Positivity Is As Simple As Feeling Good.

Thinking positive is about focusing on the solution rather than the problem, looking at what is working, rather then what is not working, choosing to see the silver lining in all situations. This takes practice, if you are habitually used to looking at what is wrong and what is not working then it will take some practice on your part to change what it is you choose to focus on. So, how do you begin to change? Start with yourself and how you feel. When we feel good, it is easy to see the positive side of life, it seems to come naturally. Think about a time when you first fell in love with someone and all of a sudden all those everyday stresses seemed to disappear and you only saw all the good things happening in your life. Because you were happy, you felt good about who you were as a person and you looked at all the other things in your life with rose tinted glasses, you felt good, so it was easy to see the good in other things.

So, if it is easy to think positively when you feel good, start by feeling good. The reality is that the two are interconnected you cannot have one without the other, if you are feeling good then it must be because you are thinking happy thoughts and if you are thinking happy thoughts then you automatically start to feel good. You see it is always the thought that comes first, but as we know, it is a much more difficult task for us to continuously monitor our every thought; we have thousands of thoughts every day. Has anyone ever asked you "what are you thinking?" and you said, "I don't know" or "nothing", you see our thoughts can be so fleeting that even when prompted to ask ourselves what is going through our mind, we have already moved onto the next thought and the next one and the next one. It is by being conscious of our feelings that will give us an indication of the general vibe of our thoughts.

So focus your energy on feeling good and you will know your thoughts are focusing on positive things. Some of us may ask, 'What is there to feel good about?' And the answer to that has got to be, you, yourself. Feel good about who you are. Recognise all the wonderful things you have in your life, your achievements, and your successes. Recognise everything that you have to feel good about, not only the physical and material things but also your characteristics, your personality, your talents and abilities, there must be some things you like about yourself... what are they?

Recognise yourself for perhaps being a good speaker, good with numbers, good at sports, creative, good memory, good cook.... don't stop with the obvious... think small! Remember your body; your arms and legs, your sight, your sense of smell, maybe you have really good hair or skin. What about how you have the ability to make someone in your life smile? You might be really excellent at your job? Maybe you secretly love art, but have never given yourself credit for that hidden talent you could develop. Perhaps you are a fantastic mother, or friend, or brother. Now think about all the amazing experiences in your life thus far? You might be married, have your own business, have great kids, home owner, maybe you've travelled, been to college, seen your favourite rock band, met your idol or mentor.... There are literally hundreds of things in your life to feel good about; you simply have to be willing to look for the evidence, the feel good evidence.

In order to believe something most of us require proof of some kind, so do yourself a favour and look for the proof in your life that you do have hundreds of things to feel fantastic about. Don't hold back look at your life from every angle, write it down and refer to it. It will remind you of all you have to appreciate in the moment and feeling appreciation for what we have right now is a sure way to put ourselves in a positive frame of mind, and when we are in a positive frame of mind we see the possibilities for so much more in our life, more happiness, more love, more money, more laughs, more empowered living!

3 Keys To Unlocking Your Soul Purpose.

Knowing and understanding your life purpose may be easier than you think. Sometimes you hear life purpose referred to as a single thing or event - a job, a relationship, any one thing. Really, it's the deepest expression of who you are and how you move in the world - your core being. It's the light that guides you on your life journey. Everything you do - your dreams, your goals, your daily actions are all filtered through this purpose. When that happens, you feel alive, energized and on track - you know that feeling.

You also know the feeling of being out of touch with your life purpose. We all have those 'wilderness' experiences - sometimes for hours or days and sometimes even for months and years - they are part of the seasons of life, of being human. We all lose sight of our inner compass from time to time. Those can be very powerful times however, as we reinvent in those moments, they serve our life purpose and life plan well, even though it may not feel that way when we're in the thick of it.

Here are some simple questions to reflect on and find your life purpose, or to recalibrate your compass if you're feeling slightly off course. Set aside a quiet hour, undisturbed to reflect on these questions and do a bit of journaling to work through what comes up for you. Taking a pen to paper helps you focus and shuts out distraction. It adds benefit to you experience - and depth.

