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The Power of Goodwill

The Power of Goodwill

by Linda-Ann Stewart

heart shaped Christmas wreath

For a good part of the world, the holiday season is upon us, along with its theme, “Peace on earth, and goodwill towards men.” It’s a wonderful sentiment, isn’t it? Instead of enjoying peace and goodwill only at a certain time of year, wouldn’t it be nice to experience it all year long? With some awareness and intention, we can create a lifestyle that’s devoted to promoting goodwill. And it’s well worth the effort. It can become an important spiritual practice.  

What Goodwill Means

When you have goodwill, it means that you feel benevolent and compassionate towards other people. You have a friendly and helpful attitude towards another person, desiring the best for them. Even if someone has hurt you, and you don’t want them in your life, you can still wish them well. Being able to reach this viewpoint means that you’ve been able to forgive them and move forward. You let them go to their highest good, while moving onto yours.

What Goodwill Means for You

When you have a sense of goodwill, you’re remodeling your brain to create more cells that reflect kindness.  By focusing on this attitude, you’re building more neural pathways of happiness and optimism. And as you act on your goodwill, you trigger your brain’s reward centers, which releases pleasure chemicals. The more you choose goodwill, the more goodwill you’ll feel.

Paradoxically, projecting goodwill towards others reflects back to you. When you radiate goodwill, you’re more attractive to others. The Law of Attraction will then attract more good to you. Displaying goodwill creates healthier relationships, as goodwill towards a friend or partner is vital for a positive connection. Having good intentions towards others also builds trust in yourself and your interactions with others.

How Goodwill Promotes Peace

Although peace on earth may seem out of reach, there’s a song that goes, “Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.” Each one of us can contribute to peace on earth by having goodwill towards the men and women we meet and interact with. Like kindness, goodwill spreads, like the ripples in a pond. When we emanate goodwill, we’re expressing the love of the Universe and this allows a closer connection to the Infinite. Carry the spirit of this season throughout the year, and let it change your life and the lives of the people around you.

Affirmation:

Goodwill is always flowing from the Universe to me. I give that goodwill a channel to flow through me and into my life. No matter what the circumstances, I choose to radiate goodwill to all those around me. As I choose kindness and compassion, it reflects back into my life. Goodwill has the power to spread peace and joy and change my life and the lives of those around me.

Watch the accompanying video, How to Develop a Sense of Goodwill.

As a focus mentor, hypnotherapist, and writer, Linda-Ann Stewart motivates women entrepreneurs and small business owners to focus and transform their business through deliberate actions that break through distraction and overwhelm to greater success, wellbeing and prosperity.To boost productivity and reduce overwhelm, register for her FREE guide, Design Your Best Day, at https://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/guide.html

How to Turn Failure into Success

How to Turn Failure into Success

If you’re working to change a habit, learn a skill or build a business, you’re going to fail at some point. No one likes it, but it’s part of the process. This simple mindset shift will help you to overcome the disappointment and turn that failure into success. Watch How to Turn Failure into Success.

Transcript:

Welcome. In today’s video, I’d like to share a mindset tip on how to handle failure and cultivate success.

No one likes to fail, do they? But no one who succeeds hasn’t failed at their endeavor, at least once. Whether it’s changing habits, learning a skill, or building a business, everyone has setbacks, right?

It’s well known that while inventing the light bulb, Edison failed to find the right filament thousands of times. Instead of letting it defeat him, he said, “I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways it will not work.” What a way to think about it!

I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a focus mentor, writer and hypnotherapist. These videos are dedicated to empower you to focus and align your heart with your vision so you can achieve your goals.

Inventors and entrepreneurs fail frequently, as do those learning skills and those who want to change habits. They fail before they find success. Any “overnight success” has been at work at it for a long time. Along the way, they’ve learned valuable lessons that they’ve built on. Ways they discovered didn’t work, or needed to be tweaked.

