Tools For Your Mind, Soul and Spirit

The Abundance Book
by John Randolph Price

This little book is worth its weight in gold. I used my original one so much that it’s fallen apart, and I keep it in a plastic zip top bag. I now own three copies, just in case.

Quoting from various teachers and books about prosperity, it condenses all the wisdom about prosperity, money and abundance into this tiny volume.

The author writes about the profound idea that you are your own money, and that it’s your energy that circulates. He includes some prosperity “secrets” to help manifest quicker and easier.

Included in this book is a 40 day prosperity plan, which are 10 affirmations you meditate on. Taking one of these affirmations each day, you circulate through them 4 times.

By the end of the 40 days, you’ll have begun to change your consciousness about money, prosperity and abundance. And it works! Money will begin to flow more easily into your coffers.

This book will change your perspective on money and yourself. Whenever I get into fear about finances, I pull this book out and read it again. And when I do, money begins to appear. If you have an issue with money, run, don’t walk, and buy this book!

Copyright 2001, 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Last week, I took my first vacation in two years. I just did what I wanted and played around the house. I went to a movie in the middle of the week (gasp!), had lunch with a friend, hiked and took a day trip.

When the week began, I kept feeling pressure to DO something, anything, like email, write, work, etc. I’d feel the pressure surface, and would remind myself, “No, this is my vacation. I don’t have to do anything.” It was hard, but I knew it was important for me to be able to recharge.

It made me aware of how much pressure we put on ourselves to produce. Thinking time, creative space, mulling things over just aren’t valued in the U.S. culture. We push ourselves to the brink and keep pushing. This isn’t very healthy or helpful for creativity, solving problems or even productivity.

To be able to progress and formulate new ideas, we actually need downtime to do it. This is when our minds get their batteries charged and we get the juice to come up with new concepts.

It’s like being sleep deprived, which our culture also is. Without sleep to reset our bodies and process our experiences, we tend to get sick, confused and cranky. We don’t value something that is integral to our survival and thriving.

It’s interesting that looking productive is more important than actual efficiency. If we’re not pushing ourselves, then it’s assumed that we’re slackers. But the most inventive people are those who sit and look into thin air as they think. They do enjoyable things as their minds process and incubate ideas.

After exercise, we need to let muscles rest and rebuild. The same is true of our working lives. Taking time-off is necessary for not only mental health, but also physical health. It was hard, but I forced myself to take the time to give my brain a rest. When is your next time-out?

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

motivation, productivity, inspiration

It’s a sad truth that most people only treat you as well as you treat yourself. If you don’t respect yourself, set boundaries and take care of your self-interest, other people won’t do it either. They take their cue from how you treat yourself. When you take care of your own well being, then you train others to respect you.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

self improvement, self help, personal growth, personal development

Jeff and I were driving from Jerome to Cottonwood when the Flagstaff Schultz fire got started last month. Initially, we saw a little bit of smoke over the rim.

Within a half-hour, that smoke had grown into a huge column of smoke. From that we could tell that the fire had really exploded. Apparently, the fire was caused by a hiker abandoning their campfire without putting it out thoroughly.

Most people think that Arizona is all desert. In actuality, much of Northern and Eastern Arizona is wooded. It has a very active lumber industry.

Fire is a natural cycle in these woods, but normally it’s mainly on the floor of the forests. In this case, fire actually burns off brush and improves the health of the trees. Gigantic forest fires, like the one in Flagstaff, burn the trees and leaves scorched stumps.

A week after the fire began, we drove up to Flagstaff to view the extent of the damage and see how firefighting efforts were going.

It looked like the entire side of one of the mountains was smoldering. It’s heart-rending. It’ll take decades, if not a century or more for the forest to recover.

Question:  I have been in a relationship for about a year now and have put a lot of energy into it without any expectations of anything in return. Why has it not manifested any further?

Answer:  Although you say that you’ve been in this relationship with no expectations, you have had an expectation, that the relationship would progress. I’m sure you thought it would happen on its own. That’s what we’re told. But by trying not to have any expectations, you’ve actually manifested what you were expecting. No expectations, no progression.

