It's True, "You Become What You Think About" By Roger Willard

The first time I heard it in those terms was from Earl Nightingale. He was the gravelly voiced motivational speaker out of Chicago. I remember in the 1960s his brief commentaries called, Our Changing World, on the local radio station. But this particular phrase is the reincarnation of the words of Napoleon Hill who authored Think and Grow Rich. I have listened to the recordings of Earl Nightingale and have enjoyed and learned from them. I highly recommend any and all to do the same. Although he died in 1989, his recordings are just as valid today as they were decades ago. They are almost timeless.

And now as I look back at these few years God has permitted me on this earth, I know that this is more than just words on paper. It is truth. You do become what you think about. And in knowing this, a person picks most of his or her own destiny. In saying this, I sense a disturbance in the universe. How can this be possible? Is it that stuff we read about in The Secret? You might even say, "And that didn't work for me". But just saying, "You become what you think about" is only part of the full message. But like most things, we try to break them down to the lowest common denominator. You must go beyond simple sound bites and back to the full message.

First of all, for anything to happen, there must be action. Without action, nothing gets done. Even much of God's work is done though the hands of men taking action. But enough theology for now. Man is the only animal that can change its destiny. All other creatures are controlled by nature and instinct. We can change our lives and do it all the time, simply by thinking and letting those thoughts guide our actions.
But beside actions, there is another thing that must be applied. That word which comes from another axiom, is "What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." The key word here is "believe". Is what you think or want to achieve, believable?

As I was growing up, like many young people, I thought about becoming a fireman, cowboy, doctor, president and all the other careers kids think about. But there were a few careers that really stood out. For me there were four life goals I really wanted to achieve or was fascinated with: something on radio/TV/movies, a police officer/detective, and/or something with the strange and mysterious stuff out there.
These things always had my attention. I had more than idle curiosity about them. I pretended to be doing them.

As I got older, I bought or borrowed dozens of books on the subjects. When I got old enough to drive, I would visit radio stations and have them show me around. TV stations were not so open to this, but I did get to talk to local TV personalities. In college I majored in Police Science. I visited police departments on my own. I talked my way into riding with some officers on patrol at night, and not handcuffed in the back seat. I talked my way into an all police training class for CEUs in which I was the only civilian there. Later I did become a police officer, constable and private detective.

At the same time I continued my deep interest in hypnosis, reading and studying all I could on this mysterious and wonderful subject. Still at the same time I decided I had an ego to be on the air. I was always looking for a way to make it happen somehow. Eventually I got a gig to be in a commercial. Eventually I got to be on air live for 13 years on the country's largest cable shopping network as a product demonstrator. And now (but not finally) after deciding to make some changes, I became a certified hypnotherapist.

Why I am telling you this, is not to brag, but to illustrate a point. I believed I could do all these things. The things I chose were truly possible to me. There were moments in my life I knew some things I would not be doing. It might be fun to ride a racehorse, but at about age 8, my body size proved that to be out of the picture. So to some extent, honest thinking has to part of this self-development process. And this is essential for any change. To be honest about what you want to do. And then decide to think about it. And this can work for almost anything. To lose weight, you don't think and say to yourself, "I am thin." Not if you are obviously a number of pounds overweight, but rather you think, "I can become thinner", and then begin to see the change. Imagine a short-term and a long-term image. Let it become a reasonable obsession to take you to the weight just right for you. But do it with caution, as we know of too many who take it to the extreme and become anorexic.

As I was growing up I was what most would call an average or slightly below average student. I was not expected to go to college. And this was probably the only negative thing I heard about me in my household. No real high academic expectations. And in my own way I believed it. But one day that changed. After a number of years of poor academics in college, I decided I not only wanted to graduate from a junior college, I wanted a four-year degree. It is what I thought about. Once I knew it could be done, I moved in that direction. After I received my two-year degree, in just a year and a half later, I earned my four-year degree.
Now to be honest, this happened because of a fourth belief I had. I didn't forget that I said I had four things I really thought about in my life. I wanted that right person in my life to share it with me. And, honestly to find just that right person I had to become the kind of person who would be worthy of that person. Although I am far from perfect, I found the perfect person for me.
You see, there are so many ways to think. If you think and believe only trash, you live a life of trash. If you think, but never take action, you are no better off because little or nothing of what you want will ever happen. But there is tremendous value in saying, "You become what you think about" as a reminder to focus your thinking and then take action. I can only suggest that you find worthy things to think about and let yourself become ever so slightly wonderfully obsessive. Then let it guide your actions to help you create the life you really want and the person inside you want to become.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8053072

 

 

Self Discipline by Brian Tracy

Dave Wilcock- Personal Spiritual Development

Positive Thinking Success Secrets By Tom Cramer

All too many people underestimate the power of positive thinking. Some of the most successful people in the world swear by the use of positive thinking.

Nothing is impossible if you stay inspired and keep a positive attitude while striving to attain your goals. Having positive thoughts will not only help with your success but it will also make you happier and you will find more friends as well as business connections. Positive thinking is an important piece in your puzzle of success.

 Delve into Dedication One of the most important success secrets is that a person must be dedicated if they really want to achieve their goals. People with lackadaisical attitudes have a minimal chance at becoming a success in life, be it in their personal lives or professional lives. To succeed, you must be one hundred percent dedicated to making your life better.

With true dedication, anything is possible. Believe in Yourself It is essential that you believe in yourself and believe that you can have the success that you desire. The truth is that if you can't believe in yourself, no one else will believe in you. In order to gain the self confidence that you need to be successful, you should read as many inspirational sayings as you can find. These motivational quotes will help you stay on track and improve your self esteem as well. You can find inspiring quotes on a variety of websites. Just be sure that you are dealing with a reputable success secrets website before you sign up for a membership.

 Be Prepared for Bumps The road to success is paved with the bodies of those who gave up on their dreams. That's why the road is so bumpy. You need to be prepared for setbacks but you must stay inspired. When you hit a bump in the road, you will need to reevaluate your goal setting strategies. Without reasonable and viable goal setting, you are setting yourself up for failure.

 You should find some good inspirational sayings that are about setting goals, both short term and long term ones. This should help you to ensure that your personal goals are attainable. Reach for the Stars You should reach for the stars and expect to grab them, pull them out of the sky and put them in your pocket. All of your hopes and dreams can come true if you follow the right strategies and keep reading inspirational messages. Your wildest dreams are not out of your reach. Each time that you find yourself achieving one of your small milestones, you will need to celebrate your achievement and set a new stepping stone on your road to success.

 Success secret: A celebration is essential to keeping yourself inspired. You could go out to a nice dinner, splurge with a manicure or buy that business suit that you've been wanting for a while. The way you celebrate doesn't matter; the main thing is that you reward yourself for your hard work, dedication and success in achieving the small goal. Life is all about change. Nothing ever stays the same for very long. You must learn to recognize the changes and alter your strategy for success in gain it. Unfortunately, the road to success is filled with twists, turns and stop lights. So long as you are willing to think positively and adapt to any situation, you are bound to climb every mountain that you come across.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7209108

You Deserve Happiness, So Stop Settling for Less

A scene in the film Me and You and Everyone We Know -- a quirky love story about a lonely shoe salesman and an equally lonely artist -- shows the artist in the store where the salesman works, waiting while a friend shops.

The shoe salesman glances at the artist's shoes and asks, "Are those comfortable?"
She says, "I guess so. I mean, they kind of rub my ankles, but all shoes do that. I have low ankles."
He looks her in the eye and says, "You think you deserve that pain, but you don't."

You think you deserve that pain, but you don't.

Too many of us go through life quietly enduring things that make us unhappy. We tolerate jobs that cut into our well-being. We stay in roles that rub and chafe and wear away at our happiness. In short, we settle.

A few years ago, while eating lunch with my colleagues in our corporate cafeteria, I looked around the room at everyone and then turned to my coworker. I asked, "Do you think these people are happy?"
He replied, "Right now they are."
"In general, though," I said. "Do you think they're happy?"
He stared at me. "Do you really think anybody is happy with their job?"
And there it was.

We grow up dreaming of being astronauts and princesses. We're told we can achieve anything we want. We're promised the world and permitted to dream beyond its limits. But at some point along the way, we abandon the concept of happiness completely. We build lifestyles of cubicles and commutes. We do what we think we should.

And then we wake up on Monday morning filled with dread and think it would be ludicrous to expect otherwise.

"Nobody likes their job," we justify, "so I shouldn't expect to, either."
The salesman in the film goes on to say, "People think foot pain is a fact of life. Life is actually better than that."
The artist's friend adds, "Your whole life could be better, starting right now."

Your whole life can be better.

You deserve to face Monday with something more than despair. You deserve to feel excited about something more than Friday evening. You deserve to love your job. You deserve to feel that your happiness still counts. Because it does.

Happiness should be a standard that life decisions are measured against, and any decision that undermines your happiness should be regarded as a poor one.

Don't bind yourself up in a mortgage if you're going to use it as an excuse to stay in a job you hate. Don't move to a city you hate for a job you hate just because it pays well. Don't arrange your life so that you work an hour from home if you're going to spend the commute missing your children grow up.
Do not settle for shoes that hurt your feet.
Do not justify a job that pains you in other ways.
Happiness is a basic necessity. Expect happiness -- and then figure out how to get it.

To borrow one last line from the movie, "I am prepared for amazing things to happen."
I deserve it. You do, too.

How to Improve Your Life

How to improve your life forever

Have you always wanted something ? Have you always felt that something was missing but you didn't know what ? Have you aimed for goals and fallen short. Like many of us you have probably fallen into a depressive slump and given up any hope of improving your life. The subject of self improvement is a vast one, and there are many things to learn. Yet, it is those first early steps that give the most back and provide the most improvement to our lives. Therefore, it is important to start out with a technique that gives you the best grounding to work from and will be fairly easy to master. If someone offered you such a system, would you follow it through or abandon it half way ?

The power of positive thinking is something that is widely known, although often forgotten about. Apparently depressive people see the world in a much more realistic way when considering the present. An optimist does not have a realistic view. Where the depressive looes is the point at which they take their depressive view of 'today' and expand it out to the future. A depressive creates an uncompelling view of the future - one in which they make reasonable demands and expect a large amount of disappointment. Like a self fulfilling prophecy they are usually right.

The optimist, using techniques for positive thinking, sees the potential in everything. He creates a compelling future that drives him forward and provides motivation. He gives himself clear, inspiring goals and desires that fuel his actions. He is stretched by the challenges of what the depressive would call ' unrealistic goals'. This challenge forces growth, a key factor in true happiness, further empowering the optimist on towards his goals. When he does get beaten, he realises that he is merely being told 'try again but be more inventive'. Fueled by his imagination, the optimist creates his own future.

As we can see the power of positive thinking is a valuable tool, one which can be used to change lives and make dreams reality. Yet, as with many things, there are surprisingly few basic, down to earth practical sources of information on how to master positive thinking. I am sure you do not want to be without the advantages it can bring and no doubt you have encountered, vague, imprecise guidelines to positive thinking that you have quickly abandoned. For those who feel that they can stick to four basic principles for at least a year they will be astounded at the changes that such simple techniques can bring. I now present to you the four basic principles of positive thinking:

1) You are not your personality.

Your personality is not you. You were probably different as a child than you are today. Sure, there will be a kernel of similarity, but much of what you do, day to day, is not your personality, even though you may call it that. Instead, your so-called personality is a collection of habits formed out of experiences as a defence mechanism for coping with day to day life. Your imagined personality can hold you back in life because it defines what you will do and what you are unwilling or incapable of doing. A woman may feel she cannot be an effective public speaker because she has been shy all her life. This is simply not true, she merely needs to learn what makes an effective public speaker and adopt those mannerisms herself.

To be truly effective in terms of positive thinking you must accept the notion, that whatever age you are, you are not a fixed concept. You can be what you want to be. OFten we want to do things that seem at odds with what we feel comfortable with. We tell ourselves that we could never go skydiving or such like. These contrary desires are so important.

You should take hold of them and make them reality. They are your mind's way of trying to increase its exposure to new things, to break out of the prison you call personality.

Today, pick one thing that you have never done but have always been curious about. Make a list of a months worth of activities that you feel you may not be capable of. Run a marathon, join the local drama club, spend a whole day outdoors without checking in with the office. You will be amazed at how empowered you feel - and it will give you further motivation to push back your so called identity.

2) Learn how to motivate yourself.

Many of us feel that we are at the whim of the day. On a good day we will do well, and on a bad day we will be unmotivated, will procrastinate and achieve little. You must accept the concept that your day is yours to control, you are at the whim of circumstance only in so much as you choose to respond to circumstance. Planning ahead, can provide security through contingency plans to deal with the so called unexpected. For those issues that keep coming up, see if there is a way to solve them permanently.

Once you have reduced circumstance as much as possible you must then identify the next largest area of de motivation.

For many of us, particularly those new to self improvement, our emotions are what control our day. Or rather, our lack of ability to direct our own feelings. Motivation comes from knowing we have a task that will challenge us, is not insurmountable, and will provide a valuable outcome. By ensuring all of your major tasks fit into these categories you will help to unleash the motivation found within your daily activities.
Secondly, arrange your office in such a way as to cut down on distractions. Have a ready supply of water nearby, fresh pens and pencils and paper. Ensure that there as few distractions as possible. Once you have done this, you can focus on ways to improve your own mood - perhaps have a play list of your favourite uplifting songs. Have a to do list of your day's tasks, that are prioritised, and tick them off as you progress though them. Having a written record of your completions is a great way to build confidence in being able to finish tasks.

Once you can plan work for the day ahead and use the power of those tasks to motivate yourself you will feel much more in control in your work environment. This extra security will help build your self confidence and help you to see things more positively.
Make a list of tasks today and see how you can drive your motivation.

3) Be confident of who you are becoming.

Sometimes people may ,knowingly or unknowingly, put you down. They may make you feel self conscious about your spelling, your weight or your lack of confidence. At the time these insult may sting and cause deep pain and ruin your day or maybe even longer. They lower your perception of your own self worth and cause a negative spiral that sabotages any positive thinking. Rather than focus on why the other person did what they did, I would like you not to be a victim and to focus on something else. Being a victim can never ever create a positive outcome. It embodies feelings of helplessness and being subject to the whims of others. If there is any way that you can avoid feelings of victim hood and use the criticism in a positive way you should.

You are probably thinking - thats easy to say - but what is positive about being called 'insert insult'. I think that you should use such criticism as fuel, fuel to prove the other person wrong - to understand that who you are today doesn't have to be who you are tomorrow, or next week or next year.

If you yourself are unhappy with what they criticised, then decide if now is the time to do something about it, and to dwarf the critical negative person with the strength of your own personal power. People who criticise often love to feel that you will always be whatever be afflicted by whatever problem they perceive or 'want to perceive'. If you can change it shows to yourself and to the world that you can become whatever you want to be. Don't let others or yourself define you a static unchanging being who will always be burdened with the same afflictions.

4) Create the future - commit to yourself.

