Monday, August 24, 2009

What My 11-Month Old Can Teach You About Achieving Success By Joann A Lindenbaum

How many times have you set out to do something, and when it doesn't work out after the 1st or 2nd attempt, you decide that you're not good at it, you'll never learn how to do it, or it's not for you?

I often hear a story similar to this from women just before I start coaching with them. Some examples include:

- "I posted my online dating profile 2 weeks ago, and while I've emailed with a couple of guys, I still haven't met someone I'd like to go on a date with. The online dating thing will never work for me!"

- "I followed up with this prospect client, but they never responded to me. I guess they aren't interested in my service or product."

- "I want to write a memoir, but have spent a month and can't get through the draft of the first chapter. Maybe I'm not meant to write about my adventures!"

In each of these instances, the individual has given up hope or enthusiasm for something they really, REALLY want, just because they didn't achieve it in full right away. Instead of viewing their attempt exactly as it is: simply, one attempt that did not work out, they create a story about themselves: I will never meet someone to date; This client will never be interested in my services; I'll never be able to write this book.

The truth is, it's your story that will prevent you from accomplishing the things you want to accomplish in life - not your abilities, or even your circumstances!

I learn this and re-learn this every time, just by observing my 11-month old daughter, Penina. As most babies do, Penina has a zest and curiosity for life, and wants to do and try everything. However, it is a rare instance that she accomplishes her goal on her first attempt.

I'll give you an example: last week, Penina was figuring out how to sit herself on a new stool that was given to her. I watched as she moved her little legs up and down, putting one arm here or experimenting with another arm there. Just as she was about to achieve success, Penina lost her balance, fell over and hit her chin. I raced over to make sure she was okay. She was bleeding a little bit and cried for a moment. And then she did the most amazing thing: she crawled out of my arms and directly back to her stool to complete what she had set out to do.

Penina was able to persist and complete her goal because she didn't judge herself for not achieving full success at her first attempt. In fact, I would guess that the challenge is what made it more interesting for her!

Think about any baby you know - chances are they didn't walk or talk or feed themselves on their first try. But they didn't let that get in their way! They kept tapping into their curiosity and working at it and working at it and tweaking their strategy (and maybe got support and help from parents and others) until they achieved success.

And, of course, as adults we know that each one of their attempts was part of their process of achieving success - each attempt, they learned something new about accomplishing what they wanted to accomplish.

A major step towards success and satisfaction is to be able to let your passion, enthusiasm and interest for your project or goal be bigger and more powerful than any story you create about your small-ness or your inability.

How many ideas, opportunities, relationships or projects have you allowed to pass you by because you chose to use your not achieving success on your first attempt as evidence that you weren't able or meant to do it?

Today, I invite you to be inspired by my 11-month old daughter and look at your goals with fresh, new eyes. Tap into your curiosity and passion and go for it!

Your Soulful Coaching Call to Action!

Get in touch with your passion> and your curiosity for your project or goal

Measure your progress- Even if you don't fully complete your goal on your first go-around, take note of what you have accomplished and what you have learned for the next time around

Let go of your self judgment or self-criticism when you notice that your "story" is holding you back from persisting

Seek out support when you intuitively feel it would be easier to accomplish your goal with someone else offering suggestions, accountability, or just plain old company!

Joanna Lindenbaum, M.A., has 12 years of teaching and coaching experience. She invites women to think bigger, to embrace their power, to create compelling and exciting goals. Her clients achieve extraordinary success in business, career, and life.

To receive Joanna's complimentary eCourse, How to Overcome the 5 Obstacles to Success, visit http://www.soulfulcoach.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joann_A_Lindenbaum

Monday, August 17, 2009

Brain Wave Entrainment For Beginners - What is Brain Wave Entrainment? By Jon Beebe

There are lots of complex definitions and technicalities surrounding brain wave entrainment, but I feel as though the internet lacks a very simple, yet understanding explanation of the whole thing. For the sake of this article; however, I'll focus on only one type of brain wave entrainment, and that's entrainment through the use of audio. If I had to describe brainwave entrainment in just a few sentences, I would say:

Brain wave entrainment through sound audio is a simple audio track that has audible "pulses" embedded in with either soft music or nature sounds, for the sole purpose of causing your brain to enter a specific frequency. Your brain operates on different "brainwave frequencies" depending on the physical or mental activities you are engaged in, and these frequencies can be altered or changed by applying a repeated stimulus for only a few minutes.

When you are exposed to brainwave audios, the audible pulses are spaced out evenly, and what determines how much time is between the pulses will determine the frequency range that your brain will "clone" or "entrain" itself to.

How Do We Know About Brainwave Frequencies?

EEG Machines can "scan" the brain and measure different frequency ranges that the brain is currently in. While performing certain physical or mental activities and the various mental states (physical activity, reading, writing, sleeping, anger, sadness, etc.), the frequencies among everyone's brain are consistent. So when someone has been focusing and is in deep concentration for a period of time, their frequency range would be the same for someone doing the same thing.

The problem is, your brain might not always be in the right frequency range for certain activities, or you may be in a frequency range that stimulates anger, when you most likely would want to be "happy" if you had a choice.

Brain wave entrainment allows you to change your brain's current frequency, and experience a higher concentration of it at the same time. So, for example, someone who has been reading a book and focused for a long time would not be AS focused as someone doing the same thing but listening to a brain wave entrainment audio designed specifically for the purpose of promoting deep focus and concentration.

What is brain wave entrainment? It is a powerful tool for self-improvement that anyone can benefit from, and it is completely safe and extremely effective.

To learn more about brain wave entrainment, and to access a growing library that provides brain wave audios for nearly any benefit you can think of (increased brain power, memory enhancement, concentration, caffeine replacement, etc.).

Please visit EntraimentLab.com to view the growing library of brainwave entrainment audios, which come in different session lengths and all use high quality isochronic tones.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Beebe

Jon Beebe - EzineArticles Expert Author

Monday, August 10, 2009

Violence - When We Lose Touch With Our Soul By Peter Vajda, Ph.D

"Speak when you are angry and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret." Ambrose Bierce

All violence - overt, subtle, verbal, physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, etc. is about one issue, and one issue only power. Generally, violence manifests in three ways: our actions, our words and our thoughts.

At work, at home, at play and in relationship, people tend towards violence when they feel threatened and powerless. A threat can be real or perceived. Folks resort to violence as an inappropriate way to re-establish their own sense of power over someone or something they perceive as a threat.

There are three kinds of violence: one, through our deeds; two, through our words; and three, through our thoughts.

At the very heart of violence is a disconnect from one's soul. When we disconnect with our soul, it's due to an emotional disturbance. How so?

There are two parts of our brain that do not operate together: the prefrontal cortex and the limbic brain. The prefrontal cortex of our brain is the "executive" functioning part, where we engage in rational thought, decision-making and logical thinking. When we're connected to our soul, we are orienting to, and focusing on, our experience through this part of our brain. To maintain this connection and focus, we need to be in a place of peace where we're not being combative or defensive in thought, word or deed.

Our limbic brain engages when we sense a real or perceived threat and we experience fear. In a state of fear we move into a fight, flight or freeze reaction. Fear causes us to disconnect from our prefrontal cortex. When we're afraid, we cannot think logically, rationally, or compassionately. Being fearful blocks most people from contacting the prefrontal cortex. When people are afraid, they do not think creatively, compassionately or independently. This kind of thought requires the use of the higher brain.

Those who have a well-developed prefrontal cortex can most often cope with real or perceived threats. Those with a less developed prefrontal cortex (and note that incessant engaging in electronic interactions Twitter, Facebook, IM, video-games, etc., - prevents us from developing our prefrontal cortex) react rather than respond.

Those who have developed their prefrontal cortex are often able to cope with threatening situations can be "cool under fire." These days, it seems that these folks are few and far between.

When we encounter a threat, when our higher brain wants to engage and our primitive, limbic, defensive brain is activated through fear, we have a conflict which usually results in our experiencing a heightened state of stress, anxiety, chaos, confusion and depression. In this mental-emotional state, our natural tendency is to seek "relief." Violence is one way we attempt to seek relief. Violence helps us act on, and discharge, the tension.

The good news-bad news dynamic of violence is that violence can give us an immediate release of the tension but the underlying cause, the fear, remains. Until and unless we confront our fear, and deal with it consciously and directly, we will not experience inner peace or well-be-ing. We'll remain disconnected from our soul, from our True and Authentic Self.

"The root of all violence is in the world of thoughts, and that is why training the mind is so important. - Eknath Easwaran

To deal with the root cause of our anger, the fear, there are two actions we can take:

First, we can look at the truth of what is causing us to feel afraid. We can explore why we feel threatened, and if the threat is real or perceived. Here, we need to engage our prefrontal cortex and intelligently and rationally examine the validity of the threat. Is it real or am I creating a "story" to make it real? What are the facts and what is the truth?

Second, we need to access our own inner authority, our Higher Self, to ascertain right knowing, right understanding and right action vis--vis next steps, choices and decisions. This step requires a great deal of honesty, sincerity and trust that we have the inner strength, courage, intelligence and ability to be at peace while we assess our immediate experience. We CANNOT take this step while being driven by our limbic, emotional brain.

What makes these two steps possible and builds our capacity to be "cool under fire" requires a "spiritual" practice. By consistently taking time for meditation, quietude, silence and self-reflection we condition our brain to reduce the frequency and intensity of beta brainwaves that are heightened when we experience fear and stress, while building the capacity to produce an abundance of alpha brainwaves that supports us to feel peaceful and facilitate soul connection.

It's impossible to experience fear while we are producing strong alpha waves. In a relaxed and meditative state our mind can be receptive to our soul's impulse - the source of inner strength, love and intelligence. By regularly practicing of this inner state of connection, we are more able to disconnect from both "internal" and "external" real or perceived threats and gradually learn to trust the inner, higher authority of our soul.

In this place, we are able to make more creative, compassionate and life enhancing choices and decisions for ourselves and others. In this place of empowerment (and not reactivity), we are often able to extricate ourselves from a place of "victimization" and feel less need to be "violent" in thought, word and deed. We can feel secure within ourselves. Violent thoughts, words and actions are replaced by loving and healing thoughts, words and actions.

So, some questions for self-reflection are:

· Who or what threatens you? Are these threats real or perceived? What is the truth of these threats?
· Do you create stories about others causing you problems and then acting as if these stories are true when they may be false?
· Are you too quick to anger? If so, why?
· How do you maintain balance and freedom from irrational fears?
· When do you most often lose connection with your soul? Do you see any habits or patterns here?
· How often do you think vicious thoughts?
· Do you tend to be silently violent?
· Are you guilty of abusing others verbally or emotionally (e.g., sarcasm, gossiping, bullying, demeaning one-liners and put-downs, etc.)?
· Do you believe you're being rationale and logical when operating from a place of fear or threat?
· What was your experience around trust and betrayal like when you were growing up?
· Can you envision a world where you consistently feel focused, "cool under fire" and empowered?

"Never use violence of any kind. Never threaten violence in any way. Never even think violent thoughts. Never argue because it attacks anothers opinion. Never criticize because it attacks anothers ego. And your success is guaranteed." - Mohandas Gandhi

---ABOUT THE AUTHOR---

Peter Vajda, Ph.D, C.P.C. is a founding partner of SpiritHeart, an Atlanta-based company that supports conscious living through coaching and counseling. With a practice based on the dynamic intersection of mind, body, emotion and spirit, PeterĂ‚’s 'whole person' coaching approach supports deep and sustainable change and transformation.

Peter facilitates and guides leaders and managers, individuals in their personal and work life, partners and couples, groups and teams to move to new levels of self-awareness, enhancing their ability to show up authentically and with a heightened sense of well be-ing, inner harmony and interpersonal effectiveness as they live their lives at work, at home, at play and in relationship.

Peter is a professional speaker and published author. For more information: http://www.spiritheart.net, or pvajda@spiritheart.net, or phone 770.804.9125.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Vajda,_Ph.D

Monday, August 3, 2009

How to use the incredible power of anchoring to your benefit

Some sounds, pictures, smells, tastes or tactile sensations affect us in special ways. Such stimuli are called anchors in the field of Neuro Linguistic Programming [NLP]. A particular stimulus that is connected to a person’s particular behavior, feeling, or thought is an anchor. The process of making an anchor is called anchoring.

Anchoring works with the subconscious mind. There for, it is extremely powerful. You get anchored to many different stimuli in your surroundings. When a stimulus gets anchored with a negative behavior, it is a disadvantage to you. When you know how anchoring works, you can break bad anchors and create more useful anchors to your benefit.

When a certain stimulus occurs repeatedly when you are in a deep, relaxed, sensitive trance, a connection is made between the stimulus and the trance. Every one lives in different trances moment by moment and is exposed to various stimuli all the time. An anchor is created if a trance is intense, deep, or powerful and also if the associated stimulus occurs repeatedly when the trance is at its highest intensity.

When this happens again and again, the stimuli-trance connection grows stronger and stronger. When such a strong connection is established, the stimulus can be purposely used to trigger the trance. In other words, an anchor is created.

You can create an anchor to any trance you like. You can test the how effective your anchor is too. You have to follow the steps below in order to make an anchor successfully.

• If your trance choice is power, close your eyes, relax, sit straight, and relive in a very powerful moment of your life, seeing what was there then in your mind’s eye, hearing the sounds, feeling other sensations. You must be totally absorbed in the desired trance, both physically and mentally.
• Produce the stimulus when the trance is at its peak. You can feel it when the trance comes to the peak. Make sure the stimulus is not an ordinary, day to day one. Make it an uncommon one such as pushing your left finger back words with your right hand, pressing your left wrist with your right hand etc.
• You have to repeat the stimulus in the same manner.

Continue this several times a day, for a few days. When the anchor is established, you can trigger off the trance by just producing the stimulus. Keep repeating those steps until you are able to do that.

Now let’s see how you could collapse an unwanted anchor.

• Close your eyes. As before, in your mind, go to a moment of your life when you felt really powerful. See, hear, feel what there was, in your mind. When the feeling of power comes to its peak, pretend to take that feeling to your right hand. Imagine it clasped in your right hand, a bright and warm ball of energy.
• Now relive in a miserable, awful, helpless moment of your life in the same way. When the unpleasant feeling comes to its peak, pretend take it to your left hand. Imagine it clasped in your left hand, a dark and cold orb of energy.
• Now you are set to collapse the bad anchor. Clap your hands together and imagine the cold, dark energy in your left hand is overcome by the warm, bright energy in your right hand.
• Repeat this a few times and recall that unpleasant moment of your life. If the collapsing has worked, you will fell that it is just a mare memory and not so intense. If it is still intense, you have to repeat the collapsing steps till the unpleasant incident becomes a mare memory with out any power to make you feel uncomfortable.

There you are! You know how to benefit from anchoring now. Integrate it in to your overall self-improvement scheme. Start off and make a positive change in your life.