We’ve been told over and over to let go of any expectations in our relationships, when what it actually means is to not have any expectations of our partner. The idea of no expectation really means that we shouldn’t expect our partner to change to suit us or to our ideas of how they should be.

However, there are some expectations we should have in any relationship. To be treated well, to have open communication, to have respect, to be treated equally.

When we put so much energy into a relationship, and don’t get anything back, it’s time to reassess the relationship. The person you’re with may not be able to give you what you obviously want.

You need to set some boundaries of what you expect from the relationship. Only that way can the Universe and the other
person know what you need. You deserve to do that. You deserve to value yourself, and to expect to be valued by the other person.

By stating what you need and want, you allow the other person to decide whether they can give it to you or not. If they choose not to, then you need to let go and move on. By doing so, you give the Universe the opportunity to bring someone else into your life who can fill your needs.

Copyright 2001, 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Over and over again, we’re told that we can only focus on one thing at a time. When we think we’re focusing on two ideas at a time, we’re really switching our attention from one to the other and back again. That is a waste of mental energy.

It’s a myth that we can multi-task without some decline in our ability to focus and be effective. Multi-tasking actually slows us down and erodes our ability to concentrate.

A study from the University of Michigan has actually found a reduction of 40 percent in production when we try to do two things at once. It also causes us to make mistakes and creates the problem of being burned out.

A Microsoft study found it can take up to 15 minutes to re-focus after an interruption. This can deplete internal resources and reduce creativity. Distractions take the place of true accomplishment. Just because we look busy doesn’t mean we’re achieving anything.

The solution is to shut out the interruptions, distractions and focus for an extended period of time on the project in front of you. Corporations are beginning to create these distraction-free time zones.

Not only does this free up time, but it reduces stress and allows space for creativity to flow. When we’re not busy dealing with the latest crisis, we can begin to move forward.

Establish one or two times a day to check email, let the phone messages go to voicemail, shut the door to be able to concentrate. These are boundaries we set around our time and workspace to allow us to be more productive and feel more peaceful.

Learning to set boundaries isn’t just important in our personal lives, it’s important in our business lives, as well. It forms a structure that we can count on and help us to be more calm and relaxed.

Inspired by the article E-mail is Making You Stupid from Entrepreneur.com, and gives more ideas of how to reduce your distractions.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

motivation, productivity, inspiration

by Linda-Ann Stewart

You’ve probably been taught to be generous, a giver, and put other people first. These are necessary ingredients for spiritual development, but they can be taken to extremes. When they are, they erode your self-worth, promote a victim mentality and you give away your power.

Many times, when you do too much for others, at the expense of your well being, they won’t appreciate it and will just demand more. They may feel that they’re entitled to whatever resources you have, and you’re expected to hand them over. This isn’t good for you or for them.

By taking on the responsibility for other people’s feelings and actions, you’re not allowing them the gift of being accountable for themselves. They are every bit as able as you are to develop abilities to handle difficult and disappointing situations. When you try to completely cushion their discomfort, you aren’t letting them exercise their problem solving skills.

Letting people be upset and uncomfortable can be distressing. But by doing so, you’re enabling them to increase their own resources and freeing yourself to have more time and money. Here are several ways you can take back your power in your relationships.

Put your well-being first

If you don’t put your health and well-being first, no one else will. You will have shown them that you don’t consider it to be important, so why should they. This is also a toxic message to your inner self. Eventually, you’ll run out of mental, emotional, physical and financial resources.  Then you won’t be able to help anyone, including yourself.

You’re only responsible for your moods, feelings, and behaviors

When someone is upset, it’s natural to try to cheer them up. But in trying to do that, you’re distracting them from their issue and actually prolonging it. It will surface again, except it will have gained energy. You’re not responsible to make anyone else feel better. Let them cultivate their own resources, and they’ll have them forever.

Don’t try to reason with an irrational person

If you have someone in your life who manipulates you, learn to set a boundary. State what you plan to do, and don’t deviate from it. They don’t care about your reasons, they just want you to do what they want. Reasoning with them just gives them more ammunition to twist to their advantage. You aren’t required to justify your actions or decisions to others.