Imagine its a month from now. You have worked on the three ideas above and are seeing results. Now that you are learning to tackle you own problems, can motivate yourself to an extent and can push your own boundaries - its time to create your own future. A future that is so far from where you were a month ago, or even today, that to contemplate it before would have been unthinkable. Perhaps you would like to be a model, lose weight, or greatly increase your income. Maybe you want to walk the stage of some famous theatre, or begin an acting career. Look twenty years in the future, and decide where you would like to be, regardless of feasibility, or outrageousness. Then fix this vision into concrete statements, such as I will weight twenty pounds less, or I will drive an Aston Martin.

Now take these facts and visualise in your mind a scene, which illustrates all of these things. Imagine your future self in the scene, looking radiant and happy. Now make the image bigger, and the colours brighter, smile to yourself, and press your thumb and forefinger together. Do this visualisation technique every day, as many times as you remember to. Always press together your thumb and finger as you smile and imagine yourself stepping into the image and it coming to life. By doing this, we are anchoring your desire for the future to a physical action. From this point on, whenever you feel insecure or demotivated, press your thumb and forefinger together and you will get a surge of energy and happiness.

The next step is to plan out how you will achieve you goals over the coming months and weeks and years. Take a look at when you want to achieve your goal and then step backwards adding key points that will mark your progress. These point should contain sub goals that will help bring your major goal to life.
If you follow these four simple steps, and repeat them day in day out, for a month, you will rapidly begin to see changes in your life. When I did these things myself several years ago, I began to see changes in my life that were for the better. Bizarrely, I did not associate these positive changes with the daily actions I was taking. Looking back, it was the daily repetition of the above tasks that really helped turn my life around.

If you can master these techniques for positive thinking then you will have gone a long way to creating the life that your want !

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/381891

How To Improve Motivation: Try These Self-Motivation Strategies

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, nothing seems to work. It might be because you are going through a bad patch and feel you are not making any progress. You are tired of trying and getting nowhere. When this happens, it is easy to become dispirited. These can be critical times and may spell the difference between continuing to work towards you goals and giving up on your dreams. You need to find ways to improve motivation to protect yourself from these threats to your success development.
Some steps you can take to increase motivation:

1. Go back to the beginning. Revisit your goals. Re-affirm they are still what you want and they are still attainable. Maybe you need to re-evaluate them in the light of your recent experiences. Have you set your sights too high in the short-term and expected too much too soon? If you have, set some short-term goals that are attainable and you are confident you can achieve. Then set a reasonable time frame to achieve them. It is important to reach some goals so your confidence and motivation will improve.

2. Focus on doing one job at a time - on working towards one goal at a time. If you do not do this you can become overwhelmed by the size of you major goal and this can look too big to achieve. This is important if you have goals in several areas of your life, as you cannot focus on all of them at the same time.

3. Plan the actions you need to take to achieve the smaller goals along the way. Follow your plan of action day by day so each day you will feel sense of accomplishment, which will be self-motivating. You will be motivated by these small successes and feel encouraged to keep going.

4. Make your goals public. Tell people what you are trying to achieve. That way you not only have to answer to yourself but to others. You are less likely to make excuses to others than you are to yourself. Besides, excuses can sound lame when you have to explain them to other people. It brings them out into the cold light of day and often they do not stand up to scrutiny.

5. Look for guidance from others who have achieved similar goals. If you know them, ask them for advice. Most will be only too willing to help. Look for books, videos or DVDs about successful people. There is plenty of material available on the Internet - Amazon has a huge stock.

6. Stay positive and upbeat. Use the same Internet sources to surround yourself with positive thinking. Use positive affirmations, quotes and stories to ward off negativity before it starts.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7512900

Need Inspired?

Motivational video "Change your mind in just 2.50 mins" .

The Way to a Longer and Healthier Life

We all want to get fit and feel that we are enjoying a fulfilling life. However we are not all starting out from the same point. This will mean that it may take longer for some of us to reach that level of health with which we are satisfied.

Where ever your starting point is we all know that we need the right amount of nutrition and exercise for our lifestyle. The distance between your starting point and your goal fitness is measureable. The simplest, and in many cases the most significant, is the ratio between your body mass and your fat mass. Often referred to as your BMI, or Body Mass Index.

Just enter your height and weight into any of the free BMI tables on the internet and you can readily see if you need to lose weight.
Next, check your cholesterol level and you blood pressure. With these three results, exclusive to you, you can see the size (sic) of the problem.

Like most of us you may have noticed that every year, it becomes even more difficult to eat whatever you want and still stay slim.You may also have learnt that your Basal Metabolic Rate decreases as you get older. Depriving yourself of food in the hope of losing weight also decreases your BMR, foiling your best intentions. However, a regular routine of cardiovascular exercise can increase your BMR, improving your health and fitness when your body's ability to burn energy gradually slows down.
Having ascertained the goal that you wish to reach, if you are serious about a long and healthy life, you can now take action.

All three of these areas can be improved by changing your dietary habits and daily exercise regime.
Your diet will now have to exclude convenience foods. Many of these, when combined with an indolent lifestyle, will increase the amount of free radicals in the body. Free radicals can be very harmful and are especially linked to a reduction in longevity.

Decreasing the free radicals in your system is accomplished by the intake of antioxidants. Whilst antioxidants are of great value, those taken as supplements can be counter-productive. In the event that you take too many supplements, particularly those high in vitamins A and E, the surplus is unused and is stored in the liver. This initially causes the liver functions to become impaired and in severe cases can cause harm. Some antioxidant supplements are claimed to become carcinogenic in the body.

Antioxidants are best taken in the form of fresh fruit and vegetables. They will need to be included in your daily diet. Include as wide a variety as possible but not tinned or cooked. Cooking vegetables or fruit not only spoils the taste; it destroys all most all the health giving properties.

Just by simply increasing your raw fruit and vegetable intake whilst reducing your reliance on convenience foods will dramatically reduce your cholesterol level.

You may find that for the first few weeks of changing your exercise and dietary habits that you feel tired. Don't worry about this as you will be sleeping more deeply and in a few days you will awake feeling more invigorated than you have for years.
If we have dealt, at least in part, with diet, nutrition and vitamin supplements, we must turn our attention to exercise.

There is no need to groan at this point, I am not going to force you into life-long gym membership or turn you into a galley slave. The point about exercise in this case is its purpose to help in improving or attaining a good BMI, cholesterol level and blood pressure.

It is most likely that you need more exercise or, in many cases, some exercise.
Whilst it is true that some is better than none, never the less we don't want to embark on an exercise routine that can cause harm.

Start slowly, build gradually.

The most useful piece of equipment that I have come across for general health improvement is the elliptical machine. It does more than the old treadmill in that it also allows you to work your upper body.
The primary reason for my recommending an elliptical machine is that it gives a low impact level. If you are to start physical activity after any period of inactivity we shall need to be gentle. It is a safe assumption that you are overweight and to subject your joints to doing anything more that carrying you from the dining table to the sofa must be done gradually.

In addition to being more up to date than the old treadmills the elliptical trainers now include a LED or LCD display. This gives instant feedback and monitoring of your progress. There are usually recommendations of workout programs that you can follow.

There are many makes and models available and I would suggest that you take your time and try them out at your local store or stores. Do be sure that you select a model that has those heart or pulse rate monitors, always useful when starting out. Your initial enthusiasm may outweigh your early abilities.
Talking of your local stores, there is an important consideration when buying any type of gym equipment. Since safety is of prime importance with these pieces of equipment they will of necessity be robust and substantial. Therefore they will usually be of considerable size and weight.

Once having selected the make and model of your choice you may search the internet for a supplier. Before you dismiss your local store do take into consideration the delivery cost. Your local store will frequently deliver free which may make him a better purchase than what at first appears an internet bargain.
Once you find your general level of health and fitness being restored you may wish to move on to a higher level of health.
Whether this includes weight training or any of the other activities than can be considered extreme I would urge that you only undertake them with some professional guidance.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7490000

Investing In Our Most Precious Asset In 2013: Our Beautiful Brains and Minds

Open a weekend New York Times or Wall Street Journal, and you'll find a whole section with detailed information and advice for individuals looking to invest wisely. What you will not find, however, is comparable information and advice for investing in your most important asset of all: your brain. Precisely because it (usually) does its job so smoothly and effectively, it's all too easy to forget that your brain is there and that it needs to be invested in just as with anything else we value and want to continue reaping benefits from.

And with more than 2 billion people worldwide currently suffering from brain-based health and productivity challenges with a resulting global economic burden of more than $2 trillion, according to our research, it's also an issue of some importance.

We've made a lot of progress over the last century in understanding the brain, but it wasn't until the last few decades that we've come to understand the ways in which our everyday behaviors affect, for better or worse, our brain's health and performance.

We now know that certain basic activities, including physical exercise, proper nutrition, stress management, and mental exercise, are integral components of a brain-healthy lifestyle, and people are waking up to the fact that they need to be proactive in monitoring and managing the health and fitness of their brains. As detailed in this new market report on digital brain health, the large majority of respondents to a 2012 survey of 3,000+ decision-makers and early adopters in the field found that the majority believe that brain health should be a health care priority, that adults should take charge of their own "brain fitness," and that digital technologies significantly augment traditional approaches.

As a growing number of consumers, innovators, and decision-makers invest in digital technologies to better monitor and enhance cognition across the lifespan, we are witnessing the rapid growth and development of a new digital brain health marketplace. Right now, the digital brain health market -- which includes both software applications and biometric hardware products designed to monitor, assess, enhance or repair neurocognitive functions such as executive attention working memory and emotional self-regulation -- can be divided into four main customer segments: consumers, health care, senior living, and insurance providers, K12 school systems, and employers.

Consumers have become the predominant customer segment, surpassing health care/insurance providers, as the combination of an increase in the diagnosis of learning disabilities, anxiety disorders, an aging baby boomer population with a keen interest in maintaining their mental sharpness, and the trending desire for a healthy lifestyle has consumers looking for healthier, non-invasive alternatives to existing drug-led and therapist-led approaches.

Not only that, self-monitoring options for better managing one's cognitive and emotional functioning are already becoming available to consumers at user-friendly prices and packaging, and strong signals suggest the next frontier in the consumer application of biometrics is going to be brain health.
The overall market has kept growing since 2009 despite the overall economic challenges, both in the software and hardware segments. We estimate the global market for brain health applications of software and biometrics to be more than $1 billion in 2012, and we forecast it will reach $6 billion in 2020. The industry is still made up of many small companies, which has been a limitation for the marketplace's maturation given contradictory, controversial marketing claims. That being said, sizable recent investments by strategic and financial investors suggest booming prospects and the increasing professionalization of the sector.

We can expect several drivers to fuel continued growth and innovation. Equipment that used to be expensive and cumbersome is becoming user-friendly and inexpensive, and tablets and mobile phones are becoming a major delivery vehicle for digital brain health solutions. Heavy investment into online platforms are geared to gain consumer market share, with many companies offering free or freemium subscriptions. Over the course of this decade, we will likely see Big Data and cloud-based applications that will enable truly personalized brain health solutions, and a more developed ecosystem built around users and tools.And while it's unlikely that we'll see people devoting as much time and attention to investing in their brains as in their finances any time soon, digital brain health solutions going mainstream among both consumers and health care providers will be a big step forward.

Because the fact is, we all got a beautiful human brain. We can invest in our brain fitness to better live, love, work, innovate. What are YOU doing to invest in your brain?

Copyright (c) 2013 SharpBrains

Alvaro Fernandez is the Co-Author of The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, recently featured as one of the Best Books on Brain Fitness. SharpBrains.com is the leading clearinghouse website tracking the latest information on cognitive training, cognitive health and brain fitness, combined with brain teasers and games.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7468793

This Year… Make Your Life Better… Every Day!

Most people are disappointed for what they have achieved in life within a year. Actually, you can start changing your life for the better this year! It is not really difficult to make and begin the changing. What you just need is to have a plan, execute it, and keep reviewing it to ensure you are on track to achieve your goals.

Here are 7 tips that should help to improve your life:

1. Start at home by sorting out what you want, and don’t want, in your closet, kitchen, refrigerator, garage and garden
Tidy your home! Go to your closet. Take out the old clothes that you never wear in years. Keep what you really want and need to wear in this year or so, and give the rest to charity.
Then go to your living room, windows and kitchen. Start cleaning the floor, vacuum the carpet, clean the window glass or mirror with using glass cleaner. Wash the dishes, mugs and clean your stove, oven and microwave.
Finally, take out all the garbage in the trash can. Do all these a little every day, rather than once a month. Afterward, you will have a much nicer home with clean and much more space every day. Plus you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping the needy.

Go to your fridge! Do you have a lot of old, out-of-date stuff in there? Just take them out. Make sure it is only fresh and healthy food you put inside.
Make up your garage! Bin the rubbish, and store the ladder, tools, or whatever, neatly. Start placing those in its place and in order. You may suddenly find you even have room for the car!
Tidy your garden! If you are lucky enough to have a garden, make it nice and regularly maintain it. You will enjoy it much more, and it will help keep you fit as well!
By doing these things, you will even find that it helps you to have a clear, fresh – and tidier! – Mind. It is a great way to start your new life.

2. Create Your Plan
What is the purpose of your plan? What are your goals for the year? You have to decide what you want to accomplish in the short term, midterm, as well as the long term (over a year). Write it down. This should include your financial targets as well. Make sure you have the income, and the security of income, you need.

3. Look after Yourself
It is true we cannot do things right if our health is not in good condition. So enjoy regular walks, or perhaps even challenge yourself to go jogging a few times a week (Take medical advice as appropriate). Of course, you could maybe play sports that you like. Good exercise can be great fun!
Eat and drink healthy food. Vegetables, especially organic vegetables, fruits, whole meal bread, fish, non-fat meat, etc. Drink more mineral water daily.
Avoid drinking too much beer or alcohol as this impairs your mind. A good diet will give you a better life, and often a longer one.
Remember, little changes can make a great change!

4. Read more nonfiction than fiction books
Read good articles which suit your needs. I recommend you read the stories of successful people, as that will motivate you to do as they have. Make notes on what you have read, as that will help you absorb and understand it better. A great mind is an inquisitive mind.

5. Appreciate yourself for what you have done and accomplished
Give yourself little rewards as you achieve your goals. This will make you feel much more confident that your plan is working. You will feel a better person. Indeed, you will be a better person!
Of course, inevitably, sometimes your plan may not work as you hoped. Don’t fret! You can simply revise the plan and get back on track. It just needs a little work and positive thinking to carry on.
Don’t work all the time! You need to entertain yourself by, say, going to the movies, hanging out with colleagues or friends, going to the places that make you happy every weekend, and so on. This will make your mind fresh again and ready to execute the plan in the following week.

6. Get enough sleep
Your body is working the whole day. It needs a rest and sleep. You need to have a quality of sleep. Set the time to go to bed and to wake up. Follow this rhyme every day and stay disciplined. This will regenerate your mind, passion, and ideas clearer.

7. Do meditation
Meditation is helping your ideas and plans not only in your mind, but also in your heart, and loving them.
Do this meditation 15 minutes before you go to bed.
Imagine what you have achieved today, how much you appreciate your work of today, and what you are going to do tomorrow. All the burden, resistance and fear for what you are going to do next will be diminished. You will have a big burning desire to move forward in the following day.
Therefore, follow the 7 tips above, and you will change and improve your life to be better, and with good habits this year.

About the Author
Ramunsyah Utama is a Financial Planner for an insurance company in Jakarta, Indonesia. He is working hard because he cares that people have a good plan – for assurance, and for life!

2013- A Year to Embrace Personal Development

How to Live in the Moment

Life today seems to move at an ever-increasing pace, and shows no sign of slowing down. Mobile devices make it easier than ever for your boss to expect to contact you outside of work, and many of us can’t even disconnect long enough to get a real vacation.
Unfortunately, stress like this can wear you down and make you much less productive.
Living in the moment seems like a pipe-dream, but it can be the exact prescription you need to regain your motivation and work productivity. Simply slowing down throughout your day to enjoy small moments can help you remember what it is you’re
working for in the first place. Here are 6 tips to help you do just that.

• Pay Attention to Your Body. The knot in your stomach, the tension in your shoulders, and the ache in your neck are all telling you something important. Take a moment to pay close attention to your body. Feel what’s there, and find out what it’s telling you. Do you need a break? A stretch? When you meet your body’s physical needs, you’ll be far more successful in your work.

• Forget Multitasking. The idea that you can actually do multiple things at once is a myth. Studies have shown that what happens is your mind simply changes focus very rapidly between tasks. This tires the mind and dramatically reduces productivity. Choose one task and be fully present doing it. Then move on. You’ll make fewer mistakes while getting more done.

• Practice Gratitude. If there’s anything we lack in our advanced society, its thankfulness. Take some time to think about and be truly thankful for the good things in your life. Even write them down. Studies have shown that gratitude will improve your mood, your motivation, and your performance. It will also help you enjoy the present moment more.

• Breathe. Nothing helps slow down a stressful day than taking a few minutes to focus on breathing. Just close your eyes, take deep, full breaths, and think about how it feels. You’ll become more present in your body and in your environment. In addition, your stress will drop dramatically.

• Observe. Many mistakes we make are simply due to not paying attention. We walk by people and don’t even see them, or miss a turn because we were thinking about something else. Take a day and fully observe everything around you as you work and play. You’ll find amazing things you never saw before, and you may even come up with solutions to some tough problems!

• Unplug. Technology is often our Achilles heel when it comes to slowing down and enjoying the moment. Whether it’s our boss, a friend, or our spouse, it seems like everyone wants to reach us at a moment’s notice. Take some time for a technology vacation. Turn off the phone, the television, and the computer. Enjoy games and talk and fun with family or friends instead. These are the moments you’ll remember and cherish.

Being in the moment in our busy world is not an easy task, but it’s incredibly rewarding. Be patient with your attempts – your mind will often wander. However, the benefit you’ll gain from these six easy tips will enhance your life and your work in incredible ways. Be present!

About the Author: Steph Potter is a mother of two, an avid runner, and a freelance writer. In her spare time, she enjoys meditating to find her center

Work: What’s it all about?

I absolutely love my work! I say that frequently, but also, people say it right back. They say, for example, that they can TELL I love my work. Great! To me: that’s what it’s all about. It keeps me looking for better ways to do what I do. It challenges me to turn my passion into a value proposition for people and organizations out there. I don’t know how I could do it (my work) otherwise. But, of course, I am an entrepreneur and fashioned my company to my own expectations, right?
Well, I can remember back when I had a job. It seems so long ago and…No, I didn’t hate my job. I didn’t think of starting my company to get away from an awful boss or dreary to-do lists. It was still a labor of love. I enjoyed each and every day there and look back to those times with joy and pride. I contributed in ways that can still be felt there, though nobody might know that but me! But I always felt a sense of worth, a way of making a difference in every aspect of the job. I went through a few bosses in the seven years I worked there. And some were much better than others. Times got good and times got tough. I cannot say that there weren’t things there I hated doing, people I had difficulty dealing with and aspects I was challenged to contribute to. But all in all, I felt I was expressing my mission. I was learning and helping to learn. I was creating possibilities and making sure that I left a mark. Those things are important to me.
Chances are, they are important to you as well. Wherever you work and whatever your situation is there, making sure that you work with purpose, regardless of the activity, will keep you sane, connected and interested in life. After all, too much of your time is spent there for it to be a pause in your living. Meaningful work is exactly what you deserve to find and it is the best way of contributing to the world. And it’s not about the activity you do, either. I have seen people make a significant difference and find purpose in just about anything. And waste the opportunity, too! Even in the coolest of jobs.
So, while job fit is great to have, while you make that move or find that dream job or start your own company, there are things to find at work right now:
Meaningful relationships. With clients, with colleagues, with bosses or mentors. Find the people that you would like to learn more from, or that you want to connect to and use the time wisely. Do it AS you work, in the act of working together.
Meaningful execution. Don’t just do. Do with gusto! Understand what you do and how it contributes to the end result. Perfect, innovate, take pride. And, it you can, improve continuously until your activity is natural and simple to execute well. Then, leave crumbs so others can follow suit.
Meaningful transformation. See what your current activity teaches you that you can use in life. Does it make you more patient? Will it move you away from shyness? Does it give you structure, or demand creativity? Make sure you put yourself where you learn and grow. It is everywhere to be found, if you stay open to finding that space.
Meaningful experience. The other day I was telling one of my colleagues that everything we did before prepared us for this moment. We had taken on a project that was bigger than ever and just outside our comfort zone. But we were able to do it because of what those little jobs of the past left us with. We were suddenly grateful for the tough years when we earned our chops doing various things that were needed at the time.
So, tell me… what is YOUR work all about?

Confidence: What Is Confidence?

The word confidence is a term that is often hard to define. What is it and what does it look like? Are questions that can be asked. Through the act of comparison, one can see that there is a difference between people that are confident and people that are not confident.
Many years ago I was at a training event and one of the people that were running the course said 'Confidence doesn't exist'. And upon hearing this, I was incredibly confused.
Examples of what confidence looks like are often taken from people in the entertainment industry. So: actors, musicians, sports stars and presenters etc.
The Meaning
On google.com the meaning is - 1.The feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust: "we had every confidence in the staff". 2. The state of feeling certain about the truth of something.
This shows that the general meaning of confidence is that one believes in oneself and in their ability to function and perform in life.
Society
As well as these roles that people play in the area of entertainment, there are certain types of people that are seen as the embodiment of what confidence is in our society. And this is usually portrayed through the eyes of the mainstream media.
These are typically the people that are described as: good looking, talented, well dressed, wealthy and educated for example.
Childhood
Another powerful influence on the levels of confidence (belief) that one has, is ones early childhood years. How one was treated by their caregivers and how their caregivers treated others will also play a significant role in this.
Here ones caregivers can either cause one to feel confident in themselves or not. And it may be that one was made to feel confident for what they did or what they had (external) and not for who they were (Internal).
So their confidence was never internalized and integrated, it was always based on some external requirement being fuilfilled.
Consequences
What then happens is that these become the criteria of what confidence is and is not. If one has what their society classes or childhood classed as confidence, then in theory, they will feel confident. And based on those requirements, if one doesn't match up, they should feel unconfident.
The Exception
For every rule that there is, there is always exceptions and confidence is no different. People that are classed as attractive are sometimes confident and sometimes they are not. There are people who have incredible talent and ability and yet have no confidence in that they do.
And being educated and having large sums of money, also doesn't guarantee that one truly believes in themselves.
So does this mean that if one has all of these, a few of these, or even one of these requirements and doesn't feel confident; that one has been sold a lie? Or that one just needs to keep on accumulating more?
Approval
Upon closer inspection of these societal requirements and the requirements that were laid out in ones child; it becomes clear that these are all external in nature. They are based on the approval and acceptance of another person or people.
And this means that one is giving their power away to other people. One is allowing another person to define how one sees themselves and what one is capable off.
The Other Side
On the other side of people who don't feel confident, even though they have filled certain requirements; are people who act confidently and yet don't necessarily match up to societies ideals of what is needed to be confident. Or they may have a few of these requirements.
So how could these people be confident if they are not following the rules of society, or the requirements that were expressed in ones childhood?
Of course, there will be some people that were been empowered for who they were in their childhood and not conditioned to the gain the approval of other people.
Permission
Because, what these requirements are doing is giving one the permission to feel confident and to believe in who they are. These requirements in and of themselves, are neutral and are based on the opinions and views of other people.
So through achieving or having a certain requirement, the mind will be able to fulfil certain expectations, which have come about through the associations that have been attached to the requirement/s. And this will then lead to the intangible experience known as confidence.
The Prison
The benefit is that if one does have these requirements then they can feel confident, but this is not always the case. It also means that one's confidence is at the whim of other people and outside circumstances. And this will mean that one is being enslaved as a result of this.
It is like an invisible web, that each and every one of us can become a part of, without any awareness. This web attaches makes one emotionally and mentally dependent on others and puts ones sense of control into the hands of another person or group of people.
Examples
One of the ways this web can be seen is when one goes to another country or when a person from another country comes to where one is. Here, one may be able to see a clear difference in behaviour and this is because their mind is interpreting the environment differently.
And this causes them to behave in a way that could be seen as freer or almost rebellious when compared to ones behaviour or the behaviour of other people.
Interpretations
We are all human and we all have an ego mind. By using the example of another country or a person who has resided in another country, it helps to emphasis the power of interpretations.
The way that we behave, how competent we think we are and how confident we are; is based on the interpretations in our mind. And these are not fixed or set in stone. They have come about through conditioning and this can be changed.
The Story
So the quote 'Confidence doesn't exist' makes a lot of sense. In as much as, it is simply a state of mind. One may think that they would be lying or that they are deluding themselves, if they were to see themselves as confident.
However, if one is playing the role of not being confident, is there really any more truth to this? It is only being perceived as the truth, due it being a role that is being interpreted as familiar and therefore safe to the ego mind.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7367822

How to improve confidence

Because self confidence and feeling good has a major 'hormonal' element, you can change the way you feel by re-living good times. If you can remember a time you felt really self confident, then excellent - use that! If not, then use a time you felt contented or happy. Taking deliberate control of your thoughts and emotions will have an huge impact on your self confidence and other areas of your life.