My Essay Blog

Are you looking at ways to improve your lifestyle? Are you bored in your current role of employment? Do you think you could be achieving a lot more than you are at the moment? Are you seeking a new challenge? In this article, I give advice on how people can go about improving their lifestyle, this advice is based from my own personal experiences.

I believe that we should always be looking into ways of expanding our knowledge and should never just accept second best. The brain is very powerful and loves to be set a new challenge or to a learn a new task. It is what keeps it alive and ticking over. I am sure that we have all heard of the phrase, I think this job is making me brain dead. This is where someone has a role in employment that is not challenging them or their brain, and this can lead them into a state of boredom and even depression. Their mind and brains are desperate for something to get to grips with and something to test them.

I am always looking into finding new areas of life which I can learn about. Just recently I have been attempting to educate myself on the ins and outs of website promotion. This is something which is of great interest to me and I wanted to find out about how you can increase the amount of visitors you have to a website. I have spent a great deal of time studying this area and even though I feel that I have learnt a great deal, I would love to know a lot more. What I like about website promotion and website marketing is that the search engines are constantly changing their ideas of how best to rank a site, as they are fighting a constant battle against spam. This certainly keeps me on my toes. One thing I have learnt in this and other fields is that hard work pays off and if you attempt to defraud the search engines you are more than likely going to be found out. That is a good thing in my opinion.

I also like to help out people on a voluntary basis. This is something I would advise other people to do if they have the spare time as it can give you a real buzz knowing that you are helping somebody and it also keeps you busy. A lot of people who have too much time on their hands can easily find themselves becoming restless and this can lead them into thinking too much. These thoughts are normally worrying about something or other which of course is not very healthy or productive.

The people I help out on a voluntary basis are my parents who run a form of animal sanctuary from their home. My parents are both in the sixties and struggle to look after the many animals that live with them. I normally spend around twenty hours a week at their house, cleaning out and feeding the fifty rabbits, walking the dogs and feeding the cats. It is not exactly the most interesting of things to do, but I know that it is helping take some of the burden away from my mother and father.

In the past I have also attended evening study classes. This again is where I am trying to improve my knowledge and is something of course that I can include on my c.v. It is also a great way of meeting new people which is something I like to do.

In conclusion there are many ways in which we can become happier and more contented. Our life does not have to be boring and mundane, there is always options out there of how we can go about improving our lifestyle. Good luck.

For years many of us have been working towards goals that never come to anything, or wanting to achieve something that just keeps eluding us.

At first we journey down the road called “blame” - after all it’s easier to believe that some one or some thing is responsible for us not achieving what we set out to do.

Then one day comes the realization that blame achieves nothing and that looking at how we are responsible for the results we produce in our life is a more powerful method.

After that realization we may then begin to look at those people who have achieved our interpretation of success and wonder what their “secret” must be.

If they managed to focus on and create success from a goal they set themselves, why not you?

If you want to give up smoking why can’t that happen for you? If you want to attain success in business, why can’t that happen for you?

If you are looking for the partner of your dreams, why shouldn’t you find yours?

And so a search begins in books, audios, DVDs, seminars, workshops, more seminars!

For some people the search for whatever they believe the “secret” is continues for years, thousands spent on their personal development and still life sucks!

So firstly let me help you end the search because you will not believe this but what you have been looking for is right before your eyes, you have been searching for something that has been in front of you the whole time. You have been searching for yourself!

Seminars, audios, books, mentors, life coaches &ndash these are all fantastic tools that I highly recommend to anyone working towards success but ultimately you must begin to trust in your ability, your own judgement and stop believing that these tools know more about you than you do yourself.

The secret is…….There is no secret. Everything we need we already have. The question is can you trust your own judgement enough to believe that?

How many years have you started spring cleaning only to be discouraged by the sheer amount of stuff or distracted by the beautiful weather? Would you like to complete spring cleaning this year, before summer? Then it is time to tackle those big, deep organizing projects such as the basement, garage, and maybe some closets, drawers, or cabinets. Whether you start with the basement or garage, begin in one corner and work your way around the room. Let go of the items you honestly will never use again by asking yourself those tough questions: when did I last use this? when do I think I will use it again? do I like this? If you catch yourself answering maybe to most of these questions, you might want to organize with a friend, family member, or professional organizer who will keep you focused and help you decide “yes” or “no”. Once your remove everything that does not belong (donate, trash, goes elsewhere), you may have all the storage space you need. If not, take measurements of your space and the items you want to store, and go shopping (maybe even in other rooms of your house). If it is difficult to figure out which organizing product works best in your situation, ask the person at the store, do some research on the web, consult a professional organizer, or use another knowledgeable resource. Now, what about those closets, drawers, and cabinets? Once you sort and purge what does not belong, you will probably be amazed at how much space you have. If you need some tips on how to best organize what remains, flip through a magazine, sketch a diagram of the space, enlist a professional organizer, etc. . No matter what you decide to organize, ask for help, make it fun, reward yourself, and maintain the organization. If you do not know where to start, do yourself a favor and schedule a free consultation. In the long run you will save time and money and be more relaxed. Sometimes you need another perspective, someone to keep you focused, or a little bit of expertise.

Meditation can be described in hundreds of ways. Here we will give some brief explanations about this so-extremely-important aspect of human harmony, health and spiritual evolution.

Three Aspects of Meditation

1. The first step is relaxation or surrendering of the body and mind so that the mind is not cluttered with various unrelated and disturbing thoughts.

2. The second is concentration on a limited area of mental focus so as to begin to be able to control and direct the mind towards the chosen “object” of concentration. Thus, if I have chosen to concentrate on Christ, the concept of love or the energy in my heart center, my mind will not wonder from that point of focus to various other unrelated thoughts concerning my daily life, needs, desires, the future and the past.

3. The third stage is the eventual transcendence of the mind, thoughts and all identification with the body and personality. We then enter into a state of super-mental union with divine consciousness.

These three aspects, RELAXATION, CONCENTRATION and TRANSCENDENCE constitute the basis of most meditation techniques.

What is Meditation Like?

Meditation could be considered any process or abstinence of process, which brings the mind into a state of contact with the inner self, so that a sense of inner peace and fulfillment ensue.

Ordinarily, our minds are constantly preoccupied with feelings, ideas, thoughts, sounds, sights, tastes and sensual experiences. We are focused on working, talking, thinking, analyzing, watching, worrying, solving, studying, dreaming and so on. We are like ships being tossed around by the waves of circumstances, external inputs and our subconscious programming.

One moment we are happy, elated over a success, a new purchase or an affirming exchange with a loved one. In the next moment sadness flows through us - we are tired, depressed with life, bored with work, confined by our family, devastated by the heat, frustrated with ourselves, angry at others, or bitter about the hardships which life has put upon us. Life is an incessant flow of moods, thoughts and perceptions.

Now the object of your consciousness is what you are reading. And in-between the lines it moves to the life experiences, which are stimulated by the associations brought forth by these words. Then the past memories become your object of consciousness.

Meditation is a process in which we let go of these disturbances and allow ourselves to sink into ourselves and experience the center of our being, where there is a constant sense of peace and feelings of security and love for ourselves and all others.

This becomes a source of energy, security, self-worth, freedom, strength and peace with which we can deal with our daily lives. We have so much to gain by dedicating 20 minutes at least once but better twice daily for this contact.

We will obtain greater clarity, health, harmony, happiness, intuition, understanding, creativity and problem solving ability.

The meditative process climaxes in the transcendence of the ego and the mind itself, ending in a state of contact with higher levels of awareness or, eventually, pure consciousness without an object of perception.

If we care for our bodies and minds and they will care for us.

College years cannot be forgotten easily. Why? Because it is one of the hardest and the toughest stage in a person’s life. It entails lots of preparations and adjustments.

College life is full of challenges. College students are faced of mountainous confrontations and obstacles that must be faced. These students must work hard to prove not only to themselves but to other people that they are worthy of getting into college and finishing successfully.

To do and accomplish all the challenges and dares that are facing the college students, proper time management is necessary. College student should know how to manage time properly and how to consume time for worthy things.

The ability to manage and schedule time wisely makes college life easier. Missing important deadlines and appointments may cause difficulty and complications to both the academic and social life of the student. These things can also result to guilt, anxiety, stress, frustrations and other negative feelings.

The following are some of the tips for college students on how to manage time their time successfully.

• Learn how to prioritize. Prioritization is one of the most important aspects of time management. Proper prioritization of engagements and responsibilities is very necessary. There are too many college students that are ignorant and do not know how to set prioritization. This can often lead to procrastinations.

• Make use of ‘to do list’. This does not necessarily mean making a schedule. This is only listing the things that are important to be done. List things according to their importance.

• Stop being a perfectionist. Nothing is perfect. God created no perfect things and individuals. When you try to be perfect, you are only setting your self up for defeat. Many difficult and hard tasks lead to avoidance and procrastinations.

• Set goals. Setting goal is good in managing the time of college students. You should set goals that are not only attainable but should also be challenging.

• Try to combine several activities. Trying to combine many several activities in one sitting. Example of these are the following:

when watching a sit-com, try to compute your bills in between commercials; when taking a shower, list in your mind the things that are needed to be done; while you are commuting on the way to school, listen to taped notes. These things can save you some of your time that could have been set aside for other things.

• Survey your personal time. Making personal time survey help in estimating how much time is consumed and spent in many typical activities. This is very important if you are wanting to manage your time properly. Do these by tracking the time you spent for a day or a week. This gives you an idea on how much time you are consuming in different activities and things. This will also allow you to realize and identify the time wasters.

• Make a daily schedule to be followed. There are many different styles of time schedules that you can use. Try to make use of the time schedule that can fit into your personality. The common styles of time scheduling are through engagement books, cards, a piece of poster board tacked to a wall and many other styles. Once you are know what style to use, construct it soon. Put in the time schedule all the things that are necessary, including your personal needs.

• Take some notes and review them before the end of the day. This will help identify the things that you have done properly and the things that you have failed to do. This can help you develop proper time management skills.

• You should learn how to say no. There is nothing wrong in saying no in some instances and cases. For example, somebody invited you to watch a movie at a time when you have got something to do. Leave out the movie and prioritize your task. You can do that later on.

Learning proper time management for college students is very important. Learning these things early on will prepare them for the life that lay ahead of them. These will be their tool in achieving the life they are dreaming of.

In the quest towards achieving success and accomplishment in our lives, a systematic plan of action is needed. Without a plan even the greatest of efforts will be ineffective, eventually degenerating into frustration and wasted time. A guided plan allows one to utilize his/her talents and competencies to the fullest, by focusing them in a coordinated and strategic manner upon a specific outcome. The power of concentrated effort should never be underestimated. A strategy that one should immulate from the world of sports, is that in competition one should always seek to “play his/her game”. One should never be forced into the position of trying to be successful by operating under conditions strategically benificial to the opposing team. In other words, in seeking to achieve success in today’s competitive environment, a professional should design an action plan around his/her personal strengths and competencies. Play to your strengths and not to your weakness.

There is always more than one way to the mountain top; a striving professional should ensure that the path he/she chooses, is the one which utilizes his/her talents and skill sets to the fullest.

The acronym A.I.D.E can be used as a tool for the striving professional, in the drafting of a personal action plan. A.I.D.E stands for: Analyze, Identify, Design and Evaluate. A professional should first analyze his/her situation. What are one’s professional aspirations and goals? What stage of his/her career is the professional currently in? What are the future prospects of current and prospective career paths? It is important to fully know the landscape before any journey can be undertaken. Before embarking upon the adventure of a lifetime one should take time to learn the terrain.

The next step in action planning is to identify those skill sets and core competencies one wishes to utilize. For example if a person possesses excellent analytical and mathematic skills one should seek opportunities which require these proficiencies, such as engineering or systems analyst. The identification stage involves much soul searching and should be undertaken in a deliberate and patient manner.

The design stage of the planning processes puts the “gears into the dream”. The design phase is the actual creation of one’s plan of action. During this period the professional determines the specific:

 Activities

 Time Frames

 Outcomes

 Methods

,that will be utilized in the action plan.

The final stage of the A.I.D.E process is the evaluation phase. During the evaluation phase the striving professional reviews and monitors the progress that has been made. This stage of the action plan is very important, for it allows for the rethinking of strategies and the ability to capitalize upon immediate opportunity.

The courage to boldly go, to undiscovered realms of your potential should be rewarded with that which your heart desires. Ensure success by effectively planning for it. Your plan will work, if you work your plan.

-Make it Happen!

You’ll find that most people are in some way irrational, even superstitious. They may be “superficially” superstitious and base their behaviors on things that have no basis in reality. They may be literally superstitious and think that some action or inaction will irrationally effect their desired results.

Uncovering someones irrational belief is easier that you might think. Simply observe and you’ll see it.

You can also test it out.

What would happen if you could uncover their irrational belief and use it as a tool to drive their thoughts and actions? You would be using their “map” of the world to influence them. That’s true mind control.

To influence someone in this way, it’s important to just assume that people have some irrational fear, belief or superstition. Then uncovering those fears, beliefs and superstitions is all a matter of just observing and asking yourself “Does this persons response have a logical origin?” What you’ll find is that answer is almost always “No.”

Most people will in fact behave according to events based on automatic reactions that are completely irrational. They often do this because that reaction has worked for them in the past… sometimes only ONCE, but it’s enough for them to conclude that it’s the best response they have.

Other people will be more overt with their superstitions and demonstrate what Karl Jung called a “complex” in which strong emotions are triggered automatically as if they were programmed to respond this way by trauma. Guess what? It’s very likely they were!

Begin to look at peoples behaviors and run them through the “irrational belief” filter and you’ll see just how often this behavior occurs.

You can test it by simply asking their opinion in a “what would do” type of fashion. Most people love to believe that you value their opinions and will tell you eagerly.

To take advantage of this new information see what you can do to use it to influence them your way. You can do this by presenting them an two options one of which would trigger this irrational belief.

In most cases it’s always best to only point out the irrational belief to them as a last resort of influencing them.

Regardless of how you use this new insight you’ll always seem much wiser than you are if you act unaffected and “above it all” as if you are wise, compassionate and filled great wisdom based on a rich life experience.

My name is Stephen Hill, I have overcome a stammer which had been a major thorn in my side for eighteen years. My aim in life is to try and help as many other people to achieve fluency as I can.

When I had a stammer, I would attend speech therapy, at which I would be told to slow down or to take a deep breath before talking.

This did not seem to help me very much and after attending these speech therapy lessons for eighteen years decided it probably never would.

I firmly believed that my own stammer was very much a physcological as well as a physical problem as at times I could talk very well, like for example when I was talking to my girlfriend or when I was talking when I was drunk.

I decided to read a lot of books about positive thinking for example and at the same time started to study how good fluent talkers were speaking compared to me. I was basically trying to re-learn how to speak.

It was hard for me to truly believe I would ever be able to achieve fluency as everyone had always told me that you can not overcome a stammer.

After about a year though I managed to overcome the stammer and then started to help other people to achieve fluency.

Stephen Hill runs The How To Stop Stammering Centre in Birmingham.

Have you ever watched or heard about a person’s success story and believed that you could never do what he/she has done? Or have you seen someone come up with a revolutionary idea and thought to yourself that you can never accomplish such a feat?

If your answer is yes to either one or both of my questions, you probably have self-limiting beliefs and negative thoughts about yourself. These are what I would term as a person’s inner ‘monsters’ and these ‘monsters’ are very common in most people. These ‘monsters’, if not dealt with, will be the main reasons that will cause you to not show yourself enough gratitude for all the accomplishments you have obtained. Conversely when you do not acknowledge your accomplishments enough, you will feel as though you have failed in life and ultimately this will really lead to your failure.

Now then, what are some of the most common inner ‘monsters’ that are hindering you from showering yourself with gratitude? There are probably truckloads of inner ‘monsters’ that everybody possesses but I will only cover the few that I feel are most detrimental to one’s success if not identified early and dealt with.

In my opinion, the single most common and detrimental inner ‘monster’ that is hindering you from showing gratitude to yourself is that you feel you are unworthy of being shown gratitude at all. This alone could have stemmed from many internal or external factors. Some common internal factors possibly include inferiority complex, thinking or feeling that you are useless and can never achieve anything great or be successful. External factors, on the other hand, can come in the form of the people around you telling and taunting you that you are hopeless and can never achieve anything great in life. These internal and external factors, when coupled together, will lead you to think that you have nothing worthy of being appreciative about.

While you may argue that you do feel that you are worthy of being shown gratitude and do not fall under the category of people I have mentioned above, perhaps you are plagued with the mentality that you have not done enough to be able to show yourself more gratitude. You must understand that you do not have to do all the things required before you can start showing yourself more gratitude. As long as you have done what is sufficiently required and accomplished the task, goal or objective you have initially set out to do, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t be giving heaps of credit to yourself.

Now, you will probably be asking ‘what if I have been doing enough but I feel as though I have not given my best, then should I still show gratitude to myself?’ Many people believe and constantly think that they have not given their best in everything that they pursue or hope to accomplish. They keep thinking that they can do a particular task much better and go on to think of ways to improve or perfect their methods without actually considering showing themselves gratitude for the task they have completed. While it is definitely good, and I recommend that you do it too, to constantly upgrade yourself and the methods you employ in completing a task, it is also prudent to note that you must first reflect on your current completed tasks at hand and take the time to congratulate or compliment yourself for completing them before moving on.

So far, I have covered three inner ‘monsters’ that have prevented you from showing gratitude to yourself. The next one I will be covering is just as important as the other three but personally, I feel that this inner ‘monster’ is the most overlooked one. This inner ‘monster’ is thinking and believing that your achievement is too small or not important enough for you to show gratitude to yourself. In fact, this inner ‘monster’ is rather contradicting in the sense that you acknowledge that you have achieved something (which is great) yet you feel that it is too small to be appreciative about. We all have definitely achieved much success in our lives, be it learning how to speak when we were young to passing an exam with flying colours. It does not matter how ’small’ or how ‘big’ our successes are (depending on our individual definitions of ’small’ and ‘big’) if we do not actually take the time and effort to actually ponder over them and congratulate or show gratitude to ourselves for achieving them.

By now, you would have probably realised the inner ‘monsters’ that are preventing you from showing gratitude to yourself and how it can affect your success. If you are interested to find out more about how you can overcome and suppress these ‘monsters’, take a look at the resource box below. And always remember that showing gratitude to yourself can go a very long way to ensuring your continual success.

Stress is something most people experience at some point in our lives. During times of stress, those people who have Type 2 diabetes have a harder time keeping their blood glucose at the right level. This cycle of stress, not propoerly managing your diabetes, and the resulting poor health can impact your quality of life and cause life-threatening complications. A combination of high stress and diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney disease, cardiovascular problems, and require limb amputation.

Maintaining a healthy quality of life requires managing your stress level. There are many methods used to decrease stress. Some people will use prayer, exercise, meditation, and breathing techniques to decrease stress. Another form of therapy is biofeedback. Biofeedback measures the stress levels in the body through monitoring body temperature and muscle tenseness. This helps a person recognize the symptoms of stress and deal with it at that time. Recently there have been studies aiming to discover whether biofeedback could be paired with relaxation techniques to lower a diabetic’s blood glucose levels.

It is medically-accepted that patients who have excess stress also have problems controlling their blood sugar levels. They are often unable to control their eating habits or maintain an exercise regimen due stress. Uncontrollable blood glucose levels, then sickness, and acute complications often result. By using relaxation techniques in conjunction with biofeedback to recognize the signs of stress, patients have been able to alter their stress responses. This has the added benefit of helping to control glucose levels. When a person experiences stress, the body releases a chemical called cortisol. That chemical decreases the ability of the body to properly absorb insulin. Patients who were merely educated about their stress did not as effectively control their glucose levels as the patients who had also undergone biofeedback and relaxation therapy. Studies found that those who learned relaxation therapy and biofeedback also had lowered muscle tension, depression, and anxiety.

This is one more good reason to control our stress. Do you recognize your body’s stress signals? Do feel tightening in your shoulder and neck muscles? You may find that you have a hard time inhaling deeply. Perhaps you clench your teeth, or constantly feel hot. Whenever your body tells you that it is stressed, you need to heed the signs and begin relaxation techniques.

Most people know what stress can do to our bodies as well as our mental health. One of the best ways to release stress is to exercise. Exercise has many benefits. Exercise helps you lose weight, lowers your blood glucose levels, and reduces stress-related feelings. If you are suffering from work-related stress, try standing up from your desk, or taking a short walk. Your over-all physical and mental health will greatly benefit from exercise. Using relaxation techniques will help decrease your risk of stress-related complications. Exercise is merely one way to relax. Other methods to help release tension and stress from your body include listening to music, breathing exercises, praying or meditating.