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So Far, A Good Year

So Far, A Good Year

It’s been a good year so far. Recently, I wrote an article about empowerment for the Association Executives of North Carolina. I was amazed and excited when it was accepted and immediately published in the March/April issue of their magazine, Success By Association. The article is entitled, “Empowering The Possibility Of Change,” and is in their “Leadership Strategy” column.

This happened shortly after having two articles published in the 2013 Winter issue of Ad Infinitum – Illinois Court Reporters Association newsletter. I’d connected with an Executive Assistant with an Association Management Company. We’d discussed the possibility of my speaking for one of the associations she manages. In our communication, I mentioned that my articles are available to be published in print or online magazines and newsletters. Within a few months, she let me know that not one, but two of my articles had been published.

I’m thrilled with the way this year is trending. New doors are opening and opportunities are appearing. I trust that the tendency continues to open greater avenues of success for us all.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

 

 

 

 

 

What You Say About Others Is A Reflection Of You

What You Say About Others Is A Reflection Of You

by Linda-Ann Stewart

When you talk about another person, you reveal more about yourself than you do about the person you’re discussing. You reveal your biases and the things that bother you. Many times, what you complain about is more a factor of your filters and how you perceive what they’ve said or done, than it is an objective observation.

I know insecure people who consider self-assured people as self-important and arrogant. No evidence to the contrary will shake them from their opinion.

Research shows that when one coworker rates another one, you learn as much or more about the rater as you do about the rated. Negative people tend to rate others as negative, and the same goes with positive people.

You tend to filter your opinions of others through your own filters, and how you view yourself. It’s been said that what we see in others is actually a reflection of who we are. This research, published in the July 2010 issue of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, tends to confirm that.

Read more about this study at What you say about others says a lot about you, research shows.

Business Is About Making Life Better

Business Is About Making Life Better

Business isn’t just about the bottom line and making money. It’s about making life better, for everyone: owners, investors, employees, customers and society at large. Business is about people, not inanimate objects. Unfortunately, the prevailing attitude is that everyone is there to serve the business instead of the way it should be, the business serving society.

The business community’s philosophy of considering everyone just a cog on a wheel, whose purpose is to provide them with more money, has cost them. In Northern Arizona, most service and retail businesses refuse to allow their employees federally required lunches or breaks. Because of that, and their cavalier treatment of employees, their staff has no loyalty to them. When a business isn’t loyal to its employees, the employees return the same level of loyalty.

Many businesses drive away their best employees, and don’t invest in them or support them which would let them serve better. The mindset of “bottom lining” is a short sighted idea. It means that business puts on blinders that keep them from seeing other opportunities.

A local restaurant that had good food was sold. The new owners bought cheaper ingredients and the quality and taste of the food suffered. As a result, sales declined and the restaurant closed its doors. When business focuses only on today, and doesn’t take a long view of their future, it constricts the ability of the business to grow.

Finally, businesses are beginning to recognize that the lack of value they provide affects their bottom line. In the article “We Need To Stop Maximizing Profit and Start Maximizing Value” at businessinsider.com, the author addresses this issue.

Since the 1970’s, businesses have been focused on the bottom line. This has increased profits, but the quality of products and services and workers incomes have decreased. That means fewer consumer dollars are spent to grow business. It also means that the business isn’t investing in its own company.

“Maximizing profits” will eventually cause the house of cards to fall. More money is spent to train a revolving door of workers because there’s no reason for them to stick around.

Business needs to create more value for the community, and value its workers, for it to thrive. It’s in a business’ own interest to realize that business is not about products or making money. It’s about people and making life better.

Neuroscience, Meditation and Well-being

Neuroscience, Meditation and Well-being

An article from ” The Review: The Weekly Beaker,” states that Buddhist monks compared the mind in a meditative state to malleable gold. Modern neuroscience is proving that to be true.

Meditation changes the brain in many ways. And these changes can improve the quality of our lives. It:

  • Decreases stress
  • Increases the sense of well-being and peace
  • Contributes to being positive
  • Improves mood
  • Quickens thinking and mental processing
  • Establishes thoughts and habits more easily
  • Improves health
  • Decreases pain

Meditation and self-hypnosis access the same types of brain waves and can induce these kinds of changes in the brain. Practicing either of these can give you these kinds of results.

