Jeff and I recently visited Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monuments. They’re located north of Flagstaff, on a loop road. Sunset Crater is at the south end and Wupatki is at the north part of the loop. To do them justice, you really need to set aside a full day to enjoy them. We’ve been there several times before, and planned to spend most of our time at Sunset Crater.

First, we visited Sunset Crater’s visitor center, then ate a picnic lunch nearby. The visitor center has some great descriptions of the event that created the volcanic field somewhere around 1040-1100AD.

There are also some great interactive displays. I jumped up and down on a pad that was connected to a seismograph. It showed how my movement created waves just as an earthquake would.

There was also a 3D animated video of how the eruption looked. You could even turn it to view it from various directions. Very cool for someone interested in geology, as I am.

We drove up the loop road, and stopped by Bonito Lava Flow and Lenox Crater. The lava flow looks so alien that the astronauts trained on it before the Moon landing. Sunset Crater is closed to people climbing on it, but not so with Lenox Crater. There’s a steep path to the top of it, which I hiked.

After lots of rests, ½ mile and 300 feet higher, I reached the top. There was a panoramic view of the San Francisco Peaks on one side and the cinder fields on the other. When I hiked down, it felt like ½ the distance.

At Sunset Crater, we walked the 1-mile loop path near the base of the mountain. You walk in and amongst the lava and cinder fields, sometimes dwarfed by the raw black rocks. It’s stark and beautiful and photos can’t do it justice.

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Getting Well Again
by O. Carl Simonton, M.D., Stephanie Matthews-Simonton, James Creighton

This is a must for anyone with cancer, or a chronic illness, who wishes to participate in their healing. Dr. Simonton is the pioneer who used imagery with cancer patients and discovered just how powerful it can be.

This book is a step by step workbook of what to do if you have cancer. It explains how the immune system works, and why cancer might ave developed. It also discusses how to participate in your healing, the benefits of illness (also called “secondary gains”), dealing with resentment, the importance of setting goals, and much more.

There are specific exercises to follow to help you. I believe that anyone that’s ever experienced a chronic illness, or even been close to someone who has, should read this book.

Copyright 2002, 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

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Question: If I say an affirmation for three weeks, will I see results and think only positive thoughts by then?

Answer: If you begin saying a positive affirmation, and say it consistently every day for three weeks, you’ll notice an improvement in your attitude. However, you’ll need to catch each negative thought and idea and change it to a positive for the results to be most effective.

And you won’t have a permanent change in your thoughts after just three weeks. You’ll need to keep up with the affirmation, and transforming your negative thoughts even after that. But the negative thoughts will be fewer and you’ll be more positive overall.

This isn’t something you can do for a few days, weeks or months and then stop doing. It’s a focused change of thinking that must continue. You won’t have to be as diligent later on, because you’ll be more aware of your negative thoughts and automatically change them to positives. Affirmations aren’t magic. You have to use them consistently for them to work.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

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The first weekend of this month was a busy one. On Saturday, Jeff and I spent the afternoon in Jerome, AZ, the ghost town near us. We wandered the galleries before their monthly art walk started at 5pm. After that, Jeff was in the gallery with his photographs so he could greet visitors and tell them the back-story of how they were taken.

While he was working, I sat on the gallery’s deck, looking out over the beautiful Verde Valley and Red Rocks of Sedona. I read and watched the shadows crawl across the valley. I could hear a rooster crow and a goat bleat from a house on the street below. It was so peaceful.

The next day, we went to Prescott to visit their arts and crafts fair. First, we went to Watson Lake in the Granite Dells to have a picnic. We sat in a ramada high above the lake. The view of the rounded boulders around and islands in the lake was gorgeous. Jeff decided to take some photographs.

Over an hour and a sunburn later, he decided to quit for the day. Neither of us had put on any sunscreen that morning, thinking we weren’t really going to be in the sun much. Bad decision. The sun in Arizona can cook you to a crisp in very little time. And it’s worse in the high altitudes, like Prescott and Flagstaff. I was luckier than Jeff, because I stayed pretty much in the shade.

Fortunately, the arts and crafts fair was around the Courthouse Square under the trees. Yes, Arizona has lakes and trees. So we didn’t get much more sun. But it was a lesson that we should have known by now. We’ll put on sunscreen any time we’re going to be outdoors.

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Question: What’s the difference between an affirmation and a hypnotic suggestion?

Answer: Affirmations and suggestions are essentially the same thing. Only the terminology is different. Both suggestions and affirmations are statements that are designed to change old mental ideas in your subconscious mind.

Generally, affirmations are used while you are awake and alert, and during other activities. But they can also be used in meditation to help to elevate your consciousness.

In that case, they then become a suggestion. A suggestion is a statement designed to change a belief, attitude, habit, or effect a change on the body.

Both re-program your mind to release old thought patterns and condition it with the new ones that you choose.

Copyright 2002, 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

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At the monthly National Speaker’s Association – Arizona Chapter meeting in September, I got great inspiration from the speakers, Neil Dempster, Marnie Green, and Lon Safko.

Lon Safko is the author of “The Social Media Bible,” a comprehensive look at this modern phenomena. For over a year, I’ve been considering buying a book on this subject, to learn more about it and how to use it strategically.

After being blown away by some of the things he shared, I decided this was the book that I wanted. He autographed it for me and I had my photo taken with him. I look forward to digging into this weighty tome, and mining its treasures.

As usual, I got great value from the speaker’s and was able to re-connect with some of my friends. It was a long, but rewarding, day.

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Whether we’re aware of them or not, we’re always making choices. Some of them are made unconsciously, as habit, and without considering the long range consequences. But we can always become aware, choose wisely, or change our decision. It’s not easy to become that conscious and change, but the results for long term benefits are immeasurable.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

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by Linda Ann Stewart

Every moment of every day, you are making choices, from the moment of awakening to the time you go to bed at night. Your strongest thought determines what you’ll do at any given time, whether it’s conscious or habitual. In the morning, do you get up when the alarm buzzes or hit the snooze button? Do you cook eggs or oatmeal for breakfast? Which route do you take to work? Every moment is a fork in the road, and you travel one way or the other.

Your attitudes and actions have been created by your past choices that have become automatic over time. As a youngster, you could either accept or reject your caregivers’ assessments of you. One person would believe it when a father accused them of being “worthless,” while another would consider the source and discard the label.

Sometimes, you don’t even realize that you have options. When you were young, other people made decisions for you. Or maybe you accepted the attitudes of those around you to be able to cope in your environment. After you grew up, you lived on autopilot without assessing those old ideas. This resulted in struggling through a life based on those outdated concepts.

There may have been times when you felt that you had no alternatives. That only meant that the other choices would have been harder to live with. A person in an awful job may feel they have to stay in it, no matter what. However, they could always find another job, even if it would be at a lower pay scale. Or even work two jobs to earn an equivalent income. Peace of mind and satisfaction may be worth having less or working more.

You choose what your thoughts are, even when they seem to be reflexive. If negative thoughts arise spontaneously, you can challenge them and change them. George Eliot said, “The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.” If a situation doesn’t end up like you want, you can always change your mind and go in a different direction.

The key lies in recognizing that you were always the one who made a choice. You’ve done so even when you don’t like the outcome or feel stuck. Making no decision is a decision in itself. Going along with what someone else wants is also under your control.

By realizing you’ve always chosen your thoughts, beliefs and actions, even if by default, eliminates the feeling of victimhood and hopelessness. This puts the sense of power back with you, where it belongs.

Be aware that every moment of every day, you’re making choices. If they are made automatically, without thought, then it might be time to evaluate them to see if they’re still valid. By switching from habitual decisions to making intentional ones, you transform from being unaware to being more conscious. When you become aware that there are other options, you can then select a better way.

When you recognize you have choice, even if the alternative doesn’t seem to be of equal benefit, then you open up a wide range of possibilities. It’s the difference between always looking down at your feet and raising your gaze to the horizon. Doing so takes your power back and allows your subconscious to discover better opportunities.

Affirmation

I always choose my thoughts, beliefs and actions. Even when I’m on autopilot, I decided my direction long ago. Now I bring those automatic ideas out of the shadows to assess whether they’re still useful. If I don’t like my current situation, I know that I can make a different choice and improve my life. Realizing that I always have a choice, I reclaim my power and set my subconscious to search for better opportunities.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

self improvement, self help, personal growth, personal development, motivation, inspiration

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