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Will I be optimistic in 3 weeks?

Will I be optimistic in 3 weeks?

Question about affirmations

Question: If I say an affirmation for three weeks, will I see results and think only positive thoughts by then?

Answer: If you begin saying a positive affirmation, and say it consistently every day for three weeks, you’ll notice an improvement in your attitude. However, you’ll need to catch each negative thought and idea and change it to a positive for the results to be most effective.

And you won’t have a permanent change in your thoughts after just three weeks. You’ll need to keep up with the affirmation, and transforming your negative thoughts even after that. But the negative thoughts will be fewer and you’ll be more positive overall.

This isn’t something you can do for a few days, weeks or months and then stop doing. It’s a focused change of thinking that must continue. You won’t have to be as diligent later on, because you’ll be more aware of your negative thoughts and automatically change them to positives. Affirmations aren’t magic. You have to use them consistently for them to work.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

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

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

“I trust that change is a natural part of life and progress. Change impels me to expand and  evolve into a greater experience of Life. I welcome change with a positive expectancy of a better day.”

It’s a natural human response to resist change. Even if you’re uncomfortable with the way things are, most people don’t want to make that scary step to the unknown. They don’t know what change will look like. But change is natural, and must happen for us to grow and evolve. By embracing change, and affirming that it will be positive, you instruct your subconscious mind to find the way to make it happen.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Focus On What You Want

Focus On What You Want

by Linda-Ann Stewart

In my hypnotherapy practice, when I worked with smokers to help them quit, I told them that if they’re having a hard time giving it up, it’s because for years they’ve told themselves that “I can’t quit,” or “It’s going to be hard.” The subconscious has accepted that declaration and is making sure that it’s giving them what it thinks they want. Even if they’ve made a different decision (to quit), the inner mind is simply obeying the concept with the most energy attached to it.

What have you been unwittingly telling your subconscious? “I’m not good enough,” “I can’t win,” “There isn’t enough (whatever) to go around,” “I can’t find a romantic partner,” “There isn’t enough business,” “There’s a scarcity of jobs,” “I can’t find what I want.” These conclusions are instructions to the subconscious, and it must act on them.

There’s an old saying, “Energy flows where attention goes.” Wherever your attention is, whatever you’ve been focusing on, the subconscious will create a mold for that belief and make it real. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been concentrating on what you want, or what you don’t want,  a desire or a fear. The subconscious can’t discern between positive or negative emotion. It simply recognizes the force of the energy, associates it with the image or concept you’re dwelling on, and thinks, “They must want this or else they wouldn’t have spent so much time thinking about it.” Energy (emotion) plus image (concept) equals result (your experience).

The subconscious is also quite literal. I told smokers that they needed to keep their attention on their desired result. Instead of focusing on quitting smoking, they needed to keep thinking about being a nonsmoker. I’ve known many people who have quit smoking, only to begin again a few weeks or months later because their stated goal was to “Quit smoking.” Once they’d stopped, their subconscious figured, “Okay, we’ve achieved that goal. Now let’s start smoking again so that we get to accomplish it again.”

The same is true for weight reduction. So many people focus on releasing a certain amount of weight, only to regain it again. Their attention was on the activity of reduction instead of eating and exercising for the weight they wanted to be. The subconscious is only doing what it thinks you want. You have to be specific and focus on the end result instead of the steps to get there. The steps are necessary to break the objective down into goals that can be readily accomplished.

This principle applies to every aspect of your life. Do you want a greater income? Instead contemplating the lack of money (which the subconscious perceives to be your aim), fill your mind with the amount you want and how your life will change. If you want a relationship, instead of complaining there you can’t meet anyone you like (the subconscious will make sure you don’t), realize that there are countless number of people to choose from.

Break your objective into attainable steps, small ones you can easily accomplish. And keep your mind on the eventual goal. What do you need to change to achieve it? For instance, a smoker needs to develop new coping skills, as does anyone reducing weight. For greater abundance, do you need to become more visible and network? For a relationship, find ways to meet people of like mind.

Instead of focusing on the lack or blocks to what you want (which the subconscious will misunderstand as instructions), place your attention on the solution and take the actions  necessary to get there. Universal energy will flow in, and even if you don’t know how you’ll achieve your objective, you’ll be guided in the right direction. Remember, your subconscious mind will work just as hard to give you what you want as it will to give you what you don’t want. What you concentrate on and then receive from Life is up to you.

Affirmation:

I become aware of the negative messages I’ve been telling myself. Recognizing that they are outdated and that I want to change them, I find a way to open my mind to the possibilities. I now focus on what it is that I do want. As I identify the positive changes that my goal will manifest in my life, I take the actions necessary to bring about the change I desire. My subconscious finds the way to bring it about, and the Universe guides and directs me in the right direction.

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Reduce Stress and Improve Your Life With Positive Self Talk

Self-talk is the way your inner voice makes sense of the world around you and the way you communicate with your inner self. Self-talk influences your experience of stress, positively or negatively. You can stop yourself from using negative self-talk and use your mind to boost your productivity and self-esteem and relieve stress. Use these 7 ways to take charge and change your negative self-talk to something more constructive.

Most Productive People: 6 Things They Do Every Day

This article is based on six tips from Tim Ferriss, author of the international bestseller, The 4-Hour Workweek. It describes the science behind why the tips work, and insight from the most productive people around. And much of it has to do with being calmer, more focused and happier.

17 Ways You Can Develop New Habits and Improve Your Life

Trying new things makes you healthier, happier, and more creative. It also builds new neural pathways in your brain. It’s possible to adapt to new ideas and habits if you’re open to the possibilities and willing to try new activities.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

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Be kind to yourself: How self-compassion can improve your resiliency

Self-compassion means accepting yourself as the imperfect person that you are. It means being kinder to yourself and, as a result, being kinder and more compassionate toward others. Learn 3 key concepts to promote self-compassion and follow the instructions on how to practice a loving kindness meditation.

The Voice Inside Your Head Is Playing with You

With every situation you encounter, you interpret it through your beliefs. Often, an inner  negative voice tears you down and sabotages your efforts. However, you can learn to replace that pessimistic self-talk with  more upbeat thoughts. Use these 4 steps to recognize and counter the negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones.

What Is Optimism?

Optimists are those who expect good things to happen, where pessimists instead predict unfavorable outcomes. Optimistic attitudes are linked to a number of benefits. There are things you can do to cultivate an optimistic attitude. Even if you’re a pessimist, you can change the way you think about situations and learn how to become an optimist.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

Sparks of Insight

“An affirmation is a strong, positive statement that something is already so.” – Shakti Gawain

Affirmations are dynamic statements that are designed to align your mindset with what is true at a spiritual level. If they were not real, then you could not have even considered the possibility. Affirmations don’t change the mind of the Universe to give you something you don’t already have. They work to change your mind to accept what the Universe has already given you.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

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How to make friends with stress by Shamash Alidina

Stress is a complicated topic. A little bit of stress is good for you, too much is bad for you, and your attitude about it affects how it impacts you. Use the mindfulness exercise in this article to reframe how you view stress, and change the experience to be more positive.

The Trap of Emotional Nonacceptance

Does your inner critic take you to task when you feel an unpleasant emotion? The distressing  emotion doesn’t feel good to begin with, and the inner criticism makes it worse. Instead of fighting those undesirable emotions, use the steps in this article to start feeling better.

Types of Stress and Stress Relief Techniques For Each

There are so many different ways to relieve stress that it can sometimes be difficult to find the best technique for your personality and situation. However, it’s well worth the effort to find the right stress reliever for you. This list of stress management techniques are grouped in 4  categories that you may encounter in your life.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

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How to Change Your Perspective on Negative Situations

Your perspective is your mindset or attitude towards life. Your perspective either helps or hinders your success. Fortunately, you can build one that enables your to build a positive one, that allows you to succeed in life. Use these 6 tips on how to change your perspective so you can create your dream life.

Meditation Has the Power to Influence Your Genes

A study has showed that mindfulness meditation can alter genes linked to inflammation, stress, and pain relief. The benefits were found in experienced and newly trained meditators alike. And just over an hour of training can reduce pain by 15-30% more than morphine. Learn more about how mindfulness can change your genes and bring you long-ranging benefits.

Ancient Wisdom Reveals 6 Rituals That Will Make You Happy

The Stoics were a school of Hellenistic philosophers who inspired much of modern psychology. Their ancient wisdom gives us inspiration to take control of our attitudes and beliefs so that we can be happier in our lives. These 6 attitude shifters have questions to ask yourself so you can create better peace of mind.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart