Category Archives: Positive Thinking

Attitude, Beliefs, Confidence, Decision, Definite Chief Purpose, Deliberate Creators, Expectations, Faith, Focus, Goals, Intentional Thinking, Mindset, Persistence, Positive Thinking, Responsibility, Success

Why Most People Fail – How You Can Succeed!

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“There is a reason why many people don’t reach their goals. There are reasons why most don’t live the life they hope to. Do you want to stop failing and start winning more often? You can. You can begin to win more reliably too. Success is pretty much scientific.

Most people will think it depends on largely on luck. They put the success factors on the outside of themselves and in the hands of others. If you want to succeed you must be the one in charge. Yet, most fail to do this.

One of the most marvelous books ever written is ‘Think And Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill. You must read it if you haven’t. If you have read it you must read it again and again. It is a  book to be studied, ingested and digested. It is so rich with everything we need to know to get ahead and the reasons why most people don’t.

Know Your Definite Chief Purpose

I read a chapter over each day for 30 days at a time. I have done as many as 3 chapters at a time. Especially, chapters 2, 3,and 4. Today, I want to examine a sentence or two from chapter 1. Hill discusses Edwin C. Barnes burning desire to work with Thomas Edison. He emphasized that Barnes really did discover that ‘people THINK And GROW RICH’.

The title itself speaks volumes. Hill doesn’t say work hard and grow rich. Get a job and grow rich. Invest and grow rich. He says, think and grow rich and then explains how to make this happen. His book is amazing. The next two sentences are the ones I want to examine. Keep in mind that Barnes discovered people think and grow rich.

‘His discovery did not come about at one sitting. It came little by little…’ and we stop there. The difficulty people have applying the Law Of Attraction or Science of the Mind or these principles is because today we have grown up expecting everything to happen quick and easy. Certainly, it may but lot’s of things in life don’t. Many things take time.

Develop Passion – A White Hot Burning Desire

It takes time for seeds to grow; for you and I to grow up. To cook a nice meal. To travel from point A to point B. To watch a movie from beginning to end. Still advertisers have promised us magic for a fee, quick, easy, effortless. Magic pills, magic bullets, magic time frames. We have instant on television, high speed internet and so many things that spoil us for those that take time.

Barnes made his discovery but not at one sitting. IT CAME LITTLE BY LITTLE. Once you decide you want to become a deliberate creator or attractor you need to realize most things aren’t revealed all at once. It comes bit by bit. There is no genii in a bottle it is a progression, evolution, an unfolding. You grow into the abilities to make things happen.

Yes, some may be quicker at it than others but if any one person attempts and persists, and does not give up, that person, assuming they are following instructions, rightly using the principles, will succeed. It doesn’t work for some and not all. It works for everyone! Sadly, not every one keeps at it until it works.

Develop Faith – An Indomitable Belief In Yourself & Your Abilities

People try and, after awhile of not having instant results, abandon ship! They jump. Then they state, ‘I tried it and IT didn’t work’. It isn’t it that doesn’t work it is YOU that didn’t keep at it.

SORRY that is the truth, cold, hard and painful as that may be, the only failure there is IS giving up. Stop blaming IT and learn how to make it work instead. Stop whining and do it, is the advice. Persist don’t quit.

Step by step you get to your destination. ALL along the way IS the journey. ALL along the journey is discovery. Ultimately, if you keep going you will get there AS long as you don’t permanently stop trying. Along the way you will learn the ropes. It is a process that unfolds. It is magical but not fairy tale magic.

If you really, REALLY want it. Focus on it. Concentrate on it to the exclusion of most everything else. Believe you can get it. Have total faith in yourself. Then go after it and don’t stop trying until you get it. That is the formula for success. Get your mindset on right so the rest follows. THINK and grow rich. Drop by drop fills the tub.

Daily: Affirm & Visualize Using Strong Positive Emotions

You will accomplish your dreams if you pursue them relentlessly and don’t let anything deter you or stop you. In order to do that you must absolutely want it and not anything else. You must believe that you can do it and make it happen. Then you must take positive, productive steps to get there. THERE is no other way.

It didn’t happen for Barnes overnight. From the time he first thought it, to the time he got to Edison, is anyone’s guess how long that was. From his first meeting with Edison until he was working WITH Edison took 5 years. He didn’t start at the top he started at the bottom but he never let anything deter him from his goal. He knew his destiny and he kept at it until he fulfilled it.

Another important sentence, ‘ But something important was happening in Barnes’ mind. He was constantly intensifying his desire to become the business associate of Edison.’  Why do most fail? Because they wimp out, quit, whine and complain. They want it easy and overnight. They want it handed to them. They put responsibility outside themselves.

Persist – Never, Ever Give Up If You Want To Get There

Nothing appeared to be happening. For the five years his dream was only in his mind. There was no visible evidence of it in the world. His circumstances were that he was a lowly worker for Edison.

All that time ‘he was constantly INTENSIFYING his desire..’ He was intensifying it! Most people would whine and complain and look for something else to do. Not Barnes! He stuck with it! Most people who bail. Barnes knew he what his destiny was. He believed!

How do you succeed? You follow the rules, the instructions, the principles and you keep applying them until you have the success you want. You intensify your desire. You keep the faith and believe in yourself. You expect yourself to prevail.

It seems hard but it is simple. It may not always be easy but it is still simple. The formula is right here. Too many people are flighty like the bee from flower to flower. Still, the bee is on a singular mission and so must you be.  How to succeed is all spelled out. Stop wishing and start doing it. It begins with your thoughts.

Success comes from within you. Ultimately you will succeed as long as you keep at it. If you are determined to no matter how long it takes YOU WILL! In the mean time, INTENSIFY YOUR DESIRE! Make it happen! Prepare your mind! Develop an unstoppable determination, a steel will, and make your dreams come true!” Rex Sikes

Celebrate today!”

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I’ll Bet You Never Actually Heard The Lyrics To This Famous Song!

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“I’m sharing a famous song. Perhaps, it is time you stopped and listened to the lyrics. I’m sure most of you have seen the show or heard this countless times.

Did you realize this is what they were singing about? Probably not. Seems to have slipped by most people. No worries. I’m sure it wasn’t meant to make us think.

Perhaps now, though we should embrace it. Maybe, we should each make it our own personal theme song. I mean, why not? It is catchy, after all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJzF8_df1R8

Did you enjoy that? I hope so.

Enjoy, your day!”

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How To Create The Future You Want

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“Do you care if some people try to prevent you?  Some may say it is not realistic. They may argue you need to focus on what is in front of you. There are those who will call you a dreamer. They won’t mean it in a nice way does that bother you?  There is nothing wrong with dreaming and pursuing your your dreams. You know that, right?

In fact, in order to be a deliberate creator you have to focus on what isn’t there yet. You have to dream it. You may look at a lump of clay but you can’t see the clay for what it is. You must see the lump of clay for what it will be.

You must look at the invisible, that which does not yet exist, and bring it forth from your thoughts and imagination. Know that you can make this happen! Trust.

That is the act of creation. You manifest and make happen your thoughts. You make the future the present. You dream it first and make it happen. Don’t focus on your present circumstances any more than you would focus on the lump clay. Focus on what you want it to become. Keep your focus on what you are creating.

Concentrate On What You Want

Some artists are passionate and consumed with bringing their inner thoughts to life. They imagine something in their mind and then they paint it, fashion it or sculpt it into being. They think about it night and day. They work on their art all the time. As a creator you do the same thing with your career, your relationships and your life.

You imagine what you want to be, do and have vividly and passionately and then you take positive actions to bring it into being. So yes, put your attention on your dreams. They don’t, yet, exist in reality. Thoughts first; actions follow!

Don’t put your attention on what you don’t want.  Don’t think about making money to get out of debt. Create more money so you are free to have more fun or adventure. If you worry about a pile of bills you end up focused on not having enough. What you think about you bring about so you create more lack not more riches.

Think About It Day And Night

Focus on the invisible. Stay focused on what you want that has not physically happened, yet. Keep your attention on your big dreams and desires; the ones that make you feel incredible when you think about them. Do not focus on the circumstances you’d prefer to leave. Do not let the less than glorious present get the better of you.

Feel wonderful while thinking about what you want. If you don’t feel great that means there is something you need to adjust about your thinking. You may be focused on what you don’t want or you may be thinking it isn’t possible.

Change your thinking. Adjust. Focus on what you do want. Perhaps, your dream is too big for you to believe in right now. Gently whittle it down to the size you absolutely feel you can accomplish. Step it down a bit. It still excites you but it isn’t too large to believe you can make it happen.

Feel Fantastic When Thinking About It

Accomplish this first goal on your way to making the bigger dream happen. If you don’t feel good or you doubt or fear when focused on your dream you aren’t helping yourself in any positive way. You want to feel eager and excited.

You want to feel the anticipation and expect it happen. You want to absolutely know this is something you can and will achieve and feel it fully. THEN you are in the right frame to bring it about. You are prepared to move full steam ahead. You know nothing can stop you!

Whatever positive future you want to create must be accompanied by strong wonderful feelings. The feelings are important. Switch your thinking from the present bad circumstances to whatever makes you think and feel better. Then, ultimately, switch it to your dreams. When you think about what you want FEEL GREAT!!!

Believe 1000% In Your Ability To Make It Happen

To bring your dreams into being you have to think about your dreams, most of the time, while feeling wonderful. You can’t get caught up in the ‘bad luck’ of now. Your attention must be on what you WANT to create.

To have a better life you need to think, feel and focus on feeling and being better. You withdraw your attention from problems and place it somewhere useful and productive. You place it on those things that make you feel the very best. As you do this consistently you develop positive thought habits to assist you.

You put your attention, concentration, your energy and  focus, on the dreams you want to come true. You put it on the dreams that make you feel wonderful when you imagine your life that way. These feelings make all the difference in the world.

It Is Perfectly Fine To Create In Stages – Step By Step

Celebrate feeling good. Feel positive and excited. Believe in yourself 1000%. Unless, what you want is harmful, pay no attention to what others say can’t be done. There will always be naysayers. If what you want is good, positive and the true best for all, bring it into being.

Follow your positive heart and create goodness for yourself and others. Make your dreams come true. What you think about you bring about! So celebrate and enjoy! You can be, do and have anything you want. Make the good all happen!

Create the career;  positively improve the family relationships; discover the love of your life; improve your health and your wealth; enjoy the things and the life you have always wanted.  YOU are the creator!” Rex Sikes

Have a wonderful day!

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Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

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Affirmations, Attitude, Celebration, Confidence, Creating The Future, Decision, Faith, Focus, Intentional Thinking, Mindset, Overcoming Difficulty, Persistence, Positive Thinking, Responsibility, Success

Why You And The Rich Lose

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“Why is it everything can be going great and then turn for the worse? What screws it up? Why do you have problems? Why do the fabulously successful fail? If they made it to the top why don’t they stay there? Is it all luck or is it something we do? How does one succeed and remain successful?

If you don’t become an intentional deliberate creator you risk losing everything while trying to hang on. That is why some people who reach the pinnacle lose. They create it and get to the top. Once they have it, once they are there, they get greedy and try to hold onto it. They attempt to horde it. You can’t clutch a butterfly!

Instead of living in abundance and continuing to create more they lose what they have because they become fearful of losing it. They attempt to hang onto it or horde it. Their mindset goes from ‘I’m wealthy and deserving’, ‘there is plenty for everyone’,  to frightened they may lose. If you focus on losing you will lose.

You bring about what you think about. What you focus on is what you get. Affirmations can be positive or negative. If you are fearful you create and attract more reasons to be afraid. If you are negative things worsen. The more you do the more you can do. YOU get WHATEVER you focus on. Birds of a feather flock together.

Lottery winners go broke usually. They win big BUT they never develop the wealthy mindset nor the responsibility that comes with money and power. Instead they spend it all away. To be wealthy you need to feel wealthy. Wealth is a mindset not lots of cash. You can be rich with or without any money. Money is only a part of true wealth.

What We Think About We Become

Those who ‘luck into it’ frequently return to what they had. They return to the lifestyle that their mindset governs.  Since they aren’t wealthy in between the ears they don’t know how to manage and keep wealth. Those who succeed and stay successful continue to create and manifest.

Those who remain successful operate from a mindset that there is plenty for everyone. They manifest for others as well as themselves. They aren’t afraid of losing because they are having too much fun creating and winning. They enjoy their wealth and their money.

They aren’t fearful they are bold. It is a matter of course that they will make great things happen each day because they make good use of the time they have here. Some of us waste time, lord knows I have. Some of us struggle. I sure have.

It rains and it shines. Through it all is your attitude. If you attitude is as wonderful when it rains as when it shines you are on the right track. Do not get discouraged if circumstances sour, keep the faith. You must not let obstacles and challenges get the better of you.

You must fix your mindset such that you welcome tough times as much as you welcome easy times. Realize you are a champion and whatever comes your way you are resourceful enough to navigate. You, and perhaps with the help of others, perhaps not, can make it through anything. Decide this is they type of person you are.

Stay focused. Do not get greedy and needy when things don’t work out, keep the faith. Your attitude determines you altitude. Do not succumb to trying to hang on and hoarding. Celebrate everything. It is an abundant world we live in. Live without fear but with confidence. Live with passion. Live with delight! Have fun, enjoy it! Stay true!” Rex Sikes

Count your blessings!

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Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

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Creating The Future, Focus, Habit Formation, Intentional Thinking, Mindset, Overcoming Difficulty, Persistence, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Rehearsal And Practice, Responsibility, Self Improvement, Success

Never Break Your Promise To Yourself Or Others!

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“When you break your word you may develop a bad reputation. Your word is your bond. In order to be known as a person of value you want to and need to keep your promises and follow through on your intentions. When you break your word you let everyone down including yourself.

When you break your promise to yourself you sabotage yourself for the future. It harms you just as it harms others when you do it to them. Stop self sabotage. Keep your word. A promise made to yourself is one of the most important promises you can make. Keep it!

When you break your promise you become untrustworthy. It is the same when you don’t follow through on those you tell yourself. No matter how small that broken promise may be. You make it more difficult to follow through on larger ones. You let yourself down too.

If You Really Want To Do Something You Find A Way

If you say tomorrow I shall arise at 6am. Do it! Or don’t think it. If you don’t make it a condition for arising tomorrow it isn’t an issue. The issue is when you determine to do something, intend to do something and then don’t follow through.

Stop doing that. Keep your promises to yourself and to others. You are only as reliable as your word. Your word should be golden. Use it to create what you want. Use it to attract what you want. Do not use it to criticize yourself or others. Live your word. Follow through on your positive intentions. Stop making excuses for your behavior.

One way to learn to do this. Make a small list of things you intend to do tomorrow. A small list is fine to start. I intent to get up at 6am. I intend to finish report at work by three. i intend to pick up groceries for dinner on way home. Something like that. Then do each and cross it off.

If You Don’t Want To Do Something You’ll Find An Excuse

Keep up this practice for awhile. Determine what you intend to do and do it. Cross it off. After a few weeks add a couple more. There is a great reason for doing this I shall explain later.  This forms the foundation for good things that follow.  An immediate benefit is you and others get used to you following through on your word, That is a good thing! Celebrate it! Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes

Delight in the day!

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How To Go Beyond The Limits Of Your Own Thinking?

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“How does this all this positivity work? Well you can, stay open to new possibilities; focus on what you can do and that which is productive and positive.  When you feel less than glorious, take it as a signal to, check your thinking and then change it. The goal is to feel good and be positive most of your time.

Most of your time is spent not being positive. While it may not be totally negative a huge portion of our time is spent in wasted thoughts and feelings. Petty annoyances and grievances, daily duties that drag us down instead of uplift us. The percentage of time we spend thinking of what we want, our purpose or dominant chief aim pales by comparison.

We need to tip the scales in favor of positive thinking. We need to feel good more of the time than simply okay or bad. When we feel good most of the time, when we are delighted and enjoying our energy is up, our creative abilities are up, we are resonating and vibrating high. We are attractive and attracting. All is well!

I repeat these much needed messages again and again.  We have to hear these messages multiple time, in different ways, before they begin to seep in. Each of us, including me, needs to be reminded of what we can do and what we are capable of, from time to time. We want to spend most of our day and each day wonderfully.

Right Awareness Is Awareness Without Tension

Sometime we feel down and out. I have. There are times I am not uber positive. I have thought, ‘yeah right, if only’. Then I felt uneasy. Soon I began to feel bad too. Then it hit me. I was getting a signal. There were no alarm bells, no flashing lights, no big signals,  just a nagging, ‘yes, but’. The negative was seeping in not storming in.

When I recognized that I was thinking and feeling less than glorious I realized I needed to change my thinking. Awareness is the moment we have when everything can change in an instant. In that second we make a decision. We either decide to continue as is or change something.

I began to think about things I am grateful for. What right now in this moment can I appreciate. I can even celebrate the nagging feeling that is the signal because eventually I figured out what was going on. Not everything is flashing lights and blowing horns. Some things are more subtle.

I began to question the negativity too. I thought, ‘even if this were true why would I choose to be unhappy?’  ‘If I can choose any feeling why not choose to feel happy right now in spite of what is going on?” I realized I don’t have to be happy about the circumstances to be happy. I don’t have to be happy about bad news to be happy. I can be happy in spite of these things.

Our Quality Of Life Depends On The Quality Of Our Questions

I began to think ‘sure why not’, and ‘ what if this were possible’ and as I  began to question my thinking I began to free myself from limitations. I freed up my thinking, changed the assumptions I was making, AND my feelings. It works. As I transformed some things all things began to loosen and transform.

If a person could think and feel positive and happy most of the time, or even all of the time, why would a person ever chose not to? Your beliefs will come up as you answer this one. Keep in mind your reasons are you past habits of thinking. They are not necessarily true or not true they are only reasons.

Why choose to think something would be too hard to ever do? Sure, you may want to be realistic, but anything is actually possible. Why would you ever choose to make something more difficult for yourself? I don’t know but I have done it. Once I began to realize this I stopped doing it as much and began to let it go.

Why ever choose to limit oneself? I mean, really, why? Your answers will be very revealing. Again, none of them are gospel which just act as they are because we have thought them for so long. This is the tough part realizing our beliefs aren’t all that important. The serve us in many different ways. How do they serve you?

If Your Want Your Life To Change You Must Change Some Things

If they aren’t serving you very well, if your life isn’t better, if you don’t think and feel better and are able to be, do and have more as a result of your beliefs then perhaps it is time to get some new ones. It is time to develop some new positive, powerful, productive beliefs that serve you well.

It occurred to me that sometimes my ongoing assessments I had been making, while moving through life, at first were skewed towards the negative, thereby contributing to my less than glorious feelings. Once I noticed this I was then free to choose what to do about it.

I began to examine these, and ask myself whether I really wanted to think that way. As I questioned my own thinking I began to get free. I experienced a major shift in how I felt and what I thought. I went from feeling as if something was not possible and unlikely to absolutely positive and within my control.

Sometimes our feelings are subtle. The signals aren’t like a nine point fire alarm going off. They are simple, perhaps nagging or annoying but they still contribute to a less than glorious stance overall. Once I asked myself, why I would ever choose to believe that, I began to lighten up and free up.

At Each Moment You Can Choose Misery Or Bliss

At any given moment we are either thinking positive or negative. We are either thinking I can or I can’t. Whenever you discover yourself thinking negative or I can’t is an opportunity to explore why not. Then explore, investigate and challenge the reasons you get back as replies to your questions.

Keep in mind we are conditioned to answer a why question with a because answer. We provide reasons and excuses. These ‘reasons’ are precisely what you want to challenge and counter. There are precisely what you want to change from less than glorious to positive and glorious thinking.

WHY would you ever choose to think that, feel that or be that? You get an answer ask the same question. Chase your thinking down the rabbit hole. What you will ultimately discover is very rarely, VERY RARELY, will you ever have a good reason to limit yourself in any way.

Ford said, ‘if you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right’. You will truly discover this as you explore going beyond anything that is a limitation for you. Keep this important point in mind.

It Is Always Up To You 

Whatever stops you, limits you, prevents you from being your true positive self, is only a thought. A mental packet of energy… thought over and over and over again. A thought habit otherwise known as a belief. An illusion. Never let a thought stop you from ultimate good.

Yes, let a thought stop you from harm of self or others. Examine your thoughts, go beyond them. Go beyond limitations and into freedom. Discover how incredible you are. Bask in that for awhile. Enjoy the richness of others and the world and recognize it as a marvelous, wonderful place to delight! Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes

Have a great day!

If you think these posts would help others please share them. Please Help Spread the word. 

Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

NEW BLOG SITE LAUNCHES SOON – Do you get this blog emailed to you? You will have  to again subscribe to this blog, newsletter. I’d hate for you to miss anything when it switches. Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!

Affirmations, Attitude, Beliefs, Celebration, Creating The Future, Emotions, Expectations, Focus, Gratitude, Habit Formation, Happiness, Joy, Laughter, Mindset, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Responsibility, Self Improvement, Self Talk, Smiling, Success, Trust, Vibrations, Visualization

Breaking News! Success Won’t Make You Happy But This Will!

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“Breaking news! Success won’t make you happy. Wait, there is more. Borne out by science and decades of research; Success won’t make you happy BUT happy can make you successful! Yes, again, I repeat, happiness leads to success. Happiness leads to success!

From ancient times until now it has been pointed out that happiness and positive thinking and optimistic thinking is healthy and leads to better health, wealth, and abilities. Happiness makes you better at what you do and makes what you do much easier. Sadly, most people, through the centuries, got it backwards.

Sadly, people believe the right job or success, the right partner or mate,  money or things would make them happy. They thought happiness came as a result of something else happening first.

Sad again. They only discovered that they delayed feeling good, if at all, and that even acquiring many things still left them feeling empty. It is because IT really is the other way around! It IS the other way!

It is time to straighten everyone out. The happier you are the healthier you tend to be. Happiness affects your health, your well-being, you ability to handle or process stress, your thinking and clarity and your productivity. The happier you are the more you can accomplish.

Happiness Is Its Own Reward And Has Multiple Benefits

Since the early 80’s I have been teaching workshops pointing out that by practicing happiness and positivity you could develop new neural pathways.You could develop wonderfully supportive habits, live more delightfully, successfully and happily, easily and nearly effortlessly.

You could open up your neurology to be capable of evolving yourself in positive ways. I suggested you could create positive habits which would positively serve you.

In my workshops we practice daily gratitude, asking positive directed questions, smiling more, laughing meditation, feeling good and accessing wonderful and powerful resource states, imaging a better future, scanning for positive and new moments each day and more. A lot more. But these were core rituals or practices.

We had rituals we did each class session and each day. I pointed out that making a habit requires a minimum of 21 days repeated practice or rehearsal. What people began as practice during my  10 or 14 day programs they were encourage to continue back home.

Habits Come From Rituals And Rituals Become Habits

Rituals are things we do everyday. For some people that includes hygiene, brushing teeth and washing. We eat, sleep, go to school or work. We may read the paper or get online. Have a cup of coffee. There are things we do regularly each and every day; sometimes multiple times throughout the day.

Spaced repetition builds habit. Correct spaced repetition builds reliable skill. Reading instructions doesn’t change you but implementing what the instructions tell you to do can change you. This is why I suggest doing these practices as often as possible each day.

I called it rehearsal, from my acting background, or the kind of conditioning athletes go through or practice professional sports teams undergo to build reliable skill sets for performance.

Create The Happiness Habit

I was harshly criticized in a number of books and publications as promoting pseudoscience and pie in the sky thinking. I was even accused (rightly) of utilizing the placebo effect.

How cool of me! Then again, they scoffed because I told people we could deliberately utilize the placebo effect. Some finally are catching on. Some Psychologists, as are scientists, catching up.

I and others pointed to things like ‘mirror neurons’ prior to their discovery. We knew through mediation, rapport studies, and other practice that many things were ‘contagious’. Smiling, rapport, happiness, peace, relaxation are infectious.

One person, neurologically, can affect another. Large groups practicing the meditation or laughter or peace have a dynamic, synergistic effect and affect others, even those not practicing. Hooray, some are finally catching on! Not nearly enough though.

Decades later research has verified what I knew back then, and far greater minds than mine have known for centuries. The better you feel the better you do. I repeat. The better you feel the better you do. Happiness leads to success and not the other way around.

Happiness is a choice! Practice feeling better a little bit each day. By practicing daily you eventually make it a reliable habit AND grow new neural pathways and connections thereby overall evolving yourself!!! Research Neuroplasticity and evolving your brain.

Here is the rub with science. IT is usually behind not ahead except for some cases. Scientific testing works this way to test a theory. Scientists make a claim, or stated hypotheses.

Happiness Is A Choice

Then they try to disprove the hypothesis. If it can’t be disproved it is accepted as the best theory you currently have for explaining what is going on. In research validation, they seek independent replication of results.

Science takes time to verify and establish new theories and validate. Not all science is equal, nor is it all good, nor is testing or reporting or publishing or disseminating the findings reliable or always upright.

BUT STILL much of science is what we hope it to be. Rigorous and trustworthy. OPEN and flexible. Because science is supposed to update theories, as better explanations become available, through testing.

Choose To Be Happy And You Will Be

There are many abstracts citing the research and conclusions. You can look them up. Look up topics such as happiness, optimism, placebo, overcoming depression naturally, mindfulness, meditation, relaxation, mirror neurons,  etc.

There are many, MANY, books written citing the research in health, healing, attitude, psychology, meditation, spirituality. One I want to refer you to (not only because it concludes and incorporates many of the practices that I and others have taught for many years but) because they really delved into researching the topic.

You can read Shawn Anchor’s findings and the research conclusions in The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work. He has since published other books. Available at amazon. Check out the research and the results.

Why Would You Ever Choose To Not Be Happy

If you aren’t going to read it then at least stay tuned to this blog. I will bring you the latest and greatest as well as the oldest and the tried and true.

HAPPINESS is something that you can have more of anytime. If you do certain things you are guaranteed to become happier. It can be as easy as a couple minutes spent daily.

While, it probably won’t occur overnight it will occur in time as you stick with it. One of the greatest life transforming things you can do, is to practice gratitude. Feel gratitude, live it daily.

In my workshops I had people create list of 25 things they were grateful for each night. Shawn has them do as few as three every day. Something so simple can be so profound.

We’ll discuss more. We have happiness, beliefs, and a number of topics currently in play here. So keep reading and re-reading. Most importantly, begin doing, if you haven’t already, and keep doing.

You can rewire your brain, feel better, be healthier, think more clearly and enjoy more success and prosperity as you do! SO Celebrate everything!” Rex Sikes

Have a wonderful day!

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Stop Being Stuck It Doesn’t Have To Suck! Live The Life You Want!

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“What happens when we don’t think we can’t accomplish something because it is too difficult? Since, thoughts determine our reality shouldn’t we be more careful what we believe? Can we do something about self-limitations ? How do we overcome what seems to hold us back?

Switch your thoughts! Stop thinking what you are thinking and begin to think new, different productive thoughts. You may exclaim, ‘but that is hard’. Yes, if you think it is, it most probably will be. THAT is but another thought!

Thoughts determine our reality. Everything begins with thought. Are you really going to let a thought prevent you from seeking the highest good? Are you? You would let a mental packet of energy, or an internal feeling prevent you from being and doing and having everything you want? Really? Sad, that seems pretty wimpy.

At some point you simply have to face it. If you want things to change you must change some things. You can’t keep doing the same things over and over again and expect anything to be different. It doesn’t work like that. So give it up and face the fact that YOU have make some alterations if you want the clothes to fit. So to speak.

Why Would I Ever Choose To Believe That

You need to think more positive, productive thoughts. So whenever you discover yourself thinking or saying something less than productive or counter to what you want you challenge it.

When you encounter a limiting belief and recognize it as such ask yourself, ‘why would I ever choose to believe that?’

Your answers will be more of your paradigm of your limiting beliefs. More grapes from the cluster may appear. If you treat them as no big deal they will be no big deal. They are conditioning from your past that you accepted from other people. If you treat them as big things they will be big things.

You determine whether your responses will be minor or a big problem for you to deal with them.  How you feel about them will determine whether it’s  difficult or whether it is something you can easily and effortlessly change. YOU decide! Again, YOU DECIDE!

You can change effortlessly and let all your limiting beliefs go.

Whenever you encounter a limiting belief, from time to time, celebrate be happy. When you encounter something and you think ‘I can’t do that’ celebrate that you uncovered it because that’s the moment when you can become free.

Even If That Were True Why Would I Ever Choose To Believe That

If you become aware of a limiting belief then you can do something to change it. If you’re not aware of it it will just remain obscure. So as they come up, notice and let them go. Treat them as minor incidences. Ask yourself, ‘why would I EVER choose to believe that?’

You will get answers that are other reasons.  Continue to ask that. You can even state, ‘EVEN if that’s is true why would I choose believe that?’  The answers may sound logical, even plausible but be willing to simply gently challenge or question the belief statements.

For example, you think, ‘I can’t make a lot of money’ or ‘Other people get all the luck’, whatever the limitation statements may be THINK ABOUT IT – WHY ON EARTH would you EVER choose to belief that? WHY would YOU ever choose to limit yourself in this way? Who says you can’t?

How would your life be different if you didn’t believe that? Why would you ever accept that as true? Even if it were true why would you chose to believe it? Ask and repeatedly ask. You may find you get into a recursive loop of, ‘just because I do.’

Who Says? According tTo Whom?

The reason why most of our beliefs have some sort of power is because the assumptions within them go unchallenged. Questions have a way of helping you bring light to the darkness. Once illuminated you have some choices to make. Adopt new ones or continue with old.

There are many other questions you can ask, ‘ How do you know?’ ‘Who says’ or ‘According to whom?’ “How specifically does X cause Y?’ or “How do you know this causes that?’ ‘How does thinking this limit me?’ ‘How does X mean Y?’ ‘How does thinking this stop me from doing what I want?’ ‘Whose fault is it that I have this problem?’

‘How does this limitation benefit me?’ ‘What can I learn from this limitation or problem, or negative thought?’ ‘What seed of opportunity or advantage can I discover hidden within this?’ There are other questions.

Realize it is your choice. At some point you just let it go. IF you could be, do and have anything you want in the world why would you ever let a negative thought stop you? Yup, there might be that answer? BUT so what, that answer is only another thought.

Who Is Wearing Your Pants?

YOU could be, do and have anything you want in the world. It’s unlimited. Give yourself permission! Allow yourself to discover who you are without limitations. Seek the positive, the highest good for yourself and everyone else and enjoy what life offers.

In addition to the previous questions you can also ask,  ‘What do I want?’ ‘When, where and with whom do I want it?’  ‘What positive benefits and opportunities are there for me to explore?  ‘When I get what I want, what else will improve?’

What stops me from having the what I want already?’ (Yep, this question again explores the negative, limitation, or problem aspect of any situation) ‘What resources do I have to help me achieve what I want?’ or ‘In how many different ways am I resourceful?’

Time For You To Realize You Are In Charge – You Decide

‘What are the many different ways I am able to overcome it being a limitation?’ ‘What am I going to do to accomplish my goals and dreams?’ ‘What can I easily do to begin making it happen?’ ‘What will I do next?’ ‘How much fun can I have making my dreams come true?’

Don’t suck for your paradigm.  Don’t suck for a cluster of limiting beliefs you unconsciously adopted while growing up. Don’t let negativity and limitations hold you back from the positive good things in life. BUT treat them all lightly. They are not big things even when they may seem like it. They are what they are. Routine, patterned though habits.

There are not things in your unconscious you need to get rid of. If you worry about your paradigm you will worry about your paradigms and create another problem for yourself. Don’t be silly in this way. Others want you worried about your paradigms but you need not be. Be free instead! Be free. Enjoy life and have fun!

They are simply, old habits, familiar, comfortable ways of thinking because you didn’t think differently. Yes, they are traps, but they are only thought habits. They hold fast but they are no big deal. YOU can overcome negative thought habits and create new powerful positive thought habits. Let go of them. Keep it simple. Have fun. Enjoy!

Just remember to THINK that they are easy. THINK this will be easy. THINK This is easy. You probably have already thought for years that they are difficult. THIS TIME, right NOW, you determine how it is going to be instead of letting them call the shots.

When You Drop Your Keys You Don’t Try To – You Just Drop Them

Decide it will be easy and it will be a heck of a lot easier than if you decide it will be hard. That is how this thing works. Do not take them seriously or make an issue of them. Determine to keep it simple, easy, fun and free and it will be. Put your energy into what you want!

Declare yourself to bigger, larger, freer. You are unlimited. You are powerful. Assert it, affirm it, declare it with gusto and you will be! Remember, whatever you affirm negatively you will end up with too. You decide what you will affirm and declare. YOU make it so! You are the one who decides what and how life will be! Make it what YOU want!” Rex Sikes

Why not celebrate everything today!

If you think these posts would help others please share them. Please Help Spread the word. 

Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

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You Get Exactly What You Accept; Nothing More Or Less!

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“Do you want more from your career, your relationships and your life? Would you like to be the best you you can be? Would you like to be more successful and happy?

Do you want better health and fitness, wealth and adventure, fun and enjoyment? Would you like things to simply work out and be more delightful?  Well, guess what:

‘Remember, no more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty. A great poet has correctly stated this universal truth through these lines:

“I bargained with Life for a penny, And Life would pay no more, However I begged at evening When I counted my scanty store.

“For Life is a just employer, He gives you what you ask, But once you have set the wages, Why, you must bear the task.

“I worked for a menial’s hire, Only to learn, dismayed, That any wage I had asked of Life, Life would have willingly paid.” Napoleon Hill, THINK AND GROW RICH

Not much more need be said does it? Life gives you what you ask and expect from it. YOU should set the terms not accept them. You determine your circumstances. You dictate how things will be. That is what it means to be a deliberate, intentional creator.

You either live richly or poorly. It is completely up to you and no one else. Yet, most people blame everyone and everything else. The truth is, it is up to you! If you are living in lack it is because you have accepted living that way.

If you want something else make something else happen. It is not about working harder it is about thinking smarter. Think and Grow Rich is the title of the book NOT work hard and grow rich.

NO, it does not mean you don’t do anything at all it means YOU take control and you make it happen. Everything first begins with your thoughts.

Know your destination. Set your course and keep going until you get there. Never stop, never give up and you will one day successfully arrive. Settle for nothing less. The reason you don’t have a million dollars is you don’t SEE YOURSELF with a million dollars, yet.

Determine to positively have the ife you want and deserve. If you want a better life thought precedes action. Think Rich and become rich. There is a formula.  Begin today!”Rex Sikes

Make today even more marvelous!

If you think these posts would help others please share them. Please Help Spread the word. 

Horizons photo used with permission of Phil Koch.

NEW BLOG SITE LAUNCHES SOON – Do you get this blog emailed to you? You will have  to again subscribe to this blog, newsletter. I’d hate for you to miss anything when it switches. Subscribe and Follow Daily Inspiration and Gratitude!

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Develop Some ‘Huevos Muy Grande’ And Never Give Up!

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“Said another way, sometimes you just need ‘realmente grandes botas’.  Sometimes, you have to burn the boats to win the battle. You need to leave yourself no way out but to face your obstacles and conquer them.

You need intestinal fortitude, steel will, indomitable spirit. You need really big balls and just need to keep going. You need the mindset of a winner. You need to look at all your problems and shrink them down in your mind.  Do not let them loom over you LOOM over them instead!

When things get tough you need to cry out, ‘Go ahead! Give me your best shot. I will prevail!’ Let the universe know you are not daunted by anything it hurls at you. Come what may you will succeed! You are confident in yourself! You believe in you!

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

You. need to  know, believe and declare, that no matter what, ‘I always land on my feet!’ ‘Things always work out the best for me.’ ‘Ultimately great good will come of this!’ NO matter what! NO MATTER WHAT! Keep this in mind!

Anything.  Any challenge or obstacle is only a temporary inconvenience, a speed bump, and you will continue regardless. You are relentless and persistent. You are committed to your future and dedicated to well being. You will not let anything stand in you way.

It is time to stop sniveling, whining, complaining. excusing and blaming. Rise up, stand strong and claim victory.  Face the giant Goliath, and even, rush the giant, as the biblical David did.

David didn’t shrink back from this looming monster of disaster. He ran towards Goliath after having stated ‘today God will be victorious!’ He charged into his problems.

The Mind Is As Strong As Its Weakest Think

David told Goliath, ‘This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.’ 

‘All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.’

‘ As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead.’

‘The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.’1 Samuel 45-50.

You Are Where Your Thoughts Take You

Whether true or just a story, the point is the same. David declared victory in the face of his problem. He declared victory prior to the fight. David had faith. David’s faith gave him courage and determination. David asserted how it was going to go down.

David ran toward his problem and conquered it! Keep in mind David was young and slight and Goliath a giant among man whom had killed scores of men and was deeply feared but not by David. David believed. David knew. David came, saw and conquered.

You must develop this kind of faith. You must develop the kind of faith that whatever comes your way you know you can, and you will, handle it. You won’t let anything get the better of you but YOU will get the best of problems.

If You Really Want To Do Something You Will Find Away

You know absolutely you will prevail. You are an emperor and you love a good challenge. You like a tough fight. The true champion doesn’t flee a strong opponent. The champion welcomes the tough opponent. So grow a pair! Develop steel will! Trust yourself!

The true champion fights the fight and continues on. Let nothing bring you down or get in your way. ‘Burn the boats!’ Leave yourself no recourse but to win AND you will be victorious.

You can find positivity in every situation. You can learn from every obstacle. Your worst moments most likely will be your defining moments. Search for the good, trust in yourself, believe you can get through the darkest hour. Create the circumstances you want!

Know inside yourself that you can find the utmost good for all concerned. Raise the bar don’t lower it. Don’t succumb to negativity, or let hatred, anger and fear fume and fester. Tackle your problems with a positive and powerful mindset of resourcefulness.

You Go Where Your Thoughts Take You

Become someone who overcomes. Solve you problems cheerfully. Be thankful not fearful. What you think about you bring about. Don’t attract more difficulty by thinking on your troubles instead know a better day will come and focus on that.

Concentrate on the invisible future goodness you want to create. Why do I say invisible? Because you haven’t manifested these results yet, but you will if you stay focused. You will change your circumstances by the sheer power of your will if you stay focused on what you want to create AND not on troubles.

You may have thought, ‘yes, but how?’ I have already told you how so many times within these pages. Within in you YOU already know how. I’ll share more in upcoming posts. When you master faith and this attitude you will master much more of great importance.

Attract positivity. Create goodness. Celebrate everything. Face your fears bravely and with a smile and a laugh. Do not let things bring you down. Let your attitude determine your altitude. Soar high! Fly above the troubles. Set down in the promised land.  Do it!!” Rex Sikes

Make it marvelous!

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