Learn to say, “No”

When you say, “No,” to other people, you’re telling your inner self that what you want matters. Unless you state what you’re willing to do and not do, then they’re not going to know. They’re not mind readers. By drawing a line in the sand, you’re communicating to them and your inner self that your desires, choices, and needs are important.

When you begin to make these changes, the people you’re dealing with probably won’t like the changes in your attitude towards them. It’s likely they’ll escalate their demands. Stand firm, because you’re not only dealing with them but also your patterns and habits.

The more determined you are to take back your power, the easier the transition will be. Your relationships will improve or the difficult ones will fade out of your life. It may be sad to see them go, but they’ll create a vacuum to draw in people who truly appreciate and respect you. You’ll regain your power over your choices, and your self-worth will improve because you’re establishing your value.

Affirmation

My choices, desires and needs matter. They are as important as anyone else’s. I now establish healthy boundaries and learn to say “No” to requests and demands that make me uncomfortable. I don’t need to justify my decisions to anyone. They are valid simply because they are important to me. I realize that I’m responsible only for my choices, moods and challenges. Other people have as much ability to solve their problems as I do. I now take responsibility for my well-being.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

A nationally known speaker, life coach, hypnotherapist, and writer, Linda-Ann Stewart helps people rediscover their power and sense of self-worth. Visit Secrets To The Law Of Attraction to download your copy of this free ebook.

self improvement, self help, personal growth, personal development

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Curiosity about dreams seems to be widespread. Dreams fascinate us, seeming to come from a mysterious place deep within us, out of the reach of our everyday selves. A friend of mine once watched two dream experts interviewed on the MacNeil/Lehrer Report. A national television program found dreams interesting enough to spend some time exploring their importance.

The two men interviewed were a neuroscientist and a Freudian psychoanalyst. Though from different disciplines, they both agreed that dreams help us to deal with our everyday lives. Dreams help us to process information in our subconscious, to help us solve problems.

Dreams reveal information to us, whether we understand their message or not.  When we pay attention to them, they become a powerful force for transformation. These riches of the night can bring to light attitudes we’ve outgrown, difficulties we’ve ignored, and conflicts that have been affecting us. They can help us get in touch with our inner wisdom, and give us the direction we need to move forward.

Many years ago, I was trying to decide whether to move my hypnotherapy office from one place to another. I had a dream about the space I was considering. Though I hadn’t viewed the office yet, this dream was very accurate about what was in the room, and very specifically indicated that the room would be too loud.

In the dream, people were entering the room to get office supplies, and file reports. I ignored the dream, and moved anyway. I discovered all the dream elements were right on. Though people didn’t enter my room for supplies, there was a closet just across the narrow hall from my door where the supplies were kept.

Traffic to that cupboard, opening and closing the doors, dropping things, office staff calling out to the reception area was very distracting when I had a client. I stayed in that office for two years. Now I pay closer attention to my dreams since I had such a graphic example of how much they know.

Our dreams know all about us. We’re the ones who have scripted them and who are acting in them. Dreams reveal us to ourselves. They show us how we feel about life. Do we feel we’re at war with the world? Or that we’re prisoners? Or that we’re unprepared?

I have a recurring dream that I’m rehearsing for a play. It’s opening night and none of us in the cast knows our lines. This generally shows that I feel unprepared about something happening in my life.

Our images while sleeping reflect our feelings about ourselves and life. An acquaintance once told me that she knew it was time to break up with her boyfriend when she had recurring dreams of murdering him. Dreams show us how we truly think and feel, whether we want to consciously accept it or not.

The state of our health can be spotlighted. When I get too tired, I have dreams about my car having flat tires. Yes, I know it’s punny. I spent years trying to figure out that symbol.

If I don’t take care of myself, one dream about a single flat tire will become a recurrent dream with two, then three flat tires. Eventually, if the car has four flat tires, I get sick. My dreams have told me what’s going on and what to do about it. Get some rest.

For me, the first part of the night contain dreams of the previous day. My mind is integrating what has happened. In the latter part of the night, my dreams then begin to work on current issues in my life.

Many years ago, I needed to let go of a feeling of powerlessness. My dreams had a recurring symbol of power plants. In them, I learned to reconnect with my power. In one, a character told me that I was going to get it this time. And I did.

