happiness » Empowering Your Mind

Use Journaling for Mindfulness and Success

Jan 192021

In today’s world, we rush ahead to the next thing, without assessing what’s worked and what hasn’t. We don’t take a step back to recognize problems and seek solutions to them. But you can use a technique that many successful entrepreneurs and business people employ. Journaling is a proven method to help you find clarity, find solutions, improve your health and your life. Learn how to start small with this practice and begin to enjoy its benefits.

Transcript:

Thank you for joining me. In today’s hectic pace, it’s hard to take time to be intentional, mindful and evaluate our lives, isn’t it? But there is an easy way to find clarity, engage your creative mind, discover possibilities, solve problems, encourage and motivate yourself, as well as improve your mental and physical health. It’s something that many successful entrepreneurs and business people practice. What is this tactic? It’s journaling.

I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a vision strategist coach, and I’d like to share with you a way to use this technique to improve your personal and professional life. Most people are overwhelmed with the idea of journaling. They’re afraid it takes too much time. I was too, when I first started journaling several decades ago. But I decided to start small, just to form the habit.

To begin, I got a page a month desk calendar. I committed to just write one word each day, to describe the day, or what I was feeling, or something I’d done. By the end of the year, each square on that calendar was filled with sentences. The next year, I got calendar with a page a week. The year after that, I’d graduated to a page a day. Now, I use a book, put in my own dates, and write as much or as little as I want.

Journaling has helped me work out issues that were plaguing me, note my accomplishments, and learn from my experiences. It’s a time for me to reflect about the day, write any insights and what my plans might be and how they’re working.

My tip for you is to start small, like I did. Get a journaling book and date each entry. Write one sentence per day. Just one. It could be how your day went, something awesome that happened to you, something you learned, something you want to improve, or whatever comes to mind. Then write something you’re proud of or have accomplished that day. That’s just two items.

When you get thoughts out of your head and onto paper (or into the computer, if you’re so inclined), it helps to see things more clearly and objectively. Your brain reprocesses the information in a different way.

Reflection and assessing helps you to better fulfill your potential and then move forward in a more positive and powerful way. You’ll be more intentional, mindful, and feel happier.

If you’d to achieve a 90-day goal more easily, download my free comprehensive Strategic Vision Guide at www.SetYourCourseGuide.com. You’ll receive the guide, as well as a training video that walks you through each step with tips and directions to support you in accomplishing your goal.

Thank you for watching. How can you start journaling your way to greater mindfulness and success?

Read the accompanying article, How to Become More Positive When Things Go Wrong.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

The Kindness Paradox: Give Kindness and Receive Joy

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Dec 032020

by Linda-Ann Stewart

How do you feel when someone is kind to you? For instance, when a friend sends you a card, gives you a compliment or your spouse does the dishes for you. Don’t you feel uplifted? And how do you feel when you do something nice for someone else? Maybe you do an errand for a friend, call to see how they’re doing, or help a neighbor carry in her groceries. Don’t you feel a sense of satisfaction? And what if you see someone be generous to a stranger? Doesn’t that give you a warm glow and motivate you to do something considerate, too?

When you see, do, or are the recipient of kindness, it releases hormones that cause you to feel good, inspired and happy. It stimulates the reward centers of the brain. Within a few minutes the hormones have stopped flowing, but by remembering the action, you can recreate the joy. Kindness is like a pebble thrown into a pond, with the ripples extending outward and touching places unseen.

The Benefits of Kindness

The paradox of kindness and compassion is the benefits it brings to the one who acts, as well as the recipient. Not only do you impact the person you’re giving to, you’re receiving good feelings in return. Remember what your mother used to say, “It’s better to give than receive”? In this case, you receive far more than you give.

Showing kindness and compassion to others bestows the following on you:

You’re more attractive to others, personally and professionally.
People like and trust you more.
You’re more creative.
Your self-esteem and self-worth increases.
Your optimism and positive thinking grows.
You feel calmer and happier.
Your stress, pain, anxiety, depression and blood pressure reduces.

Kindness Can Be Challenging

Sometimes being kind can be challenging. There are people who irritate you and you may want to lash out at them. But you don’t know what has happened in their life that has caused them to be annoying. These are times when being altruistic and compassionate can have the best results. You may just change someone’s life, in addition to your own.

For instance, consider being kind in the following conditions:

Smile and compliment the grouchy clerk. They might have had a bad day full of grumpy customers and it’s rubbed off on them.
Let the aggressive driver into the lane in front of you. They may be running late to an important appointment that could be vital to their well being.
Don’t complain when the elderly gentleman cuts ahead of you in line at the grocery store. He may have mild dementia and not have even noticed you were there.

In difficult situations, consider what the other person might be dealing with that’s caused them to be rude. You’re not kind just for them. You do it for you, because it’s better for your health, mentally, physically and emotionally.

Focus on Kindness

The more you focus on being kind, the more you want to be kind. And the kinder you are, the more you’ll grow that area of your brain. Pure altruism brings you all the rewards mentioned and more. As you’re being kind to others, don’t forget to be kind and compassionate towards yourself. You deserve to be treated well, too, by yourself and others.

In the Christmas season, we focus on peace and goodwill towards others. Why can’t we have this spirit all year long? Think of the life we’d all have. It begins with each one of us being kind, on a daily basis. It’s a very simple mindset that takes on a joyful life of its own.

AFFIRMATION:

Whenever I have a choice of how to respond to a situation, I choose kindness. Kindness allows the spirit of the Universe to flow through me, blessing my life and the life I impact. I cultivate a generous spirit and compassionate attitude towards myself and others. I generate peace and goodwill towards all people, every day of the year.

Watch the accompanying video, Guided Meditation for Kindness.

As a vision strategist, hypnotherapist, and speaker, Linda-Ann Stewart helps women entrepreneurs and small business owners who feel stuck, immobilized and overwhelmed to to get clear, focused and on the fast track to the next level of their business. To achieve a 90-day goal more easily, sign up for her FREE comprehensive Strategic Vision blueprint at www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/setyourcourse.html. You can contact her at LAS@Linda-AnnStewart.com or 928-600-0452.

For Success, Seek Well-being First

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Sep 042020

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Many people chase after the elusive dream of success, thinking it will bring them happiness. They work harder and harder, but continue to feel unsatisfied. They achieve periodic goals or milestones, and get transitory elation from them, but that jubilation doesn’t last. What if they have it backwards? What if a sense of well-being leads to success, rather than the other way around?

We all know successful people who are driven and unhappy. So, it’s true that some people are successful even though they’re miserable. However, they’re using work as a drug to avoid their distress. They’re trying to fill a deep well of insecurity and inadequacy with power and control. But they’ll never have enough success to feel happy or complete.

Why Well-being Matters

Studies show that people who have a sense of well-being and optimism have a likelier chance of achieving the success they seek. They also have a greater sense of satisfaction in their lives, both personally and professionally. They’re more productive, creative and resilient in life. Since that’s the case, wouldn’t it be a better idea to seek well-being before success?

Your brain and subconscious can be altered by your focus. When you take positive actions, you rewire the brain and build more resources for the subconscious mind to use to help you. You can improve your happiness and well-being with some simple exercises to change the way you think.

How to Cultivate a Sense of Well-being

You can train your mind with the habit of being more positive and peaceful. Here are four ways to cultivate a sense of well-being and create more satisfaction in your life.

Be kind to others. Volunteering and helping others engenders well-being and improves productivity. Even just smiling at others increases your happiness. Recently, a couple of my friends have been sending cards to their acquaintances and they feel uplifted by doing so. I’ve been one of their recipients and it’s uplifted me as well. For this kind of boost, you can also send an email that acknowledges or compliments a friend or coworker.

Be mindful. For only a couple of minutes a day, just be present with yourself. Notice how you feel, mentally and physically. Become aware of your thoughts and feelings. Scan your body to notice where it might be tense, and then relax that area. Because I spend so much time on the computer, I will periodically close my eyes and relax various areas of my body. What impacts the mind, impacts the body and vice versa. When your mind is tense, so is your body. And when your body is relaxed, your mind is at peace.

Do deep breathing. A couple of minutes every day do some deep breathing. Breathe in for a count of four, breath out for a count of eight. This signals your nervous system to calm down. After stressful experiences, practicing this activity has quickly lowered my blood pressure to almost normal. This is a good exercise when you feel pressured with a deadline or decision. You’ll be more effective coming from a peaceful frame of mind.

Keep a gratitude journal. Every day, write down three things you’re grateful for. This exercise makes you notice positive things around you. One day last month, a heavy rainstorm came and passed while I was in the grocery store. It seems like a small thing, but I was grateful that my timing was such that I didn’t get wet. Studies show that within three weeks of daily gratitude practice, you’ll be more optimistic.

You only need to do one of these each day to notice an improved mood and mindset within a few weeks. When you have a sense of well-being and a more positive mindset, your actions have a better outcome. Instead of waiting to be successful to be happy, why not feel better while you’re working towards success?

Affirmation:

The Universe created me to be successful and supports me in my endeavors. There is a Divine plan for my success in life. Everything I need for success is provided. To align myself with the Universe’s plan for me, I cultivate my sense of well-being, happiness and positive attitude.

Sparks of Insight

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Dec 182019

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.”- Marcus Aureleus

This statement was written almost 2000 years ago. Even then, they knew how your thoughts affected your life. Your subconscious takes the average of your thoughts, both constructive and destructive, and manifests whatever seems to be strongest. That’s why you’re instructed to watch what you think, and stay positive.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart