You tend to filter current situations through your beliefs. If you tend to believe that nothing good happens for you, you probably overlook opportunities that come your way. This means you don’t take action on them, because you don’t realize there’s any action to take. But you can change those beliefs and filters. Here’s an exercise to practice turning negative beliefs around in your daily life.
Most of consciously would love more good in our lives. But some people unconsciously restrict it, based on fear of offending others. Here are a couple of reasons why you might avoid accepting good, and some new attitude possibilities to resolve them.
Copyright 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved
Many years ago, I was depressed from a relationship breakup. I knew that exercise would help my mood, so I forced myself to go for a walk. After 30 minutes, on the last quarter-mile to my house, I checked in on my mood and found it had improved by 80%.
In the years since, many studies have validated my experience. Exercise is considered almost magic in what it can do for depression and anxiety disorders. I know it felt like magic for me.
Yet another study has come out verifying how amazing exercise can be for these mental conditions. Exercise reduces depression, anxiety, and stress, increased energy, and re-establishes positive behaviors.
Until my walk, I hadn’t been able to plan or work on a project that needed my attention. Afterwards, I had the energy and ability to focus on what I needed to do.
Drugs and medications take weeks, if not months, to start working and give people a light at the end of the tunnel. Exercise is effective within 25 minutes. Imagine taking a pill, and a half-hour later feeling significantly better.
Yes, it’s hard to drag yourself out to do it, but keep the end result in mind. In a half-hour, you could feel better if you exercise, or you could feel the same as you do now because you sat on the couch. Which do you prefer?
To read more about this current study, visit Sports Are 80 Percent Mental: Is Exercise The Cure For Depression?
by Linda-Ann Stewart
When you set an intention, you’re focusing your energy to create a new behavior, attitude, or experience in your world. You’re saying to yourself, and the Universe, “This is what I want.” The Universe always says, “Yes,” to your goal, for It supports all of your endeavors.
However, your subconscious mind needs to be convinced. It knows your intention, but it will always act on your prevailing thought. Which may not agree with your current desire. It will follow the idea with the most energy behind it, the strongest emotion, and the one that is habitual. To get its cooperation for your change of direction, you have to be completely committed to your desire.
Here are some strategies that can increase your success and make it easier to achieve your goal.
Make a plan and work the plan. You must be focused mentally on your goal, and take steps towards it. Break the goal down into stages, then smaller steps, and each day make one tiny advance in the direction of your dream.
Be specific about what you want. The Universe and your subconscious work best with a clear idea of what you want as your goal. If you want a new car, decide what make, model, and what color. The Universe always pours good in the form of substance into your life. And your subconscious forms that substance into reality. Your subconscious creates a pattern of that idea, then seeks the way to bring it about.
Use affirmations to support your change of belief and attitude. In this way, you begin to empower your intention and increase its influence in your subconscious. You’re not changing the Universe’s mind with affirmations. Affirmations help to reprogram and expand your subconscious to accept more Universal good. Repeat affirmations for 15 minutes at least once a day that underscore your belief that your goal is possible, that you deserve it, and that doors are now opening for you. State that you now have this goal in your life. This gives your subconscious the model to follow.
Change your thinking and position towards the issue. You may have a deep seated belief that you can’t accomplish it, or that you don’t know what to do. The problem is that you’re entrenched in your old patterns, and can’t see any way out. If all you do is change your attitude to believing the change possible, that will alter the dynamics. You have to break the stalemate that has kept you mired down. Evaluate what you believe about the issue, and find a way to open up the door to a better way of thinking about it.
Take some action. Any positive action. This shifts the energy and breaks the status quo. It gains the attention of the subconscious, which will then realize that you’re serious about changing. It could simply be exploring classes and sending for information in your interest zone. Or you could go out and start networking. Just create some channel for the good to start flowing to you.
Visualize the end result. You don’t have to figure out “how” it’s going to come to you. That would actually short-circuit the energy. This is different from being specific about what you want, and establishing the steps you’re going to follow. You don’t know how you’ll find the right car, even when you go out and start looking. Although you know what kind of job you want, you can’t know where it’s going to be. Just mentally rehearse how you’ll feel when you achieve and what you’ll be doing. Use all of your senses and imagine it as if it already has happened. And make sure you’re in the visualization, not an observer.
Ask the Universe to establish order. Since you may not know what to do or how to accomplish your goal, ask the Universe to create it in Divine Order. Sometimes, what is best for you isn’t what you think it is. Let go of the concern over the outcome. You don’t have to worry about it. You’ve done your job by focusing on what you want, opening your mind to a greater experience of it, visualizing and taking action. The rest is up to your subconscious and the Universe. The Law of Attraction will take over and do what’s necessary.
These strategies activate all levels of your being: mental, emotional, physical and spiritual, and focuses them on your goal. This increases the power of your intention because all aspects of you are now involved. Every hour, check in and quickly reinforce your commitment to your intention by thinking of the end result. When you successfully follow these steps when you’re setting and following through on an intention, you may be surprised at how quickly it will manifest.
Copyright 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved
self improvement, 
self help, 
personal growth, 
personal development
by Linda-Ann Stewart
I’ve heard many people say, “I intend to … stop smoking, lose weight, exercise more, eat more vegetables,” when they actually mean, “I’ll try to …” In this sense, “intend” simply means, “If it’s convenient and easy for me, then I’ll do it.” That’s not a strong commitment to a goal. It’s more of an empty wish. It communicates a weak desire to the subconscious, and your inner mind won’t act on that level of strength.
Setting an intention means you have to be intensely focused on your objective. You bring all your power, strength and clarity to that one point. To have a laser-like focus, it’s like putting blinders on and eliminating any distractions. You have to be dedicated to that goal and follow through on any actions or behaviors that are necessary to bring it into reality.
To develop this level of intention, you have several stages of investigation and clarification to address.
1. Decide on your goal. Figure out what you want. It could be just a general improvement in your life, to be less judgmental, eat healthier or open a business. Or it could be as detailed as, “I want to lose five pounds in the next ninety days.” Consider and describe what it would look and feel like to have it in your life.
2. What are your motivations for this change? This step gives you the power and energy to do what’s necessary. For instance, why do you want better health? What would that do for you? Answer the “why” question and make sure it’s a powerful incentive. This is probably the most important piece. If you don’t find one or more strong reasons to make the effort to change, you won’t follow through on it.
3. Make the importance of your new goal more desirable than your old pattern. You have to change your attitude towards your current position. It’s been familiar and comfortable. For permanent success in creating a new model, you have to alter your attitude towards your present situation and make it objectionable, unfavorable and detrimental. To do this, you could imagine where you’ll be in five years without altering your path. You could be 50 pounds heavier, have greater illness, or be more discontented.
4. What beliefs and/or behaviors need to change and how? What do you need to believe about your ability to meet your goal? You may need to know that you have the skills, and the assurance, that you can accomplish it. A new behavior that you might need to eat healthier is to choose fruits over chocolate cake for dessert.
5. What steps do you need to take to bring this new goal to pass? List each stage, step, activity, idea, and thing you need for your objective. Break it down into smaller and smaller chunks to make it easier to work with. Set small, attainable goals.
6. What obstacles might you encounter and how can you overcome them? This includes blocks in your environment and ones in your own beliefs. For instance, how will you deal with procrastination?
7. Focus on your objective. Before you can set your intention, you need to commit to putting your attention on your goal. Have a clear idea of what your objective is. Then you can decide what other resources, internally and environmentally, you need to bring it about.
The tension between your motive to change, and what could happen if you don’t, increases the incentive for your commitment. It also helps develop the quality and intensity of your intention.
Whenever you think of your goal, switch to focusing on your new intention and beliefs about it. You can change. To do so, you need to be consistent and persistent. It may take some time, but you’ll reach your goal. You, and the rewards, are worth it.
Affirmation
I now focus my resources and set an intention to improve my life. My motivation for change is stronger than what is familiar. My beliefs and/or behaviors now come into alignment with my goal. I overcome all obstacles, keeping my intention in the forefront of my mind. The Universe completely supports my intention and brings me anything I need to achieve it.
Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved
self improvement, self help, personal growth, personal development, 
motivation
by Linda-Ann Stewart
This is a time of year when many people establish New Year’s resolutions to improve their lives in some way. And generally within weeks, if not days, they give up on their good intentions and go back to their old ways, feeling like nothing can ever change. Most people just don’t know how to set a goal and achieve it. Here are ten steps that you can use to manifest any desire you have.
1. Write down everything you want to change in your life.
I mean everything, from your weight to your mom stopping her nitpicking, increased income to putting up that little picture you got at the flea market. Big and small, write them all down. Take a small note pad with you to catch the ones you think of in the supermarket or at work. Add them to your master list.
2. Prioritize the importance of each one.
First, go through and eliminate the desires that you have no power to change, like your father’s health, or the state of the economy. With what’s left, give each one a number from one to ten to establish its importance, with one being very important, and ten being least important. Take the ones you rated a one or two, and again assign each a number of importance. Whittle them down to a few really strong desires.
3. Pick the most important one to focus on.
Choose one goal to work on. It would be nice if you could stop smoking, lose weight, start exercising, and quit biting your nails all at once, but that’s not realistic. Your subconscious can only handle so much change at once.
4. Write down why you want to achieve that goal.
What are the reasons and motivations you have for the realization of that desire? Why do you want to eat healthier? Is it to feel better, live a longer life, or to continue to be there for someone close to you? Get detailed because this is your driving force, your power for change.
5. Write down the steps you need to take to accomplish your desire.
Under each step, note down micro-steps. For instance, to lose weight, you could write, “Diet.” But what does that mean? Eat more fruits and vegetables, eliminate sweets, reduce calories or carbohydrates or simply eat less at each meal? You could then decide on various meals to prepare or foods to have on hand.
6. Be willing to do whatever is necessary to attain your goal.
That is, within reason, legal and moral. You may have to do things that stretch you out of your comfort zone, or that are difficult in the short term. But keep your attention on why you want it, and your subconscious will take your commitment and make it easier to reach.
7. Read your reasons and goal out loud at least three times a day.
This will help keep you energized and enthusiastic. Reading your goal keeps your subconscious focused on what you want. Visualize that you’ve accomplished it, and affirm that you have achieved it. You may not know how it’s going to come about, but your subconscious knows just what to do.
8. Take some action towards your goal each day.
Even if it’s the same thing you did yesterday, take one of the micro-steps you’ve chosen. This helps to convince your subconscious that you really do want the goal, and aren’t just daydreaming about it. And the action also sends out energy to attract what you may need to manifest your goal.
9. If you reach a dead end, ask the Universe for guidance.
You’re not in this all by yourself. At any point, from setting the goal to its actual manifestation, ask the Universe for direction and be open for any impulses or nudges.
10. Be grateful for the fulfillment of your goal.
You can have what you desire, through the power of your Higher Mind. Even before you see the completion in your life, you have received it. Thanking the Universe for Its help, guidance and success of your desire communicates to your subconscious. The subconscious uses the power of that emotion, and the feeling of conclusion to create your desire.
If you seem to resist doing any of these steps, or the goal isn’t manifesting, ask the Universe if you’re blocking it for some reason. If you are, find a way to deal with that and move forward. You could also be trying to force it, instead of trusting your subconscious to manifest it. That’s why the gratitude step is so important. This encourages you to let go of the worry and doubt, and let the Universe and your subconscious mind handle the details.
Affirmation
I can have anything I desire through the power of my Higher Mind. My creative mind knows just what to do and how to do it to accomplish my goal. I’m willing to do whatever is necessary to make this positive change in my life. I keep my mind focused on my goal, and take the steps necessary for the fulfillment of my desire. I trust my creative mind, and the Universe, to take care of the details and bring me whatever I need to realize my desire.
Copyright 2009 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved