Category Archives: Self Improvement

Beliefs, Focus, Friendship, Happiness, Healthy Choices, Living In The Moment, Personal Development, Responsibility, Self Improvement

A Simple, Easy Way To Treat Your Loved Ones Right

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no excuses - when you really matter

“With technology comes advances. There is no doubt we are better off the more we have invented.  As we advance the same technology can create problems. Nothing is inherently good or evil. A hammer can be used to build or tear down.

Social Media Is Separating Us and Dividing Us

We don’t ‘connect’ as we used to. Instead of calling and speaking we text each other. Often, we group text or we tweet followers and post to friends on social media. It is devoid of human speaking and listening and give and take.  Frequently, we are just posting or reading announcements on walls or watching video without any give and take.

Enter a room anywhere today and you will see people staring at their devices instead of talking together.  Most all of them gazing at their phone are gaming, or texting or reading or watching some media. Human interaction is limited and if there is any at all in that room it is through electronics with someone somewhere else.

This prevalent form of ‘staying connected’ is not meaningful contact. We are not actually talking and listening to or trying to understand anyone anymore. These are not conversations where meaning and understanding are important.

These are written notes littered with abbreviations and emoticons. We don’t hear their voice and their expression we read texts in our voice with our expression. Because we don’t listen or look we assume and misinterpret. Since we don’t actually talk we don’t actually connect.

We think we are more connected through electronics and social media but we may actually be more isolated and less exposed to diverse thinking, cultures and people. A room full of people all on their devices instead of interacting together is not a coming together.

Living Through Your Phone Or Lens Is Not Living

Watching a documentary on an African town is not the same as visiting the town and getting to know and experience the people. We are missing out on actual experiences. We opt to live vicariously rather than to really live. We have become passive observers, shielded behind our mobil devices, rather than participants in life.

Instead of it making us better it lessens our experiences and feelings. It allows us to escape. It preoccupies us. Instead of meeting the new person sitting next to you you retreat into the reliable escape of entertainment.

You game, watch youtube, text someone, read FB to avoid an actual real life encounter with the people right there with you. You are shut off not involved. You are limited and not expanding.

Give It A Rest And Take A Break

Make time for family and friends. Shut off your phones and put them away. Have some real face time with the people you love and care about. PUT THE MOBIL DEVICE AWAY. Your children OR your parents deserve YOU and your uninterrupted time and attention. Don’t deprive them.

Don’t be tempted to answer the call or the text. The person in front of you is more important, most likely, than the person texting in. Most texts and phone calls can wait. Make time for people in your life. Make time for your loved ones! Respect each other!

Respect the other person by giving your undivided attention. Give your complete attention without checking your FB wall. It is rude to be constantly picking up your phone instead of listening and looking at the human with you. It is annoying to others to be conversing with you only to be interrupted by text tones and phone calls. Stop it!

Learn To Live Without Your Phone 

You will survive! Many people, if they forget their phone, panic. STOP IT! It is only a phone. Yes, it is shiny, has bangs and whistles and costs a fortune but it is no where near worth the value of your real friends and family who want to connect with you.

Put it aside. Learn to live without it so you can enjoy it without being addicted to it. If you forget it at home, so what, you will survive. Those feelings of ‘gotta have it’ are the feelings and the stressors you want to eliminate. Relax, it is only a phone. You will survive!

In olden, by gone days, (a few years back) no one had personal devices to stay in touch and for the most part the world went on and on anyway. It is a fallacy to think we need the phone just in case. That is a sense of immediacy and foreboding that is artificial and only causes worry and stress. You don’t need it.

Hug Not Hold

True, once and a while you had to make an important call or you might have missed an important call BUT life went on. There is no reason to be a slave to your electronic device. It is the people that are important not the devices. It is the human you can hug not the gadget you can hold that matters.

Relax. Schedule time to connect. Have a date night with your loved one or friends and turn off your phones. Leave the electronics behind. Make it a point to shut the phone off for half a day or more. You can do it even if it seems as though you can’t.

At the end of your life you won’t say, ‘If I had only spent more time texting and posting to Facebook. If I’d only answered the phone more often.’ I bet you are going to wish for more time with the people you love.

Do not cheat yourself of them of your time and attention. Realize right this instant what is important and who is important in your life right NOW!, Spend the quality time together you and they deserve.” Rex Sikes

Have a wonderful day. Connect with someone in a special way!

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Act As If, Attitude, Beliefs, Emotions, Energy, Flow, Focus, Habit Formation, Laughter, Mind/Body, Positive Thinking, Rehearsal And Practice, Self Improvement, Smiling, Vibrations

Need More Energy? Want More Life? How To Have It Now!

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there is nothing impossible

“Would you like more energy to get through your day? Can you imagine feeling more wonderful more frequently? What if you were to live with more passion and enjoyment wouldn’t that be marvelous?

Well, you can! You can grab hold of life and give it a good squeeze. You can go for the gusto and smile, laugh, delight and live more energetically. You can take hold of your thoughts, feelings and your experience and make it more of what you want it to be.

In the decades I have been leading workshops and seminars I have had hundreds and thousands of people demonstrate this to themselves time and time again.

Energy Comes From How We Use Our Mind

How we use our mind is critical to how we feel and what we do. When we think sluggish we will feel sluggish. Our thoughts control our reality. Little things we think repeatedly (not just the big negative things) can drain us of happiness and energy so we want to think our very best to feel our very best.

We become and get what we focus on. If we repeatedly think negative, defeatist, thoughts we don’t feel up and filled with energy. In order to feel better now you need to take charge of your thoughts!

These blog pages are filled with how to help yourself think and feel better.

Energy  Comes From How We Use Our Body

There is a lot of documented research proving how we feel affects think. How we move and and use our body affects how we think. In my workshops I provide many demonstrations and exercises proving these points to individuals just like you.

One study published in the ‘Journal of Behavioral Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry’ found that subjects felt worse and remembered more negative things and fewer positive things when they  walked slouched over, shoulders hunched and didn’t move their arms much. This is how people typically walk when sad or depressed.

Stand And Walk Tall And You Feel Better

People felt better with spring in their step, pep, shoulders back, chin up. They felt better, they thought better and thought more positive. When we straighten our spine, pull our shoulders back and put our chin up we use our muscles differently AND breath differently. There are many reasons why we feel better when we stand and walk taller.

When you want to feel better move and walk with more energy and you will begin to feel that way. THEN keep at it.  Don’t return to slouching continue to walk feeling great! Think how soldiers march and the determination and confidence they exude. They wouldn’t if they hunched and slouched over.

How To Have 2 Times More Energy Right Now

You can imagine how you would feel if you had 2x more energy. Literally, you ARE able to do this. So do it. Try it on. How would you look, what would your expression be like?  Do it now. Imagine how you would be sitting and reading this if you had 2x more energy. What would your posture be like? Adopt that posture and that expression. Notice how you feel when you really do it.

Stand up and walk about with 2x more energy. Pay attention to how you walk and move. Notice how your gait is different. Notice your chin and shoulder position. Examine how you are breathing? What are your steps like? How do you move your arms? Do a complete check over and keep walking as if you have 2x more energy.

Linger in it. Bask in the energy, enjoy it. Spend time sitting, walking and standing with more energy. Practice it daily. Rehearse it. Make it a habit. You can you know. Anytime you want to feel better you can, because you know how. So make it a habit and use it.Great now double it again!

Walk and move as if you had 4x more energy. You can do it! Adjust your body and movement. Go walk about. Notice that you have control when you actually take control and do what is required. It affects you positively. Great now imagine 5x more energy. How about 10x more energy?

Make It A Habit And You Will Always Have It Available

Any time you want to you can imagine and have more energy and delight, more confidence and passion, more determination and enjoyment. You can use your body and mind to serve you anytime.

Stand in one spot and shake your entire body quickly for 30 seconds or a minute. That will charge you up. Put your arms over your head and wave them rapidly. Dance, skip, sing, and laugh to get more energy whenever you want it or require it. All you have to do is start it.

You can sit behind the steering wheel of a car and go nowhere, doing nothing, or you can start the engine and be on your way. If you want something to happen it will always be up to you. Think better thoughts and you will feel better. Feel better and you will think better. Do both and you will live with more passion and enjoyment and life will be more grand. Delight in in!” Rex Sikes

Have a fun filled day!

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Affirmations, Attitude, Beliefs, Decision, Emotions, Faith, Focus, Habit Formation, Happiness, Persistence, Positive Thinking, Rehearsal And Practice, Responsibility, Self Improvement, Self Talk, Visualization

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

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i choose

“Have you ever wanted to make some changes? Has something stopped you? Have you tried but didn’t follow through? What is it about changing that people just don’t understand?  Why don’t they do what they want to do, even when it is in their best interest to do so? Has this been you at times?

You Go Where Your Thoughts Take You

You are today, right now, where you are, because of where you thoughts have brought you. You will be, tomorrow, where your thoughts take you. You become what you think about most often. Your life is the result of the thoughts you hold in your head and what you talk about most of each day.

You Get What You Focus On

If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you can’t. Whatever you think about yourself you are right. You can not escape your thoughts. You either think and talk about what works and is wonderful and what you want OR you talk about what sucks, doesn’t work or what you don’t want most of the time.

Your Thoughts Are Either Positive Or Negative

Your thoughts are either constructive or they are destructive. Either way your thoughts are productive. You can’t think two thoughts at one time. You either mostly think positive thoughts or you mostly think negative thoughts. You life reflects what you think about most.

Your Mind Is Only As Strong As Your Weakest Think

If you really want to do something you will find a way to do it. Nothing will prevent you if you are committed. If you don’t want to do something  you will find an excuse. You will find a reason that you THINK is valid. Excuses are repetitive thoughts. Whining, and blaming and quitting are the easiest thoughts to think and to do.

You Can Learn To Be Positive More Of The Time

Skill comes from doing. Habit comes from repetition. The more you do something the more you are able to do. What is difficult at first gets easier. Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first. You will get better in time the more you do it. Repetition builds habit and skill.

Exceed Your Comfort Zone

Your current habits, mindset and abilities are those you have done most frequently, for whatever reason. You do them because you rehearsed them over and over even if you weren’t aware that was what you were doing at the time. To change you must do new things you may not be comfortable doing in the beginning.

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

While it may seem tough to change the habits you learned, at first, they are the proof that you can learn to do anything. You can learn to think, to be, to feel, to do differently IF and WHEN you want to. You can learn to do anything you dedicate your mind to. You can re-wire your brain to think differently, more efficiently and positively.

Now Is The Time

If you wait to change you will wait and wait. You will only do what is comfortable. That is what most people do. The reason they don’t change is because even though they claim they want to it is inconvenient. It seems too hard. They think they may have to do something that is difficult. They think they can’t. They make excuses.

DO YOU SEE IT YET? 

People don’t change because they don’t THINK they can or that it will be hard. Or they THINK they will fail. Or they THINK…. or they think… or they think… We are a product of our thoughts! You DO or DON’T do because of what you THINK at any given time. Thinking is what you say to yourself; your self-talk and the mental images you make. It is what you say to others.

You do whatever you habitually THINK you will or won’t! Your thoughts and feelings go hand in hand. If you don’t think it is possible you won’t feel like it is either. To change your feelings you must change your thinking. You can take control of your thinking! You can feel incredible when you do! Create the opportunity to change!

You Can Change In An Instant

Make a true decision to change right now and you will begin to change. You power comes from your decision. Follow through requires dedication and persistence. It is easier the more passionately you want to change. Think It and Feel It!

Change doesn’t have to be hard if you THINK it is easy. It can be fun, exciting and delightful. It can be whatever you THINK and BELIEVE it will be. While there may always be challenges you will be more prepared to handle them when you THINK YOU CAN!

To change right now means doing things differently. AND it means DOING them RIGHT NOW. If you put off changing now you succeed in putting off changing now. That is what you will succeed in doing.

You Are Always Successful No Matter What

You either think productively and positively and get what you want. OR you think destructively are negatively and get what you do not want. Either way the results you get are up to how you think and what you think about most of the time during your day. You go where your thoughts take you. You Become what you think about!

Stop It! Start Now! Begin today! Change your thinking and change your life. You will be glad you! You will feel better and better. The more you do the more you can do!

Skill comes of doing. You can and you will discover a whole new way to live and feel when you decide to. A new world will open up to you when you decide to take charge of your thoughts!” Rex Sikes

Make the most of today!

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Act As If, Attitude, Creating The Future, Definite Chief Purpose, Expectations, Faith, Goals, Happiness, Mental Movie Theater, Personal Development, Positive Thinking, Self Improvement, Visualization

A Great Reason To Dream Big!

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Lifepopper-Walt-Disney-quotes-motivational-inspiration-words-of-wisdome-17

“I am providing two quotes I think you will appreciate. The first is from Ralph Waldo Emerson. He states one should, ‘Dare to live the life you have dreamed for yourself. Go forward and make your dreams come true.’ 

If you want your inner reality, your dreams, to be your outer reality, the results you get, then go ahead and make them come true. It is completely up to you. Create the future you want to live. Don’t let anything stop you. I couldn’t agree more, how about you?

The second quote is from Walt Disney. I think this is one you should keep in mind. Disney created an empire that is still ongoing today. Here is what he says about this:

‘If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.’

