the crickets in the gardens. In the day, while sitting on the verandah of our room, we could catch the chirpings from the birds. This being the rainy period, the resort was not fully occupied with tourists either. Instead, it heralded a quiet charm, perfect for relaxation for both body and mind!
Our Life Journey: Break Free From Limiting Beliefs
Transformation usually occurs when you are able to break free of your limiting beliefs. Limiting beliefs hold you back from being the best that you can be and from being open to unlimited possibilities.
(Photo Credit: Rusty Buckets)
One of the most empowering thing to realize is that your belief system can be changed. Many times, you probably feel as if your beliefs are fixed. You are dead sure that you are right and would stubbornly hold on to them. You feel outraged when someone dares challenge your “truths” and distort your reality. However, what you fail to see is the possibility that your beliefs may be flawed, giving you a false representation than what is truly the case.
7 Jazzy Ideas To Making Positive Daily Affirmations FUN
Positive daily affirmations are declarations of a desired outcome or goal. Affirmations are reprogramming tools for your mind. They can help you develop positive thinking, get rid of unhelpful beliefs, reduce stress, build your self esteem and attract the life you want.. As an example, the statement that “I easily and consistently make $10,000 a month” will be an appropriate affirmation that overrides the limiting “I find it hard to make $10,000 a month”.
To anchor a positive daily affirmation firmly in your subconscious, find out the pitfalls that you need to avoid. Next, keep repeating it so that it becomes the “truth” for you. The more frequent you make the declaration, the more effective it gets.
Having said that, I’ve often found that it can get pretty boring making the same declaration several times a day and day-after-day. Just imagine repeating the following positive daily affirmations like a mantra:
“I easily and consistently make $10,000 a month.”
“I weigh a healthy X pounds.”
“I attract girls/men very easily.”
I’m not sure whether you would agree with me….that while these affirmations may just do the job, they do not sound exciting in the least!
So I’m thinking: how about using some creativity to jazz up the practice of using Positive Daily Affirmations?
Well…..
Here is a list of 7 ideas from my toolkit for making Positive Daily Affirmations a FUN exercise!
1. Make Your Affirmations Into A Song!
While racking my brain for ideas, I came across one from Gary Craig, who founded the Emotional Freedom Technique. Gary suggested turning affirmations into a jingle.
Remember the nursery rhyme Old McDonalds Had a Farm? For those who just cannot recall, here’s the rhyme:
Old McDonalds had a farm. Ee-ii-ee-ii-o.
With a quack quack here. And a quack quack there.
Here a quack and there a quack. Everywhere a quack quack.
Old MacDonalds had a farm. Ee-ii-ee-ii-o.
Using Gary’s proposed lyrics and the same tune to Old McDonalds, here’s how you would sing to an affirmation involving a money goal:
I earn 10K a month. Very E-asily.
And a dollar dollar here. And a dollar dollar there.
Here a dollar. There a dollar. Everywhere a dollar dollar.
I earn 10K a month. Very E-asily.
Another song that I’ve thought of, that can be easily adapted is “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”….
My Bonnie lies over the ocean, my Bonnie lies over the sea, My Bonnie lies over the ocean, O bring back my Bonnie to me.
Chorus: Bring back, bring back, O bring back my Bonnie to me, to me. Bring back, bring back, O bring back my Bonnie to me.
Here is the version that I am proposing….
My earnings comes easy to me-e,
my earnings come easy to me.
My earnings comes easy to me-e.
O give me my earnings right now.Chorus: Earning O earning O earning my 10K a month, a month.
Earning O earning O earning my 10K a month.
2. Make Art out of Positive Daily Affirmations.
Perhaps you are less of a singer than an artist. If you are more visual, then consider using art to express your positive daily affirmations.
You can start a scrap journal and paste or draw anything in it that supports your affirmation. For instance, if your affirmation is “I make $10K a month”, think about the things you can buy. Then, find the pictures that support them. Stick pictures like a new designer handbag, new clothes, watch, etc. into your journal.
Alternatively, instead of pictures, you can also different phrases to support your affirmation. For instance, I have come across phrases like “dream home come true”, “a million possibilities”, “arouse your creative imagination” and “inspirational living” while flipping through home and decor magazines. Cut these phrases out and paste them into your scrap book.
Art can be expressed in a variety of ways, using different mediums. Other than cutting and pasting pictures for magazines, you can also consider using a software to create an affirmations board (refer to the above image that I made). The idea is to use your creativity in more ways than one, to connect to your inner Self while making affirmations.
3. Dress The Part.
This will depend on the affirmation that you are making. Obviously, if you have a weight loss affirmation, then it may not be quite possible to dress the part yet.
But if you have an affirmation on a money goal, then dressing the part can be a powerful make-believe that you have already made it. Notice how you feel if you are always dress shabbily compared to if you have got your best clothes on?
If you have an affirmation that says “I am a successful businessman”, then your dressing smartly can also help to conjure the same thought in the minds of your prospects.
