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How Are You Programming Your Inner GPS?

How Are You Programming Your Inner GPS?

You have an inner GPS that guides you to your goal or vision, just as an external GPS will tell you the route to take to a destination. You program your inner GPS either deliberately or inadvertently, and it will keep you on course or take you off it. But you can correct its course by staying aware of your direction. Learn the 3 things to stay aware of as you progress towards your vision, and how they program your inner GPS.

Transcript:

I’m sure you know what a GPS or Global Positioning System is, right? It’s a device that you use, usually in a car, to direct you to your destination. You decide where you want to end up, program that into the GPS, and it calculates the best route to get you there. Then, step by step, the GPS tells you the route to take.

You also have an inner GPS that you program to guide you to a goal you select. Your inner GPS operates on the vision of what you want, and then your GPS figures out how to get you there. Very similar process to the GPS you use in your vehicle.

I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a focus coach. I’d like to share the 3 things, after your vision that you use to program your inner GPS.

What if you’re not keeping your attention on your vision? Maybe you’re afraid you won’t be able to achieve it, or you get distracted by something else along the way. Your GPS operates on where you aim your attention.

There’s a saying, “Energy flows where attention goes.” If your attention strays from your vision, you have effectively reprogrammed your inner GPS to wherever you’re redirecting your focus. It may or may not be where you’ve consciously chosen to go.

You can determine whether or not you’re on course to your vision. You’ll have landmarks, or goals, along the way that you know you should be passing or achieving. If you find you’re off course, check if you’ve unknowingly changed your GPS’s programming.

1. Where has your attention been? Has it been on your desired destination or on something else? Have you not been keeping your attention on where you want to go, or have you been distracted?

2. What’s your attitude about your vision? Do you want it badly enough to work towards it? Or are you afraid of the changes it would bring? 

3. What actions have you been taking? Are they ones that propel you towards your vision or to some other destination?

Constantly monitor your attention, attitudes and actions, which all combine to program your inner GPS with your vision. When you assess them and they’re all aligned, then your inner GPS will keep you on course to your destination.

To achieve your goals with confidence and ease in 4 powerful steps, watch my FREE training video, Set Your Course to Success. Register for the video and accompanying action planning guide at www.SetYourCourseGuide.com

Thank you for watching. Stay focused.

Read the accompanying article, Update Your Internal GPS to Reach Your Vision.

Podcast Interview – Improve Your Focus

Podcast Interview – Improve Your Focus

I had a lovely conversation with Marybeth Welty of Sustainable Lifestyle Solutions on how to Improve Your Focus and Overcome Shiny Object Syndrome. As an interior designer, she helps create calm and inspiring home and office spaces. In addition to her design work, she also teaches mindfulness and leads guided meditations, both of which are dear to my heart. Her mission is to encourage healthy minds and healthy homes.

In my work with clients, I empower women to be present and aware of their choices and decisions, which comes from being mindful. As we talked about what I do, we discussed how her mindfulness training and my work intersect. It’s so important to think things through and discover new solutions from a point of peace.

In our conversation, we covered what can cause the Shiny Object Syndrome and the problems that result from it. For one thing, it creates stress, which means you can’t think clearly. In a way, multitasking is a part of the syndrome. We agreed that any benefits from multitasking are a myth. Not only do you not finish anything, but you end the day feeling exhausted. Getting distracted by Shiny Objects is a symptom that something is amiss in your business.

We talked about how focus is a skill that you can develop. Mindfulness helps to cultivate focus. And as we discussed the Shiny Object Syndrome, Marybeth was surprised that allowing yourself to get distracted means you’re training your brain to seek more distractions. Distractions and paying attention to something new lights up the reward circuit in your brain. Since it feels good, you pursue more distractions. But it ultimately sabotages you, since nothing gets accomplished.

We exchanged stories about our own difficulties with staying focused. At the end, I shared 5 steps to overcome the Shiny Object Syndrome, with first being to take some deep breaths to calm down your nervous system so you can think clearly. Once you’ve done that, only then you can seek some clarity and get focused.

Marybeth is a calming and tranquil presence. I really enjoyed spending time with her and be able to chat about subjects that are near and dear to both of us.

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

When you begin to change and take your power back, there may be a rebound effect from your environment. Some people probably won’t like the changes and will escalate their demands on you. They could even try to manipulate or shame you. This is an attempt to get you back the way you were, so they have some control over you. When you change, you also change the dynamics of the relationship so that there’s more balance in it for you. Realize that this response is normal. As you persist, things will settle down with a greater sense of ease for you.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

“Everything can be taken from a man but … the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl

You always have the power over your own beliefs and attitudes. Even when you act on ones inherited from your childhood, you have the ability to change them. Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist who was a prisoner in the concentration camps of World War II. He discovered that, no matter what atrocities were visited upon the prisoners, they always had the power over their attitudes. They could give up and hate their captors, or stay upbeat and remain neutral about the men in uniform. Though the prisoners’ bodies were shackled, their minds had free choice, just as yours does.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Listening To Your Intuition

Listening To Your Intuition

by Linda-Ann Stewart

A while back, I was lunching with someone who stated that she didn’t want to get between one of my friends and myself. I almost blurted out, “Since when?” Many years prior, that’s exactly what she’d tried to do. But I caught myself before the statement came out of my mouth. I reminded myself that she’d changed in the ensuing years, and that she was just trying to be helpful. I mistook my intuition for old information and second-guessed myself. A few months later, I found out that my initial spontaneous response was correct.

Intuition Is a Natural Ability

We’re born with the natural ability to instinctively know when someone is lying to us, when they’re trustworthy, when they’re threatening. But many people grow up in hostile environments, with family’s who erode that knowledge. For instance, in an alcoholic home, the child may recognize that Papa gets nasty and sleepy when he drinks that smelly stuff, but Mama says, “No, Papa’s just tired.” Since the grownup knows more, the child ignores his/her judgment. Parents may insist that no one outside of the immediate family can be trusted and the child shouldn’t tell anyone what goes on in the home. As children, we look to authorities to confirm or deny our truths to help us learn discernment.

The instinct of who to trust is still there in all of us, buried and ignored. It’s been called the “Still, small voice,” and is always whispering to us. Most of the time we don’t hear it, mistake it for something else, or our fears override it. Learning to tune into it again takes practice.

Fear Isn’t Intuition

In my experience, if you experience obsessive thoughts about a situation, such as “He always lies,” or “They’re going to steal my idea,” that’s not intuition, but old information trying to protect you. The subconscious is comparing the current situation to a past condition. The concerns may or may not be correct, depending on the circumstances. But generally it’s just mind chatter, coming from past fears.

However, if you have an instinctive response, as I did, to a situation, then I’d suggest you pay attention. Investigate further if you have a nagging feeling that won’t go away that something just isn’t right. A visceral, physical response to something going on is a definite sign. Having nightmares, tense muscles, anxiety, intestinal upsets, or frequently getting sick may begin to happen if you ignore the signals. This is the intuition getting more serious and forceful in its attempts to get noticed.

How to Determine What the Message Is

Once you identify that something has caught the attention of your intuition, begin using your analytical mind. Is everything that’s going on congruent? Do the person’s actions and statements match? Are they contradicting themselves, or what you know to be true? When you discuss the situation, do you feel satisfied with their responses, and how they treat your concerns, or are you still uneasy?

Ask the Universe for clarity. It’s amazing, once you do that, how often the truth comes out. But you have to be open to what you hear, because sometimes the answer will mean you have to make some hard choices. And there are also times when the more positive answer is harder to believe in the light of our old experiences.

Practice Being Guided

One way to learn to discriminate between your fears, logic and intuition is to begin asking to be guided in different ways. For instance, ask what you need to wear that day, what order you should do your errands, what route should you take to work, etc. You’ll begin to notice that sometimes you’ll be guided to do something out of the ordinary that proves to be of benefit to you.

As you learn to distinguish between your rational mind and intuitive promptings, you’ll be better able to pay attention to your instinct and let it direct and protect you. It’s always there, whispering into your mind. Tuning into your intuition will help you live a safer, smoother and more harmonious life.

Affirmation:

The Universe is guiding me at every moment of time and every point of space. It is always whispering to me. My intuition comes from that soft voice flowing through my subconscious. I have a true instinct of who is trustworthy, and when there is danger. I can now distinguish between my rational mind, my fears, old concerns and my intuition giving me relevant guidance. The Universe now provides me with clarity about any situation and I am able to correctly recognize the awareness.

As a focus coach, hypnotherapist, and speaker, 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 achieve your goals with confidence and ease in 4 powerful steps, register for her FREE training video and accompanying action planning guide at www.Linda-AnnStewart.com/setyourcourse.html. You can contact her at LAS@Linda-AnnStewart.com or 928-600-0452.

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

Have you started to make progress, to claim more good in your life, only to have some crisis or difficulty block you? That’s pretty normal. It’s the subconscious testing you to see how badly you really want to move forward. It’s a natural process to take one step forward, then two steps back. You’re actually creating a firmer foundation. Your subconscious is simply letting you reaffirm that you don’t like where you were, and do want a greater experience of Life. When you persist to move forward, no matter what, you’ll be able to do so with greater conviction and confidence.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Guided Imagery to Break Through to Your Goal

Guided Imagery to Break Through to Your Goal

Are you holding yourself back from moving forward with a goal, or making an improvement in your life? Before you can make any changes, you need to be aware that there’s a problem. Then the solution can be identified and acted upon. This short guided meditation will lead you through a 4 steps process to break through the barrier and help you achieve your goal.

Transcript:

Are you holding yourself back from moving forward with a goal, or making an improvement in your life? If so, being aware that you are is the crucial first step to changing that. I’d like to share a very short guided meditation to help you to break through that barrier and allow you to make progress on your goal or vision. 

I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a vision empowerment strategist helping women business owners focus, as well as a hypnotherapist with over 30 years experience. This meditation will lead you through some imagery to help you assess how you’re holding yourself back and examine why. Then, the imagery will encourage you to consider how your lifestyle would be with your goal, and imagine your next steps.

If you choose, close your eyes:

You have a goal or an improvement you want to make in your life. Envision it clearly… Your goal is important to you. But you’re aware that, for some reason, you’ve been holding yourself back from taking action. How are you doing that? What are you doing, or not doing, that’s preventing you from moving forward? Examine this without judgement or emotion…

Once you’ve examined what you’re doing, or not doing, dig a bit deeper. Why are you doing, or not doing, that? Why are you holding yourself back? It may be some idea that served you in the past, but isn’t any longer.

Right now, simply intend to explore the reason. That reason might surface now, or surface later today, or in the near future. Once you’ve identified the reason, you can decide whether or not you want to change that belief so it serves you in the present.

Now, consider how your life would be, having achieved your goal or vision. What would be different in your life and lifestyle? How would your beliefs be different? What habits would you have developed that you don’t have now? How would you feel, and feel about yourself, having achieved your goal? Allow this feeling to grow and expand within you. 

With that feeling motivating you, what decisions do you need to make now, so you can move forward? What step do you need to take in the next few days to make progress? Can you commit to taking that step? Imagine yourself taking the next step, and the next, all the way to your goal.

Open your eyes. In this meditation, once you’ve resolved what’s been holding you back, you imagine you’ve accomplished your goal. As you use this imagery, you give your subconscious mind a map to follow. With this map, your subconscious mind finds it easier to solve problems that come up along the way. Step by step, you can move closer and closer, until your goal is a reality in your life.

To achieve your goals with confidence and ease in 4 powerful steps, watch my free training video, Set Your Course to Success. Register for the video and accompanying action planning guide at www.SetYourCourseGuide.com

Thank you for watching. Stay focused.

Read the accompanying article, Simple Steps to Positive Change.

Simple Steps to Positive Change

Simple Steps to Positive Change

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Breaking chains so you can take simple steps to positive change

Have you ever wanted to make an improvement in your life, but avoided taking the necessary steps to do so? Maybe you wanted to lose weight, start an exercise program, uplevel your business or learn a new skill. Instead of taking action, you shifted your attention to something easier or more immediate. You don’t do this deliberately. It’s an unconscious response to change.

Change is scary, even if it’s a good change. If there’s change, you don’t know what the new situation might demand, or what it would require of you. To the subconscious mind, change is a threat. Your subconscious wants to keep you safe, by keeping your life the way it is. But the nature of life and the Universe is progression. Therefore, if you’re not progressing, then life and the Universe is passing you by and you’re actually being left behind.

Ways You May Be Avoiding Change

You may unconsciously be concerned about whether you can successfully achieve your goal or uncertain you could handle the change. As a result, your subconscious mind creatively finds ways to keep you stuck in a rut by doing some of the following.

Makes excuses. You find reasons why it’s not a good time or you’re not ready to make the commitment to take action. Examine your excuses to become aware of what they’re really telling you.

Sticks to old habits. You created habits to serve you in the past. But they may be outdated and not working for you now. Assess your habits to learn whether they’re currently beneficial and if they’ll support or sabotage your new desire.

Distracts you. You find other, more immediate things to do, rather than taking steps to your new goal. Distractions come in small and large sizes. If you’re having other issues grabbing your attention, ask yourself how dedicated you are to moving forward.

How to Break Through to Your Goal

Becoming aware that you’re holding yourself back is your first step. Once you’ve identified the way you’re holding yourself back, the second step is to uncover the reasons why you’re keeping yourself from your stated desire. What’s the underlying belief? Is that attitude still valid today or not? That belief is probably a remnant from your past that you can update to reflect who you are now.

Your next step is to think from the position of having already achieved your stated goal. How would it feel to have it in your life? How would you act? What would and wouldn’t you be doing? What new habits would you need to develop? What decisions would you be making?

And your last step is to start taking action towards your goal. As you begin to shift and move forward, other beliefs will change, as will your self-image. They must keep up with the new ideas that you’ve incorporated into your life. When one area changes, others change as well.

Why You Must Be Determined

That’s why your subconscious mind is reluctant to help you, unless you’re firmly dedicated to your goal and vision. Your subconscious knows how much of inner landscape will change. But when you convince it that you are committed and confident that you can handle your goal, your subconscious and the Universe will support your endeavor.

Become aware you’re holding yourself back, assess how you’re doing it, examine why, consider how your lifestyle would change, and then take action. Those are the steps that will take you where you want to go.

Affirmation:

The Universe wants the best for me, and for me to grow and expand. I allow myself to flow with Life and progress. Anything that might hold me back is simply an outdated remnant of the past. I joyously release old ideas that no longer serve me. Only good goes forth from me and returns to me.

Watch the accompanying video, Guided Imagery to Break Through to Your Goal.

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Podcast Interview – StoryVan.tv

Podcast Interview – StoryVan.tv

I recently had the pleasure of talking with Bonnie McDonald Dixon on her StoryVan.tv show. She and her husband, Greg, live in their RV and travel around Canada and the U.S., and get to know all sorts of people. She and Greg interview some of those people on their video podcast.

She and I met through a networking meeting, and hit it off. Years ago, I traveled from Arizona to Texas in an RV a couple of times, and once from Arizona to the East Coast and up to Maine. I enjoyed RVing, and could resonate with Bonnie and Greg’s fascination with it.

Bonnie is a health advocate with decades of experience in the natural health business. She’s warm, humorous, and has a passion to help people. One of the ways she does this is a website for those who live on the road or overseas. She and Greg  have a website with tips and ideas for people who want to live the nomad lifestyle like they do. Their HealthyWealthyCamper.com website includes health and income creation ideas for those who travel.

In our discussion on the show, Bonnie was interested in my hypnotherapy background and how it informed my coaching women who suffer from the shiny object syndrome. We all suffer a bit from the shiny object syndrome. Getting distracted while you’re going through life is natural. The problem comes when you get stuck in that cycle.

On the show, she and I talked about some of the causes of the shiny object syndrome, reasons why it can occur, as well as some of the consequences of it. Stress is one of the problems it creates, and stress shuts down creative thinking. During our conversation, I mentioned a couple of secrets about the subconscious mind and stress that can help people to know.

Bonnie was curious if the shiny object syndrome might impact your self-esteem. I responded that your self-esteem and self-respect can take a dive if you succumb to the shiny object syndrome because you’re not keeping promises to yourself.

I enjoyed our talk and was disappointed when the show ended. Even then, we chatted a bit. She’s truly an amazing person and one I am honored to have met and spent some time with.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

“Everything I need for a successful, fulfilling life is presented to me. I recognize it and accept it. All of my affairs are blessed, and the doors fly open for an even greater experience of an abundance of all good.”

You may not consciously know what you need for more fulfillment, or recognize it when it comes. Keep your mind open for unusual opportunities or connections. By thinking outside the box, you’ll notice potentials more readily. Your subconscious will not only be instructed to bring more good your way, but keep you more alert to become aware of it when it comes.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart