A CREED FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SUFFERED

"Tears will get you sympathy. Sweat will get you results."

-- Anonymous

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve.

I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey . . .

I asked for health, that I might do greater things.

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things ...

I asked for riches, that I might be happy.

I was given poverty, that I might be wise ...

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men.

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God .. .

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life.

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things ...

I got nothing I asked for--but everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I, among all men, am most richly blessed!

Peace of mind

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. 

This was in the initial days. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. 

They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”

The disciple walked up to the lake. 

When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and, right at that moment, a bullock cart started crossing through the lake. As a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. 

The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!” So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. 

The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be ... and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water... Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”

What did Buddha emphasize here? He said, “It is effortless.” Having 'peace of mind' is not a strenuous job; it is an effortless process. 

When there is peace inside you, that peace permeates to the outside. It spreads around you and in the environment, such that people around start feeling that peace and grace.

Thinking "Out of the Box"

Many hundreds of years ago in a small Italian town, a merchant had the misfortune of owing a large sum of money to the moneylender. The moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant's beautiful daughter so he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the merchant's debt if he could marry the daughter. Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified by the proposal.

The moneylender told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. The girl would then have to pick one pebble from the bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become the moneylender's wife and her father's debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.

They were standing on a pebble strewn path in the merchant's garden. As they talked, the moneylender bent over to pick up two pebbles. As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He then asked the girl to pick her pebble from the bag.

What would you have done if you were the girl? If you had to advise her, what would you have told her? Careful analysis would produce three possibilities:

1. The girl should refuse to take a pebble.

2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag and expose the moneylender as a cheat.

3. The girl should pick a black pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and imprisonment.

The girl put her hand into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among all the other pebbles.

"Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked." Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed that she had picked the white one. And since the moneylender dared not admit his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an advantageous one.

The above story is used with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and logical thinking.

HOW TO BE A HARD n SMART WORKING PROFESSIONAL

1. 
   
   
   Start in your childhood. This is a big part of learning to be a hard worker. If you start early, you will learn more about this skill and get better at it.
2. 
   
   Ask to help. Ask others if they could use your help. Also, ask for help if you don't understand. By doing this, people will recognize you more as a helper. When you help them, work as hard as you can.
3. 
   
   
   Don't be selfish. If you are too selfish, you won't be as hardworking. You always need to think of others when you are working.
4. 
   
   
   Persevere through all trials. If at first you don't succeed, try again! You should always persevere. Do not ever give up, because this is a big part of being hardworking. Hard workers never give up, and this is what helps build upon the skill. Remember, for any positive thing you want to do, always put it in your mind that "yes you can".
5. 
   
   
   Share your ideas. If you have an idea when working on a project, share it! People that are hardworking contribute to their projects by giving new ideas. Your idea may lead to something incredible, and this will improve others' thoughts of you.
6. 
   
   
   Be like other hard workers. There are hardworking people all around us. You should try to act similar to the way they do, because you will learn from them. You can learn from anyone.
7. 
   
   
   Keep doing it. Once you start working your hardest all the time, keep doing it! You should try to get even better. Learning will always help you, and perseverance will too.
8. 
   
   
   Believe in yourself. Know that anyone can be a hard worker! And that everybody when born or given birth has both mental and physical strength.
9. 
   
   
   Work smart, work hard and be proud of it. Hard workers generally thought of as those who work more physically than mentally. In your resume it is better to use the word "smart worker", "productive worker" or "efficient worker". In other words, let it be known that you are a skilled person. 

How To Get Out Of Bed Even When You Don’t Want To

SOURCE:- CYT

Although there are those lucky few who wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to rocket out of bed and start their day, most people need a little bit of help taking those first few steps at the start of a new day.

If you are one of those people, read this list of 8 tips on how to get out of bed and you’ll be amazed at how much actual control you have over those first few minutes of consciousness when you first wake up.

1) Give yourself a mental command before you go to sleep.

This can take whatever form you like, but it would go something like this:

“I will wake up at 5:00 am and get out of bed immediately.”

Seem simplistic? It is, which is why it is so effective. By implanting a mental command into your head before you go to sleep, you prepare yourself to be mentally alert the moment that you wake up. I have successfully used this technique for getting up to catch flights or to go on early morning road trips on less than 2 hours of sleep – without even using an alarm clock.

2) Think of your one definite burning desire as soon as you wake up.

As Napoleon Hill alludes to in the book ‘Think and Grow Rich‘, your one definite purpose in life should be something that you desire so greatly that it is the actual driving force behind everything that you do.

Even if you do not think of yourself as being “on a mission” to accomplish great things in life, you are on a mission to do something, either for yourself or for other people.

In either case, however, you can’t do it while you are asleep, so think of that one definite burning desire as soon as you wake up, and remind yourself that sleeping in will not get you closer to that goal.

3) Smile.

Yes, it seems silly. How can a smile help get you out of bed?

For starters, you need to think of something to smile about. Think of something that you are grateful for in your life, and actually physically smile when you think of it.

You can’t just think happy thoughts – that won’t do it. You will be amazed at how much the physical act of smiling will bring your mind into focus on your life, and also start to shake off the cobwebs of sleep.

This has the added bonus of energetically setting yourself up to attract even more things to be grateful for, so you get two perks for the price of one by simply smiling like you mean it!

4) Think of your “want to do” list.

Everyone has tasks they feel that they need to do each day, but in the grand scheme of things, you don’t “need” to do anything. Every single task that you accomplish in life is based on the fact that you want something.

You get up and go to work because you want a paycheck. You get up and exercise because you want to be healthy, lose weight, or accomplish a fitness goal. You get up and help your family get ready for the day because you want them to be happy, or because it benefits you in some way to send them on their way.

By thinking of how you will benefit from accomplishing your tasks, you not only make the entire process about your own desires, but you will also start your day with a positive attitude, rather than feeling like someone who is simply slaving away at life for the benefit of other people.

5) Think of the benefits that come from getting up and getting your day started.

If you have a morning ritual that you enjoy or that brings an immediate benefit to you – and onlyyou – think about how it will feel to get up and start enjoying that benefit.

For me, my day starts around 5:15am, and includes 30 minutes of total quiet time with a cup of coffee and an enjoyable assessment of my personal and business accomplishments from the previous day. That 30-minute session is followed immediately by a total mind/body prosperity session while I run or briskly walk outdoors for 60 minutes.

That entire 90-minute period is all about me, and rarely do I even interact with another human being accept for the occasional run in with a fellow early morning exerciser. By the time I am back home by 7:00am, I feel like a million bucks and I am fully energized to focus 100% on another day of personal and business accomplishments.

6) Plan your first “reward”.

Other than the personal benefits that you get from accomplishing that first task or two after waking up, plan the first reward that you will give yourself for staying on track with your sleep schedule.

I am a firm believer in people “giving back” to themselves after accomplishing goals or tasks, so as you are laying in bed trying to motivate yourself to get up, plan the first reward that you will get as a result of rolling out of bed and getting your day started.

Maybe it is a mid-morning or afternoon nap, maybe it is a pleasant lunch with a friend or family member, or it could be something as simple as an hour of “play time” that you give yourself to do whatever you want to do. Make sure you stick to your integrity by not allowing yourself to have that reward unless you get out of bed on schedule!

7) Make a commitment to other people a part of your morning routine.

If you have other members of your household who are counting on you to be up and focused by a certain time of day, that can help motivate you to get up and do exactly that.

No one likes to feel like they let someone else down, and on that some note, most people like to feel wanted or needed. By making commitments to others that you can only accomplish by getting out of bed on time, you will be motivated to do exactly that.

Caveat: Remember, though – it is imperative that you do things for other people because you want to. If it starts to feel like a chore, or that it is expected of you, it will actually have the opposite effect, causing you to feel like a worker, rather than a trusted friend, family member, or co-worker.

8) Put yourself on a schedule that is non-negotiable.

Depending on what your morning routine is, there are very likely things that need to be done during a certain time frame, or it will cause stress or negativity in your life or in the lives of others. By locking your tasks into a certain block of time, you remove the luxury of possibly allowing yourself to sleep in.

Again, using my early morning cardiovascular routine as an example, I have no choice but to do that within a very specific window of time. Summertime in northeast Florida means that the sun is fully up and blazing by 7:15 am, and it is already 75-degrees (or more!) and very humid as well. If I am not pounding the pavement by 6:15 am at the latest, I will not have 60 minutes to exercise before the sun becomes a debilitating factor.

If you use this method of putting yourself on a schedule, make sure once again that you keep the right frame of mind. You put yourself on that schedule because of something that you wanted, not something that you had to do.

Let me close this piece about how to get out of bed by saying that I love to sleep! I could sleep for 8 hours a night and still be perfectly happy to take a 2-hour nap every day. Sleep is wonderful and is something that I both enjoy and endorse.

However, my love for sleep is overshadowed by my burning desire to accomplish both my physical fitness goals, as well as my personal and business goals. I only point that out because I want you, dear reader, to know that this list was not written by some robot who only needs 4 hours of sleep per night.

I get my butt out of bed early in the morning because I have goals to accomplish. If you are having trouble getting up each day, maybe you should think about whether or not your desires in life are actually strong enough to launch you out of bed and into action!

The Night I Gave Up On Life

BY STEVEN AITCHISON

About Steven Aitchison

 Creator of Change Your Thoughts (CYT) .

I don’t quite know why I am sharing this extremely personal story with you now, except that there is a little voice pushing me to let it out, and I am acting on that.

This story might be upsetting for some and it might make others feel angry and for that I apologise.

I want to tell you about the night I gave up on life.

It was back in 1990, my life looked as if it was going well, I had a lot of friends, I had a decent job, I had travelled a bit, I had good looks, I had money in my pocket, the works.  The thing is I wasn’t all that happy and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I was unhappy inside.  I used to fantasize about ending my life, it was actually a real comfort to know that I had the choice of living or dying.

I used to plan how I was going to end my life so as it would look like an accident to lessen the pain on my family, my favourite fantasy was jumping off a tall building.

One night, I was working in a bar and I was walking the 2 mile walk home late at about 1am.  The rain could be heard thundering down onto the pavements.  I was walking slowly in the rain as I liked the feel of rain against my skin.  I noticed in the distance a dog, and it was limping quite heavily.  When the dog got closer, I noticed the dog had only 3 legs as it ran past me.  For no reason, I started crying uncontrollably as I felt so sorry for this dog.  I couldn’t get the dog out of my mind the next day, and wondered why I was so upset by it.  I realised I felt like the dog: alone, soaked, not fully functional and nowhere to go.

A few nights later I decided that the jacket of life no longer fitted me and I was taking the jacket off for good.  I said goodnight to my mum and dad, I called my sisters earlier on to tell them I loved them.  I took 26 strong sleeping tablets up to my bedroom after telling my dad not to wake me up in the morning for work as I had a days holiday.  I sat in bed with the tablets, a glass of milk and cried as I took each tablet.  I cried for my mum, and at how heartbroken she would be, I cried for my dad as I had only told him I loved him once in my life.  I cried for my sisters as I would miss them terribly and knew they would miss me.  I took all 26 tablets and put my head on my pillow to die.  I am crying as I write this just now.

I can’t quite remember when I woke up, I was in hospital and two of my friends were there with my mum and dad and sisters.  I had been unconscious, I honestly don’t know how long as I have never spoken of this to my family since.  The morning after I had taken the tablets my dad was up for work as normal.  He didn’t wake me up as I had told him not to, however he heard a bang when he got up at around 5am.  Apparently I had fallen out of bed.  That fall , and my dad hearing it, saved my life, I believe.

When I woke up in the hospital there was a lot of crying, a lot of questions and a lot of explaining.  The hospital psychiatrist came round and asked if I needed help.  I told her I knew why I had done it and I was going to rectify the issues in my life.  I felt ashamed, guilty, upset and angry at myself at having to put my family through something as awful as this just because I didn’t have the balls to sort out some of my problems.

I didn’t feel I fitted into life, with the friends I had, the job, just everything.  What did I do? I started over.  I dropped my friends as I realised they were drinking buddies and not friends, I changed my job, I upgraded my skills, I got my finances sorted out and moved to another city.  I have never looked back since and I have been on a quest ever since to find myself and share the knowledge I have with others.

Lessons From That Night

Nothing and I mean nothing is so bad that you have to take your own life.  There are always options and if the worst comes to the worst, drop everything and start again.  If you are in this situation just now, please believe me when  I say it will get better and there are people who can help.

I’ve learned to tell others how much I love them and how much I appreciate them.

I’ve learned to look for the signs that others might need help.

I mentioned earlier the jacket did not fit, what I realised when I awoke in the hospital was that the jacket can be altered to fit me and I didn’t have to fit the jacket.

I have learned so much more over the years since that night and my long standing depression was lifted in one decision – I will change my life to suit me.

9 Steps To Achieve Your Most Important Goal

By Sebastian Röltgen 



Do you have an important goal in your life that you’re burning for?

Back in my days as a banker, I was obsessed with the idea of quitting 9-5 and founding my own business.

With a good portion of desperation, I incorporated a business within a healthcare niche. I had no idea what I was doing. I messed up the process and was soon overwhelmed by bootstrapping a business.

It was a painful and expensive experience. But it was worth every penny. I learnt an invaluable lesson about the importance of following a bulletproof process.

What Are You Burning For?

Take a moment and think about your life. What is the one thing you’re burning for?

- Do you want to quit 9-5?
- Do you want to publish a book?- Do you want to master a new skill?- Do you want to get fit?- Do you want to start your own business?

At the end of the day the specifics of your goal don’t really matter. If you follow the right process, you’ll sooner or later accomplish your mission! Here’s how:

9 Steps To Achieve Your Most Important Goal

1. Have A Strong ‘Why’

Working towards your goal will kick you in the face at least once in a while. You will experience setback after setback. You will want to give up from time to time.

You need something that is stronger than your daily struggle. You need something that gets you out of bed early and pushes you through the day.

You need a strong “why”.

Be honest with yourself about your “why”. Don’t bother with any half-baked attempts. Want something 100%, or don’t want it at all.

2. Become Obsessed With Your Goal

There is lots of smart advice out there about multitasking and living a balanced lifestyle. The advice has in common that it won’t help you to accomplish your mission.

Your time and energy is limited. Achieving a remarkable goal will demand all of your attention.

You need to become obsessed with your goal to the point of madness. Put as much time and energy into it as possible.

Once you’ve achieved your goal, you can think about balancing your life.

3. Have The Right People In Your Corner

Your team either makes or breaks you. If everybody around you is killing it, you’ll be far more likely to do the same.

Surround yourself with people who have already walked the walk, people who live the life of your dreams.

Remove all negative people out of your life. Be hard with yourself and everybody else. Whoever provides negativity cannot any longer be part of your team.

4. Forget About Events, Think In Processes

Achieving your goals is never a magical event in someday land. It is everyday minor work. It is a process of doing what it takes as long as it takes.

It will take you months or even years to achieve your goal. If you hope for a quick event, you won’t make it.

Learn to focus solely on the process. Forget about the payoff and focus on doing what it takes. Sooner or later you will have what you want.

5. Build Momentum

I can’t put it better than Newton: an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion.

It will take you a large amount of energy to start moving in the right direction. Once you’re rolling, it’s almost an easy walk. You just have to keep doing what you’re already doing.

Start building a positive momentum today. Do whatever it takes to break through your inertia. From there on: protect your momentum as if your life would depend on it.

6. The Present Moment Is All There Is

Do you still regret the opportunity you missed last year? Do you still beat yourself up for failing your important goal two years ago?

Let me tell you this: this nonsense comes without any value and has to stop right here and now. Beating yourself up won’t get you anywhere. It does not do anything good for you.

Focus your energy on doing the right thing in this particular moment. Repeat tomorrow. Repeat the day after tomorrow. Repeat until you’ve achieved your goal and never look back.

7. Act Like The Perfect You

You don’t feel good today and you’re too busy anyway? Ask yourself what the “perfect you” would do.

Would the “perfect you” let a shitty day distract you from doing what it takes? Or would the “perfect you” break through all the boundaries?

Would the “perfect you” jeopardize the hard-earned momentum due to laziness? Or would the “perfect you” protect the momentum?

I think we both know the answer. Whenever you’re close to quitting, do what the “perfect you” would do.

8. Control Your Daily Actions

A good old-fashioned daily checklist will do magic for you. It will help you to detach your actions from your emotions.

No task is too small for your checklist. Analyze what it takes to achieve your goal and break it down into daily manageable tasks.

From there on: work towards your list no matter how you feel. Only go to bed once your work is done.

9. Use Leverage

Get yourself an accountability buddy. Put a painful amount of money on the line.

The pain of losing the money must outweigh the pain of doing what it takes. Boy, you’ll hustle like crazy if there is $10,000 on the line.

Report your progress once a week. Screenshots, face-to-face talks, video logs…be creative.

Read more at http://motivationgrid.com/9-steps-to-achieve-your-goal/#MuvkqMDJkdpI2V5s.99

100 Ways to Develop Your Mind

by : Steven Aitchison 

1. Do the Thing You Fear the Most.

If there’s one thing that will change your thoughts quicker than anything else, it’s facing your fears.

2. Stand up For Yourself

A lot of people have difficulty in standing up for themselves. The first time you do it can be very empowering and your thoughts about yourself will change forever. See Dealing With Confrontation

3. Stop Talking

It’s great to be silent for just a little while. Our thoughts turn inward and we begin to appreciate ourselves just a little more.

4. Strengthen Your Strengths

Sometimes we focus too much on trying to strengthen our weaknesses when we should be concentrating on strengthening our strengths.

5. Take A Walk Around an Art Gallery

You might not appreciate art or participate in it but it’s great to see the thoughts of others on canvas. It can give us a tiny glimpse of what goes on in other people’s minds.

6. Blindfold Yourself for a Day

Walk in the shoes of a blind person for 1 full day, it will forever change the way you think about life.

7. Stand on a Chair for 5 Minutes Per Day

Building self discipline is a great way to take control of your mind and your thoughts. If you just get up and stand on a sturdy chair your mind will be wondering what the hells going on and try and force you to get off the chair. Disciplining your mind is a great way to start changing your life.See Self Discipline

8. Dance When There’s Nobody There

It’s a strange sensation to dance on your own, although when I have done this I look like a dog having a seizure, nonetheless it’s a great way to let go of your inhibitions.

9. Give Money to Someone Unexpectedly

Whether it be on the internet, or in the street, just give a larger than normal donation to someone. This again is liberating and your thoughts about money will change for a few moments (that’s all it takes to start the process of changing your life.)

10. Strengthen Your Thoughts About Yourself

Reinforce your thoughts about your good points. If you are good at talking to people, tell yourself this often. If you are good at maths, tell yourself often. This has the benefit of reinforcing and strengthening your self image.

11. Take A Risk

Life would be boring without ever having taken a risk in your life. Do something that you didn’t want to do because you thought you wouldn’t be any good at it. This totally smashes the boundaries of your comfort zone and your life could change forever. Read This Post by Robin Easton

12. Talk To A Stranger

Again this is breaking our comfort zones, but just saying hi to stranger in the street or good morning can have an enormous impact on your day and the person you said hi to.

13. Walk Around The House Naked

I can almost feel the shock at this. I don’t mean when you’ve got guests in, I mean when everybody is out. Lock the door and totally liberate yourself and your thinking of what’s right and what’s wrong. I wouldn’t advise doing it all the time, but from time to time, it’s a great feeling.

14. Read A Book By An Author You Most Avoid

reading books by authors we avoid gives us a chance to take control of our minds and lets us see another side to our thinking. We’ve got to ask why we avoid them in the first place, is it something within us that we are avoiding?

15. Write An Article About Yourself

Imagine a newspaper has asked you to write an article of 1000 words or less about yourself and your life and they want to know what motivates you in life, now write the article. This helps put your life into some perspective and gets you thinking about your childhood and growing up.

16. Stop Contact With Your Down People

If you have people in your life who constantly drag you down, or are negative all the time, drop them. Honestly drop them from your life, you are not serving them and they are not serving you and they are dragging your thoughts down. Read This Post by Dan And jennifer

17. Believe In Yourself

A lot of people believe their life has been pre-destined and there’s nothing we can do to change it – absolute rubbish. YOU are the only person who controls the universe, yes I did mean universe. Your universe is different from mine so you control your own universe, think about that and start acting upon it.

18. Meditate Every Day

Another powerful thing that has the power to change your life and your thinking for good. Retreating into your mind for a few minutes every day will do you a power of good. Read How To Meditate

19. Ask For A Discount

When you buy anything from a shop that is over $100, ask for a discount. Tell the salesman you’d like a 10% discount on the item. Most people are so afraid of doing this but it’s a great way to empower yourself and let go of another inhibition, what’s the worst that can happen?

20. Risk Embarrassment

Imagine if you had seen the person of your dreams on a bus, or at the store and you didn’t do anything about it how much would you kick yourself. If this happens to you, do something about it, don’t keep it hidden. Just say to them you thought you would come over and say how attractive they looked and felt you had to tell them. You never know what will happen and how much your life could be changed. Obviously don’t turn into a weirdo and do it with every good looking person on the street.

21. Work Toward, What You Think, Is An Impossible Goal

If you work toward a goal without expectation you don’t care about the outcome as much. When you don’t care about the outcome, you don’t have as much expectation.

22. Practice Gratitude

We all know what we don’t have in our lives because we spend a lot of time wishing we had them, but are we really thankful for what we have? Spend time every single day being thankful for the good things we do have in our lives. read The Post at ZenHabits on Gratitude

23. Do Something Nice And Don’t Tell Anyone About It

We tell others about our acts of kindness to let them know how nice we are and to seek approval. If you keep your act of kindness to yourself without ever telling anyone the feeling of positive energy lasts much longer.

24. Share Your Skills

Everybody has a skill of some kind. When you share it you not only have the power to help others, but you enhance your own skill by owning it.

25. Don’t Talk Just Listen

Enhance your listening skills by not talking when someone is speaking to you. Resist the urge to speak your views when someone is talking to you, just listen to them and ask them more open ended questions at the appropriate times. This has two benefits: a) You can really listen if you are not formulating the stories in your own head when someone is talking b) you will make the other person feel great as you are actively listening to them.

26. Write Your Future Life Story

Start from the age you are just now and start writing your future life story as you’d like it to be. Be as outrageous as you want and just write about your ideal life and how you interact with it. Words on paper are powerful and can help shape your goals.

27. Give Someone A Gift For No Reason

We always assume someone buys us a gift for a reason whether it be a birthday, christmas or special occasion. Buy someone a gift just because you know they would like it.

28. Pass On Your Good Books

If you’ve read a book and it changed your thinking or life in some way, pass it on to someone else who might benefit.;

29. Spend More Time With Your Kids

Your kids will grow up very quickly, spend as much time as you can with them.

30. Forgive Behavior

The way we behave doesn’t necessarily reflect our true thoughts. Remember this when someone acts out of character and behaves in a way you don’t approve of.

31. Allow Yourself To Be A Lazy Git

We are so used to filling our time with useful things to do and being productive we have forgotten the art of laziness. Being lazy is good every ONCE IN A WHILE and it allows our mind to slow down and relax.

32. What Is Your Best Quality Today

Every morning for 10 seconds just state, out loud if you can, what your best quality is. Try and change it every day. This reinforces your strengths and weakens your perceived weaknesses.

33. Write A Comment

If you visit a blog you like, leave a comment and join in the community of people. Or, if there is not much of a community, be part of starting it.

34. Tell Your Friends And Colleagues How Good They Are

If a friend or colleague does something good, tell them how good they are at that particular task. This reinforces someone else strengths or strengthens their weaknesses and makes them feel good about themselves.

35. Make A Video Of Yourself And Post It To Youtube

Why on earth would you do this? Just because you can!

36. List All Your Worries

Make a list of every single worry you have at the moment. You will notice that you don’t have as many worries as you thought. Worrying consumes our thinking and we think our whole life is one big worry. When you get it down on paper it’s extremely surprising that you don’t have as many as you’d thought.

37. Work On Each Worry In Turn

Now that you have all your worries listed. Go through them and start acting on them in turn. If you find worries you cannot act upon it means there is nothing you can do to change the outcome of that worry, so forget it, why waste mind energy on something you cannot control at all? Read This Post for More Info

38. Read About Successful People

If you want to change your thoughts and change your life read about people who have already done it and use them as guides.

39. Tweet Your Moods

If you use twitter why not tweet your moods daily and see if there is some kind of pattern after a few months.

40. Stop Watching Soaps

Soap operas actually have the power to alter your state of mind. People get so caught up in the emotions of the soap that they experience what the actors and actresses are doing.

41. Have A News Break

What would happen if you never read a newspaper for a week? nothing at all, your life wouldn’t change, you wouldn’t run out of things to talk about, you would still be as up on the world as everyone else. Newspapers sell because of their doom and gloom, read it and you are buying into it.

42. Do Something Spontaneous

Jump on a bus without looking at the destination, book a holiday, take time off work, take your partner away, buy your kids a gift; do anything and make sure it’s out of character, (expand that boundary).

43. Write To An Author

Authors are people just like you and I and they love getting feedback about their work. If a book touched you in some way or changed you, take time to write to the author and thank them. Don’t look for a reply, just thank them.

44. Follow your instincts

We don’t trust ourselves nearly enough as we should. Follow your instincts more and pay attention to the signals your body is picking up and see where it takes you. You might find that your conscious brain gets in the way of your body signals a lot of the time. Read This Post for More Info

45. If You Find Some Money Give It To Charity

If you find money in the street don’t pocket it, give it to someone who is homeless or better yet buy them a meal with it. If it’s a suitcase full of money, that’s obviously a different story.

46. Your Thoughts Really Do Have Power

When you realize this, it will change your thinking in so many ways. I can’t tell you that it’s true you have to experience it for yourself.

47. Always Admit It When You Have Made A Mistake

Don’t blame others or hide behind someone else. Hold your hands up and admit you made a mistake, no matter what the consequences are. You will be much more respected this way. However, don’t take the blame for others.

48. Do Something Every Day To Improve Your Mind

Learn a new word, do an anagram puzzle, sudoku your mind, read a book, read a stimulating blog post, anything that will help your mind just a little. Just a little turns into something huge.

49. Change Your Thinking Style

If something is not working out, try and change your thinking style and come at it from another angle. This is true of everything in life.

50. What Do You Really Want To Do In Life

You will find most people cannot answer this question simply because they are plodding along with life. When you know what you really want to do with your life then your life takes another path. read This Post by Dragos Roua

51. Pass On Your Knowledge

Knowledge is for sharing, let others know what you know if it’s appropriate.

52. Ask For What You Want In Life

If you don’t ask you won’t get. Asking for your wants puts it out there. I mean literally ask and metaphorically ask. When you want a big house or a mansion, ask out loud and send it out there. When you want the smaller things in life, ask for them from people who can give you them. Always pay it forward.

53. When Someone Does You A Good Turn Pay It Forward

If you receive a compliment, thank the person and look for an opportunity to give someone else a compliment. If you receive a gift, give a gift to someone else at an opportune time.

54. Always Have A Good Breakfast

We underestimate the power of food to keep our brains healthy and our minds alive with energy. If you don’t eat that much, make sure you have a good breakfast to set you up for the day. Read this post on eating by Vin Miller

55. What Would People Say About You If You Died

This is not a morbid thought, but I often think about what people would say about me at my funeral. The thing is the ones who might say something bad, I can’t really not invite because I’ll be dead. However, the important people are ones I would care about most and I would like to develop my life’s values based on what people would say about me at my funeral; he was a caring man, he was a family man, he always told the truth no matter how hard it might seem, he had integrity etc.

56. Sing Your Heart Out

I love to sing, I hopeless at it, but I love it. We have a radio station over in the UK called gold http://www.mygoldmusic.co.uk/ and it plays music from the 60s, 70s and 80s and I sing at the top of my voice as there is always something on that’s good. My sons are not very pleased about it though 

57. Love The One You’re With

Always let your partner know how much you love them by telling them and showing them. This way your mind is focused on them for at least part of the day.

58. Pacing Whilst Studying

This has helped me a lot over the years. I paced my way through university. My theory is that the body and mind is being stimulated with the exercise you are doing whilst walking, this makes the blood flow. Blood flow to the brain help you to study and remember.

59. Make New friends

Whether it be online or offline. Keeping yourself busy socially is stimulating for the mind and lets you see the world from others peoples perspective.

60. Make Love Regularly

Releasing the feel good chemicals, endorphins, into your bloodstream is a great way to stimulate the mind. I have to admit to feeling much more creative after making love.

61. Listen To Music

This stimulates the mind and can have tremendous benefits for your thoughts, therefore your life. I love listening to Baroque music whilst driving at night, I love rousing rock driving during the day and dance trance music at the weekend whist driving

62. Listen To A Book Instead Of The Radio

Getting downloadable books from Amazon.com or Audible.com is a great way to spend long journeys and learn something at the same time.

63. Have A Sleep In

I am not a big fan of sleeping longer than I have to, but sometimes it’s great to lie in bed for a few hours longer than normal. It helps the brain recuperate.

64. Turn Off The TV

There’s nothing more brain numbing than having the TV on all day every day. Exercise your mind and read a book, or at least watch something educational. Read this post by Vin Miller

65. Look For Evidence Of Your Beliefs

This will develop your mind and your critical thinking. If you look for evidence of your beliefs such as ‘what is the evidence that sea water is blue or green’, you’ll discover some great information on during your research.

66. Take Micro Naps

Taking a micro nap for 10 minutes a few times a day does wonders for your brain energy. read this post on Micro Naps

67. Travel Often

Travel really does broaden your horizons especially if you really get into the local food and culture.

68. Tidy House Tidy Mind

There really is nothing better than clearing your house or office space to clear your mind. When the house is not tidy there is always a niggling at the back of your mind. When the house, office and workspace is totally clean and tidy it frees your mind to concentrate on work or your family at home. read this post at DumbLittleMan

69. Exercise Your Mind Not Just Your Body

We all know the benefits of exercising the body but exercising the mind by doing crosswords, maths puzzles, playing chess, reading, anagrams, sudoku etc, all help to increase the minds capacity for learning.

70. Read Philosophy

the beauty of philosophy is that there is no right and wrong. However, reading different philosophers views about the world will stimulate your mind. Read this post by Tim Ferris

71. Ditch The Credit Card

We have forgotten how to wait for the things we want in life, if we see something we like we want it now and using a credit card is too easy. Make the object of your desire more precious by saving up for it. This will discipline your mind as well as your money spending habits.

72. Watch A Motivational Video On Youtube First Thing In The Morning

This is a great way to start the day. Just type in motivational into youtube search box, sort by view count and watch a few videos.

73. Keep Up To Date With New Theories

Whatever field you are interested in keep up to date with new theories and discoveries. New theories in psychology are especially interesting albeit quite thin on the ground.

74. Take One Action Toward Your Goals Every Day

Your Self confidence, self esteem, and goals can only be reached by taking action. The more action you take the more your mind will help you to keep going.

75. Never Let Your Mind Go Out Of Fashion

Keep up to date with the latest research on health, beauty and intelligence. Only those whose thoughts keep searching will stay intelligent for life.

76. Confronting Your Stressors

Whatever you are stressed about the most tackle first. The less stress you have the less your mind has to cope with. Tackle the biggest stressors first and work your way down. Read this post by Jonathan Wells

77. Drink Coffee And Tea

Despite evidence to the contrary coffee and tea have been shown to help the brain. Antioxidants and/or caffeine may help fight the onset of Alzheimer’s by 30-60% drinking 30 cups a day is obviously not good but 3-5 cups per day is okay.

78. Carry Yourself With Confidence

People can tell by the way you walk if you are confident or not. Walk with purpose and have a purpose to walk. Read this post by Brandon Lindell

79. Make Up Your Own Mind

When reading or listening to the news, do your own research and make up your own mind. The government and large corporations, whether deliberate or not, is a propaganda machine feeding you information to manipulate your thinking.

80. Take Up Yoga

This is meant to be one of the best ways to relive stress and exercise both mind and body. watch this video to get you started

81. Change Your Hands

Practice doing this with your less dominant hand. If you are right handed start doing things with your left hand and vice versa. If you are ambidextrous, start doing it with your feet 

82. Eat Plenty Of Fish

There is an abundance on new evidence that eating fish is great for our brains and keeping them healthy.

83. Reduce Your Alcohol Intake

I had to say this, I am an addiction worker. Don’t cut it out just reduce it to the recommended safe level.

84. Quit The Smoking

Yep it can be one of the hardest drugs to give up but it is worth it. I feel so much better for giving up smoking and have a lot more energy than normal and my mind can function a lot better.

85. Practice Deep Breathing

Getting plenty of oxygen to your brain is key for a healthy mind, deep breathing can help with this.

86. Get A Dog/Cat

If you live alone why not go to one of the pet rescue centres and get a dog or a cat. People who have pets are shown to be less lonely, more active, and show fewer signs of stress. read this article by elizabeth Scott

87. Break your Pattern

If you are the one who always goes shopping swap the routine with your partner. Or if you always go to a particular store, change it and go to the same store in another area. Do anything to break the patterns you have in life. This way your mind is kept more active.

88. Try New Food

We have trained our palettes over the years and have gotten used to eating certain foods day in and day out. Try new foods and train your palette to eat better foods.

89. Stimulate Your Brain By Going To A Concert

Whether it be a rock concert or am orchestral concert, getting out and hearing music live and being with people who enjoy the same music stimulates your mind and your emotions.

90. Join An Internet Group

Join an internet discussion group to further your education on topics of interest. Want to start a business? join a group and get ideas for best practice. Want to know more about tropical fish? join a group. This educates your mind, gives you ideas and lets you meet people who are interested in the same topics as you.

91. Volunteer To Help Others

Volunteering is a great way to give back to the community and help others learn the skills you have. Even if you don’t think you have skills you can still help someone out in your community just by talking or doing their shopping for 1 hour per week.

92. Read The Tao Te Ching

Has to be one of the best books, in my opinion, for developing your mind. read this blog byNaoto Matsumoto

93. Practice Patience

Waiting in queues, traffic jams, on a telephone call can be very frustrating sometimes. If you use the time to develop your mind and focus on your goals your frustration will dissipate very quickly. Use free time like this constructively instead of getting angry and putting yourself in a bad mood.

94. Practice Divergent Thinking

This is the practice of looking for multiple solutions to problems or issues that arise in your life, whether they be at home or at work. Don’t judge your solutions just put them down on paper until you can’t think of any other ways. get others involved in this as well. Read this article on divergent thinking

95. Put On A New Hat

Edward De Bono wrote a book called Six Thinking Hats in which he proposed you to put on a different, mental, hat for each area of your life. For example you put on your parent hat when talking to your kids, you can also put on your child hat for playing around with your kids. mentally putting on different hats allows you to better go in and out of different roles in your life.

96. Stop trying To Multitask

Multitasking can’t be done except with unconscious processes such as walking and talking. If you try to consciously multitask like make the kids lunches, have a telephone conversation and try and get the kids ready for school it can’t be done nearly as effectively as doing each task separately. Multitasking stresses out minds and helps to produce bad results. read this article by Dave Crenshaw

97. Write A Short Essay On The Books Your Read

Doing this will keep your mind active and helps your to read in a different way as you are analyzing books instead of just reading. this way you retain more information and in a few years time you don’t embarrass yourself by saying ‘yeah, that was a great book but I can’t remember what it was about.’

98. Allocate Time For Worrying

If you are a recovering worrier and you need some help, allocate a certain time each day to worry about everything. Once you’ve done the time of worry, leave it until the next day.

99. Stop Faffing And Just Do It

Faffing is the art of doing small things to avoid completing a bigger task. I am constantly getting on at my son and saying ‘Stop faffing!’. We spend too much time faffing instead on concentrating on the task at hand. Read this Article at Lifehack.org

100. Read The Dictionary

Learning a new word every 2 -3 days will increase your vocabulary by 120 – 170 words per year.

101. Always Over deliver On Your Promises

If you say your going to do something, don’t just do it and get the job complete, make sure you over deliver on everything you do.