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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

Guided Meditation for Problem Solving

Guided Meditation for Problem Solving

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Wouldn’t you like to be able to find solutions to your problems more quickly and easily? Your creative mind is the key for you to insights and answers, but you have to be able to access it. This guided meditation will help you learn how to hack your mind and have it deliver an answer sooner. Watch Guided Meditation for Problem Solving.

Transcript:

Welcome. If you’re like most people who have a problem, you think about it, obsess over it, turn it over and around in your mind. Then, at some point after you’ve let go of it, the answer comes to you in a flash of insight, right? What if you could hack into your mind and get to that insight sooner?

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

When you’re thinking about a problem, your conscious mind is engaged in examining the issue. But to find the answer, your conscious mind has to let go and let your subconscious mind, your creative mind, process and find the solution.

One way to do this is by taking the problem into a more focused state of mind in the form of a guided meditation. I’ll lead you through a quick guided meditation to give you an idea of how it can help you find solutions more quickly.  

If you want to experience this and you feel ok doing so, close your eyes. Take a deep breath, hold it, now let it go.

Now, think of a problem or challenge you might be facing. Examine all the details you know about it. What about it is causing a problem? Assess it from various sides.

Now shift your attention to what the problem or challenge would look like solved. Don’t think about “how” it could be solved. That’s the job of your subconscious. Your subconscious knows how to find the answer. Just consider what outcome you want. What results you want. And leave the door open to a solution that would be even better than what you can envision.

Maybe you don’t have any idea of exactly what the answer will be, or what it will look like. Whether you do or not, consider how you’ll you’ll feel with the issue solved.

Instruct your subconscious mind to find a pleasant solution and communicate it to your conscious mind in a timely fashion, in a way that you recognize. Now let it go. Your subconscious mind has its instructions. Open your eyes.

Whenever you think of the problem, just repeat that your subconscious mind is finding the solution and let it go again. Go about your life. The answer could come to you while you’re driving, doing the dishes, watching TV or in the shower.

Using this technique, you’re hacking into the normal way your conscious and subconscious minds problem solve. But, by following the steps of this meditation, you’re creating a short cut to finding the solution.

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, How to Master Problem Solving.

How to Master Problem Solving

How to Master Problem Solving

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Lightbulb

Have you ever tried to remember someone’s name, but it just wasn’t happening? You could probably remember specific details about them, like where you saw them last, what you talked about, even their favorite color. But their name eluded you?

If you’re like most people, when you let go of trying, voila! That person’s name popped into your mind, while you were driving, washing dishes or talking with someone else. This has happened to me more times than I can count. If you’d kept picking at it, it would have taken a lot longer, if ever, to remember the name.

That’s the way your creative mind works in solving problems, whether it’s for a person’s name, an artistic  project, or trying to find an answer to a difficult issue. When you have a challenge, both your conscious and subconscious minds have specific roles to play. To be successful in this endeavor, you have to let them do their separate jobs, or they get in each others way.

The Roles of Your Conscious and Subconscious Minds Explained

Your conscious mind’s purpose is to focus on the problem. Your analytical mind identifies and defines what’s wrong, and then gathers all the information it can about the challenge and any potential solution. Once your conscious mind has done its job, it’s time for your subconscious mind to go to work.

Directed by your intention to find a solution, your subconscious then accesses all the information your conscious mind has gathered. Your creative mind combines that data with everything else it has gathered over the years. It processes all the information, and brings it together in a new way to solve the puzzle.

The Universe has the answer to every challenge, and has your best interest in mind. When you ask for guidance from the Universe, It delivers the direction  through your subconscious mind.

The Secret to Problem Solving

But there’s a secret that activates your subconscious mind to locate a solution. You have to deliberately let go of thinking about the problem. As long as your conscious mind is really focused and concerned about the issue, your subconscious mind can’t work on it. This is because all the energy is going to and through your conscious mind. When you shift your attention to something else, your subconscious has the space to reflect, sort out and construct. Your subconscious can open to receive the guidance from the Universe.

To allow your subconscious mind to discover the answer, set aside the problem. This is counter-intuitive, but you have to let it go. Go do something else. For your subconscious to develop a solution, you have to let your mind rest from obsessing about the problem. Take the pressure off. Go for a walk, do the dishes, let your mind wander. Especially, set aside your smartphone, stay off social media, and don’t watch TV. Give your mind space to meander and breathe. Your mind has to be quiet to hear that “still, small voice” from the Universe.

Next Steps

If, after awhile, you don’t have an answer, go back and focus on the problem, and assess it further. You may notice new information. Then, let go of the matter again. This nudges your subconscious mind back into action. Repeat until an idea surfaces that might work.

Don’t accept your idea as the best one quite yet. It may need to be refined. Try the idea out to see if the answer will fill your requirements. If it’s still not entirely right, focus on the problem again for a bit, then go do something else.

The Method

This is the method.

  1. Engage your conscious mind to examine the challenge.
  2. Go do something that frees your mind.
  3. Release the concern so your subconscious can deal with it.
  4. Assess your insight.
  5. Repeat this process until you find the solution that satisfies you.

I’ve used this technique with clients, and myself, for many issues. One time, I’d lost my hiking hat. I knew it was in the house, and went through drawers, closets, and bags. Finally, I let go wondering about the hat, and instructed my subconscious to inspire me with a new place to look. Not long after, I thought about going through the backpack I’d already searched four times. But I hadn’t looked in the outer pocket, which is where I found the hat.

The more you’re able to practice this method, the faster your results will be. The process is to focus on the problem, relax, release, assess, rinse and repeat. When you trust the natural function of your mind, you’ll cultivate your “aha!” moment more quickly and easily.

Affirmation:

The Universe guides and directs me in all my ways. It knows the answer to every problem. When I have a challenge, I listen for the still, small voice to give me insight and inspiration. I trust the roles of my conscious and subconscious minds. I know that I am led to the best solution that is for my Highest Good.

Watch the accompanying video, To Solve a Problem, Sleep on It and Guided Meditation for Problem Solving.

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 Linda-AnnStewart.com/guide.html

Relax Your Grip

Relax Your Grip

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Woman happy she's changed

After completing a garage sale, I wanted to find homes for some furniture that hadn’t sold. I approached resale shops in the area. Most didn’t take furniture, and if they did, they didn’t want any at this time. I tried donating them to various charities, but none of them wanted the furniture, either. I didn’t want to have to spend several hundred dollars to have them hauled off to the dump, but that was looking likely. The more time and effort I spent on trying to find a solution, the more I was blocked. The frustration and stress built to a point that I had to let go of seeking an answer for awhile.

Keep Knocking, but Don’t Force

It’s a good thing to be persistent, to keep knocking on door. This shows your subconscious that you really mean business, and that you want to make changes. However, when you start to shake the doorknob, or take an axe to the door, maybe it’s time to let the issue rest for awhile. When you try to force the Universe to manifest the solution “NOW!”, that means you’re trying to control the outcome. And that, in itself, will create a block. The secret to solving a problem is to focus on the end result, not on how you think it should be done.

The harder you try to fix the problem, the more solid and stubborn it will become.  There’s an old saying, “You can’t push the river.” When you use your willpower to try to force your way through an issue, it’s like all the energy is going into creating more of a block. The frustration, anxiety, and irritation just tells the subconscious that you want more of the challenge. When the conscious mind is fully engaged with your churned up emotions, the subconscious doesn’t have the energy to find the solution. The inner mind senses the emotions focused on the issue instead of its solution, and delivers more challenges.

What to Do When Nothing Is Working

Sometimes, you just have to walk away from it. Let the energy dissipate, so the subconscious can use its creativity to actually work on a solution. Put your attention on something else. As a friend of mine says, “Change the energy. Go have some ice cream.” Take a walk, play, work on another project. Take a break from trying to force the issue. Shift the energy from aggravation to enjoyment or accomplishment. When you do, the subconscious then has the energy available to find a solution.

A few hours after I let go of my problem with the furniture, I received a phone call from someone who was willing to take the furniture for a nominal fee. One of the places I’d contacted had given him my name. I was delighted that the pieces would continue to be of service, and that my problem was solved. Once again, I was shown that the best way to solve a problem was to relax my grip on it.

Affirmation:

I know there is a solution to my problem. My subconscious mind is very creative, and knows what to do and how to do it to find an agreeable solution. I now let go of the issue, relaxing my grip on it, and do something enjoyable. By releasing the problem to my subconscious mind, I funnel positive energy into its creativity. Drawing its power and wisdom from the Universe, my creative mind now resolves the problem in Divine Order.

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

To Solve a Problem, Sleep on It

To Solve a Problem, Sleep on It

Sleep is a precious resource to regenerate you physically and mentally. But it’s also a natural way that helps you solve all sorts of problems. Learn how to utilize this natural process to find answers and achieve your goals. Watch To Solve a Problem, Sleep on It.

Transcript:

Welcome. I’d like to talk to you about a natural way you can use to solve all sorts of problems you might have. It’s a way that boosts your creativity and insights, and a process you experience every day. Or, at least I hope you do. That process is sleep. And I’d like to share how to use this tried and true method to deliberately solve a problem.

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.

Research shows that a person with a problem who “sleeps on it” will be twice as likely to awaken with insights and solutions than someone who stays awake to think and worry about it. You can train yourself to find solutions by letting your subconscious mind work on the problem as you sleep.

To use this technique, before you go to sleep, think about your problem. Then, let it go, saying something like, “I’ll have the answer to it in the morning.” In the morning, before you check your phone or do anything else, write down any insights or ideas you might have. If nothing comes immediately, don’t worry, an answer may surface during the day. If it doesn’t, rinse and repeat the technique that night.

Thomas Edison said, “Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious.” In addition to solutions to problems, you can use this process for ideas on achieving your goals, creative breakthroughs, increasing your clarity or other issues. Utilize your natural ability for inspiration and to improve your life.

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, How to Master Problem Solving.

Improve Your Life As You Sleep

Improve Your Life As You Sleep

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Many years ago, a hypnotherapist told me that she would make a hypnosis tape of her goals to listen to as she went to sleep. When she mentioned this, I remembered that, years before, I’d made myself an affirmation tape to listen to as I drifted off, and the ideas on that tape had made a significant difference in my life. On many occasions since then, I’ve had a tape playing as I go to sleep. As with the affirmations, the goals and concepts on my tape tend to become realities in my life.

Many times, a client would come to me and tell me that the only time that they can listen to the reinforcement tape of their session was as they’re going to sleep. I told them, “That’s fine. As a person goes to sleep, they’re going through the same level of awareness that we use in hypnosis.” I went on to explain that it generally takes longer than thirty minutes to get into the deep level of sleep, and even then the subconscious is still hearing and listening to what’s being said. Have you ever been deeply asleep, and had a strange sound bring you wide-awake? That’s the subconscious mind monitoring your environment and recognizing when there’s something unusual or dangerous, and waking you to deal with it.

Using Affirmations as You Drift Off

But a person doesn’t need an audiotape to utilize this excellent time. Just repeating an affirmation as you go to sleep is a great way to imprint new concepts, goals and ideas. Joseph Murphy, author of many books on the subconscious, suggested repeating the word “Wealth,” rather than “I am wealthy” to avoid any resistance from the subconscious. “I am wealthy” might bring up arguments that “No, I’m not,” “I don’t have a cent to my name,” etc. Simply saying “Wealth” brings up the images and feelings of being well taken care of, which is what impresses the subconscious.

Many people use the time before sleep to think of a problem they have, and then affirm, “I’ll have the answer to it in the morning.” There is now research to support that sleep can be a creative time. If a person believes that their subconscious will be working on a solution, then they will awaken with the answer. A study has found that the person who “Sleeps on it” will be twice as likely to awaken with insights and solutions than the person who stays awake to think and worry about the problem.

Program Your Goals as You Sleep

One of my colleagues calls the time before sleep “My time.” When he has a particular goal, he uses his imagination to make it real for him. He visualizes how it would feel to have accomplished it, and lets his subconscious figure out the way to make it happen. By doing this, he went from having barely enough to live on to owning a beautiful house, investments, and retiring at an early age.

Decide on one area of your life that you want to improve. Then find a short affirmation or word that embodies your desire. Use your imagination to visualize your goal as if it were already accomplished. To reduce weight, imagine yourself at your perfect weight, exercising and enjoying the activity, leaving food on your plate, feeling slim and energetic. To stop smoking, imagine yourself saying, “No thank you” to a cigarette, being free of urges, and being able to breathe better. For prosperity, imagine your bank account at a particular amount by a certain date. If you want more appreciation at work, imagine being congratulated on a job well done, being promoted, feeling satisfied.

