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Visualization to Align Your Self-Image with Your Goal

Visualization to Align Your Self-Image with Your Goal

Your self-image is how you perceive yourself, and affects your mindset and your actions. If your self-image is in conflict with your goal, then you’ll probably sabotage yourself. To achieve your goal, your self-image must be in alignment. Follow this short visualization to shift your self-image to one that embraces and embodies your goal. Watch Visualization to Align Your Self-Image with Your Goal.

Transcript:

Welcome. In this video, I’d like to discuss how your self-image affects whether you achieve your goals or not. And I’ll lead you in a short visualization exercise to help you develop a self-image to support your goal.

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.

There’s a difference between self-esteem, which is your respect of yourself, and self-worth, which is how worthy you feel, and self-image, which is how you view, or perceive, yourself. These are small distinctions but they are different.

Your self-image is always consistent with your actions and attitudes, towards yourself, others and your goal. If your self-image is in conflict with your goal, you’ll unconsciously sabotage yourself.

For instance, most lottery jackpot winners lose most or all of their money in short order because they don’t have a self-image that  supports their new found wealth.  

Fortunately, your self-image can be changed. To align your self-image and your goal, assess where they are in relationship with each other.

For instance, does your self-image support your goal? In other words, are you comfortable living with and experiencing the life your goal would bring you?

If not, close your eyes, and I’ll lead you through this short visualization. Ask yourself these questions and imagine the following:

  • Consider, what beliefs and attitudes would you have with your goal fulfilled? What would those beliefs be? What things would you be telling yourself? Imagine having the beliefs that support your goal. Imagine how that feels.
  • How would you think and act with your goal a reality in your life? What would change? Are you comfortable with those changes? Imagine a self-image that embraces and embodies your goal. Imagine that you feel safe and happy having achieved  your goal.

Open your eyes. Use the ideas in this visualization daily to shift your self-image to one that aligns with and promotes your goal. It won’t happen overnight, but practicing this consistently will change your mindset to one that will put you on the path to success.   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, 3 Powerful Ingredients for Success.

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

Change Starts From Within

Change Starts From Within

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Woman happy she's changed

As a hypnotherapist, people come to see me professionally because they want some sort of change in their lives. Whether it’s to feel better about themselves, stop smoking, reduce weight, increase their self-confidence, improve their health, or have some other positive adjustment, they have made a choice that has brought them to my office. Together we figure out what they need to change within themselves, and what actions they need to take, to bring about the improvement in their lives.

Every so often, someone comes in who wants me to wave a magic wand over their head and make all their problems disappear, without them having to participate. They don’t want to have to alter a belief, attitude or behavior, but have the problem somehow erased. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. For any change to occur, they have to make a corresponding internal and external commitment to that change.

Change from the Inside Out

For instance, a smoker who says they want to quit must truly decide which they want more, to smoke or not to smoke. Once they’ve chosen to stop smoking, they have to learn new ways to cope with life’s challenges, and dedicate themselves to this new lifestyle. Not only do they have to refrain from smoking, but they have to make the inner changes (and they are many) that are necessary to achieve the eventual goal of becoming a nonsmoker. If they try to quit, without these inner changes, then at the first sign of stress they’ll start up again.

All change starts from within. Initially, a person may just know that something has to improve, and may not even know how to go about it. In this case, they need to figure out what’s wrong and what they need to transform that will make it better. Many times, people want the outer world to be different without doing any inner work. But in every instance, progress begins with changing a thought, belief, attitude, and then a behavior before improvement can be seen in the physical world.

Improving Self-Esteem

For example, someone with low self-esteem, who feels like they’re not good enough, or not worth anything, may not realize that they need a greater sense of self-worth and not know what to do to reach it. All that they recognize is that they feel like they don’t deserve anything nice, and that people take advantage of them.

The first step in healing this is to stop putting themselves down and talk to themselves in a more compassionate and supportive manner. But they must also change some of their behaviors to mirror this new inner dialogue. No matter how difficult it is, they must make sure that they begin to stand up for themselves.

Deal with Inner Attitudes

This doesn’t mean that they should indulge themselves in unhealthy behaviors. For instance, I’ve known people who have decided that they deserve to go out and spend $100 on a meal, even if it means they can’t pay their rent, phone bill, or buy groceries. They think that’s the way to improve their self-image and feel better. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. A person with a healthy self-worth will deny themselves immediate, and transitory, gratification to be able to enjoy a sense of security in the long term.

The same is true for anyone who wants to reduce weight. Rewarding themselves with food, or using it to mask emotions, isn’t going to bring any lasting improvement. They must learn healthy eating behaviors, and listen to what their body (not their emotions) wants to eat, along with reducing portion size, and starting to exercise. They also have to learn to deal with their feelings without using food as a crutch. If the inner attitudes aren’t dealt with and adjusted, no diet in the world is going to permanently keep off the weight.

What Do You Need to Change?

Edwene Gaines, prosperity teacher, recommended meditating on this question, “What do I need to change within myself in order to…?” Sometimes it may mean being willing to let go of a relationship, move, or change jobs. It always indicates changing some attitude or belief on the inner plane, while making changes on the physical plane that show your commitment to the shift in your consciousness.

Permanent improvement in any area of life demands our making a choice for something different, begin to align our beliefs and attitudes so that the new idea is possible and desirable, and then take action to embody the new concept. All of these steps are necessary for there to be change. And when we begin to entertain the idea of change, the Universe will bring us opportunities to help it along. New people will show up in our lives, information will drop onto our desk, or some event may nudge it along. We just have to have the courage and commitment to take the leap into a brighter future.

Affirmation:

I now identify the areas of my life that I want to change and recognize what needs to happen for them to improve. I’m guided to understand what I need to change within myself to create the transformation in my life. The answer is clear. With my whole being, I’m willing to do what is necessary to improve. As I make the decision to change, the Universe supports me and brings whatever I need to help me.

Podcast Interview – Thrive Through Greater Self-Worth

Podcast Interview – Thrive Through Greater Self-Worth

Emmalou Penrod M.A., of Healing Your Families, and I were introduced by a mutual acquaintance. In our initial conversation, we realized we had something in common. We both had been trained to use hypnosis to improve people’s lives! She’s a retired schoolteacher, and now coaches families to have more peaceful homes. She’s a parenting and family strengthening expert, and brings her knowledge of counseling to help heal families.

As we talked, we had such a connection that she invited me to be interviewed on her podcast at WinWinWomen.tv. Although family issues aren’t my professional area of expertise, one topic that affects everyone is self-worth. My specialties as a hypnotherapist were stress management, success programming and self-esteem/self-worth issues. Since Emmalou and I agreed that having better self-worth made better parents, we decided that would be a great topic to cover.

In the interview, we began by talking about how I became a focus coach for women small business owners. I explained that women tend to be scattered because of all their responsibilities. It’s difficult for them to focus for any length of time on any one thing. But focus is necessary to accomplish anything.

Then Emmalou asked about the opposite of focus, “What do you think of multitasking?”

“Multitasking” is a myth,” I answered, and explained why. She said she’d heard it described as “a lie,” which is also true. Multitasking keeps your brain fractured between all the different tasks. It breaks your train of thought, so you can’t build up momentum on any project or task.

This led into discussing the difference between self-esteem and self-worth. Self-esteem can be impacted by outside variables and self-worth is more internal and fundamental. And both are impacted by having a strong inner critic. Emmalou liked my perspective on the inner critic not being a bad guy, but fulfilling a role that a person has outgrown.

Emmalou asked how a person could improve their self-worth. I answered that being kinder to oneself and being mindful helped to support and build self-worth. At the end of the conversation, I shared three simple steps on how to be kinder to yourself.

Because of Emmalou’s background, expertise and knowledge, I loved talking with her about this subject. I could have gone on for hours, but we had to fit into the podcast’s time frame. But I have articles on this topic here and on my website to help you reclaim your worth. And Emmalou has articles on her blog to help you become a better person, and thus, a better parent.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

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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Guided Meditation to Create a New Self-Image

Guided Meditation to Create a New Self-Image

Your self-image can either support or sabotage your goals. If you’ve been having trouble reaching a particular goal, your view of yourself is probably involved. Fortunately, you can change your self-image. This short guided meditation will get you started to improve your self-image regarding a particular goal.

Transcript:

Are you having trouble achieving a particular goal? If so, your self-image may not be in alignment with it. When your view of yourself conflicts with the goal you want to accomplish, you’ll either sabotage yourself or won’t be able to maintain the goal.

The good news is that you can change your self-image. It’s only a belief, and beliefs can be changed with some work. I’d like to lead you through a short meditation to get you started on improving your self-image regarding a specific goal.

If you’re so inclined, close your eyes. Think of a goal you want to accomplish. It could be changing a habit, developing a talent, changing your lifestyle or something else. But pick something specific you want to work on or that you’ve been working on.

Now, consider how your self-image fits in with it. Can you imagine yourself achieving your goal easily and maintaining whatever change it would require? Is there something in you that might undermine your progress with it? Can you identify yourself with the completion of that goal? For instance, “I am a..” fill in the blank with how the goal would change your identity. If you have any part of you that doubts you can achieve it, there’s some issue with your self-image.

Shifting from considering your self-image, think of how achieving your goal could benefit you. This is your “why.” Imagine how your life would be different once you’ve accomplished your goal. Don’t just imagine the immediate change, but how your life would be a year from now. How strongly do you want that? If you can, enhance your motivation with whatever will support your endeavor. You are worthy to be successful with this.

Once you’ve realized what your life would look like with your goal, how good it is for you, what actions do you need to take now to move towards your goal? Imagine yourself going through those steps, a little at a time.

If you can only imagine taking a baby step, that’s fine. Visualize one, feel and sense yourself doing it, while reminding yourself why you’re doing it. As you accomplish that one, visualize yourself taking the next step. How can you get comfortable with these actions?

Now, imagine it’s a year from now and you’ve achieved your goal, and it’s become a fact of your life. Imagine how elated you feel, and how you can now identify yourself with having accomplished your goal.

You may notice other changes in your life, in the way you think and feel. How do you view yourself in this future, that’s different than it was at the beginning of the goal process? How can your self-image be even better? You deserve your success.

Open your eyes. Did you notice a shift in your self-image as you went through the visualization? The meditation gives your subconscious mind a map to follow as you rehearse your new actions and responses. If you do something like this every day, you will change your self-image, accomplish your goals and improve your life.

To be notified when new videos come out, please subscribe to my channel.

Thank you for watching. You do deserve all the best.

Read the accompanying article, 4 Steps to Create a New Self-Image.

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Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

What does success mean to your subconscious mind? It may not be what it means to your conscious mind. Sometimes, if you have an old concept of feeling ineffective, the subconscious will consider it a success if you reinforce that old idea. Your subconscious seeks to reinforce your old self-image, making it “right.” So what is your self-image concerning success? Do you need to update it?

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Act on Your Values to Improve Your Well Being

Act on Your Values to Improve Your Well Being

Your values are ideas that are important to you and that you choose to live your life by. When you act on them, your well being, self-respect and self-esteem rises. Here are a couple of ways you can use them in your life to feel more fulfilled and satisfied.

Transcript:

Values are principles that are important to you. They’re ideas that determine your priorities and that you choose to live your life by. When you violate them, your self-respect plummets. However, when you do live by them, your self-esteem and self-worth soar.

I’m Linda-Ann Stewart, a vision strategist, and I’d like to share how you can use your values to enhance your life and your well being.

What are your values? With a little refection you can discover what they are. Once you know your values you can use them intentionally in your life.

For instance, if kindness is a core value for you, you can use it in being nice to grocery clerks, even when they’re being surly. And that sometimes happens, doesn’t it? If you’re dissatisfied at work, figure out how you can utilize your values there. It will make your work much more fulfilling for you.

It’s not always easy or convenient to live according to your values. There are going to be situations in which it would be easier to take the low road, such as responding in kind to difficult people. And we all bump into people like that in our lives, right? But when you take the high road, and act according to your values, you will be rewarded by a sense of good will and well being.

Thank you for watching. If you’d like 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.

Take some time to uncover your values, and then consider how you can act on them in your day- to-day life. You’ll be glad you did.

Read the accompanying article, What Do You Stand For?

What Do You Stand For?

What Do You Stand For?

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Confident Woman with Values

People are attracted to you, personally and professionally, based on your behavior and what you stand for. In business, many times, this is called your brand. But in your personal life, people also decide whether you’re trustworthy, someone they want to spend time with or be around, based on this same standard. And all of this is grounded in your values, the beliefs that promote your actions and attitudes.

Positive and Negative Values

Some values are positive, such as integrity, determination, and compassion. But not all values are constructive. I’ve known people who were proud of personal values such as, manipulation, deception, and carrying a grudge. Negative values like these are based on fear and insecurity. They’re defensive and developed to react to external circumstances. Positive values are internally motivated and proactive. They allow you to be intentional and choose your actions deliberately.

You can reframe a negative value to be more beneficial. For instance, a negative value, like being crafty or cunning, often means you’re scheming or dishonest. This value was probably created to deal with situations where you were concerned someone would take advantage of you. However, reframing that value to one of being clever or innovative allows you to approach situations from a stronger and more resourceful position.

Why Knowing Your Values Is Important

When you know what your values are, you’re able to make decisions based on them that support those principles. Living according to your values increases your self-esteem, self-respect, and sense of authenticity. Your image and perception of yourself will improve, as will your self-confidence. You’ll be known by what you stand for, and people who appreciate what you value will be attracted to you. What values are most important to you? Those are the ones that show the world who you are.

Affirmation:

My values are important to me and I choose to live by my values. They are beliefs and ideas that put me in alignment with my deepest self and the Universe. I feel at peace with myself when I stand by them, even when it’s inconvenient. I support and empower myself when I act on them, and the Universe approves of me, as well.

Watch the accompanying video, Act on Your Values to Improve Your Well Being.

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~ Linda-Ann Stewart