Category Archives: Habit Formation

Energy, Focus, Habit Formation, Healthy Choices, Intentional Thinking, Persistence, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Self Improvement

This Power Principe Can Determine If You Will Be Successful!

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horizon where-my-heart-belongs-phil-koch

“I heard something the other day that I really like and wanted to pass along. For many decades now most of us are familiar with the principle from cybernetics (applied to computers) Garbage In Garbage Out (GIGO).

Using the computer analogy GIGO means if you write a garbage program you will get garbage results. In life, if you are mostly thinking garbage thoughts you will get garbage feelings and the results you get would be garbage. Why would anyone ever expect to get otherwise?

That is common sense, right? This is why the principle ‘you become and you get what you think about most’ makes so much sense. Whatever is predominant in your mind is what you get back. As Henry Ford said, If you think you can OR you think you can’t, you are right.’

Whatever we fill ourselves with is what we end up with. If we eat unhealthy junk food most of the time and we have no energy or are overweight or ill it should come as no surprise. Bad practices create bad habits which give us bad results. You are what you eat right?

If you smoke, drink to excess or engage in other unhealthy habits that are not good for you and you end up with health issues it should come as no surprise. Good practices create good habits which give us good results. We should be focused on good habits and what we want.

At one level we already know this. Still, we may need to be reminded often. We put the proper fuel in our cars. If we put any other substance in we don’t get very far and may ruin the engine. In order to work well we need to use the proper fuel. The proper fuel!

It just makes sense, doesn’t it? Everyday we need to do the right things. We need to repeat the correct things to get the results we want. Day by day. Moment to moment! Drop by drop we need to fill the tub with excellence in order to get excellence in return. Right?

If we fill ourselves with garbage thoughts and feelings it comes as no surprise that our lives reflect that and are filled with garbage or problems.  Garbage In Garbage Out. We get what we think about. Like attracts like. Birds of a feather flock together. It is all the same no matter how you say it. Bad practices get us bad results.

The notion I heard that I think is wonderful is NINO. Nourishment In Nourishment Out. If we focus on filling ourselves with the very best, the very finest, the most positive, powerful and wonderful nourishment we will get the finest nourishment back out. I love it! NINO!

When we nourish our thoughts and feelings positively we will get positive results in return. I like this because it directly reminds us what to do and what to focus on. It reminds us what we WANT to include rather than what we want to avoid. A major principle shared within all these blog pages IS focus on what you WANT!

It also balances everything out by providing both sides. It provides us something each of us can remember. It reminds us: Do NOT put Garbage In because we will get Garbage Out. Put Nourishment In because we will get Nourishment Out. GIGO and NINO.

Fill yourself daily with the right body and mind fuel. Nurture yourself and care for yourself. It pays off in both the short term and long term. Practice and implement successful career and life habits daily and you will get those results back. You may not notice the powerful effects right away but over the long haul you certainly will.

For example: If you start lifting weights and you never have before. You do a set of biceps curls. You may notice your bicep pumped a little due to increased blood flow. You may even feel the pain or discomfort the next day or two as changes in your muscle takes place. Other than that you may not notice much.

Keep doing it for 3 months or a year and you will notice an entirely new, larger shaped and cut bicep. Somethings just take time. Don’t rush it. Keep at it. Do what it takes to succeed at your career and in your life. Create healthy habits that nourish you and bring you increased happiness.

The results you want will be there if you continue. You won’t have a nice new strong bicep if you give up anywhere along the way. Stick with it and you will get the results. They can even surprise you! So Nourish yourself daily. This is how you use the Law Of Attraction to be, do and have anything you want in life. ” Rex Sikes

Delight in today and have some fun making good things happen!

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so.

PSS  A great practice is read the posts daily and then go back and re-read from time to time. You will discover things you missed the first few readings. Try it, you will be surprised.

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  COMING VERY SOON –  Daily Inspiration And Gratitude’s new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this and new content will be at new site. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. You will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. Please stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Attitude, Creating The Future, Emotions, Focus, Habit Formation, Intentional Thinking, Visualization

Without This You Are Like A Ship Without A Rudder

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blue-horizons-phil-koch

“Does it seem like you work hard and still get no where? You put in effort for a long time but it seems you are spinning your wheels? Are you going around in circles? Do you have difficulty moving forward consistently? Perhaps, you advance a couple of steps only to fall back a few more. Is this you?

Today, I would like to paraphrase a couple of Napoleon Hill’s powerful analogies. I love Hill. If you haven’t read his works yet, I heartily suggest that you do.

Hill states that a person needs to have a Definite Purpose in order to succeed. One should be absolutely clear about one wants and intends to do. It should be clarified and written down and enthusiastically read out loud at least twice a day.

You Need To Have A  Definite Purpose

Print it out and put it somewhere you will look at it a lot during the day. Keep it before you on the outside AND on the inside. In your mind’s eye see your goal as already accomplished. Feel what it is like to enjoy having what you want. Savor and bask in these feelings. Make them intense. The stronger they are the better it is. Hill says ’emotionalize’ your definite purpose!

Without a Definite Purpose, Hill states, you are like a ship in the middle of the ocean that loses it’s rudder. The ship struggles along going in circles, getting no where fast. All it’s efforts do it no good. Soon it will exhaust all of its power, all of its energy, and it will not make it to its destination.

Hard work alone will not get you where you want to go. You can work hard and get no where at all. Working hard without the correct specified mind set IS like being that ship without the rudder. You need to be able to steer your efforts appropriately based on what you absolutely want most.

Know what you want. Think success first. Get your mind set right. Feel successful. Become confident you can do it. Then all of your efforts will be aligned with your mind set and will valuable. Specify your purpose and steer your ship. Then all of your energy is aligned and utilized correctly to move you to the place you want to be.

Hill’s other analogy is marvelous! He uses it to illustrate the power of Organized Effort. Organized Effort is where all of your talents and abilities, resources and plans are aligned and congruent with your purpose and working in harmony. This is how you maximize your efforts to make your dreams come true.

Harness The Power Of Organized Effort

In an experiment, you most likely have conducted sometime in your life, or at least you’ve seen it done, you take a magnifying glass. This glass represents your Definite Purpose. Aim the glass at definite spot on a piece of paper. The glass focuses the sun’s rays and harness it’s power and soon the paper bursts into flames.

Without the magnifying glass focusing the sun’s rays on a definite spot the sun can shine on that same paper for millions of years without anything happening.

Determine your Definite Purpose. Know what you want. Feel good about it. If it doesn’t make you feel wonderful it isn’t for you. Focus your attention and direct your energies and efforts so you can move forward productively. You must have a purpose first or you will get nowhere. Notice Hill emphasizes your mind set over and above your actions. From your Definite Purpose you make Organized Effort.

Hill states these three things are necessary to succeed. The first is to know what you want. Have a Definite Purpose. Second, concentrate on it so that it becomes a Burning Desire. Your definite purpose occupies your thoughts day and night resulting in incredible, intense feelings. Third, take Appropriate Action through Organized Effort.

Have A Burning Desire

When your mind set is correct and your are passionate about achieving your goals then you be able to take the appropriate steps to making it a reality. Your thoughts and feelings will be in harmony. When these are aligned you are better able to create plans and work your plans. You will know the right steps to take. Everything begins to fall into place.

When you put these three principles into play you stop spinning your wheels and start advancing your goals and dreams. When you concentrate your energies and attention you make them available in your daily life. You become what you think about. You become clear, passionate and powerful.