When I wake up in the middle of the night, I usually repeat the phrase “I open my mind to receive more Good” as I drift back off to sleep. It’s short and simple enough that I don’t have to work to remember it. Drifting off to sleep is one of the best times to impress new information into the subconscious mind. If you consistently use this time to program your mind with what you want, you’ll find that your life improves drastically in a very short time.

Affirmation:

As I drift off to sleep, I program my mind with the goal that is most important to me. I open my mind to receive more of the Good that Life wants to give me. I know that my subconscious mind is very creative, and has all the knowledge and resources it needs to find the solution. I am guided in the direction I need to go to make real my desire. Everything I need for the accomplishment of my goal is provided. I trust my subconscious mind to figure out how to bring about my desire.

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 Linda-AnnStewart.com/guide.html

Meditation As A Problem Solver

Meditation As A Problem Solver

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Many of us meditate because it is a way to bring us into better alignment with the Universe. But meditation can also help to resolve problems. Many years ago, I read in How to Meditate: A Guide to Self-Discovery, by Lawrence LeShan, that psychologists and eastern philosophers approach emotional problems from different directions. A western psychologist will have a patient examine their problem, probe the cause, and know that as that happens, new insights would occur, and the subconscious would re-process the issue, releasing the pain.

He continued by saying that in the east, a meditation master would give the patient meditation exercises, knowing that the inner structure would be strengthened and the subconscious would integrate the troublesome information in a new way. The western and eastern ways approach the issue from opposite ends but achieve the same goal.

How Each Way Helps

Both ways seek to help the patient bring more light to their problem. In the western way, they focus on the problem. In the eastern, they focus on the solution, which is the Universe. As a person meditates, their mind opens to more Universal love and energy. Essentially, they’re telling themselves that all is well, and they’re safe. This reassurance then gives the subconscious more resources and creativity to deal with inner issues.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve meditated, and had the solution to a problem in my life rise to my conscious mind during the meditation or right after it. Meditators focus on the solution to all problems, which is the Universal Power and Love within them. Bringing Light into the shadows of their minds, meditators thus illuminate their lives.

 Affirmation:

As an expression of the Infinite, I know that all the Power, Love, and Harmony is within me. When I meditate, I am in contact with the knowledge of the Universe. During meditation, I allow this Universal knowledge to flow into my mind and heart. It helps to reprocess outdated issues, and to release outmoded attitudes. I commit myself to meditating to allow the Light of Spirit to flood into my being.

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

Meditate Away Stress

Meditate Away Stress

by Linda-Ann Stewart

When people come into my office, I generally have to educate them about stress. They think that stress just arises from difficult relationships, the death of a loved one, or from the workplace. But stress can come from events such as Christmas, moving, a wedding or divorce, a vacation or even winning the lottery. The common denominator of what causes stress is a person having to adjust to something new.

Anytime you have something out of your normal routine, your mind has to make changes to accommodate the new circumstances. The subconscious mind doesn’t like change. It likes the status quo, so whenever anything throws it off its schedule, your subconscious complains.

The Results of Stress

Stress results in tension, anxiety, short temper, tiredness, memory loss, inability to sleep, worry, obsessing over non-essentials, and much more. When you’re stressed, you tend to believe the lie that you are separate from the Universe. Without relief, stress begets more stress, and escalates. If stress continues unabated, it will eventually erode the body’s organs, and create illness or disease.

The Benefits of Meditation

To combat stress and its consequences, meditate each day. This puts a break in the cycle of stress. Meditating and relaxing helps to calm the mind and body. Instead of always feeling on edge and in danger, meditation lets the mind know that all is well and you are safe. This allows the body and mind to recover and recharge. 

As a side benefit of meditation, you actually become more efficient, effective and creative. Your awareness of your intuition will be enhanced. Any kind of meditation will do, from concentrating on a mantra, to doing self-hypnosis. Select the one that you resonate with. You just need to take the time to center, getting back in touch with yourself and your Higher Self. By doing so, you’ll have more time and resources to deal with the events of your life.

Affirmation

I am now relaxed and calm in every situation and circumstance. I know the the Universe protects and guides me at all times. As I take the time to center in this knowledge each day, my life flows more smoothly. When a challenge arises in my life, I remember that the Universe has any answer that I need. I open my mind to listen for the solution.

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 You can contact her at LAS@Linda-AnnStewart.com or 928-600-0452.