Anyone who has achieved a goal or learned a skill or changed a habit has had mistakes and setbacks. It’s part of the process of learning, growing and discovery. If you haven’t failed, it will be harder to maintain your success, because you won’t have learned as much. Failure encourages resourcefulness.

My mindset tip for you is that if you fail, at anything, in your personal or professional life, learn what you can from it. Integrate that knowledge, and then say, “Next.” Take your next step. Each step you take will bring you closer to the success you seek if you persist, keep learning and stay focused on your goal and vision. Learn and say, “Next.”

Thank you for watching. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. And if you’d like to be notified when I release more videos on mindset, motivation and empowerment, please like my channel and click on the bell. As always, stay focused.

Read the accompanying article, Failure: The Great Teacher.

There Are No Mistakes

There Are No Mistakes

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Have you ever made a choice that you regretted? I have. I spent years berating myself for getting involved with a disastrous relationship. Even though I learned valuable lessons from the experience, I continued to consider my original choice a mistake.

Only years later was I able to take some of the advice I give to my clients, “There are no mistakes, just learning experiences.” Many people come to me with perfectionist expectations of themselves. If they actually make a mistake, such as choosing a path that didn’t turn out the way they wanted, they continue to criticize themselves for the rest of their lives. Something as simple as saying the wrong thing turns into a huge mountain of regret.

It’s all About Learning

I remind them that it’s simply a choice that they made at the time, with the information they had available. We’re here to experience, and to learn what works and what doesn’t. Edison experimented with over a hundred filaments before he discovered the one that would work in the light bulb. A baseball player is considered to be the best of the league if he hits the ball one-third of the time. Can we expect more of ourselves than that? Life is an experiment.

A mistake is simply that, a “mis-take.” We tried something and it didn’t work as we had expected. It’s like the repetitive takes when shooting a scene for a movie. Hopefully, we learn from our experience and do better the next time. Entrepreneurs, on average, fail three times before they are successful. Each time, they find something new that helps them succeed a little bit more the next time.

Continuing to berate yourself over a difficult choice is a waste of spiritual energy. God doesn’t care that you’ve made a boo-boo. The Universe knows that you’ll get it eventually. Learn and move on. I am finally coming to the place where I can forgive myself for getting involved in that devastating relationship, and you should also be willing to forgive yourself for your mis-takes.

Affirmation:

Since God forgives me for my errors, I now forgive myself for any so-called mistakes that I’ve made. I recognize they were just learning experiences, and I now let go of any self-criticism and move on. Anything that I might need to learn from the experience I now integrate into every level of mind. It now becomes simply a resource and a lesson learned.

Failure: The Great Teacher

Failure: The Great Teacher

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Have you ever fallen off your diet, not reached your monthly financial target, or had a relationship fall apart and felt like a failure? Most people have had some experience of not meeting their goals or expectations and feeling discouraged.  There’s no shame in not hitting your mark or having a setback. Everyone has disappointments when they’re making progress. You can’t have success in anything without a few mis-steps. Failure is a valuable teacher. The Universe obviously is using the situation to help you grow and expand.

Failure Isn’t Final

Author Robert Allen said, “There is no failure. Only feedback.” An infant falls many times before they finally walk. Each time they fall, they strengthen their muscles and improve their balance. An entrepreneur generally makes several attempts before their business is a success. With each failure, they learn more, such as where to focus their marketing efforts.

When someone is changing their eating habits, they’re going to have multiple slip-ups their new habits become permanent. They may discover that they need to have other tactics in place. No matter what you’re striving for, the lesson is to learn from your mistakes and apply that to your next endeavor. When you’re open to discover what the situation can teach you, the Universe provides you with inspiration and guidance.

How to Learn from Failure

Instead of viewing failure as the end of your quest, view it as feedback. Consider that there are still things for you to know, understand and implement before you can reach your goal or vision. The Universe has a greater vision for you. When you shift your perception from being dejected that things didn’t work out as you expected, to it being a learning experience, you take back your power and control. And when you reclaim control, you reduce stress and open up to having more resources to innovate. And more Universal Good can flow to and through you.

Once you’ve changed your position towards the situation from failure to experience, you can ask yourself some questions, such as:

* What tripped me up?

* What can I learn from this?

* What can I do differently next time?

These questions trigger your subconscious mind, which is a problem solver, to find the answers. You can then use those answers to formulate how to do better next time. Each setback is a step forward, if you use it constructively. When you choose to learn from your experience, there is no failure, only feedback.

Affirmation:

Every step forward brings me closer to my goal, even if it’s a step back. Any setback has the potential to give me better understanding and knowledge for my next steps. The Universe has a greater vision for me and is guiding and directing each step along the way. As I view setbacks as learning opportunities, I open to greater possibilities of good.

Watch the accompanying video, How to Turn Failure into Success.

As a focus mentor, hypnotherapist, and writer, Linda-Ann Stewart motivates women entrepreneurs and small business owners to focus and transform their business through deliberate actions that break through distraction and overwhelm to greater success, wellbeing and prosperity.To boost productivity and reduce overwhelm, register for her FREE guide, Design Your Best Day, at https://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/guide.html

3 Powerful Ingredients for Success

3 Powerful Ingredients for Success

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Traffic light that signals both stop and go

When my friend Norah wanted to quit smoking, she threw away her cigarettes. Although she avoided them at home, when she was around someone who was smoking, she’d ask for one. To quit, she was using willpower to break the habit of smoking, but she hadn’t changed her attitude and feelings about cigarettes.

Even though she wanted to quit, she still viewed herself as a smoker. Cigarettes still had positive associations for her, and she wanted to fit in with her smoking friends when they were together. That lasted until she ended up in the hospital with pneumonia and almost died. Then, she finally changed her attitude about them and quit smoking permanently.

Ingredients for Success

To achieve your goals, you need to have your intention and beliefs aligned. Norah had a goal, but her beliefs and self-image weren’t in agreement with it. When your goal and attitude clash, your mindset will prevent you from meeting your goal. This is true for both your personal and professional lives. The Law of Attraction will act on your deeply held beliefs rather than your stated desire. For success, three powerful ingredients are essential.  

1. Willpower.

Willpower is a function of your conscious mind, which makes decisions and chooses your vision or goal. Although willpower will get you moving on a goal, it can only take you so far. After a while, your willpower wanes due to exhaustion and stress, among other factors. It then becomes hard to avoid distraction and temptation.

Willpower isn’t about forcing your desire into manifestation. It’s more about being self-disciplined and having self-control. You allow the Universe to work through you as you willingly take the actions necessary for your goal.

When you get tired or stressed, you become too overwhelmed to deal with the changes your goal requires and you return to familiar and known behaviors. It’s easier to be impulsive, and you may not make the best decisions. Rather than rationally deciding on the best course, you react from past beliefs and experiences.  

Use your willpower sparingly and realize it’s a limited resource. Instead, prepare for situations by making decisions ahead of time so that you can follow them automatically. Stay focused on small steps that will direct you towards your goal.

2. Mindset.

Your mindset has been programmed into your subconscious mind by your past ideas and experiences. To be successful, your thought patterns, beliefs and attitudes must be in harmony with your goal. Otherwise, the Law of Attraction will act on your deep beliefs and sabotage your conscious desire. When you want to achieve a goal, consider how you think and feel about it.

When you change your mindset to align with your new goal, you change your relationship to your goal and the actions you need to take. Changing the way you think about it means your actions come more naturally, and your willpower just implements them.  

When your mindset supports your goal, focus on the benefits of it and why you want it.

3. Imagination.

Your imagination is the creative part of you and also a function of your subconscious mind. A key to changing your mindset is imagining what can be accomplished. Use your imagination to visualize how your goal will look when it’s completed. The Universe will use your visualization as a model and bring you everything you need to achieve your goal.

When you imagine a situation, whether it’s choosing an apple over candy, making a follow up call, or working on working on your budget, you allow your subconscious to rehearse the motions of success. You familiarize your subconscious with your chosen actions and create pathways in your mind to make it easier to follow through.

Focus on the best outcome. When you do, instead of seeing the result as an observer, put yourself in the picture. Feel the satisfaction from accomplishing your goal. Then follow through with actions to achieve your vision.  

Align Your 3 Powers for Success

If your willpower, and mindset and imagination are in conflict, your mindset and imagination will win every time. However, when the three are in alignment, then success becomes almost inevitable. Once Norah changed her attitude about smoking, and imagined herself as a nonsmoker, it was easy for her to use her willpower to abstain from cigarettes. 

Your mindset and imagination fuel your willpower. As you change your thoughts and beliefs, and imagine the possibilities, your results change as well. Combine the drive of your willpower, the energy of your beliefs, and the power of your imagination to create the life you want.

Affirmation:

The Universe guides me to make the right decisions that support my goals. I set my intention to follow the ideas and steps necessary to fulfill my vision. I now align my thoughts, beliefs, actions, and mental pictures with my intended goal. When they are all aligned, the Universe can deliver everything I need to succeed. My desire to achieve my goal sustains me and assists me to stay focused. Each step I take makes it easier to stay on course and take the next one. I keep my mind focused on my direction and take the actions necessary to achieve my vision.

Watch the accompanying videos, Use Your Won’t Power to Strengthen Your Willpower and Visualization to Align Your Self-Image with Your Goal.

As a focus mentor, hypnotherapist, and writer, Linda-Ann Stewart motivates women entrepreneurs and small business owners to focus and transform their business through deliberate actions that break through distraction and overwhelm to greater success, wellbeing and prosperity.To boost productivity and reduce overwhelm, register for her FREE guide, Design Your Best Day, at https://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/guide.html

Achieve Your Vision One Step at a Time

Achieve Your Vision One Step at a Time

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Steps to Success

Grace’s desk was piled high and deep with paid bills, papers she needed to file, old mail to go through, and current projects she was working on. Because of the disorder, when she looked for something, she couldn’t find it. But every time she considered wading through it all, she felt overwhelmed, and would do something else.

Eventually, she decided to set aside 10 minutes a day to work on her pile. The was all the time she could handle at one time. It took a couple of weeks, but by chipping away at it, the pile slowly diminished. Finally, one day, it was small enough that she felt she could spend more time on the project. 90 minutes later, the disorder was gone.

What’s Your End Result?

It’s important with any goal, vision or intention to keep the end result in mind. But sometimes, you don’t have the necessary belief that you can accomplish the goal. Grace knew she wanted an organized desk, but couldn’t face going through all the papers in one sitting. So she started with the amount of time that was comfortable, what worked for her, and what she believed she could reasonably commit to.

When you have a goal, make sure that it’s reasonable and you believe it can be achieved. If you don’t have that necessary belief, then your subconscious mind will make sure it won’t be accomplished. Your subconscious works on the level of conviction you have that your vision is within your grasp. If you don’t have that belief, then start with what you do feel is possible.

How to Accomplish Your Goal

Keeping your outcome in mind, create a series of steps that will take you to your goal. Your first step should be one that you know you can handle. If you want to begin exercising, start with taking a 5 minute walk, if you know you can commit to that. To lose weight, work on the goal 5 pounds at a time.

Make sure the steps are within your control. For instance, if you want to dig yourself out from a mountain of debt, hoping to win the lottery is an unreasonable solution and subject to chance. Instead, address your current budget, which is within your control. What can you eliminate or reduce? Can you increase your income, either through a raise or creating a side business? What actions do you know you can take? Focus on the impacts you can reasonably make towards your goal and work on them. You have the power to find the solution, but you may have to take it a bit at a time.

Some people have a hard time believing they can find another job. If that’s the case, just take it one step at a time. First, work on your resume. Then, start looking for jobs in your area of expertise. Set up interviews. Make sure that each step is one that you know you can fulfill. Once you’ve completed one, move onto the next. Every day, spend a few minutes on some action that moves you in the direction of your goal.

Your Belief Plays a Part

Unless you believe you can accomplish the steps on the way to your goal, your subconscious won’t help you. Instead, you’ll discover that you’re sabotaging yourself. When you commit yourself to take action that’s within your control, it convinces the subconscious to support you. Succeeding steps may be easier, or important information may come your way. Create your intention and start working towards it from the location of your current belief.

The subconscious follows your focus. As you accomplish each step, your belief that you can ultimately achieve your goal will grow. Each completed step builds your belief in yourself and in your abilities. Moving towards your goal, step by step, will take you to your goal.

Affirmation:

My goal is within my grasp. What I can believe, I can achieve. Each step I take brings me closer to the fulfillment of my vision. As I move towards it, the Universe brings me everything I need to accomplish it.

As a focus mentor, hypnotherapist, and writer, Linda-Ann Stewart motivates women entrepreneurs and small business owners to focus and transform their business through deliberate actions that break through distraction and overwhelm to greater success, wellbeing and prosperity.To boost productivity and reduce overwhelm, register for her FREE guide, Design Your Best Day, at https://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/guide.html

Mindset, the First Step to Success

Mindset, the First Step to Success

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Steps to Success

When you want to move towards a goal, which comes first, action or mindset? Many coaches  advise you to get into action as quickly as you can. They say that swirling around in planning can suck the life out of a project, which is true. They also say that you’ll build your mindset as your actions are successful.

But if action was the first step to fulfill your vision, then everyone who did it would be successful. So many people jump into motion without considering where they’re starting and where they’re headed.

If mindset wasn’t important, then every person who started a business, quit smoking or set a goal would have been successful by simply taking action. And you know that isn’t the case. The vast majority of people don’t achieve their goals and their businesses fail. In fact, according to Bloomberg, 8 out of 10 businesses fail. Some of the failures are due to not taking action, but most of them are related to a mindset issue.

What Your Mindset Is Composed of

Your mindset is a combination of thoughts, beliefs and attitudes about your vision. It frames your mental patterns about your life and your goal. Because you filter your world through your mindset, it also affects the way you respond to situations. The Law of Attraction operates through your mindset by drawing to you what you mainly think about. Just take a look at your life to see what the tendency of your mindset has been.

Your mindset has to be in alignment with your vision if you want to be successful in any area of life. Along with focus, it spurs your actions. By influencing the decisions you make, it can prevent you from taking action due to a fear of failure or success. To confirm some old concept about yourself, or success, it can also promote wrong action.

Without the right mindset, you could avoid following through with clients or making behavior changes that would improve your life. The wrong mindset is like dragging a 100 pound anchor behind you. You might be able to keep moving, but it’s exhausting and you’ll soon give up. Your mindset is your motivation to move forward, and action is the result.

How Your Mindset Obstructs You and What to Do

Do you have a focused mindset or does it vacillate day to day? An inconsistent mindset produces erratic actions, which leads to failed results. There are several ways your mindset interferes with your actions.

1. You don’t want to do the work. Instead of accepting a step by step approach, you want your vision to magically appear in your life. To remedy this, decide how important what you want is to you. If it’s off the charts, then get started on the consistent actions you need to take.  

2. You don’t want to step out of your comfort zone. Even though you’re not happy where you are, you’re not motivated enough to take the actions necessary to get to where you want to be. The only way to grow is to step into areas that feel scary and unfamiliar. Realize that fear is a normal response to the unknown.

3. You want to avoid pain. Change is difficult. Often you have to let go of ideas and behaviors that have been part of you for a long time. The discomfort will only last a short time. Accept that the benefits of your vision outweigh the pinch of releasing a mindset that no longer works for you.

4. You’re afraid of how the result will affect you and your loved ones. One of the side effects may be that you change the way they think of yourself and your world. And once you’ve accomplished your aim, you fear how others may feel about it. After you realize your vision, your whole world will improve and you’ll feel better about yourself. And the loved ones who are truly on your side will be supportive of your accomplishment.

5. You lack commitment to your vision. You’re ambivalent about whether or not you want to move forward. Many times, you’ll get close to accomplishing your goal, only to back away from it. The next time you’re on the threshold, understand that the fear is simply trying to keep you safe. Step through the doorway and keep going.

How to Move Forward

Once you’ve addressed your mindset and gotten it to support your endeavors, start taking small, consistent actions. This convinces your subconscious that you truly want your vision. Then the Law of Attraction will be successful in drawing possibilities to you. Taking action also builds momentum that helps you stay on course. Only by establishing your vision, and being consistent in your mindset, will you be able to take effective action. Your mindset plus your actions results in success.

Affirmation:

I release any idea, thought or belief that has undermined the accomplishment of my vision for my life. I fully commit myself to moving forward towards my vision. I attract all that I need for the fulfillment of my goals and vision. I deserve it and the Universe completely supports my endeavors.

As a focus mentor, hypnotherapist, and writer, Linda-Ann Stewart motivates women entrepreneurs and small business owners to focus and transform their business through deliberate actions that break through distraction and overwhelm to greater success, wellbeing and prosperity.To boost productivity and reduce overwhelm, register for her FREE guide, Design Your Best Day, at https://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/guide.html

Decisions Design Your Destiny

Decisions Design Your Destiny

by Linda-Ann Stewart

You make decisions every day, such as what to eat, what to wear, what task to do, what to say, and much more. The life you have today is based on the choices you’ve made in the past. You choose what you want, either consciously or unconsciously. Then your choice leads to making a decision, which then results in some sort of outcome. The decisions you make today will create the life you have tomorrow and beyond.

Your decisions channel the energy of the Universe. Have your decisions brought you the results you want? If you don’t like your outcomes, your power lies in being able to make different choices. But what is it that really makes you choose what you do?

What Influences Your Decisions?

There are some basic motivations that compel your decisions. Once you understand what influences your choices, you can adjust them.

Expediency. You quickly make a choice so you can move onto something else.

Past Beliefs. Old ideas unconsciously drive your choices, which may undermine what you consciously want.

Habit. You automatically fall into an old pattern of choice without thinking about it.

Fear. This can prompt you to avoid making a choice, or it can cause you to take action because of the consequences if you don’t.

Desire. You have something you really want, so you choose to go for it.

Goals. You use your goals as a frame for your choices.  

Your Decisions Create Your Life

When you make a choice, you have to abandon other options and possibilities. When you ask for Divine Guidance, the answer often becomes clear. Once you’ve chosen your course of action, follow through on it. And each decision brings consequences, or rewards and positive outcomes.

If your decision hasn’t brought what you want, reassess your original choice. Is it in alignment with your defined goal, vision or your intention? If not, and you were to choose differently, what would your choice be? Make a different decision based on your new choice.

When your decision leads you to what you’d hoped for, then it’s done its work. Each decision, and the action you take concerning it, creates your life. When you make a choice, it sets in motion the power of the Universe. You have the power. Choose your decisions according to the life you want to be living.

Affirmation:

I am divinely guided to make the best decision that brings me my Highest Good. The One Life within me leads and directs my thoughts and choices. I realize that when I make a decision, it sets the power of the Universe in motion. Divine right action takes place in all areas of my life. Only good comes to and through me.   

As a focus mentor, hypnotherapist, and writer, Linda-Ann Stewart motivates women entrepreneurs and small business owners to focus and transform their business through deliberate actions that break through distraction and overwhelm to greater success, wellbeing and prosperity.To boost productivity and reduce overwhelm, register for her FREE guide, Design Your Best Day, at https://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/guide.html

What Are You Choosing?

What Are You Choosing?

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Time for Change Dial

When a smoker comes to see me, many times they tell me they feel controlled by their cigarettes. I remind them that they have the choice whether to smoke or not. Not smoking may result in a brief period of mental/emotional discomfort, but they can say “No” to a cigarette. Their subconscious mind is simply following the direction of what the conscious mind once told it to do. Their decision to smoke seemed appropriate at the time that they first began the habit. The subconscious is still operating on that decision, even though they now want to make a different one. It still is a matter of choice and communicating that choice to the subconscious.

Many times, we make choices that then take on a life of their own. They operate under our mental radar, and we’re not even aware that they’re there. It’s like installing a program on our computer, and having it run in the background. We tend to forget it’s there, even if it begins interfering with the functioning of our computer.

How We Make Decisions

We make decisions based on the best information at the time. As children, we try to fit into a strange world, and learn how to survive there. We take on the attitudes of those who are powerful, such as parents, as a way to gain acceptance, safety and security. When we grow up, we don’t need those same survival strategies, but they continue to function because we haven’t made any attempt to change them.

The automatic programs can be physical ones, such as smoking or overeating to avoid uncomfortable feelings. Or they can be mental/emotional programs of feeling like a victim, having low self-esteem, difficulties with money, or pessimistic thinking. The past choices we’ve made were reasonable at a specific time and place in our lives, but now they’re no longer helping us anymore. Actually, they may be causing us harm. But unless you give the subconscious different instructions, it will continue to operate those old programs, thinking that it’s still what you want.

How We Change Our Choice

One of the first things I do for many of my clients is to make them aware of when their habitual program kicks in. Many of my smoking clients think that they smoke all the time, only to discover that there are only certain times or places that trigger the desire. The same is true of clients who have low self-esteem. They may feel competent doing their job, but as soon as someone criticizes them, they feel worthless. After we discover when the mental program begins to run, we work on retraining the subconscious to think differently.

But first, we have to become consciously aware of the choice. Bringing it out of the shadows, where it’s been operating, and into the light so we can assess it and make a different decision. When we first begin to change the program, the subconscious may rebel by seeming to make the habit more entrenched or causing chaos. It’s just acting on the original instructions of the conscious mind. The subconscious must follow the directions of the conscious mind, and as long as the conscious mind stays focused on the goal, the inner mind will follow.

Be Consistent

Every moment of every day, we’re making choices, whether they’re ones operating automatically or ones we make consciously. If there are areas of your life that aren’t working for your good anymore, then become aware of the reason you made the original choice and make a new one. Figure out what you need to do every time that program begins to run, become aware of it, and then implement the new choice every single time it shows up. You have to make a firm, new choice, and act on it every time, or the subconscious won’t believe the conscious mind is really serious about it.

It’s very simple, but not necessarily easy. There may be some discomfort as you make the changes, just like when you part your hair in a different place. It feels strange at first. But soon your subconscious will recognize your determination, realize that it’s okay to make that change, and will then act on the new instructions. But first you need to be aware of your choices and make a new decision.

Affirmation:

I now choose to become consciously aware of past decisions that I’ve made that are no longer serving a positive purpose in my life. I recognize that they seemed reasonable and appropriate when they were first made, but they are no longer helpful. I now create a new mental program to alert me when the remnant of the old choice starts to operate. As I become aware of it, I now substitute the new choice I’ve made. My subconscious mind now understands that it is safe and better for me in the present to accept the new programming.

As a focus mentor, hypnotherapist, and writer, Linda-Ann Stewart motivates women entrepreneurs and small business owners to focus and transform their business through deliberate actions that break through distraction and overwhelm to greater success, wellbeing and prosperity.To boost productivity and reduce overwhelm, register for her FREE guide, Design Your Best Day, at https://www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/guide.html

Is Your Glass Half-Full Or Half-Empty?

Is Your Glass Half-Full Or Half-Empty?

by Linda-Ann Stewart

I’m sure you’ve heard of the test to determine if a person is an optimist or a pessimist. Imagine a table with a glass with water in fifty percent of it. A person is asked “Is the glass half-full or half-empty?” Disregarding whether the glass has just had water poured into it, or half of the water poured out, the optimist will say “Half-full,” and the pessimist will say “Half-empty.” Both are right, and both are looking at the glass from their own perspective, through their own mental filters. Those filters also affect the way they look at the rest of their lives.

The Difference Between a Pessimist and an Optimist

The pessimist will expect the worst to happen. They don’t want to get their hopes up so they’ll never be disappointed. And they rarely are. Since they’re looking for the worst, they’ll generally find it. If a negative thinker receives a compliment at work, he’ll brush it off, figuring it was a fluke and will never happen again. Since they expect the worst, they don’t use their resources to discover a solution. Their life becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, they give up and become stuck where they are.

Conversely, the optimist will look on the bright side, and find it. They’re the ones that “make lemons into lemonade.” Since they look for a way to turn a disaster into an opportunity, they’ll generally create a way to do so. If a person with a positive attitude is praised for a project well done, he’ll accept the congratulations and appreciate it. Optimists expect life to improve, so they look for solutions and take action.

How Realism Impacts Both

There is a difference between pessimism and realism. Suppose you have just enough in your bank account to pay all of your bills. A pessimist may get depressed over this state of affairs, and decide that “I don’t have any extra money for fun, and the situation will never get any better,” which simply tells the subconscious not to find a way to improve the situation.

Someone who is too optimistic may choose to spend some of their income on a good dinner, believing that something will turn up to recoup the money before the bills are due. That’s when a realistic attitude is helpful. A realistic optimist will think “Wow, there’s enough money to pay the bills this month. And since there’s nothing constant in the Universe but change, my financial situation will get better,” instructing their creative mind to keep working on a solution.

Optimists Aren’t Born

Pessimism is actually stressful and hard on the body. Studies have shown that pessimists have more physical illnesses and die at a younger age than optimists. Many people think that if they’re an optimist or pessimist, it’s a permanent condition. Not so. Optimists are not born, they’re trained that way. (The same is true of pessimists.) As children, we might pattern ourselves after the way a parent, friend, or teacher acted towards life; or we might choose the opposite approach. Either way, we learn to either look at the shadow or at the sunny side of life.

Being optimistic doesn’t mean that a person is a Pollyanna, wears rose-colored glasses and never recognizes that something is difficult, hurtful, or sad. It just means that they don’t dwell on it. They choose to focus on the good in life, and look for a way for things to improve. In doing so, they’re instructing their creative mind to find a way to turn the obstacles into a benefit. The Chinese character for “challenge” is the same as the character for “opportunity.”

How to Become an Optimist

Becoming an optimist means changing the way you focus on the events in your life. Listen to what you tell yourself about things. Are they negative? Are they actually accurate? For instance, if a friend betrays you, do you think, “I can’t trust any of my friends, and I’ll never find a friend I can trust?” Simply because one friend betrayed you doesn’t mean that all of them are disloyal. Challenge your own negative beliefs and attitudes. They are not facts. They are simply how you have been trained to think about a situation. If you have been trained one way, you can train yourself to think about it differently.

Give yourself a pep talk, such as “Lois betrayed me. She pretended to be my friend for her own agenda. That’s not my issue, it’s hers. Looking back, I realized that something was amiss in the relationship. I have other friends who have been trustworthy. I’m learning more and more to pay attention to my feelings about who can be trusted. There are lots of nice people with integrity in the world, and I can meet them.” This changes the focus of your attention from “no solution” to “solutions are available.”

Just as when a person sees the glass half-empty or half-full, altering the focus can change your filters. When you change your filters, this transforms the way you perceive life. So, instead of seeing the glass as half-empty, you can begin to see the opportunities of the glass being half-full.

Affirmation:

I know that I perceive life through the filters of my own beliefs. Those beliefs aren’t facts, they’re simply based on conclusions I’ve drawn from past experiences, and from the way I’ve learned to process that information. I now realize that there are many other ways to view the events of my life, and I now choose to change my focus to a more positive one. I actively search for a positive way to look at the situations of my life, a way that supports my well being. As I do, I’m instructing my creative mind to discover ways to improve my life.