Question: How can I learn to concentrate better, so that my mind doesn’t wander?
Answer: Do you have a lot of pressure on you? Have you had a lot of stress? These would cause your mind to wander as a way of escaping and having a mental vacation. Have you been doing any meditation, exercise, or any sort of stress reduction techniques? That would be my first recommendation to you.
Secondly, sometimes, the mind gets tired of focusing, and needs some time away from it. Concentrating on one thing for a long period is exhausting, so if you’ve been doing that, start breaking the periods up.
This sounds odd, but simply doing meditation or self-hypnosis each day will give your mind a rest, while at the same time, they help to train your mind to concentrate better.
What would your ideal life be for you? Once you decide what that is, you can create a plan to achieve it. Taking steps each day towards your vision will mean that you will achieve it. Use this meditation to imagine what your life would be like and rehearse your next steps. This will make it easier to follow through on them and accomplish your vision one step at a time.
Thank you for joining me. I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, and I’d like to share a meditation with you to help you create your ideal life.
First,
do you know what your dream life would be for you? Think about what would be
reasonable and within your control to achieve. Once you’ve gotten an idea of
what that would be, develop your vision for it. A vision is important as a
guide and to help you stay on course.
Your
vision may be several months or years ahead, and it’s hard to work towards
something that far away. So just think about the next 90 days. What specific
actions can you take towards your vision and achieve within the next 3 months?
Now,
let’s do a short guided imagery for it.
If
you want, close your eyes. And imagine far into the future, that you’ve
accomplished the vision you’ve created. How do you feel living it? How are you
acting? How have things changed from when you first thought about it? Are there
new beliefs, attitudes or habits you’ve developed along the way? Allow yourself
to feel joyful at having reached your vision.
Now,
return to today. Imagine your vision in the distance. And now imagine the next
90 days. How much of your vision can you reasonably achieve within that time
frame? What small actions can you take in the next week, month, and the month
after that to step in the direction of your vision?
Imagine
yourself taking your next action steps. Consider how it will feel to have
completed them. Commit yourself to taking them. What can you do today and
tomorrow that will take you in that direction? Every step that you take brings
you closer to your goal.
Open
your eyes. When you mentally imagine and rehearse your actions, it makes it
easier to follow through with them in the real world. Write down your immediate
actions and decide when and how you’re going to take them. Be specific. As they
say, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
If you’d to achieve your 90-day goal more easily, download my free comprehensive Strategic Vision blueprint. You’ll receive the blueprint, as well as tips and directions about the 4 vital areas that support you in you in accomplishing your goal. Thank you for watching. I know you can begin fulfilling your vision by taking steps towards it each day. What action step are you willing to take today?
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.
7 Ways to Practice Being in the Present Moment
Having habits and a routine help you maneuver through daily life. Without them, you’d be exhausted making decisions for point during your day. But if you live completely on autopilot, you’re living like a zombie. When you become more mindful, you start participating in your life. Here are some ways to get you started.
Why Multi-Tasking Is Worse Than Marijuana For Your IQ
Multi-tasking isn’t the productive use of time that we were told that it would be. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Instead, learn how to use your brain’s natural cycles to enhance your your creativity and productivity. Use these 7 steps to create a Power Hour with concentrated chunks of time for the optimal performance of your brain.
Research shows that 50-year-olds can have the brains of 25-year-olds if they meditate for just 15 minutes a day
Most people see their brain cortexes shrink as they age, and we’ve been told that this is inevitable. But in a recent study, 50-year-old meditators same amount of gray matter as those half their age. And it takes only a few minutes a day. This is great news for us as we age. We have control over our learning and memory.
~ Linda-Ann Stewart
VideoComments Off on Guided Meditation to Overcome Resistance to Your Goal
Dec112019
Resistance to achieving a goal is natural. It’s a response of your inner mind to your feeling uncertain about the change that comes with achieving a goal. When you’re committed to a goal, but the resistance persists, it can be discouraging. This guided imagery meditation can begin to dissolve your resistance to moving forward and getting on course.
Transcript:
Thank you for joining me. I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a vision strategist. I’d like to share a short meditation to help you overcome any subconscious resistance to your goal, vision or dream.
Resistance is natural. It means that you’re leaving your comfort zone, where you feel secure. The subconscious wants to keep you safe, so it creates anxiety and resistance in the form of procrastination, negative self-talk and the like. I’m sure you know what it is for you, right?
Well, though it doesn’t feel like it, your subconscious is performing a service for you. It’s helping you decide if your goal is more important than the uncomfortable feelings that will surface to keep you in place.
If you are committed to your goal, you can use this guided imagery meditation to convince your subconscious of your intent.
If you want, close your eyes. Imagine an image for your resistance, in whatever way your resistance manifests. It could be procrastination, fear, self-doubt, an old belief or something else.
Your image could be literal, or it could be symbolic, like a locked door, an anchor or a wall. It could also be simply a sense or feeling or a sound. Accept whatever image comes to mind. Imagine it bright, strong, and big and close to you.
Now shifting your attention to one side or the other, beside it, imagine an image for your goal, vision or dream. Again, it could be literal, like you accomplishing your goal, or it could be symbolic, like a sunrise. It could be a sense of satisfaction or the sound of people clapping. Accept whatever image comes, but imagine this one is faded, weak and small and a little bit of a distance from you.
Realize your resistance is trying to keep you safe. But it’s doing it now in a way that’s not helpful. You are committed to your vision, dream or goal, and are willing to face the uncomfortable feelings that might rise as you move forward. As they surface, you remind yourself that they’re just your subconscious being concerned for you.
As you understand this, the image for your resistance begins to fade, to weaken, to become smaller and recede away from you, into the distance. It’s served its purpose and knows it’s ok for you achieve your vision, goal or dream. As it fades, your image for your goal begins to become brighter, stronger, and bigger and comes closer to you. It fills your world.
You know the actions you need to take to make this goal, vision or dream a reality. You feel confident and eager to now take the steps necessary to move forward. You take this confidence with you throughout the day and days to come.
Open your eyes.
This meditation won’t do all the work to get you on course. It’s a big part of it, but you actually need to take definite actions, specific ones to move you forward. Actions convince your subconscious of your sincerity and dedication, and ease its concerns about your safety. With that, your subconscious will minimize its resistance and it will help you to achieve your goal.
If you’d to achieve a 90-day goal more easily, download my free comprehensive Strategic Vision blueprint at www. Linda-AnnStewart.com/setyourcourse.html. You’ll receive the blueprint, as well as tips and directions about the 4 vital areas that support you in accomplishing your goal.
Thank you for watching. What actions can you take right away that will begin to dissolve your resistance? Take care.
New Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You Happy
When you feel bad, it’s hard to imagine feeling good. But you have the power and the ability to do just that. Taking charge and making different decisions that activate your brain’s reward centers will help your happiness in the short term and long term.
6 Simple Ways to Become More Resilient
Resilience allows you to bounce back from challenges more quickly. This trait isn’t something that we have or we don’t. We all have it in some form or other, and it can be developed further. When you follow these tips, you’ll cope with future setbacks more easily.
8 Ways To Improve Your Focus
The average attention span of a human is less than a goldfish’s. And because of technology and our fast paced world, our attention spans are dwindling even farther. To be successful, you need the ability to pay attention. Fortunately, focus is a muscle that you can build if you work on it.
~ Linda-Ann Stewart
8 After-Work Meditations To Do If You’re Stressed
According to surveys, people in the U.S. are more stressed than people in other countries. And work is one of the biggest causes of it. Experts and research shows that meditation can help you to destress and wind down after a rough day of work. These meditations take between 10-20 minutes after your day and give you a better quality of life in your evening.
Tips to Resist Temptation
If you give into temptation frequently, you’ve made a habit of giving into it. That makes it more difficult to resist because it’s become a reward, of sorts. But you can train your mind, and your brain, to say, “No.” Use the tips on how to retrain yourself, but also how to take control over temptation.
10 Quick Questions that Will Change the Way You Think Today
How do you talk to yourself? Do you belittle or encourage yourself. The way you talk to yourself is going to influence your decisions and actions. One way to improve your self-talk is to ask yourself the right questions, because they will lead you to greater choices.
What Most People Have Wrong About Achieving Goals
According to Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, if you do not create and control your environment, then your environment creates and controls you. Other people, circumstances, or habits will get in the way of what you’re working towards. Before you create strategies, start with your vision of how you want your life to be. Then think about the design and plan.
The Meandering Path to That ‘Aha!’ Moment
Recent studies at a University indicate that our moments of breakthrough happen after we’ve left a problem alone for awhile. Picking at the problem generally delays the inspiration. Letting it go, and doing something else, sparks that moment of creativity.
You are always being Divinely Guided. Remember when you have a niggling thought that wouldn’t go away until you acted on it, and it turned out to be accurate? Divine Guidance is called the “still, small voice,” and you have to tune your mind to it. It will come to you in nudges, quiet thoughts, intuitions that seem to be in opposition to what you consciously think. You can practice listening by asking it which route you should take to work, who you should call that day, or even what you should wear. If the message is positive and productive, then act on it. By doing so, you’re encouraging it to speak a little louder.
~ Linda-Ann Stewart
ArticleComments Off on Are Distractions Sabotaging Your Success?
Jul312019
by Linda-Ann Stewart
Do you ever feel that your day is filled with distractions? Instead of being able to finish a project, your environment constantly intrudes on your attention? Phone calls, demands on your time by coworkers, sudden tasks thrust on you by managers or crises all erode your efficiency and impact productivity. They keep your mind in chaos, and clog your connection to the Universe.
Many of your interruptions are self-inflicted. Instead of focusing on what’s important, you allow your attention to be abducted by anything new. It’s like the dog in the movie that gets diverted by any movement, thinking it’s a squirrel. The brain loves anything that’s novel or different. It lights up the reward circuit of your brain. That’s why it feels so satisfying to check your email dozens of times a day. But just because it feels good doesn’t mean it helps you accomplish anything.
If you never focus on what you want, the Law of Attraction doesn’t know what to bring you. Chaos instructs the Law of Attraction to bring you more chaos. The more you allow yourself to be sidetracked, the more you train yourself to seek out and succumb to distractions. It becomes a self-defeating cycle. Multitasking falls into this category. Although multitasking feels like you’re getting a lot done, the more you do it, the less effective you become.
How Distractions Cost You
Distractions are more than annoyances. Every time you’re interrupted, it takes time to get refocused. Researchers estimate it takes between fifteen and twenty-five minutes to get back on track afterwards. How much time are you wasting each day, just trying to get refocused? And once you return to your task, you can’t focus as well.
Also, your output, productivity and efficiency suffer and you commit more errors. Another study established that four hours of distracted time was equivalent to one hour of focused work. Think of what you could accomplish if you focused on one task or project at a time for just two hours a day. That would be equivalent to a full day of work.
What You Can Do
You have control over many of the distractions you encounter. When you take charge of what you can, you’ll maximize your productivity and improve your channel to the Universe. You’ll also be giving the Law of Attraction clearer direction. Here are a few tips to help you stay focused.
1. Focus on your task. Do this by turning off your email notifications, closing your door and turning off your phone. Better yet, schedule checking your email and only do it three times a day. Even better, leave your cell phone in another room. Studies show that even having it in your room diverts your attention.
2. Stop multitasking. Contrary to popular thought, it does not make you more efficient. The opposite is true. Your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you jump from one task to another, your brain must switch gears. That takes up precious time and energy, and shortens your attention span. It also makes your brain run slower and reduces your intelligence. To increase your effectiveness, address one task at a time for at least 20 minutes before you go onto something else.
3. Train yourself to focus. Focusing your attention is a skill that you can learn and develop. Once you’ve broken the multitasking habit and been able to focus on one task for 20 minutes, take it to the next step. Extend the period you focus on any task by 5-minute increments over a period of weeks. Aim for at least 55 uninterrupted minutes. Another way to train your focus and concentration is to practice meditation. It builds areas of the brain associated with attention.
4. Focus on the present. Pay attention to what you’re doing now. Don’t allow your thoughts to drift to the past or what you’re going to be doing in the future. When your mind wanders, gently bring it back to the task at hand. This type of mindfulness helps problem solving and improves your memory. You also open to your intuition and connection with the Universe.
Distractions will never go away. But when you stop letting distractions rule you and take control over your attention, your mood will improve. Your sense of calm, clarity, satisfaction and productivity will soar. Because you’ll be spending time on the tasks and projects that bring you results, you’ll be more successful.
Affirmation:
The Universe is always present, guiding and directing me. I now keep my mind clear, calm and focused. The Universe supports me in making positive decisions about where to focus my attention. This allows me to have a greater connection with the Universe. I plan for the future but keep my mind focused on the present.
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.
I got my copy of this book over thirty years ago. Since then, it’s become a classic of how to manifest the life you want. It touches on all the basics of how to use your mind to its highest potential, along with clear instructions on how to practice each one.
Starting with the basics of creative visualization, she explains the steps and what to do at each step of the way. She addresses how to write and use affirmations.
From this practical beginning, she moves deeper into more advanced areas, still giving easily understood directions on how to experience it for yourself. Subjects such as healing, prosperity, relationships, self-esteem, among others are covered.
Many people who already have a grounding in these ideas may think they have little use for this book. Although it can be considered an introduction to the power of your mind, since it covers so much ground, it also condenses the information so that it’s a wonderful reference text.
Filled with affirmations, techniques, meditations, and exercises, this book is an essential addition to the library of anyone who uses these ideas.