1. Who am I really? List 10 qualities, unique attributes or characteristics that make you, you.

2. What am I most passionate about? Passion and purpose go hand and hand. Write down everything that comes to mind and the go back and circle the things that have big energy around them and an emotional charge. Add more as they arise when you see what you've circled.

3. What were the 3 most fulfilling moments in my life? Why? What stands out about those experiences? When did you feel completely connected, fully alive, and energized?

Look at what you've written and find commonalities and themes. Circle the things that stand out most and write a vision statement, see what speaks to you about who you are and who you want to be in the world.

Notice how you feel when defining what moves you. Do you feel clearer? More energized? More purposeful? This is your highest self, your biggest purpose and your guiding star - you've revealed your life purpose, or deepened your understanding of who you are and who you are meant to be!

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Factors To Consider When Making A Personal Development Plan.

A personal development plan is the perfect tool for finding your life balance. In the process of making one, a person may discover which aspects of his life need more attention. One by one you he can work on each phase until he achieves a state that he is happy with. Here are some important features that one might want to include in a personal plan.

1. Develop A Physical Health Plan:
Due to how hectic our daily schedule can get, we can easily often forget to pay attention to our health. A desk job may cause us to live sedentary lifestyles and a job on the road may cause us to develop a poor diet of fast food and junk food. When you make a personal development plan, make sure you develop a schedule that accommodates for sufficient physical exercise. You might also want to include a nutritional guide to make sure that you're not consuming too much bad cholesterol and sodium. Finding ways to take care of your health is a giant step towards self improvement.

2. Develop A Financial Plan:
Do you have any savings? Have you thought about where to invest your savings on? Do you have any idea of how you're going to be able to sustain yourself financially after you retire? If you haven't thought about these things yet, then your financial situation is one area of your life that needs more attention. Self improvement isn't just about improving the mind and body. It's also about making financial progress. In the process of making a personal development plan, make sure to include short-term and long-term financial goals. If you often find yourself in debt, make a financial plan to get you out of debt. You'd be surprised how much a little planning can improve your financial situation.

3. Plan For A Vacation:
Work-related stress and anxiety can take a toll on a person. The little challenges we encounter daily can accumulate and cause fatigue and apathy. Exhaustion from work drastically reduces our professional productivity. One way to avoid burnout is to go on a vacation. Everyone needs a break from the hassles of work. When you make a personal development plan, try to include a date for a planned vacation. It doesn't have to be a long one. Sometimes all a person needs is a weekend away from the city. Self improvement is also about having peace of mind. If you're having trouble finding it, take a short break until you've regained a sense of spiritual equilibrium.

4. Make Time For Sleep:
How much time do you have for sleep? A lot of people take pride in being so busy that they often lack sleep. However, studies have shown that people who sleep at an average of less than 6 hours per day have less energy, less focus, and less enthusiasm for work. In other words, a person who gets sufficient rest can get more work done in a shorter amount of time than a person who stays up all night. When making a personal development plan, don't forget to make a schedule that allows for sufficient rest. You can achieve self improvement just by making sure that you get enough sleep.

5. Make Time For Family:
One of the hottest professional trends these days is home-based jobs and businesses. The reason for this is simple. More and more people are recognizing that emotional and psychological benefits of having more time with their loved ones. Sometimes long hours at work alienate us from the most important people in our lives. Before you become estranged from your family, make time for them; make your family a priority in your personal development plan. Self improvement is easier to achieve when you have your entire family supporting you.

Even if you weren't able to accomplish all the goals on your personal development plan, it's not a wasted effort. The mere act of making one forces you to take a step back and evaluate your life. You may realize how you've lost track of your priorities or how your desires have changed over time. At the very least, the construction of a plan forces you to contemplate on the important things in life. Self improvement begins with awareness and contemplation. You can't correct the mistakes you don't recognize. The more you learn about yourself, the more capable you will be of making life changes.

The Mind To Body Connection.

Everyday your mind feeds you're body with thoughts. However, most people don't realize this is happening, yet wonder why they react and feel the way they do. Always remember, your body is behaving exactly as you tell it to, so be aware of the thoughts you're feeding it! Your mind and body work on the same level, once you fully understand this, you'll be able to make the necessary changes. It all begins in the mind, so let's start there.

What is your subconscious holding onto? Again, most people don't know because they don't access their subconscious mind. This part of your mind holds onto every experience you've had and attached to each experience is an emotional reaction. This is why people react in ways they themselves don't understand or realize. The emotional responses are programmed into the mind. So when a circumstance presents itself, the mind automatically plays that tape. This programming won't change until a new tape is introduced and applied into the subconscious. Along with each emotional reaction there is a physical reaction that takes place in the body. This is what makes you feel the way you do. What makes you feel defensive? Angry? Offended? Ask yourself why and dig deep. The answers are there.

Visualization is a tool that many have used over the years to change unproductive habits and thought patterns. The trick to making visualization work is believing in it. If you're visualizing yourself applying a new emotional reaction, yet at the same time you are telling yourself, "This isn't going to work," guess what? It isn't going to work. Energy in neutral. It does what it's told. Use your own power to change. No one else can do this for you. You can pray about it all you want, but until YOU decide to play a new tape, things will remain the same.

Learn to use visualization in a productive way. SEE it happening in your mind. SEE yourself reacting in a new way. SEE the changes taking place on this new tape and let it sink in. Most importantly... BELIEVE you can do it. This new way of thinking will filter down into your body, creating a change in the way you feel physically. Remember, your mind and body feed off each other. When you fill your mind with light, high vibrational energy, and allow it to filter down into your body, you will begin to notice a difference. You will start to feel lighter and your mind will be less stressed. When the mind is less stressed, so is the body. In addition to seeing the results you want, it's also important you feel them. Emotions create feeling, and feeling is another vital factor in visualization. How will you FEEL after this change has taken place? Start feeling that way now. Pretend (if you have to) that the change has already taken place. Tell yourself, "This is how I'm going to feel now. This is the feeling I want." Like attracts like and you will always get what you ask for.

People also become frustrated when affirmations and visualizations don't seem to be working. It's important to keep in mind you should never use affirmations and energy work to interfere with the free will of another person. If you're visualizing that you want something from a specific person, you are going to be disappointed when you don't get the results you wanted. You can't change the way another person reacts. They have the free will to make whatever decisions in life they feel is right for them. Use affirmation and visualization techniques to better yourself and your own situation. Do not attempt to use them to change someone else or bring them into your life. Unless the other person wants the same outcome as you, you will most likely end up frustrated and disappointed. At this point, all you're doing is creating more negative energy for yourself. Be specific in your visualizations, but don't pin the outcome on one specific person. Sometimes, not getting what you thought you wanted is a blessing in disguise.

Learn to think for yourself. Build your own self-confidence so you can project positive energy into your own mind and body. This will assist you in becoming an example for others. Visualize what you want and hold onto the feeling of how it's going to be once it's obtained. Believe it's going to happen!

Most importantly, be careful what you wish for!

What Exactly Is This Personal Development? 

Have you ever wondered "What is personal development" exactly? If you have been to many personnel and human resources development seminars lately, and if you are in constant contact with co-workers who read self-help books and go to self-help seminars, then you might have encountered personal development. On one hand, when explained, personal development can sound like a whole lot of usual life lessons packaged into a sensationalized whole. On the other hand, personal development can sound like something worthwhile and encouraging to undertake ' especially when work takes its toll on you and makes you feel more down and discouraged than ever. So: What is personal development?

Personal development can be difficult to explain if you do not acknowledge your uniqueness first. Believe it or not, you are different from any person who has ever lived, and from any person who is to come. Genetics will tell you that unless you are part of a set of identical siblings, your DNA is different from any DNA that has existed or will ever exist. This should be enough to tell you that you are special!

So, what makes you special? You have a combination of different factors that lend a definition to the real you: your personality is comprised of many past events and experiences both good and bad, the food you like to eat, your reasoning ability, languages you speak, your culture, likes, dislikes, dreams and ambitions all contribute to your overall personality and demeanour. What then, is personal development, and how does all this relate to personal development?

Personal development includes the improvement of your overall ability in everything you do, part of your improvement also means taking stock of your strengths and weaknesses and knowing yourself very well. First, you are a product of your upbringing. Depending on the external environment when you were in the womb, can make a very big impact on your life after you were born and it affects everything in your life. What is personal development? It is complete recognition of all these aspects of your childhood, and acceptance of the fact that such things cannot be changed. If you have learned to improve in the past from harsh teachings and methods, then it's up to you to not dwell on the past, but rather work out intelligent ways to move on for the better.

What is personal development as it relates to your childhood? It means trying to erase the past, as you cannot get back what has already happened; it also means anticipating the future, because you can make it better.

Personal development also has some very deep goal setting steps, and working out exactly what your purpose is and what drives you. What do you want to do in the next five years? What do you want to accomplish in the next ten years? What is personal development? It is identifying what you should prioritize in life, and what dreams you should run after. And what is personal development, further? It is the use of your strengths to meet your goals, and the improvement on your weaknesses so that you can be better as a person.

What exactly is personal development? This is a question that can be answered in many different ways. You can have a personal development plan, which you can make on your own, or which your psychiatrist or therapist can assist you with. You can also join personal growth and development classes, where you can know yourself better and find ways to improve your life and reach your goals.

What then, is personal development? Personal development is simply knowing yourself completely, from all your strengths and weaknesses, all your dreams and goals, and using all these to fuel your life and lead you to greater heights. With complete personal development, you can be sure of success not only in your career, but in many other important aspects of your life as well.

What Does It Mean To "Self Improve?"

What does it really mean to "Self Improve?" What are we really improving when we self improve? And what "self" are we improving?

We each have two "selves" - our wounded self and our core Self. Our core Self is our true self, our natural soul self - our essence. Our core Self is our passion, our joy, our gifts and talents, our ability to love, our creativity. We come into this life as our core Self, and when this Self is loved and valued by our parents, we continue to naturally grow our God-given gifts and talents and manifest the fullness of our beings. This Self wants to improve by learning the skills necessary to fully express itself.

But when this Self is not seen and valued in the way we needed, we create an alternative self, a self we hope will have control over getting the love we need and avoiding the pain we can't handle - a self to help us feel safe. This is our false self, our wounded self, our ego self. This self is filled with the false beliefs that we absorbed as we were growing up - beliefs that end up limiting our true, core Self. This self does not needs improving - it needs healing.

The term "self improvement" can sometimes be a bit misleading, because we do not want to improve our wounded self. We do not want to improve on the ways we lie, manipulate, and avoid in our attempts to have control over getting love and avoiding pain. We don't want to improve on our many addictions to substance and processes. We don't want to improve on our anger, our compliance, our withdrawal and our resistance.

We want to heal it.

Healing and improving are not the same thing.

We can certainly self-improve when it comes to skills. We can improve in sports, in art, music, writing, cooking. We can improve our health and wellbeing by improving our diet and exercise program. We can improve in the knowledge we need to be more successful regarding work and money. We might be able to improve our relationships by learning new communication skills. But what if acquiring new knowledge and skills does not improve our health, or our ability to earn money, or our relationships? And what if learning new skills does not bring us more joy and inner peace? It may mean that we need to heal the underlying fears and false beliefs that cause us to be anxious, depressed, stressed, guilt-ridden, shamed, withdrawn, angry, blaming, or sad.

Sometimes Self Improvement just means practicing a skill, and others times it means that we need to participate in a deep healing process. For example, many people try to improve their health by losing weight and exercising. But if their food addictions are covering over unhealed pain, they might not be able to just change their diet. They might need to open to a healing process in order to eventually improve.

If you are really trying to self improve but find yourself stuck and unable to progress, or find that you have no joy or inner peace, you might want to open to the possibility that unhealed pain and beliefs are blocking your progress and causing your pain. It is easy to improve yourself when there is nothing blocking the way. But if you have old false beliefs about your adequacy and worth, these beliefs may be blocking your ability to take loving action in your own behalf. All your efforts to self improve will not bring you the satisfaction you are seeking if you have beliefs that are keeping you limited in fully expressing your true, core Self. If you are stuck, then you need to seek out a healing process, that will move you out of the fears and beliefs that limit you. Healing these fears and limiting beliefs will open the door to improving your life in all ways!

Happy Happy Happy! 