Our western culture values success, achievement and accomplishment, but that it comes at a cost. We physically and mentally run ourselves into the ground. Modern neuroscience is proving that we can literally improve our brains. Meditation and/or self-hypnosis help us to rebuild those inner resources and cultivate awareness and insight. And that could further our productivity and success.

Read the full article: The Weekly Beaker: The Neuroscience of Wellbeing – Meditation.

Use Positive Imagery To Rewire Your Brain And Ward Off Depression

Use Positive Imagery To Rewire Your Brain And Ward Off Depression

When a person comes to see me, as a hypnotherapist, to work on stress, I teach them relaxation and have them create a peaceful place in their minds. I tell them, “This can be a favorite vacation spot, or a place you create solely in your imagination.” The main idea is that it’s serene and safe.

I’ve heard people poke fun of the idea of a “peaceful spot.” They can’t believe that anything so simple can be effective. But after working with hundreds of people with this concept, I’ve seen the positive results. Practicing relaxation daily with this image can reduce stress significantly. I’ve seen stress, pain, and anxiety decrease immensely with this technique.

Recently, I read an article about girls who were susceptible to depression. They were able to rewire their brains to reduce this risk. People like them have an overreaction to upsetting experiences, which can be seen in brain scans.

Stanford researchers scanned the brains of these girls to see how they responded to negative pictures. The area of the brain that responds to stress showed increased activation on the scans. The researchers then instructed them to think of pleasant experiences and shift their focus from negative to positive images. On brain scans, it showed that the part of the brain triggered by stress calmed down.

Even several days after the exercises, the girls showed the same reduced reaction to stressful images. They were able to rewire their brains to be less reactive to stress, which in turn reduced the likelihood of depression later on.

This is very similar to the technique I teach my clients. But I also include relaxation, which reduces stress on its own. You can rewire your brain so you don’t overreact to stress, which will reduce the amount of stress and anxiety that you experience in your life.

Practice relaxation and imagining yourself in a special place. Then imagine an upsetting image, and immediately switch your attention back to your special place and all its peace.

This is one of the traditional ways hypnotherapists, like me, have used to help clients deal with stress. It’s gratifying when the techniques I’ve used for so many years are proved to be valid by scientific research.

Inspired by: Study suggests girls can ‘rewire’ brains to ward off depression.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Lift Your Mood To Be More Innovative

Lift Your Mood To Be More Innovative

When I’m writing an article and in a happy place, my creativity flows relatively smoothly. An article may not fall onto the page fully formed, but even if it comes together in pieces, ideas come to me rather easily.

However, when I’m upset, anxious or angry, trying to write an article is like dragging an anchor over rocky ground. It gets caught on each small stone, and I have to work it free. It’s a struggle and anything but enjoyable.

Now a study has actually validated that being in a positive mood allows the brain to think better and more creatively.

“Generally, positive mood has been found to enhance creative problem solving and flexible yet careful thinking,” says Ruby Nadler, co-author of a study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. She and colleagues Rahel Rabi and John Paul Minda at The University of Western Ontario carried out this study.

They found that a positive mood allowed subjects to better able think innovatively, creatively and strategically. They suggest music, or even watching funny videos online to increase this type of productivity.

Employers may object to what they consider wasting time, but it actually may improve employee’s efficiency and morale. So employers may want to consider your lifting your mood a positive use of time.

Information in this article is based on an article at Science Daily, Positive Mood Allows Human Brain to Think More Creatively.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

The Problem Solving Capacity of Your Subconsious Mind

The Problem Solving Capacity of Your Subconsious Mind

Have you ever walked away from a problem, then had a light bulb go off in your head and had the answer? That’s the way the mind works when it’s looking for solutions. Several recent studies have validated that your subconscious mind is hard at work while your conscious mind is otherwise engaged.

Apparently, your subconscious has been hard-wired to accumulate information to make the best decisions for you. According to research, the conscious mind does a better job at making analytic decisions. But the subconscious mind is more capable of solving greater challenges and making discoveries.

Learning to trust the subconscious is key to allowing it to dealing with complex problems. If your conscious mind keeps turning the issue over and over again and keeps it front and center in your attention, the subconscious never has a chance to work on it.