We can utilize our dreams by paying attention to them. I kept a diary for twenty years, writing my daily events and my dreams. When you want some help on a subject, form a question and put it in your diary. Use an affirmation, like “Tonight, I will have a dream that will explain …. I will remember my dream in the morning.” Repeat this to yourself as you drift off to sleep.

In the morning, wake slowly, and don’t open your eyes or move. Think back to what the last thing you were thinking about. Bring your loved ones to mind. Many times this will spark a remembrance of a dream. Write your images down in your diary. Even if all you wake up with is a feeling, write it down. Don’t give up. Sometimes, it takes a few days, or even weeks, to train yourself to remember your dreams.

To be able to figure out the message contained in your dream, realize that all your dream symbols are unique to you. You’re the best dream dictionary there is for you because you wrote the book on you.

First, write one sentence to describe your dream. Then, write down all the metaphors, symbols, any slang or puns, the characters and settings. Describe each element as if you were from another planet. Don’t say “Jimmy Stewart” is a movie star, but a man who played characters with integrity.

In one dream, I had a valuable stone that was very rough. I described it as “needing polishing.” When I heard myself say that, I realized that the direction I was going in my life was going to be of value to me, but that it needed more work, “to be polished” and finished.

Dreams are such a treasure trove of riches for us. Put on your miner’s cap, and begin to uncover the messages to yourself buried deep in your own mind.

Copyright 1999, 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

A nationally known speaker, life coach, hypnotherapist, and writer, Linda-Ann Stewart helps people rediscover their power and sense of self-worth. Visit Secrets To The Law Of Attraction to download your copy of this free ebook.

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

Question: Why do I have to focus on what I want? Doesn’t my subconscious mind already know?

Answer: Your subconscious mind can only absorb what your conscious mind sends its way. So if you want more prosperity, but you constantly focus on not having enough money, that’s what the subconscious mind accepts and manifests more of - lack. Your subconscious only knows what it’s been told. So if you want to be an artist, but believe you have little talent, and constantly bemoan that idea, your subconscious will make sure that you don’t fulfill your potential.

I’ve known so many people who say they want one thing, but they focus on the opposite (me included). Or they want something, but they don’t want to have to change anything to manifest it. A smoker may want to quit smoking without
giving up cigarettes. That would be the same as wanting more prosperity without letting go of old attitudes about struggle and lack. Whatever you focus on is what your subconscious mind thinks you want. And it will deliver it to the level that you truly accept.

Copyright 2001, 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

The Wisdom Of Florence Scovel Shinn
by Florence Scovel Shinn

Many years ago, when I was in the middle of a personal crisis, it was hard for me to read and comprehend classic spiritual and personal development books that had been my anchor. I decided to go back to the basics, to get me grounded again. These were the first books that I read then, and they were exactly what I needed. They helped me get my mindset straightened out and gave me direction.

This is actually a compilation of her four books, “The Game of Life, and How To Play It,” “The Power of the Spoken Word,” “Your Word Is Your Wand,” and “The Secret Door To Success.” I have the four separate books, and would have loved to have them in a single volume. The author was well known for her teachings about affirmations.

“The Game of Life..” is a primer on Universal Laws. It covers such topics as affirmations, prosperity, karma, nonresistance, forgiveness, intuition, the divine design, and more. “The Secret Door To Success” is a sequel to “The Game of Life…” The title, “The Power of the Spoken Word,” speaks for itself. “Your Word Is Your Wand” is filled with affirmations on various topics.

All of these books, which are compiled into “The Wisdom of Florence Scovel Shinn,” utilize affirmations as the way to transform. In this volume, you’ll find hundreds of affirmations for any number of problems. These affirmations have been quoted and reprinted in other spiritual and self-improvement books, mainly because they are simple and they work.

In the midst of my crisis, these four books helped me find my spiritual path and center again. I would have been lost without them and can’t imagine where I would be now if I hadn’t had them to hold onto.

Today, years later, I continue to refer to them, and recommend them to my friends and clients. And I still use some of her affirmations. This is a classic in spiritual  literature, and every spiritual seeker should have it in their library.

Copyright 2001, 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved