5 Ways You Can Use Mindfulness to Fix Your Brain, Decrease Stress and Improve Performance
Mindfulness meditation has multiple studies showing how it changes your brain. Research has found it impacts eight areas of the brain. Two of those regions increased brain activity and the density of brain tissue. You can reap the multiple benefits of mindfulness in just a few minutes a day.
10 Scientifically Proven Tips for Beating Procrastination
Procrastination is one of the biggest blocks to success. It affects productivity, effectiveness and confidence. The suggestions in this article will get you off the starting block and taking small steps. And generally, just getting moving is all it takes to break through that block.
6 Ways That Night-time Phone Use Destroys Your Sleep
Using your phone at night makes you sleep-deprived and exhausted. This article is based on a study by Harvard researchers that found why you need to shut it off an hour before bed. And it’s not just your phone. Your computer, tablet, e-reader and television can affect your sleep, as well.
7 Quick Ways to Calm Down When You Are Overwhelmed
Do you sometimes feel like you’re always running behind? And that you have so many things to do, you’ll never get them all done? Unfortunately, that feeling of stress just slows you down and keeps you from performing at your best. This article suggests some commonsense ways to reduce your stress so you can be more effective.
Study suggests meditating can prevent age-related mental decline
Less than 10% of the U.S. population meditates. And that’s unfortunate, because study after study show that it can help with mental, emotional and physical problems. This particular study shows how it can prevent age-related mental decline and difficulty focusing.
How to Stop Making Excuses
Unfortunately, we don’t always realize when we’re making excuses, but they sabotage our ability to achieve our goals. There is a difference between an explanation and an excuse, and this article dives into this difference. When you’re able to tell them apart, you’ll stop undermining yourself and be more successful.
6 Exercises for Positive Emotions: Start Your Upward Spiral Today
Over the past few years, many researchers have found new and scientifically proven ways to increase positive emotions and well-being. The techniques described in this article have all been shown to boost positive emotions. They take some commitment, but they’re well worth the effort. Choose one, practice, and enjoy the changes.
7 Myths About Meditation Preventing You From Grasping The Amazing Benefits of Mindfulness
Meditation is becoming commonplace. But there are lots of misconceptions about it. People think mistake the goals and how to practice it. Meditation improves your concentration, self-awareness, and productivity, and your ability to show up in the world.When you’re able to better connect with yourself, you improve your relationship to yourself and others.
How to Make the Best Decision When You Have Too Many Options
Research has shown that when people are faced with too many choices, it can produce anxiety that actually makes us less likely to choose. As a result, we’re less likely to succeed. A study has the best strategy to use confronted with a large number of choices. When you’re having trouble choosing from too many options, use this technique to reduce your stress.
~ Linda-Ann Stewart
Most people have misconceptions about what hypnosis is and isn’t. What they don’t realize is that they’re using this process in their lives every day, for their benefit or detriment. This is a brief explanation of hypnosis, by a hypnotherapist of 30 years. Join me to learn what it is, how you’ve been using it, and how you can use it to now benefit yourself.
Transcript:
I’m Linda-Ann Stewart. Ok, so I’ve been a hypnotherapist for almost 30 years. But most people have all sorts of misconceptions about hypnosis. They think that someone takes control of their mind and makes them do things they don’t want to do. Not. They don’t realize that it’s a normal, natural process that they access several times every day. And they walk around in a trance that’s impacting their ability to either achieve or sabotage their goals and their vision.
So today, I’d like to give you a very brief explanation of the natural process of hypnosis. I hope that you’ll walk away understanding how you hypnotize yourself every day. And how you can use this natural ability to benefit yourself.
I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a vision strategist. Like I said, I’ve been a hypnotherapist for almost 30 years. Clients came to see me to create change in their lives. Over time, I discovered that they had to also have a vision of where they wanted to end up with that change to be truly successful. Now, as a vision strategist, I help women entrepreneurs get a clear vision, get focused on its strategies and get back in control so they’re able to accelerate to the next level of their business.
When people hear that I’m a hypnotherapist, they have various reactions to it, based on their beliefs about hypnosis. Swinging watch. “Look into my eyes, and sleep.” It’s not true. And I can’t tell you how many clients have asked me, “Am I going to walk out of here barking like a dog?” My reply, “Not unless you want to.”
Not their fault. Their beliefs are based on what they’ve seen on TV and in movies. They don’t believe that an ordinary man can really “leap tall buildings in a single bound,” but they believe how writers sensationalize hypnosis because there are already so many misconceptions about it.
What TV and movies depict isn’t hypnosis, it’s Hollywood.
Did you realize you’re in a mild state of self-hypnosis several times every day? When you’re daydreaming, watching a movie, get so involved with a project that the distractions of the world go away, you’re in a light state of self-hypnosis. You’re driving down the road, daydreaming, and miss your turn. Have you ever done that? Should ask, “How many times a day.” We all do. Light state of self-hypnosis.
You walk around in a trance much of the time, not fully aware of what you’re saying (“Hi, how are you”), thinking (“I’m never going to get it all done”), doing (eat that donut without being aware of it, and wonder where the powdered sugar on your fingers came from).
That trance is self-hypnosis, and you’re hypnotizing yourself every day. It isn’t magic, a strange, mystical or other state of mind. Nor is it the “deep sleep” that people normally associate with hypnosis. It’s a natural state that most people drift into and out of many times during the day. Hypnosis is when the rational, analytical part of your mind isn’t as present. Hypnosis is simply a more focused state.
The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis defines hypnosis as a state of inner absorption, concentration and focused attention.
Secret – hypnosis also occurs whenever you’re upset, stressed or worried. Just for a moment, think about what you think about when you’re upset or stressed. Those thoughts become auto-suggestions. Scary, huh?
What most people don’t realize is that the things you say to yourself over and over that you’re only half aware of, are actually being said when you’re in a light state of hypnosis. Things like, “I know this won’t work,” “I don’t have enough time,” or “It can’t fail.” Do any of these sound familiar?
You then act on them as if they were true, whether they were or not. How that works is, suppose you’re afraid that your phone call to a potential customer won’t be welcomed. If you call at all, you’ll be nervous, not make a good impression, and end the call quickly. Your belief would have become a self-fulfilling prophecy. All from what you were telling yourself. Has that ever happened to you?
Remember, hypnosis is just focusing the attention. So it all depends on the direction and the beliefs that you’re focusing your attention on. And your attention determines your actions. “Energy flows where attention goes.” Heard of that before? Not airy-fairy. Psych truth.
It’s like driving a car. You’re aware of the traffic, the landscape, your dashboard. But the majority of your attention is on the direction you want to go to your destination. If you’re driving, and you stare off to the side, what’s your automatic response?…. To drift in the direction of you’re looking, isn’t it? The same principle applies to your daily life. Your attention drive your actions. So keep your vision directed towards where you want to be headed and not rear view mirror.
So how can you use this natural process for yourself – other than just focusing on your direction? When you have a goal or a vision, become aware of what you’re telling yourself about it. They’re auto-suggestions. Do you doubt you can make it? Are you afraid of any step along the process? If so, these are the hidden hypnotic suggestions you’ve been giving yourself. Break your trance. Change them with auto-suggestions. You can do this. Even if you don’t believe it right away, repeating new ideas with consistency and persistence will start changing the old ones. The old beliefs were simply ideas that you accepted some time in the past.
When you change your beliefs, your emotions and responses change. You’ve already been using the process of hypnosis every day, by what you’ve been focusing on. I hope you start using the natural process of hypnosis to create what it is that you want.
If you want tips to you increase your productivity and accelerate your success, download my free guide Take Control of Your Day. It will also give you information on a process I used with my clients that helped them achieve their goals and vision.
Thank you for watching. I hope you’ve learned how to use this process for your benefit and use it to improve your life.
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. If you'd like some help to reach your goals, email her at LAS@Linda-AnnStewart.com with "Complimentary Consultation" in the subject line.
Creating the Right Attitude for Success
If you’re not reaching the kind of success you want, you need to assess where you’re holding yourself back. It may mean you need to develop some new skills. But more likely, it’s a result of your attitude. Believe it or not, having the right attitude for success is a skill. And it’s not just about having a positive one. This article covers some of the attitudes you need to readjust or cultivate to achieve success.
10 Life-Changing Tips for Highly Sensitive People
Some people love conflict and argument. They need it to feel stimulated. But then there are other people, an estimated 15-20% of the population, who are sensitive. They feel overstimulated in situations others deal with easily. There isn’t anything wrong with sensitive people. They’re just wired differently. If you’re one of those people, here are some valuable tips on how to accept yourself and start thriving.
7 Things To Do If You’re Feeling Overwhelmed
Do you often feel overwhelmed with too much to do, and too little time in which to get it done? Technology promised to make life easier, but it has failed in that promise. And we’re expected to do more and more, just to keep up. So far, we can’t clone ourselves so we have more bodies to get it all done. Instead, we have to find ways to deal with the unrealistic demands. Here are some suggestions on how to approach your life if you feel overwhelmed.
A Practical Plan for When You Feel Overwhelmed
Sometimes, when you get really busy, you get to feeling overwhelmed. It’s not a bad thing to be busy, but when you’re overwhelmed, it’s hard to know what to do. You can get paralyzed and just spin in place. Here are some tips on how to get out of that cycle and get things done.
14 Confidence Quotes to Help You Beat Self-Doubt and Reach Your Goals
The title of this article is misleading. Not only does the author give you quotes, but he explains the lessons they teach. If you’ve ever procrastinated working on tasks or your goals, this article will give you some needed inspiration to boldly pursue them.
How You’re Killing Your Productivity
Productivity is essential to our feeling of self-esteem, accomplishment, and hopefulness. Without it, we gradually sink into a state of frustration, hopelessness, and regret. And you’re the one responsible for your productivity. Learn 7 areas that you have complete control over changing so you can live the life you want.
Three Steps to Overcoming Overwhelm
Being overwhelmed is stressful and can cause you to become paralyzed, not knowing what to do. So you only do what is immediate and easy. But there are ways to combat it, and emerge stronger and better. This article gives some specific directions on how to address this feeling and shift your perception of what’s causing this distressing problem.
How To Make Great Decisions Under Stress
Unfortunately, when you’re under stress, your brain can’t evaluate date well and decide on a beneficial course of action. Research shows you simply can’t make good choices under these conditions. So if you can’t eliminate stress from your life, how can you make good decisions? Here are 3 rules to follow so that you can make effective decisions.
A new study shows that students learn way more effectively from print textbooks than screens
Although today’s students grew up with technology and it’s second nature to them, they don’t learn well when using digital screens. Research is showing that digital technology isn’t helping people learn and process information better. The opposite is true. This article helps to put print into perspective, understanding when it’s better than digital, and when it’s not.
Expressive Writing Cools Brain on Stressful Tasks for Worriers
Many people are chronic worriers, which actually gets in the way of being able to be effective or problem solve. But there is a solution. Using EEG to measure brain activity, researchers discover expressive writing can help those who worry excessively to calm their fears before entering into a stressful task.
20 Stealthy Mental Filters That Are Sabotaging You
Negative thinking isn’t a model for success. It actually can undermine any progress you want to make. But most of us have some type of mental filter that distorts reality and gets in our way. Learn not to believe everything you think by considering these common biases that prevent your success and happiness.
Law of Attraction: I’m Feeling Good but the Inspired Action Isn’t Coming
There is a theory in spiritual circles that you should only take inspired action. In other words, only take action that feels good and when you feel motivated to do so. The idea is that any other action will be unsuccessful or somehow detrimental. This article goes deeply into this issue by examining how difficult it is to always be in a place of intuition, and that inspired action may not always be comfortable.
~ Linda-Ann Stewart
Your subconscious mind is the creative part of you. It’s the problem solver, not your conscious, rational mind. Your analytical mind recognizes a challenge, gathers information about it, then passes that information onto your creative mind to start finding a solution. The rational mind must let go of the problem and go onto other things for the subconscious to work. Sometime later, you’ll have an insight, an idea, a potential resolution pop into your consciousness. Test it out, see if it’ll work. If it doesn’t, let go it go, again, to let your creative mind continue processing. Eventually, it’ll come up with a solution that will work for you. This is the process of creation.
~ Linda-Ann Stewart
VideoComments Off on Make Yourself a Priority to Reduce Overwhelm
Nov152017
How many roles do you fill? Do you ever feel like they’re pulling you in a hundred different directions all at once? This contributes to a feeling of overwhelm, because you can’t do it all. Learn a couple of techniques of how you can prioritize yourself in a way that supports your mental and physical health.
Transcript:
How many roles do you have? Mother, father, wife, husband, sister/brother, business owner, worker, manager, daughter, son, and on and on? Do you ever feel like they’re pulling you in a hundred different directions all at once? Like you have too many people who want you to help them, or want something from you, and they all want it now? This contributes to a feeling of stress and overwhelm, because you can’t do it all. And trying to can impact your personal and professional life. I’d like to give a couple of suggestions of how you can prioritize yourself in a way that supports your mental and physical health.
I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a vision strategist. For almost 30 years, I’ve been a hypnotherapist. Clients came to see me to create change in their lives. Over time, I discovered that they had to also have a vision of where they wanted to end up with that change to be truly successful. Now, as a vision strategist, I help women entrepreneurs get clear, focused and get back in control so they’re able to accelerate to the next level of their business.
I don’t know about you, but I’m always fighting against being a people pleaser. In the past, my needs took second place to what others wanted. If a group I was volunteered for asked me to be part of committee, I’d generally say “yes,” even when the time involved impacted my work or well being. The wake-up call came when I got so over involved with different organizations that my health was affected. That’s when I developed the ability to say “no.” I realized I couldn’t be all things to all people, and still be there for myself. I couldn’t please everyone. Can you?
For instance, you know you can’t satisfy all of your potential customers. Some will just be more trouble than they’re worth. You’ll have to choose your values and peace of mind over what they want from you. Setting boundaries on your time may be your first step. For instance, you don’t answer the phone outside of office hours. Or, if you need to be on call, you establish some rules for customers who abuse the privilege.
In my first years as a hypnotherapist and coach, I learned not to give my home number to clients (this was in the years before cell phones). Too many called in the evening, just to talk. So what kind of boundaries can you set? It’s just another way of saying “no.”
If people in your personal life demand what you struggle to give, it’s important to use both of those strategies. Learn to say “no” to requests that you know will mean you have to sacrifice something important to you. And establish boundaries for when you will and won’t be available, what you’re willing to do and not do. Especially if they’re things that the person asking can do for themselves. You can’t please everyone, and you need to take care of your well being or you won’t be able to be there for others.
Years ago, I had to end my association with some of the organizations I’d been involved with. They couldn’t accept that I wasn’t at their beck and call anymore. It was hard, and I probably wouldn’t have done it if my health hadn’t been involved. But learning to say “no” was a valuable lesson. It’s one that has served me well in my personal and professional life since.
What can you say “no” to? How can you set boundaries in your life? These are very important abilities to develop. They allow you to prioritize what’s important for you. And when you do that, you’ll reduce your stress and have more peace of mind.
If you’d like more tips on how to make your day flow more smoothly, download my free guide, Take Control of Your Day.
Thank you for watching. I really encourage you to practice these techniques. I know they’ll make a difference in your life.
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. If you'd like some help to reach your goals, email her at LAS@Linda-AnnStewart.com with "Complimentary Consultation" in the subject line.
5 Ways You Can Use Mindfulness to Fix Your Brain, Decrease Stress and Improve Performance