You create and attract like minded people who resonate with your attitude and presence. You are better able to utilize resources and notice opportunities, events and circumstances that can help you. You transform yourself first and your life transforms with you.

Thoughts And Feelings Come First

You become the magnifying glass able to harness and focus the power to make your dreams come true. Once your mind set is correct and your definite purpose energized you are on your way to making it reality in your everyday life.

Remember, Hill said write it out and repeat it out loud enthusiastically, passionately at least twice a day. Energize your purpose. Feel great about it! Keep it in your mind. Affirm it. See it, hear it, touch it, smell it, taste it. When you hold it in your head you will someday hold it in your hand. Go for it and keep at it! Never stop!

If you have been working hard with not much to show for it realize now that transformation begins within. It is what you do on the inside that’s most important. Get that right and the rest will fall into place. Presently, you may have had the cart before the horse. It’s time to make the necessary change and create the life you want!” Rex Sikes

Have an incredible day! Enjoy!

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so.

PSS  A great practice is read the posts daily and then go back and re-read from time to time. You will discover things you missed the first few readings. Try it, you will be surprised.

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS  

*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  COMING VERY SOON –  Daily Inspiration And Gratitude’s new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this and new content will be at new site. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. You will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. Please stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Affirmations, Attitude, Celebration, Directed Questions™, Emotions, Energy, Focus, Gratitude, Habit Formation, Intentional Thinking, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Self Improvement, Self Talk, Uncategorized

Who Else Wants To Have More Fun & Overall Enjoyment!

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“Would you like to have more fun and overall enjoyment? Would you like to accelerate your own personal evolution? Would you like to find ways to make changing more fun and easier than ever? If you answered yes then are you willing to do it? It is simple enough and easy enough. All you have to do is be sure to do it.

Fun and delight come from what you put your energy into; what you focus and concentrate on and what you spend time doing. You can increase the amount of enjoyment exponentially by doing these following easy things.

If you haven’t yet read my previous post about asking Directed Questions™ or any of my posts on this topic you may wish to do that now or when you finish this post.

Whether you make declarative affirmation statements or use Directed Questions™ two things are critical. Sincerity is one. You must honestly ask. Be curious. Be sincere when you make the statements.

Even if you don’t fully believe them, yet be sincere and feel good. When you take on the attitude of a child you get out of your own way. Be open, curious, available, eager and enjoy!

Questions are an immense help when you aren’t able to fully believe an affirmation. Rather than declaring something that feels off to you ask questions on how soon you might begin to fully accept it. Ask questions that eventually lead you into believing.

Trying to repeat an affirmation that makes you feel less than glorious is not the right thing to do. Feel great when you affirm!

Feel good! Feel incredible! It isn’t the words that are the most effective. The words help paint the pictures in your mind. You want to use words that enable you to easily visualize. You want to be able to imagine your goals and dreams completed, feeling wonderful. The words are an important part but not the most important part.

The feelings are most important! Emotions drive the subconscious mind. Whether happy or sad, glad or angry your feelings inform your subconscious what to pay attention to and respond to. This is why so many people get what they don’t want. They think about what they don’t want while emotionally agitated and the subconscious goes ‘okay your wish is my command!’.

Feel good when you affirm and ask questions to direct your mind. This is powerful information. Use it!

Feel your best. Feel enthused, eager, delighted, joyful, confident, relaxed or peaceful. The stronger the emotion when asking or affirming the better. The quicker they work. Emotions are the key! Your goal should be to feel the very best you can most of your day. All of your day. Make it a habit!

It’s easy and fun when you are feeling your finest! Everything works together and it is like greasing the wheel. Enjoy and delight in it!

While that isn’t always possible there are things you can do if you get off track and need to get back on track. See other posts in this blog about steering back to center when needed. Keep in mind that feeling best for as often and as long as you can IS life changing.

Find reasons to be grateful right this moment. Find reasons to give thanks and celebrate everything in your life now and you will feel better much more of the time. Make it a habit! Bring your awareness to what is good right now! Live in this moment! Feel alive. Ask yourself, what is good and new? Look for it and you WILL find it!

Learn to manage your thoughts and emotions and you will begin to live like a champion. Your inner mental images, your self-talk and your feelings will all be aligned and congruent.When congruent you are on your way to making your dreams come true.

That is when it is ‘full speed ahead!’ More and more your moments will become wonderful! You will find more to enjoy and more that is meaningful!

Doing these things will produce wonderful feelings. The wonderful feelings you have will make you want to do it more. It begins a marvelous cycle. Doing means feeling good means doing means feeling good. Keep it up and you positively enhance your daily life!

You make it a habit it when you correctly repeat it again and again over a period of time. Develop great, powerful, positive habits.

Everything works together when you are feeling your finest. Do what you can to feel wonderful. State your affirmations and ask your Directed Questions™ in the most powerful, positive emotional states you can experience.  Think the best, only speak the best to self and others and feel your best and magic will happen!” Rex Sikes

It is another incredible day to enjoy!

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so.

PSS  A great practice is read the posts daily and then go back and re-read from time to time. You will discover things you missed the first few readings. Try it, you will be surprised.

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS  

*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  COMING VERY SOON –  Daily Inspiration And Gratitude’s new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this and new content will be at new site. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. You will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. Please stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

 

Affirmations, Attitude, Creating The Future, Directed Questions™, Focus, Habit Formation, Intentional Thinking, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Self Improvement, Self Talk

Now! You Can Overcome Difficulties & Have A Life Worth Living!

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horizon and whispy clouds

“Can we live a life worth having? Can we love and enjoy being loved? If we have only one go around then why not find the way to enjoy it and others as best we are able? Can we create a wonderful life and a wonderful world for everyone?

These are questions I find important that we ask ourselves and the purpose of this blog is to help us ask questions that bring us more wonderful results and answers.

Commit to making a change for yourself, commit to your goals and commit to asking yourself new sets of questions. Doing this will help you be happy and able to succeed beyond your wildest expectations.

You might ask the following samples and you might create your own:

I wonder how exquisitely talented I can become? How quickly will I begin to learn these new skills? In how many different ways can I express my confidence appropriately? How easily can I find my self being able to make these changes now? In how many different ways will I be delighted to look back and realize I was able to readily accomplish my goals?

How come I am so lucky? Why am I so wonderful? What are my very best qualities? How soon will I begin to notice myself feeling more surprised and delighted each day?  What new wonderful things will I discover today that can and will amaze me? How soon will I notice myself smiling and laughing more? How much fun can I discover?

I wonder how quickly and easily I can achieve my ideal weight by eating right and getting the right amount of sleep and exercise? How can I become thinner while enjoying the process? How soon will I find myself naturally eating the foods that are healthy for me? In how many positive and powerful ways can I picture my ideal self?

I wonder how delighted I will be as I begin to notice the many different ways I am feeling better and better? How naturally and easily can I begin to pay attention to the most pleasant, wonderful positive feelings? Which sensation in my body feels the very best right now? What can I pay attention to that makes me feel loved?

How delighted  can I become to naturally notice myself feeling more vibrant and alive? How many great feelings can I discover? In how many different ways can I powerfully imagine myself successful? What are the many different ways I can begin to notice my life becoming more and more wonderful? What am I most grateful for?

How quickly and easily will I begin to talk nicely to myself in ways that make me feel grand?  How easily can I see myself feeling incredible having accomplished my goals? What are the best feelings I can feel today? How soon can I begin to notice and pay attention to the many different ways I am blessed and feel absolutely thankful?f How soon can I notice everything always works out well for me?

You can substitute pronouns. For example you can ask yourself or another person the any of the above questions or the following:

How soon will you begin to notice with absolute delight how happy you can become? Do you realize how exciting it is going to be when you take this vacation? In how many different ways are you going to enjoy it? What do you imagine will be the most fun for you? Isn’t it wonderful to be able to relax and let go?

Asking questions of yourself and others directs the mind to areas it is most useful, positive and beneficial to focus on. You aren’t looking for ‘an’ answer you are allowing your brain to find examples. Birds of a feather flock together so the brain comes up with more and more.

The more you ask the more you can find and delight. These are samples. Create your own. Ask repeatedly. The more you ask the more quickly you will benefit. Soon you will find it becoming a natural and automatic habit to look for the good and the new  in your experiences. Remember, we become what we think about!

Questions are useful in feeling better, learning new behaviors and skills easily, overcoming difficulties and discovering new opportunities and advantages you may have been missing. Asking the right questions repeatedly in the right way directs the mind to look for numerous ways to evolve yourself or solve your problems and resolve your difficulties gently. Take it easy and enjoy asking!

You will readily begin to direct your attention and yourself in positive and powerful ways. Right now, notice how well these work to direct your attention and the attention of others in positive ways. Ask nicely! How you ask is as important as what you ask. These types of questions are especially wonderful with children and teens!

I have shared Directed Questions™ since 1980. Countless numbers of people have benefited positively and powerfully by learning to direct their minds. You will too!

So what can you do today for yourself and for others that will put a smile on your face and on theirs? More tomorrow.” Rex Sikes

Have an incredible day!

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so.

PSS  A great practice is read the posts daily and then go back and re-read from time to time. You will discover things you missed the first few readings. Try it, you will be surprised.

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS  

*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  COMING VERY SOON –  Daily Inspiration And Gratitude’s new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this and new content will be at new site. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. You will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. Please stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Attitude, Creating The Future, Focus, Habit Formation, Happiness, Healthy Choices, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Responsibility, Self Improvement, Success

Unleash The Magic Within You Right Now!

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horizon tire tracks blue sky

“People want their life to change quickly. Do you? Are you one of these people who wants to have it now? Transformation can happen instantly? Often there is a breakthrough or ‘eureka’ moment when everything changes. This is very possible!

Then it takes time for everything else to adjust to the change. If you want six pack abs it will take some time to acquire. If you want to keep the six pack you know you will have to maintain them. If you get physically fit you still have to eat right and exercise right to stay fit. Still, there are moments when powerful things happen suddenly.

Just by reading this blog you could instantly change! Did you know that? You could transform in a single moment! You could enjoy great improvements in your life. You could delight more and have incredible happiness. You could skyrocket your career success. Its true!

Time Spent Reading Is A Wise Use Of Your Time

If you read my blog regularly you will learn and come to know what to do to get what you want. You will know what to do when you have difficulty and how to overcome it. It is rich with life transforming principles. That is one of the reasons I write the blog. I want to share what others have used, kept secret, or openly revealed that people still miss out on. When you learn amazing things will begin happening!

Just by reading! When you read and fill your mind with positive, inspirational material on a daily basis you can develop the necessary winning mindset to be, do and have anything you want in life. You can learn to live as a champion does and make your life marvelous.

So am I doing something to you? No. Is it what I write? Partly. What I share is wisdom from ancient times to modern times. Most of it is not mine I am just sharing what I have learned during my life. I am a messenger.

And one powerful message I want to deliver to you NOW is this: Read the blog. Read other inspirational material. Fill your mind. Read it and go back and re-read it regularly. You can and will transform. Go back through the blog site and read it again. Here is why.

You Make New Neural Connections And Pathways

Reading these words can instantly transform you but it is not because of the words. It is because of what you do with the words. It is because of your thoughts about the words. Everything in these blogs is about what you do! (Who is this YOU I write about? It is you and me. It is all of us. We are all in this together. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander). You must do something with it!

Information doesn’t transform us unless we apply it. If you know what to do but do not do it, you actually don’t know it. You can’t or you would be doing it. If you have the secret to life change and don’t use it you haven’t the secret. I am telling you right now here is an incredible secret if you put into action will make a phenomenal difference for you.

Transformation occurs due to your rumination. Your cognitions, and reflections. When you ponder over, think about, study and consider these concepts repeatedly your mind can begin to do astonishing things. Your mind will make connections within. Your contemplating and meditating over the concepts continually is like preparing the soil so seeds can sprout and grow.

What transforms you is not the words but your repeated study of the words and principles. The insights you gain is how change occurs. Your ‘ahas’ are what transforms you. Your instant illumination, that powerful moment when the concepts and principles gel and come together. That moment IS the result of you repeated filling your mind.

Apply Your Insights And You Evolve

Your personal ‘eureka’ instants are what changes you in amazing ways. These flashes and insights that you will have is when the magic happens. It is when everything suddenly comes together for you and you wake up to a new idea or a new way of being. You ‘get it’ finally!

This is precisely why it is important to fill your mind daily with positive, inspiring material. When you read it you can have an insight that changes everything! Wham! Everything comes together and you know what you need to do! That is a beautiful moment. You will still have to put things into motion and follow through but it all came together in an instant.

Your insights will lead you in positive and powerful directions. The conclusions you draw, change and draw again will change you in more beneficial ways than you can imagine. You will notice new things in your journey that previously remained hidden. You will wake up to new opportunities and advantages  as your mind assembles the principles and concepts with your experiences.

Correct Repetition Over Time Brings Success

So it it critical to get repeated exposure over time. When you go back and re-read the material a week or two later it can even seem entirely new material. You will be surprised by what you missed previously. Go back a month later. Keep re-reading.

The reason for this is because between the repeated readings you have thought about the principles, put them into action, gained experiences and evolved yourself. Write out your thoughts and conclusions. Then a while late, week or two, month or two re-write them out again. You will gain so much as you put into practice these simple practices.

By continuing to revisit the same concepts your mind has the opportunity to tie things together. If you only read something once and move on it similar to taking one bite of your dinner. You got a morsel. It is like pumping iron once. It doesn’t get the intended results. When you pump iron over and over muscles grow.

You Can Be Do And Have Anything You Want

So when you return to the same material you notice new things in it. Your mind puts it together in new ways. It is a fantastic evolutionary process. That means it is ongoing and improving. You can’t exposure you mind to positive messages enough. Each time you return to the same positive material you will get new things from it!

Those who are truly successful already do this.Those who have fabulous lives read regularly. It is really a secret that is hidden in the open, yet few take the time to do it. If you will you will discover a remarkable new world opening up to you. So please don’t miss out.

This material comes together in a new, meaningful and powerful ways for you. I write it to get it to you and to remind me. It is your cognition, your thought processes that are being stimulated by what you read. Focus on it, immerse yourself in it and real magic can happen. All the magic is within you.” Rex Sikes

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so. If you benefit from these words please help someone else benefit too.

PSS I have discussed how to make changes more easily using questions throughout these blog posts. You can search by topic and find some. A great thing to do is read the posts daily and then go back and re-read from time to time. You will discover things you missed the first few readings. Try it, you will be surprised.

Make today fantastic!

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS  

*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Beliefs, Focus, Gratitude, Habit Formation, Intentional Thinking, Law Of Attraction, Living In The Moment, Patience, Persistence, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Self Improvement

Do You Know What The Greatest Deception Is?

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horizon barn and clouds

“Have you ever considered the impact on you messages from outside of you have? How you have been shaped and molded by those around you from birth until today? We are bombarded every second with messages from others.

Parents, friends and advertisers put out messages in all shapes and sizes in all forms and media. Countless times each day, from when we get up until we go to sleep there is an endless stream. It never ceases. These messages are part of our lifestyle as much as air and water.

We were raised to plan for a rainy day. To be careful, to save and to not put all our eggs in one basket. Some of us were taught to have fall back plans in case our original goals met with failure. We were told our dreams were unrealistic. We were told to try it for a while and if it doesn’t’t work out do something else.

You Have Believed What You Have Been Told

Many were told to get ‘a real job’, ‘a decent job’ and to settle for that. Stop being fanciful. Stop being a dreamer. No one can make money that way. You must work to get ahead. Be happy with what you have. You are too young or too old to do what you want. You don’t have what it takes mentally, physically or emotionally.

Be careful. Take it easy. Watch out for strange men. . It is a hard, cruel world. You name it we received endless messages, repeated again and again, from loving, caring, well meaning people who tried to keep us safe and sound. They loved us and didn’t want to see us hurt. Other messages came from teachers, adults, authority figures, governments, peers and the media and still do.

These messages were (and are) that we aren’t enough; we look funny with funny hair;  we need deodorant because we smell; our teeth aren’t right; we are out of step, fashion and style. We don’t drive the right car; we love or hate the right or wrong people.

Limiting Messages Come From Everywhere

There ought to be a law about;  you need to be a good patriot. Follow the rules; don’t make waves. You will never amount to anything. If you don’t have what celebrities have (or your neighbors) you are nothing. We have been told again and again that we need something more to complete us because we just ain’t enough.

At some point you encountered Positive Thinking or  the Law Of Attraction and you are told that many of the messages you have been getting for all of your life may not be accurate. You are told to ignore, drop or change those prior messages because that is not the real you. You are told things now that you may not even accept.

You are wonderful, deserving, abundant, talented, healthy, and you have access to all good things. You can do it if you think you can. Anything is possible! If you can conceive it and believe it you can achieve it. You are told you are worthy and wonderful, and to have faith in yourself. You can be, do and have anything you want!

Anything Worth Doing Is Worth Doing Poorly At First

These messages encourage you to find your abilities, strengths, resources and talents; to look within yourself to get over past hardship and disappointment and to enjoy an incredible present while creating a marvelous future. These messages say you can do it!

Your mind, already conditioned with habitual fears, stories, doubts, reasons, excuses, blames and all those prior messages from others, responds the way it was conditioned to. It doubts it, fears it, it is skeptical, it denies and all the rest.

You attempt positive thinking and up comes that old conditioning. You encounter resistance. You think it is harder than you anticipated. Perhaps, you fall back into the old way of thinking and abandon the new thoughts altogether. Many do. You wouldn’t be the first. If you stick with it you will join the elite club of those few who are able to transform their lives.

Anything Worth Doing Requires Effort And Patience

Replacing an old habit with a new habit does require effort. If you learned something one way and now you need to learn a new way it can seem difficult but it is very do-able. It is absolutely possible. You train your mind the same way you train a dog. You use patience, kindness, firmness and reward. You must keep at it if you want to succeed.

Consider that anything worth doing requires effort. Anything truly worth doing and getting good at is worth doing poorly at first. Think of anything you have ever gotten really good at; a hobby, a sport, some talent you now have that you didn’t at one time. You weren’t as good when you started as you are today, are you?

It took time and effort and patience to develop your skills and abilities. You may have even considered quitting at one time. Today, you are able to do something you weren’t at first and you are glad you have this talent in your life. It enriches you.

The same is true about changing your thoughts from those that limit you to those that encourage, enable and move you forward. It can be tough. You may feel like you want to quit. If you persist you will get much better. Ultimately, you will be glad you spent the energy because thinking positively enriches you.

If You Think You Can Or You Think You Can’t You Are Right

Keep at it. Don’t quit. Fill your mind with positivity. Do what it takes to get better. Make it a habit and it will serve you faithfully. Be patient and kind and gentle. Celebrate and be glad because what is the alternative?

The alternative is to do what you did previously. Do you really want to continue to live that way? If it is great, by all means continue. If it not as great as you want it to be, then there is an alternative that helps you get what you want to get. Focus on being more positive and you will be more positive as you put energy into it.

The greatest deception is that YOU can’t. The greatest deception is that you are limited! It is a lie. Stop believing it. You absolutely can be and do and have anything you want in life when you learn how! The greatest deception is that YOU aren’t enough. Stop believing the lie and discover what is possible for you!

The greatest deception is that YOU have accepted limiting things about yourself that you unwittingly adopted from others. The deceit is you are living from their beliefs not your own. You are traveling the world using someone else’s road map. Isn’t it time you start thinking for yourself? You are not limited unless YOU accept you are!

Stop Believing The Lies Start Believing The Truth

Your life can completely and most wonderfully continue to change for the better. As wise people have pointed out, happiness is not a destination but a journey. Now is the only time we have. The past is gone the future is yet to arrive. Live well now and enjoy the present and tomorrow will be taken care of too!

I’ll share more about these limiting messages and beliefs and what we can do to live powerfully in the next blog post. Meanwhile, do it! Think positive. Be optimistic. Live with gratitude and in celebration. Have fun, delight, put a smile on your face and on others. Enjoy the present moment and the world around you. Love yourself and believe in you. You will be surprised what you find!!” Rex Sikes

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so. If you benefit from these words please help someone else benefit too.

PSS I have discussed how to make changes more easily using questions throughout these blog posts. You can search by topic and find some. A great thing to do is read the posts daily and then go back and re-read from time to time. You will discover things you missed the first few readings. Try it, you will be surprised.

Today is a new beginning!

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Affirmations, Attitude, Creating The Future, Definite Chief Purpose, Directed Questions™, Emotions, Energy, Focus, Gratitude, Habit Formation, Happiness, Intentional Thinking, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Self Improvement, Self Talk

The Secret Successful People Know: How You Ask ‘Why’ Determines Your Success Or Failure!

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“Did you know that questions direct your mind? They do. When you ask a question, of yourself, your mind goes on a search to find experiences and answers. It looks in a broad way for classes of experiences and multiple examples to fulfill the request.

Questions are tricky because you may not even be aware that you asked one or more. When conversing with another you know you asked a  question. I’m concerned right now with the questions you ask yourself in your self-talk. These questions you  may be asking all day long and not even aware of it.

What You Ask Yourself And Others Is Critical

We grew up often having to answer accusatory questions such as: ‘why did you do that?’ ‘Why do you always do that?’ ‘Why can’t I count on you?, ‘Why are you naughty?’ and many more like these. If you ask a child, why the child is good or why the child is bad you will get two different answers and sets of feelings.

If you ask the child, why are you good? The child has to think about that, find examples of being good, feeling good, doing the ‘right’ thing. You could ask, ‘in how many ways are you good’, or ‘how do you always know to do the right thing’, or ‘isn’t it wonderful to be good’, or ‘why do you enjoy feeling good?’ Notice how the child feels and responds.

These questions direct our mind, and the child’s to explore and find answers. The bottom line is we may never actually know ‘why’ but we still come up with answers, reasons and experiences. The questions we were asked and we ask of ourselves subsequently helped to form our self image. Who we are and the quality of our life is determined by the questions we ask of ourself.

Questions Direct Your Mind To Find Examples And Reasons

Ask the child, why are you bad? The child goes through the same process but feels quite different. Ask the child this enough times and the child begins to identify with the feelings, the reasons and the question itself.  The brain traveling the same neural pathways repeatedly becomes habituated. Whenever an issue arises the resulting feelings and conclusions are, ‘it must be because I am bad’.

It could be any other reason as well or in addition to. It could be because I am:  fat;  unlovable; stupid; uncaring; slow; unhealthy; poor; unlucky; un-coordinated; frivolous; cautious; risky; small; weak; tall; boy; girl; young; old, I don’t know how; it is too hard; I’ve never done it before. The list of reasons why is endless.

We grew up being blamed and then blaming ourselves. We tried to escape the blame by diverting it. We learned quickly to  accuse others, or things or circumstances. We made up reasons even if we were not sure what the truth of the matter actually was. This became chronic in many, if not most of, us. It is habit and we find ourselves doing the same today without thinking. It is automatic!

The Questions You Ask Determine Whether You Succeed Or Fail

The questions, the silent ones, we ask ourselves are insidious and difficult to recognize. We utter them on the inside or under our breath. ‘Why me?’ ‘Why do things always suck?’ How come I never get a break?’ ‘Why does s/he always treat me this way?’ ‘Will I never get ahead?’ Recognize any of these or variations?

What makes it critical is you are directing your mind in damaging ways. You aren’t helping yourself. You are harming yourself. These questions are habitual. Chronic. You ask them before realizing you are thinking them. You have done it forever. It is time to stop it!

Asking questions like these aren’t making you feel better nor do they improve the quality of your life. When you focus your mind on the very things you want to avoid you end up creating more of the same.

You become what you think about most during the day. You get what you focus on. You brain delivers you multiple reasons and examples per your request. Your inner world creates your outer world. It starts with the mind and your feelings (body and mind being part of the same) and affects your actions.

Questions And Thinking Produces Feelings

Here is a bet for you. If you are asking yourself, unproductive, crappy questions that lead you to find examples and reasons you are broken, bad and feeling unworthy and terrible IT IS A BET you are asking your children and your loved ones the same types of questions. You ask the same of everyone around you. Bet on it!

It makes sense someone asked them of you. If you want your kids and loved ones to feel better and grow up confident and capable ask them the kind of questions that serve to do that. Help direct their mind and help them learn to direct their own mind in positive, powerful, productive, optimistic ways. Help them become a Can Do person not a Can’t Do person. Keep this in mind!

If you are asking, ‘why you are so unlucky’ you are not creating luck! If you are asking ‘how can I get out of debt’ you are focused on debt. If you are asking ‘why you can’t lose wait’ you are focused on being fat. If you are saying, ‘I want a non-smoker’ you are focused on smoking or people who smoke and how you don’t want one of those.

You may think you are being positive but you are thinking the opposite! You are NOT thinking and getting what you think you are. I don’t want to think of a green spotted cow right now. Oooops too late! You don’t get healthy focusing on illness. You don’t get rich trying to get out of debt. You don’t become better off thinking about and asking why you aren’t

What Are You Focused On?

You get healthy focused on health. You get rich focused on riches and abundance. You are already getting whatever you are focused on. Do you get this, yet? Whatever you predominantly hold in your mind is why you feel, behave and have what you have. Good or bad. If you results, circumstances, events in your life suck trace it back to the direct link WHAT YOU ARE THINKING AND ASKING ABOUT!

Whatever you hold in your mind’s eye, whatever you ask about, whatever you concentrate on, whatever you entertain or stew over is what you bring about. Ideas become things. Thoughts become things. Your life is a direct result of the kind of mindset you have! To change the life you have you must first change your mindset. You must ask better questions and thing better thoughts about what you DO want. Make sure it is what you want to include!

You don’t just sit in your room dreaming and wishing for these things. You are not hoping for a new life and doing nothing about it. What I propose is that you learn a powerful way to aim your mind at what it is you want so you are better equipped and more quickly able to get it. YOU make it happen. You align your thoughts and positive feelings then the actions you take come from these.

You align your mindset with what you want. Get this critical area straight first. Decide what you want and you keep your mind on it. Imagine how wonderful it is to be in possession of what you want and you feel these incredible feelings. If you are feeling wonderful as you think about what you want you are on the RIGHT track. If you don’t feel good that is a SIGNAL you are on the WRONG track.

You can monitor your thoughts by how you are feeling moment to moment. The goal is to feel the best most of the time you are awake. That is the key. Then with this mindset and wonderful feelings you do what is necessary to make your dreams come true. Your mindset precedes your actions.

IF your self-image/mindset sucks your actions will too. You won’t do the right things with the wrong thinking! Get your thinking right and everything else will fall into place.

You Can’t Escape The Power Of Your Thoughts

When your thinking is correct, you will be aware of opportunity and possible advantages and create a road map. You begin to see in new and clearer ways. Just as when you buy yourself a brand new watch, or blouse or car and suddenly you begin spotting those same items around you. You will become aware of new opportunities, events, and people to include in your life.

You need to know where you want to end up. You work to get there Along the way you may have to make adjustments and take detours. Obstacles and challenges may arise. Learn from these and keep heading toward your ultimate destination. Never give up and you will succeed.

If you build your house in sand or use faulty building materials your house will never stand for long. It will collapse. The same is true if your goals and dreams aren’t built with the proper mindset. When you build a strong foundation with positive, powerful thinking you can do anything.

Your Questions And Thoughts Serve You Or They Don’t

Think right and you will be unstoppable. Thing wrong and you will not get very far, if you get anywhere at all. What you think about is what you get and become. Manage what you think about. Ask yourself better questions that direct your mind into what you want to be, feel, do and have. I began using my Directed Questions™ by 1980 and it is powerful.

Spend your time thinking, ‘How come I am so lucky? ‘In how many different ways am I fabulous?’ Why do things always work out right for me?’ What are the best feelings I can feel today?’ How many smiles can I discover throughout this morning?’ ‘Why do I always wake up feeling wonderful?’ ‘Which of the many incredible feelings I have will I experience first today?’

Make Changes More Easily By Asking The Right Questions

‘How quickly can I notice myself feeling even more delighted?’ How much fun can I have today?’ ‘In how many different ways can I discover myself amazed and feeling blessed with all the good things I have in life? Ask questions like these again and again all day long. YOUR LIFE WILL CHANGE! Invent your own and keep asking!

Successful people know how to use their mind. They know what they think, how they think and how they ask for things makes the critical difference. You can be successful too when you first learn to think successfully! Think positive. Affirm and have faith. Love yourself and your current life, celebrate and be thankful and you will move forward swiftly. Plants take time to bloom just as it takes time to build a house.

Ultimately, you will be, and do and have anything you want because you targeted it, aimed at it and never lost sight of it. You came, you saw, you conquered! Be a champion. Think like a champion and you will live like a champion!” Rex Sikes

PS YOU may know someone who could really benefit from hearing this message. Feel free to share this with them via social media or email. Buttons below make it easy for you to do so. If you benefit from these words please help someone else benefit too.

PSS I have discussed how to make changes more easily using questions throughout these blog posts. You can search by topic and find some. A great thing to do is read the posts daily and then go back and re-read from time to time. You will discover things you missed the first few readings. Try it, you will be surprised.

Delight in today to the utmost!

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Attitude, Focus, Habit Formation, Healthy Choices, Learning, Persistence, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Responsibility, Self Improvement, Success

Do This To Stop Suffering & Start Living! Change Doesn’t Have To Be Hard

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“Do you ever feel overwhelmed with too much information? Too many adds! Too much noise! Do you sometimes feel things are going by way too fast? It’s like we have become a fast food consumer of everything. Cheap ingredients and not very healthy. Does it seem like everything gets treated as, ‘Next’, move along?

Have you ever felt, because it is so fast, we don’t get the thoroughness or depth we need anymore?  So much is  just all surface and shallow? We need to explore some concepts deeper than they typically get treated, don’t you think?

This is the day and age of distraction by bombardment. There are so many competing distractions, advertisements, messages assaulting us. We go to read an article and a assaulted with endless pop-up messages. The news has talking heads and scrolls along the bottom distracting us from what is being said, or read or vice versa. Stock market reports may be littering the side.

Distractions Are Rampant

Everything is going on all at once. Doesn’t it  seem  as if someone has hurled pasta against the wall? Everything is there, some of it sticks some of it doesn’t. It is difficult for important messages to get through. Some social media limits who can be reached by you, but meanwhile, allows you to be reached by advertisers.

Few of the important messages get the signal attention or strength needed for us to recognize them and then act on. News cycles are fast. Rarely more than 24 hours. Every hour they need viewers for advertising dollars so constant updates are provided. More bangs and more whistles added  to keep you watching.

It is designed  to keep you hooked. Even if they are wrong, they don’t care, they will change it and move on. Tomorrow their will be another media managed crisis for the water cooler conversation and more gossip. Fast and over! Another new problem or celebrity in trouble or another disease to worry about. On and on it goes.

You Need To Focus

So you might wonder why I write similar things from day to day? There is a purpose. I write on a few themes. I re-visit these again and again. I attempt to provide some new angle or another way of considering the same information. It is on purpose!

People need to hear the same message multiple times before they actually hear it? Advertisers know how many times they need to repeatedly expose you to their product for brand awareness to take hold. Repetition is necessary for you to know a brand exists and consider it when purchasing.

People opt for the familiar. Even if they have never tried it if it feels familiar they are more likely to purchase. Advertisers work hard to create familiarity with you. They repeat the adds over and over.They know how many times you need to view an informercial before you are likely to pick up the phone and dial in.

Repetition Builds Ability And Habit

They know you need to get the same message again and again and again before you will act on it. Especially, in this day and age where so many messages are vying for your attention. For you to take action, as opposed to an impulse buy, you need to be conditioned to take action through repetition.

I want the really important, life changing messages, to get through to you.  I want to increase the signal strength needed for readers to recognize them and then act on. I know that repeated exposure is necessary for the person to get first an inkling, then a recognition and then ultimately a desire to act on the message. Then action!

You become what you think about. You have read this from me again and again. It is not my saying, I only use it. You become what you think about most during your day! It’s true! I want you to utilize what advertisers already know so you will put these life changing principles and practices to work for you.

You need to read or hear the same message or a similar message every day, multiple times a day so that eventually it takes root and grows. If every day you read the same message or a similar message your mind receives it again and again. You learn new things each time you re-read.

Develop Positive Habits

You have the possibility to actually understand and act on the message. By repeated exposure you learn and grow, Habits are formed by repetition. It is a simple process actually.

You learn best when you re-read, when you re-visit, when you re-expose your mind to the concepts.  You develop skills when you repeat the skills you want to learn. Through constant repeating a thought or behavior you make habitual. Repetition is the mother of skill.

Repetition is the mechanism by which skills and muscles are built. When you exercise, you may use reps (short for repetitions) and sets (groups of particular repetitions).  You do 4 sets of 10 reps adding weight to each set. Or 5 sets of 4 reps. You repeat the exercises over again adding challenge or more weight. Overtime muscle is built.

Expose Your Mind Again And Again To Positive Messages

Habits are formed by repetition through time. If you repeat the same thing over and over ultimately it becomes habit. If you consistently think positive thoughts you will develop the positive habit.

You can develop the thinking habits and the action habits of those who are wildly successful if you will only think and do what they do for a long enough period of time.  Then their positive, powerful, successful habits will be your life changing powerful, positive, successful habits.

It all begins in your mind. It begins with what you think about most. If you think you can or you think you can’t you are right about it. It is up to you. So…

I re-visit the themes to constantly provide your mind the important messages over and over so they take hold. You can assist yourself by reading and re-reading again and again the positive material in positive inspiring books, this blog, and articles.

Read, Listen, Act

You can put up inspirational posters and pictures and sayings that keep you focused on what you want in life. Listen again and again to motivational audios and watch DVD’s that help you feel your best and do your best.

Fill your mind up with positive messages every day multiple times a day. When it becomes habit and a lifestyle it becomes easier to make the changes you want to make. Your attitude determines you altitude. Your mindset is the precursor to any change you want to make and keep permanently.

You will stop suffering and start living powerfully when you consistently expose and fill your mind with powerful positive messages. You become what you think about. You become what you think about. You become what you think about most during the day.

Let that sink in. If you aren’t right now thinking positive powerful thoughts you are indeed already whatever you are thinking about. Your results and your life reflect that.  If you aren’t happy with where you are currently at begin today to do what is necessary to get what you want.

You Become What You Think About

If you will just start thinking positively your life will change. The easiest way to begin is to commit to reading some positive and inspiring material a little bit each day. The more you can do the better but if you can’t do at least a page.

Commit to reading each day for 30, 60 or 90 days. Habits take time to develop just as building muscles or losing weight does. Be patient  and persistent. As you read you will discover many things and what you can do. You will become more inspired and motivated. It is all good. Just do it!

Read then go back later and re-read. Then go back later and re-read again. Each time you will get new things from the material. The same is true about audio, video. You should re-listen, re-watch these materials. Space it out the repeats, a few days, a week or a few weeks and then return. It will really help you.

Each Small Positive Step Leads To Positive Change

How soon change occurs will be up to you. Read, listen, fill your mind. If you want to change you will have to change what you are doing and do different things. You will have to do the positive steps consistently to get where you want to get to.

How you think about it determines how you will go about it and for how long. Most people try to change the behavior without having addressed the mindset first, so they do not get very far. I have in my past, perhaps you have tried that way as well. It just does not work well. Hope doesn’t get you the power to make and keep the change.

If you want to change anything about yourself your mind and your self image must be the first thing that changes. Then everything else will follow. I encourage you each day in different and similar ways to affect the change that matters most. Change your mind and your life will change! Make it a habit!” Rex Sikes

Make today count!

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

 

Creating The Future, Focus, Habit Formation, Intentional Thinking, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Self Talk, Visualization

What To Do When You Can’t Stop Obsessing!

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“Have you ever been bothered by a thought that seems unrelenting?No matter how many times you tried not to think about it the thought persisted.

That can be really tough when we want to stop thinking about certain things but cannot, wouldn’t you agree. Would you like to learn how you can change this?

In my workshops and seminars through the past decades I would point out the way we think and remember things. Most of us can do this quite easily. If you want to learn,  I invite you to play along and notice what happens.

In workshops I speak this out loud while participants close their eyes, follow along and notice. It’s most effective if instead of reading I could ask you to close your eyes while I speak, but it will have  to suffice for you read along and imagine. You can still easily do it. JUST really, do what I suggest.

I am going to say (write) some words and I want you to notice what comes to mind and how. TAKE YOUR TIME and fully do the exercise as much as possible.

Okay, ready, here we go:

What do you think of, when I write, or say,the word DOG?

THINK of one!

Did you think of one? Notice what dog comes to mind. If you didn’t go ahead and do so now. What kind of dog did you think of? Was it a specific dog? Whose dog is or was it, where and when. Did you just see a dog or did you remember being with a particular dog?

ALL answers are correct answers since there is no right or wrong.

Just notice. What did you notice?

Okay,  next example:

What happens or changes when I say, WET DOG.

Think about it a moment. Did you see the same or different dog? What changed from when I first ask you to think of a dog. Notice whatever you notice.  Take your time don’t rush. Notice as much as you are able about this image or memory.

Next example:

Okay, what happens when I angrily shout loudly, BAD DOG!

What changed? Notice what you notice. Take your time to describe it.

What were you able to remember or see in each example.

For some people they see ‘A’dog at first. It might be a random dog or their favorite type of dog. It could be their dog.

Typically, the dogs become more personalized with the adjectives placed in front.  Most people see something different in each case. Most people remember personal instances with WET and BAD. It could be the same or different dog at the same or different times.

Some recall with very much detail. It doesn’t matter whether this occurred or not. Much of it depends on whether you like or dislike dogs or spent any amount of time around dogs. This is part of our ability to recall and remember.

Ways Of Seeing: Remembered And Constructed

We also have the ability to see or imagine that which never existed before. We can create. We have the ability to put things together in unique ways that they are not likely to exist as is. Either way we are able to construct. I am going to ask you to imagine along here too.

Dive in and enjoy the exercise. I will be putting together things you mostly know and could recognize, with some variation thrown in. You’ll see. Alright, are you ready? Read the description and then close your eyes and do it.

I’d like you to imagine, right now, a purple elephant flying over your head, in the sky, with a monkey on it’s back waving a yellow cowboy hat yelling,’Yipee, yipee!’ Can you do this? Great go ahead and continue to imagine the purple flying elephant with the monkey on its back over head.

Good. Most see this quite easily. Now see it again. Imagine the purple elephant swooping and flying and circling with the monkey on it’s back all over above you. Watch it do loops and see it’s flight path, notice the landscape.

NOW STOP thinking of purple elephant and monkey. Don’t think about the flying purple elephant and the monkey wearing the yellow hat. Put it out of your mind.

Got you! It is very difficult. Actually, it’s impossible to not think about something. Did you notice?

BUT if you begin to imagine green and orange striped pigs dancing up and down the hillsides, rolling around, having a blast, singing ‘Happy Birthday’  playfully tossing gold and silver stars and flowers about.

You will forget about the elephant and monkey.

The mind works this way. If you say don’t or do not or try not to think of something you will think about it. Why, because in order to not think about it you have to first know what you don’t want to think about.

Don’t Don’t Work

When you tell a child, ‘Don’t spill!’ In order for the child to understand what you mean the child must first remember what it means TO SPILL. It is likely, sometime after saying, ‘Don’t Spill’ we follow up with, ‘I told you not to spill’.

Our brains don’t handle negatives. We don’t or can’t or won’t. Instead we do or can or will. Keep that in mind whenever you try to stop yourself from thinking about something. You may not be very successful. WHAT YOU CAN DO is think of something else!!!

What You Resist Persists

You can’t oppose it and shut it off. It doesn’t work like that. You have to redirect your thinking. You have to distract it by thinking other thoughts. Yes, with annoying thoughts you may have to redirect over and over. Especially, at first but if you keep doing it you learn how to do it.

Whenever you dwell on unwanted thoughts or obsess about them they will take over your life. We can’t shut off negative thoughts but we can chose to think about something else. We think positive thoughts instead. I write about in this blog many times the need to learn to direct back toward center.

You can’t ‘not’ want to. You can’t shut them off easily but you can choose to redirect your thinking to other more productive and positive thoughts. If you choose to think positive thoughts your life will become much better. So much better you will be amazed!

I use the example, of how, when we drive down the center of a lane we actually make micro-corrections all along. We adjust the wheel left and right continuously to keep going straight.

Direct And Redirect Your Thoughts

This is what we do while we learn to gain control control of our thinking. We steer back to the positive thought again and again. Anything done repeatedly long enough becomes a habit. You will learn the habit of managing your thoughts with some effort.

It takes a little while and it gets easier and easier. You gain more control and then what used to bother you no longer does as much. In time you learn how to better handle it.

Eventually you get to the point where you can go on in spite of it or it no longer has any pull. Ultimately, you succeed. So stop resisting and start acquiring new positive habits that serve you reliably, as the old ones did, but that are much better for you.

It is amazing how powerful and well this works. Yes, it does require discipline and persistence. Anything  you currently think or do that bothers you that you would like to change is already a habit. It has been developed in the past and serves you reliably all along.

Develop New Positive Habits

Even if it is unwanted it is something you have learned to do. Might as well congratulate yourself on being a good learner because criticizing yourself is not likely to be effective. My guess, you have already been doing that to no avail. Time to change. Embrace it and then move on.

One more thing. Since it is not very effective to stop thinking about something. Don’t think of a flying purple elephant… Realize this. You just did what you didn’t want to do! You thought of a flying purple elephant with a monkey on its back…

Okay enough, enough! BUT do you get it? You can’t think of what you don’t want and not get it. Did you understand that? If you represent what you don’t want (don’t spill) you are likely to get precisely what you don’t want.

Some people, I was, are great at getting exactly what they don’t want. ‘I don’t want a smoker’, ‘I don’t want to be broke’ , ‘I don’t want to be fat’. Instead, and one of the many reasons I write this blog, you have to know exactly what you DO want. You must think and say what you want to include in your life not what you want to exclude.

Why You Must Focus On What You Want

This is why we focus on the positive. The brain works this way! It delivers to you whatever you imagine strongly enough. Whatever you think of accompanied by strong feelings and emotions the brain takes as a command to bring about. If you are primarily focused on what you don’t want that is precisely what you will end up with.

That or something worse. If you are primarily focused on what you DO want you will end up with that or something better as long as you continue to think this way.

This is why it is said, we become what we think about! Whatever we focus on expands. We bring about what we think about. So know what you want and stay focused on it. Steer back to  center whenever you have to. Am I getting through?

Think And Speak Only Of What You Want

Final point before, I leave for today. ALWAYS, only think and speak about what you want to create or have. Only think and speak about what you want to include in your life to yourself and others. Manage your self-talk and your talk.

Think only and say only that which you wish to become come true. Never confess that which you don’t want. Keep your focus aimed at what you want to bring about. Put a guard before your mind and lips.

Develop this as a habit and you will discover life is so much more amazing than you can imagine right now. You absolutely can manage and direct your thoughts, not only for relief, but for transformation.

You have no idea, none of us do, the immense, incredible power inside of you, which if you could discover and use would make you everything you ever dreamed of or imagined you could be.” Rex Sikes

Have a wonderful day!!!

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*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.

Act As If, Affirmations, Attitude, Confidence, Decision, Directed Questions™, Habit Formation, Happiness, Intentional Thinking, Learning, Love, Mental Movie Theater, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Rehearsal And Practice, Self Improvement, Self Talk, Smiling, Success, Visualization

What Your Body Language Reveals About You? Others Can Tell!

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"Scarlett"From an article by Jim Stingl...."Sarah Platka is haunted by one particular sunrise, Aug. 17, 2011, and she is hoping someone around here photographed it."......... I did, I just never posted it, so here it is.She and her husband, Nate Weber, of South Milwaukee, had a baby that morning one year ago today, and the sunrise over Lake Michigan was so red and spectacular that it inspired the name they gave their daughter, Scarlett Lucia (Lucia means light in Italian).Ñ with Annette Kelley and Pat Landsel. Photo by Phil Koch

“Did you know people see the real you even if you attempt to hide it? At the very least they see someone attempting to hide. You do realize this, don’t you? It would be far better to live authentically, would it not? Wouldn’t it be great to live with less worry and fear?

What might it be like to move through the world more confidently? Can you imagine?  How wonderful would it be if you felt courageous most of the time? What if you were able to make things happen in positive ways? Wouldn’t that be grand?

You could be happier, healthier, wealthier and more successful. You can, you know. It is far simpler than most people believe. All you have to do is implement some easy things and keep doing them until they become habit. It is that simple.

My recent blog post was about living assertive and assured because it is important to have faith and be confident. I shared with you how you can use your mental movie theater, your imagination, to begin to become more positive and powerful. You use your mind to produce the wonderful feelings that are important to live from.

Use Your Mind And Your Words For Positive Change

You can and should use affirmations, Directed Questions™, or positive self-talk to move you forward. What you think and say to yourself is critical. It means the difference between being a success or failure, champion or loser. Think and speak only to bless, heal and prosper yourself and others. Be careful of your thoughts and words.

You will not be a success, or happy or a champion ragging and nagging on yourself all day long. The outer you will demonstrate to the world what goes on inside you. Everyone will see the way you think and feel by how you act and move.

You need positive, powerful, supportive, nurturing images, words and feelings to feel successful, happy and a champion. When your thoughts, words and feelings are aligned you are congruent.

You are most powerful and capable when congruent. It shows in your eyes and body. It is noticeable when you speak. It is evident how you sit, move and use your body. It is as if every atom of your being is charged with power. You and others will see and feel it.

There is a soft-spoken form of quiet self confidence one can recognize. This person is completely filled with presence. This person is completely present, in the here and now, and engaged.

How You Move And Speak Reflects Your Inner State Of Being

You can tell the person is congruent by the sound of their voice, the firmness and the look in the eye. Everything about this person communicates ‘I believe in and mean my message.’ or ‘I am who I say I am. I believe in myself.’

This person, when communicating with you, looks you straight in the eye, maybe looks right into your heart. You know it when you encounter it. They are right there with you totally here and now. They are alive yet completely calm. Relaxed yet vibrant!

The energy from them is strong and focused. There is no distraction. There is a steady, calm, confident assurance. If you have ever encountered a someone with immense personal power you will understand what I am speaking of.

The confident person’s posture is strong and tall. Shoulders are back, chin is out, eyes are forward. The confident person moves with purpose. Confident people tend to smile more. Why not? They know who they are and are proud and pleased. They smile because they feel good and feel like smiling.

This person speaks with authority or confidence. Nothing  about it is hostile or demanding. Their tone can be very pleasant but it commands you to listen. The person speaks so you can hear but not loud unless giving a speech. This person is assertive, and can be gentle and caring or passionate and persuasive.

You can easily tell this person believes in him or herself. You can tell how the person looks; the look in their eyes; on their face; how the person sits, moves, stands and behaves. You can tell by the volume, rate and tempo when they speak. You know by the quality of the voice and firmness. Everything points in one direction – confidence.

Mind And Body Affect Each Other – They Are One

Your mind affects your body. What you think shows up in how you approach the world. It shows up in your posture and how you sit, stand, move and act. It shows on your face because your thoughts and feelings are intimately wired neurologically.

If you think weak, tired thoughts you feel that way and act that way. People easily recognize when someone thinks self defeating thoughts, or is worried, fearful or sad. They show it. They behave it. Their defeated thinking and feeling  is reflected in everything they do. How do people see you? What are you demonstrating everyday?

People also easily recognize courageous, confident, successful, and happy people. They show it. They behave it! Their positive thinking and feeling is reflected in everything they do as well. Do people see you as someone happy and successful, confident and together, or not? How do people see you? What are you demonstrating?

We cannot easily hide what goes on inside us. Some do try, though, it is true. People try to mask their emotions which means others see the mask. They may not see the real you but they do notice the phony mask. This is no way to live. You are most attractive when you are genuinely you. Learn to live happily and with courage!

Since our mind and body are intimately wired we can use our thoughts to affect our body or our body to affect our thoughts. If we stand tall, and move with confidence and smile more we will feel more confident and brave. Do it! Keep doing it during the day!

Our primitive brains react to stimuli, real or perceived, by fight, freeze, or flight. If you allow your primitive brain to rule you your life will be ruled mostly by fear. It will not be within your control it will control you.  Many people live this way but this is no way to live.

In reality, there is little to fear in this day and age. Far fewer worries than when you had to avoid being devoured by a predator in the wild. That is what your primitive brain was useful for. Today, it is important to learn more appropriate ways to respond to life situations. You don’t have to react with fear or worry.

How You Use Your Body Affects You

Learn to stand tall and smile. Learn to walk, move, stand and speak with confidence and courage. Your body is intimately wired to your thoughts.  Use your posture purposefully. This is the way you can control and even neutralize the primitive brain. Smile, Smile, Smile!

Simply by using your body in this manner you can make very positive changes. You will think and feel better, You will be more confident. When you do some vigorous exercise shortly after dragging your butt from bed, complaining you are too tired, you become more alive and alert and feel better. You shake and wake things up!

How you utilize the mind affects the body. Think and affirm confident and courageous thoughts and you will stand, walk, move and speak more powerfully and assertively. Mind and body go hand in hand. Use both. Adjust your attitude and your body language!

You will be far more powerful and able to take advantage of possibilities and make things happen when you use your mind and body together productively. People will respond to you in positive ways when you exude a positive, friendly, fearless attitude.

This is why successful people look and sound and behave successfully. Their thoughts and feelings and body language are congruent. You are  much more powerful when your totality is aligned. Then you can relax and be completely you! No mask.

Power Comes From Aligning Your Thoughts Words And Body

When you are purposeful and deliberate, courageous and confident you become unstoppable because you know you will prevail no matter what. Every neuron, every cell, every fiber of your being works together to accomplish it. You are focused, determined and living purposefully. Others will see the real you!

You will discover your power can be unlimited. You will find you notice and take advantage of opportunities and circumstances you may otherwise have missed. You will attract other positive people to you. Overall your well-being, your health and life improve!

So do not put it off another day. Adjust your thinking and Aadjust your posture. OR adjust your posture and adjust your thinking. Work on both. Use the tools, the methods, the approaches I have shared with you in these blog pages. Continue to read. Go back and read through the other pages too. Re-read again and again.

You will discover so many positive benefits when you act on the information shared here. If you will just put it into practice you will transform your life incredibly. If you wait and debate you will remain the same. For you to change yourself and your life, if you want to, you must decide to act. It is simple and it is completely up to you!” Rex Sikes

Have a passionate play day!!!

Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!  Visit often. Feel free to comment. If you think others would benefit please share this blog with others.

NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS     NEWS  

*Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

HEADS UP!!!  Soon Daily Inspiration And Gratitude will have a new home.  A new URL, a new look and feel. All this content and new content will be delivered there. Some of you get this blog emailed to you,

I don’t know whether that will continue or not. I do know you will be able to subscribe to the blog and my new newsletter. I hope you will stay with us. I’d hate to lose you or have you miss any blog you want to receive. So will you stay with me?  I sure want you to. I’ll let you know when the change is taking place.