4. Daydream About Your Affirmations Coming True.
Daydreaming is a powerful exercise. When you use your imagination, you are building an imagery in your subconscious mind.
In your daydreams, you can complete just about any impossible tasks out there, with wonderous results. You can be Superman, Wonder Woman, or James Bond (See also point 6 below)!
While daydreaming, affirm your goals. Stretch your imagination. Have fun, thinking of how your affirmations can come true.
“The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don’t know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.”
— Unknown
5. Use Role Models To Create Your Affirmations.
How about borrowing this famous line?…..
“Just call me Bond. James Bond.”
Obviously, you should use the appropriate role model for the affirmation that you are working on.
For instance, if you have an aspiration to be a motivational public speaker, then your affirmation may sound like this “Just call me Tony. Tony Robbins.”
If you have an aspiration to look fit, then your affirmation may be “Just call me Jennifer. Jennifer Lopez.”
If you have an affirmation to be a super woman, then your affirmation may be “Just call me Wonder. Wonder Woman”.
6. Use Empowering Adjectives.
The choice of words can help in bringing about a stronger emotion to your positive daily affirmations. For instance, don’t you think there is a difference between saying “I earn $5K a month” as compared to “I easily and consistently make $5K a month”?
You can also add empowering adjectives, to make a more eloquent affirmation, like:
Awesome
Elegant
Delightful
Magnificent
Energised
Vibrant
Beautiful
Creative
Wonderful
Great
Emphasize the adjective while stating your new affirmation….
Old Positive Daily Affirmation: I am in a state of good health.
New Positive Daily Affirmation: I am in a state of Vibrant health.
Old Positive Daily Affirmation: I make $5K a month.
New Positive Daily Affirmation: I make an Awesome $5K a month.
Old Positive Daily Affirmation: I am in a job that I love.
New Positive Daily Affirmation: I am in a Magnificent job that I love, with access to many Wonderful opportunities.
7. Make-Believe Mini Exercises.
Think up ideas for make believe on your affirmations coming true. Back to my example again on the money goal, consider writing a blank check to yourself. On the check, fill in your name and write the figure that you desire. Keep it n your wallet. In your mind, imagine spending the dollar amount and feeling happy about your purchases. Repeat this exercise every month.
In Conclusion
Explore making affirmations into a poem, poster, food decoration. Anything! Since you were a child, your negative beliefs probably got programmed in a multitude of ways. My point is why not do the same with positive affirmations in a FUN JAZZY and more interesting way?
Love and Abundance Always,
P.S. Sharing is caring! Share this post with your friends on social media. Thank you in advance 🙂
7 Instances Why Your Positive Affirmations Fail To Work
Are you about to give up and proclaim that positive affirmations do not work?
You already are aware of the benefits of thinking positively. And so, you have been trying to use positive affirmations daily. Yet, despite repeating them like a mantra for several times a day, you’ve not met with any success.
In my post today, I would like to share with you a couple of key learnings that I have made. I would like to share some examples of my own. Be on your way to making positive affirmations work for you!
What Are Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations are thoughts or statements on a desired state or outcome. The desired state or outcome can cover any aspect of your life such as in abundance, success, relationships or health. One common example of an affirmation is “I consistently and easily make $X a month”. Using positive affirmations is powerful because consistent thoughts can become realities. Hence, the more often you reinforce the positive, the more it is likely to happen.
While you would prefer to believe that you are a positive person, in reality, it could be the opposite. On a subconscious level, you may have several negative self sabotaging thoughts and beliefs. These thoughts are usually formed from the various experiences that you have had, the conditioning that you went through as a child, your sense of fair play, your successes and failures and the values that you have been taught and come to adopt.
Consistent thoughts make up your belief system, when you give them power and more focus. Gary Craig, the founder of the Emotional Freedom Technique, calls them “writings on your wall”. They form the “writings on your wall” from which you frequently consult in your everyday life.
If the “writings on your wall” tend to be negative and limiting, they can hinder you from taking risks, achieving your dreams or simply being the best that you can be. Here are some common examples of “writings on the wall” that are not very useful:
– “Don’t rock the boat.”
– “Don’t risk getting yourself hurt.”
– “Know where you come from.”
– “You are not all that capable.”
– “Don’t draw too much attention to yourself. No one likes a showoff.”
Positive affirmations are statements that can help replace these “writings on your wall”. They are great to use after clearing negative emotions and thoughts. Positive affirmations are great for financial abundance, enriching relationships and pursuing possibilities.
Hence, if repeating positive affirmations have not worked for you, find out why.
Why Aren’t Your Positive Affirmations Working?
1. Presence of Tail Enders
Perhaps one of the main reasons why positive affirmations do not work is because of the presence of tail enders. Tail enders are beliefs and thoughts that appear at the end of the affirmation.
Let me give you an easy example to illustrate what a tail ender is. Say your positive daily affirmation is “I easily and consistently make $50,000 a month”. Your tail enders may go like this….
– “But if I make $50,000 a month, I will have friends and relatives come borrow money from me.”
– “But if I make $50,000 a month, I will be known as rich by my friends and rich people are not nice.”
– “But if I make $50,000 a month, I will have to work very hard in my job to earn that and I will have no life left.”
– “But if I make $50,000 a month, my friends will not like me.”
– “But if I make $50,000 a month, women (or men) will want to be with me more for how much I make and not for whom I am.”
The list of tail enders can go on and on. You can have tail enders for just about any affirmation that you use for health, relationships, love, etc. So if you have been diligently saying your positive affirmations but find that they are not working, you may want to ask yourself if you’ve got some tail enders that are sabotaging your initial intent. Tail enders can easily reduce the effectiveness of your affirmations. It takes a while to unearth all the limiting tail enders but once you uncover them, you open up the opportunity to erase them. And you can do this with EFT.
2. Your Affirmation Is A Should.
You may make an affirmation which you do not really want. Often enough, people make affirmations because their parents say so, all their friends are doing so or it sounds like a good affirmation to affirm.
You may even have a tail ender that says this “I easily and consistently make $50,000 a month but I do not really want it.” In this example, it may be that you have other dreams, rather than just a money goal.
It is important that you make affirmations according to what you really want, rather than make them based on your shoulds. Your wants are aligned desires that come from within your soul and not from someone else’s dream.
3. Your Affirmation Is Not Realistic Enough.
If your affirmation appears to be a lofty goal to you, you may inadvertently set up tail enders that says it is too difficult to attain. Let’s use the first example again for illustration. For instance, if you currently make $1000 a month, then making an affirmation on “I easily and consistently make $50,000 a month” may be too much of a stretch to you.
Of course, you can use meridian tapping or Emotional Freedom Technique to erase the tail enders. But you may find yourself having to deal with a long list of negative sabotaging thoughts. It may be far easier to set an interim but more realistic affirmation; such as “I easily and consistently make $5,000 a month” and work your way up. You will find that you will have less obstacles to clear subconsciously, as you move up the ladder.
4. Your Affirmation Is Not Exciting Enough.
If your affirmation is not exciting enough, you may lose motivation. Affirmations must have enough “pull” for you to focus your intent on. For instance, from currently making $1,000 monthly, would $5,000 a month be a good enough affirmation for you to work on? I would think so.
Your affirmation also works best if you say it with some emotion. When you can actually “feel” your affirmation, its impact increases dramatically.
One important tip is that it is best that you do not let others know too much about your dreams and affirmations. Announcing them to people who are not very supportive and who have little understanding about what you are doing, can invite criticisms. They may just douse your enthusiasm, causing you to give up on your affirmation. Hence, it is best to keep things to yourself, focus your thoughts and get some results, before sharing your findings with others.
5. Your Positive Affirmation Is Not Made In The Present Tense.
Your affirmation is less effective if you use words like “I will be _________” instead of “I am ________ “. Of course, you may feel that it is inappropriate to affirm something that has not happened yet. But saying things in the present tense will program your subconscious mind to believe that what you affirm is already a fact. Once your subconscious mind believes that it is true, you will find yourself taking actions to make your goal a reality.
6. Your Affirmation Focuses On The Negative Rather Than Accentuating The Positive.
Think back about all your affirmations. Are you formulating them in the positive or in the negative sense? Affirmations made from a negative perspective will only draw your subconscious mind to your old habitual and limiting thoughts. They will not be as effective in bringing about desired positive outcomes.
“Positive anything is better than negative nothing.” Elbert Hubbard quotes (American editor, publisher and writer, 1856-1915)
7. Your Affirmation Is Not Supported By Your Dreams.
You may associate dreams as something that is so big but which are unattainable. And so, you pooh pooh the idea of dreaming: why waste time imagining the impossible when dreams seldom come true?
Well, there is much value in daydreaming. And in case you believe so, daydreaming is not just for kids. When you daydream, you connect yourself with all possibilities. The act of daydreaming itself creates a nice feeling when you think “how nice if I would be if I can/am _________”. When you feel good, you start to exude a positive energy vibration. According to the Law of Attraction, you may well start to attract the opportunities that matches the same vibration.
“Dreams are like the paints of a great artist. Your dreams are your paints, the world is your canvas. Believing, is the brush that converts your dreams into a masterpiece of reality.”
— Unknown
Summary: Guidelines To Help Make Positive Affirmations A Success
1. Make affirmations short and succinct, with no tail enders.
2. Base your affirmations on wants and not shoulds.
3. Make them realistic.
4. Make your affirmations exciting enough.
5. State affirmations in the present tense.
6. State affirmations in the positive.
7. Augment your affirmations with dreams.
In short, before you conclude that positive affirmations do not work, go through this checklist first and see if you have made them correctly.
It is important to have fun while making affirmations. Adjust them from time to time to eliminate boredom. Cover your intent adequately with affirmations by focusing on different aspects of your goal and watch your desires unfold before you.