Just like when you try to remember someone’s name and let it go. Shortly thereafter, while you’re in the middle of doing the dishes, it pops into your mind. You have to be able to let go of the problem.

The subconscious also helps you make better decisions. It uses the same process as with problem solving. Evaluate all the information, and then go on to some other task. This allows the subconscious to process the data. If no insight comes to the surface, reassess or gather more information and let it go again. Eventually, you’ll get a sense of which direction you want to go.

Your subconscious mind is creative, resourceful, and a problem solver. It processes the information that your conscious mind has given it and comes up with a solution. Now, research and studies are validating what many of us have known for decades.

Information in this article based on these studies from Science Daily:
Decision-Making May Be Surprisingly Unconscious Activity
Our Unconscious Brain Makes The Best Decisions Possible
Eureka! How Distractions Facilitate Creative Problem-Solving
Profound Impact Of Our Unconscious On Reaching Goals Revealed

A Positive Mindset Is More Important Than Skillset In Business

A Positive Mindset Is More Important Than Skillset In Business

Even with incredible knowledge, abilities and skills, your beliefs and attitudes can hold you back in all areas of life. This is especially true in the work arena. If you have a negative mindset, it can cost your job or a promotion.

In a recent study, Harvard lecturer, Paul Stoltz and recruiter, James Reed surveyed thousands of employers. They discovered an overwhelmingly majority of employers, 98%, considered mindset to be the most important thing in hiring.

81% of employers considered it more important than skillset when granting a raise. And a whopping 91% chose it as vital when giving a promotion. Employers would trade 7.2 normal employees for 1 with a winning attitude.

So create a strong winning, positive attitude and mindset to find, keep and excel at your job. You can always develop better skills once you have this foundation.

Are You Ready For Greater Self-Esteem?

Are You Ready For Greater Self-Esteem?

Writer, speaker and hypnotherapist, Linda-Ann Stewart, will be offering an exciting free teleclass this month. In the highly educational, free one-hour teleclass, “Self-Esteem Isn’t Earned, It’s Learned.,” Linda-Ann will discuss whether self-esteem is earned by achievements, or a learned trait. She will also cover how people can improve low self-esteem, and develop the confidence to achieve what they want in life.

There are two critical questions you must ask yourself to achieve your life’s goals.

  1. How can I develop self-esteem that’s true and will see me through life’s trials?
  2. Can I earn it by doing more or learn it by taking some important actions?

Self-esteem is the all important gauge of how you feel about yourself. It gives you a sense of worthiness and feeling of being competent. High self-esteem allows you to feel appropriate and assured, as a person. It is the foundation inside yourself on which everything else is built. With good self-esteem, there’s nothing you can’t do.

Self-esteem is also necessary to feel a connection to God, Spirit or the Universe. If you don’t feel good enough for the world, or worthy enough for the good Life can offer, why would you feel like you are acceptable to God?

This one-hour conference call at 5:30 p.m. PDT, Thursday, March 24, 2011 will cover a variety of topics, including:

  • What self-esteem is
  • How self-esteem develops
  • What steps to take to gain a sense of self-worth
  • And more

There is no charge for the teleclass, except for normal long distance fees. Registration is limited. For more information, or to register now, visit www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/se-tlcls.html

This life-altering opportunity can open the gates to help people achieve all they want from life. Register today to improve your life.


Yet Another Reason To Be Positive

Yet Another Reason To Be Positive

ScienceDaily (2011-03-01) — A review of more than 160 studies of human and animal subjects has found “clear and compelling evidence” that — all else being equal — happy people tend to live longer and experience better health than their unhappy peers.

Another study has found that being positive, moderately happy and having reduced stress increases health and longevity. They tend to have healthier immune systems and recover faster. This isn’t true for just humans but animals as well.

Pessimism, depression, and anxiety are associated with lower immune system, more disease, and a shorter life span.

One of the study’s authors, Ed Diener said, “…that health and then longevity in turn are influenced by our mood states.”

Since what we think directly affects the way we feel and our mood, here’s just another reason to be optimistic and positive. And optimism is a skill that can be learned. Aren’t the benefits worth it?

To read the entire article, visit Happiness improves health and lengthens life, review finds.