How to be happy? You may ask yourself! Happiness is a state of mind. You can choose to be happy. No matter how much you try however, as a normal human being you are going to experience some unhappy moments in your life. Do not beat yourself up when you are down in the valley of sad and lonely times. To enjoy the better part of your life with happy times, your life has to be fashioned and conditioned for that enviable state. The following are tips that can make your life full of happiness

Make a special concerted effort to be in a healthy state. Your health is your greatest wealth, and when you have good health, you can achieve anything. A healthy body also carries a healthy mind, and that is a satisfactory state to be in. Among other things, there are three basic principles to practice every day for good health. I call them living in the RED, which means Rest Exercise and Diet.

We were not created to be alone, and we did not come in existence all by ourselves. Therefore, it is very necessary to have close ties and solid relationship with your relatives. Never separate from you family members without a close hug in the mornings. In fact research has shown that hugging and physical touch is like therapy. You should also have a small circle of close like-minded friends that you bond with. I call that the mastermind group.

Be light hearted and carry a pleasant smile around your waking moments. Smile and give lots of compliments to others every day. That does not mean you are taking life for granted, but you are learning to be in control of those things that are controlling and destroying others.

Be willing and ready to give more than you want to receive. The good book says that it is better to give than to receive. Your gifts do not have to be tangible, it can be a genuine smile, helping an old person across the street or some kind and comforting words to someone going through a rough time.

Reward yourself for any achievements, no matter how small or insignificant it may appear. The bigger the achievements however, the more unusual your reward should be. If you work with a team, look for every occasion to reward them, and if you have difficulty finding , create the opportunity.

Love, respect and take special care of your body. At least once per month you should get a complete body massage. You need to realize that you are a special and unique person with abilities unlimited. You can awaken some of those potentials greatness sleeping inside by relaxing and exercise your mind and meditate on creating possibilities.

Ways To Finding Your Purpose In Life. 

So which comes first? Purpose or goals?

OK, imagine this. Suppose today you're a superman (or superwoman), and you plan to go, let's say, United States of America and you're currently on an island in South East Asia, say Singapore. Would you:

* Fly out into the outer space, know where USA is and then make your journey back to Earth to where you want to go
* Or would you from your known position, fly to another known place and slowly make your way to USA?

Which one will be faster and more efficient? Obviously the second one right?

To start from goals setting then to finding your purpose in life, you're in fact trying to figure out what you want to become from the several goals you set for yourself instead of aligning your goals to what you want to become.

That is probably one of the reason why many people always procrastinate taking actions to achieving their goals. It is not because they can't reach it, rather, it is because they do not have enough passion, desire, motivation and most importantly, a reason, to reach it.

By first finding your purpose in life, you're in fact finding your very personal reason why you think you exist in this word and why you want to become what you want to become.

As mentioned in the previous post about the importance of having your purpose in life, a worthy purpose can help you through tough times when you meet up with challenges and obstacles along the way.

A worthy purpose helps you to keep an eye on the prize while overcoming all obstacles that come your way.

A worthy purpose need not be huge to be considered worthy. Your purpose need not necessary change thousands of lives or change the world others live. If you feel comfortable with it, then include it in your purpose. Else, just leave it out. What're more important is you feel comfortable being who you are.

Your purpose in life is worthy as long as you considered believe it is.

So now having understood the real importance of purpose, let's get down to really finding your purpose in life.

What's important to know is that finding your purpose in life is not a one-time thing. Like learning, it is a life-long, on-going process.

As you moved through different phases of your life, you'll need to review, re-think and refine your purpose in life. And your journey to finding your purpose in life starts from here, all from a gentle nudge to become the real person you're meant to be.

Personal development books like Success Principles, The Power Of Focus etc are some of the wonderful books that help you understand your purpose and guide you through the steps to finding your purpose in life.

Out of those many books, I personally prefer Jack Canfield's Success Principle as it provides you a step-by-step guide to finding your purpose in life through a serious of simple yet mind-provoking questions.

1. List down 2 qualities you want others to see from you. People will remember these qualities whenever they mention about you. Cheerful? Understanding? Playful? Caring?

2. Determine how are you going to express these 2 qualities when interacting with other people? Is it through inspiration, motivation or sharing?

3. Next imagine how will the world be like if everything is perfect? How is everyone communicating with one another? What traits can you see in everyone around you? Remember, the keyword here is "Perfect". How does a perfect world look like to you?

4. Lastly, you just need to combine the above 3 sections into a paragraph and wolah... you've just completed your first attempt to finding your purpose in life.

"Joy is but the sign that creative emotion is fulfilling its purpose."
~~ Charles Du Bos ~~

Now, don't be many others who just read and forget it about. Put them to actions. Write down your purpose, read it everyday. Print it out nicely, laminate it and carry it with you everywhere you go. Read it with enthusiasm and excitement. Send out positive vibrations that you're fulfilling your purpose in life in everything you do.

Don't worry about perfecting it the first time. As I have said earlier, finding your purpose in life is an on-going process. What's more important is finding a purpose you feel enthusiastic and excited about.

If you wish, go refer to others' purposes or mission statements and get some inspiration from there. Just note that everyone is different, so are our purposes. Refer and not copy.

Find the purpose you can best resonate with and stick to it. Read it everyday and make sure you're taking the necessary actions to fulfilling your purpose in life.

My purpose? Well, it is:

"To live in abundance of wealth, health and happiness. Through coaching, mentoring and sharing, to be a source of inspiration and motivation to others to attain their desires through a joyful, happy and playful manner."

So what is your purpose in life?

"We must have a theme, a goal, a purpose in our lives. If you don't know where you're aiming, you don't have a goal. My goal is to live my life in such a way that when I die, someone can say, they cared."

9 Common Myths About Living Your Purpose. 

It's time to dispel some myths. Let's look at the nine biggest myths around living your purpose.

Myth #1 - "And then she lived happily ever after."

Finding and following your passion is a process from the minute you set the intention. It's not an event. There's no arrival. Put on your seat belt. Enjoy the ride.

Myth #2 - That you will never doubt yourself.

The very nature of your purpose means that you are stepping away from the comfort zone of the ego. Doubt and discomfort will be your bedfellows along the way.

As Seth Godin says: "People don't like doubt, especially in business, so they pay money and give up opportunities to avoid it. Entrepreneurship is largely about living with doubt, as is creating just about any sort of art."

Nuff said!

Myth #3 - That THIS purpose will always remain THE purpose.

Your purpose is revealed to you in stages. You don't start off knowing the bigness of it. You start off with just a slight pull or an awareness of delight. Your ego probably could not handle the depth of the journey right at the start. So, things will change. Purpose will unfold. Bigness will evolve. Your job is to keep stepping through the doors that open to you.

Myth #4 - "Now that I'm here, I'd like it all to just plateau please."

I can't tell you how many people say this to me in one way or another after they've reached a certain level in their business. It's like bargaining with biology that your life gets to be different from every other organism on the planet. As if growth ceases once you decide you're done with the discomfort of expansion. Um, guess what?

Myth #5 - "I'll try this purpose thing for a year and see how I do."

Many of us have gotten this advice from someone: "You can try it for a year, and if you don't make it - then you can just go back and get a job." This makes me laugh now. Purpose is not about dipping your toe in, and the universe knows it. (You know it too!)

Myth #6 - "I have decided to follow my purpose, therefore the heavens should reward me accordingly."

There's a word for this. What is it again? Oh yeah.

"Entitlement."

Myth #7 - That everyone will be on board.

You can try forwarding this article to your friends and family with the message "See?!"

But chances are, not everyone in your life will be thrilled when you start turning things upside down. (Mostly because you will be pushing the edges of their world-view, and people never like that very much.)

Myth #8 - That you will magically leave your current self behind.

Finding and living your purpose doesn't mean that some other cooler hipper version of you will magically emerge. In fact, you will run into you at every turn. (This means that one piece of your life purpose is to break through the ego and all of its "muckety-muck.")

This is called "awakening." And it can be really fun!

Myth #9 - That purpose is big and explosive.

In my experience, purpose speaks quietly.

It's the moment your client has a breakthrough and your heart nearly explodes in excitement for her. It's when you realize you no longer are afraid of something you used to be afraid of. Those are the best moments of purpose.

Purpose is about new levels of depth in your relationship with your own true power. The external rewards can be awesome, but nothing measures up to the quiet sparks of knowing you are living the life you were meant to live!