‘If You Can Dream It You Can Do It’ Are Pretty Powerful Words

The Disney Empire was started with a dream and a mouse. He knew what he wanted to accomplish. Then he went about accomplishing it. He drew, animated and was the voice of Mickey Mouse and from that dream everything else became possible.

He made his passion his purpose and accomplished his dreams. The outer results of his dream are that he created are a motion picture and television studio, countless movies and merchandise and theme parks all generating then and worth billions and billions of dollars now. I

If you can dream it you can do it! Dare to live the life you have dreamed!

I agree, what about you?

With these in mind we should never dream small. We should dream big and then make it all come true. Make your passion your purpose and fulfill it. Don’t let anything stop you from creating and living the life you want.” Rex Sikes

Make the day magical!

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Act As If, Attitude, Beliefs, Definite Chief Purpose, Emotions, Expectations, Faith, Focus, Goals, Mental Movie Theater, Persistence, Positive Thinking, Relaxation, Responsibility, Self Improvement, Trust, Visualization

Why We Need Faith, Patience And Diligence

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patience is how you act while waiting

“I was reminded of a quote today and thought I’d share it. It is a really great reminder so I wanted you to have it. From William Penn, ‘Patience and diligence, like faith, remove mountains.’ I think that is magnificent!

Most of us are familiar with the biblical quote ‘if you had but the faith of a mustard seed you could say to this mountain be removed and the mountain would be removed.’ I love this because a mustard seed is incredibly small, and yet with that faith we could accomplish great things.

I think the problem with most people approaching a quote like that is that they expect a miracle. They want the mountain to become suddenly invisible. I accept it as an analogy for our difficulties and for our ability to accomplish our dreams. We can do anything given enough time.

We have to believe it is possible to achieve or we will never pursue it. We have to believe it is possible for US to get it and that we will get it no matter what. We have to believe we will accomplish our dreams so that we never give up. We need to believe in ourselves and our own abilities to make things happen.

We Must Have Faith

When we have faith we find we can accomplish great things and overcome any difficulty. Attitude determines our altitude. What we believe we eventually come to see. Mindset is the first step in getting what we want. Without it we may not make it. With faith we make it happen!

Faith is seeing the results you want already accomplished in your mind. It means you act as if everything you want is already yours on the inside. You celebrate your accomplishment as completed, finsished and done. You enjoy feeling what it feels like to actually have your dreams come true. You live and celebrate these feelings!

Patience is necessary because things take time. If we are hurried we may lose faith because we don’t see results in the phsyical world right away. We need to understand that it takes time for fruit to ripen so it takes time for us to make our dreams come true. It takes time to manifest our inner dreams as outer reality.

Nothing happens over night. The mountain may be removed shovel full by shovel full but not as if by magic. We have to hang in their and enjoy the process even when we don’t physically have what we believe we someday will. This is why we need faith and patience.

Patience And Faith Fortify Each Other

They go hand in hand. If we believe we are patient because we know, we expect, that what we want to happen will happen. We aren’t rushed, we can relax in our hearts and minds knowing we will absolutely bring about what we think about and work for. We rest assured it will all happen without fail!

Diligence means we continue in the process and the practice regardless of what difficulty we may encounter. We don’t quit or give up because it takes time but we continue to persist. We continue to deliver consistent quality of thought and attitude. We let nothing deter us from manifesting our dreams.

We Remain True To Our Goals

We expect to win and so we do by faith. We are patient in our pursuit and we stick with it. Diligence is defined as ‘constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken; persistent effort of body and mind; rigor; conscientiousness.’  We keep the faith through the constant application of our faith, our mindset, and because of this faith we continue to be diligent and patient.

It makes total sense these work together synergistically. We keep our mind’s eye on our chief aim or goal. We believe we can make it happen, we rest assured and patiently continue to earnestly work to bring it about regardless of circumstances or lack of results. We still know it will happen all in due time. We never lose sight of the shore!

We know if we continue in a positive direction forward we will reach our destination, even if the seas are presently turbulent, and land is nowhere in sight. We do not stop heading toward where we want to go.

I love the above quote by Penn because it reminds me that we have within us everything we need to make our dreams come true. All we have to do is use what we already have and we will make it happen.” Rex Sikes

Delight in this day!

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Attitude, Beliefs, Expectations, Faith, Flow, Focus, Friendship, Habit Formation, Personal Development, Rehearsal And Practice, Responsibility, Self Improvement, Self Talk, Success, Trust

The High Cost To Breaking Your Promise!

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no excuses - when you really matter

“Is there anything worse than someone who does not keep their word?  When they break they promise they demonstrate that their promise to you is meaningless. It shows us that they have no willpower nor backbone in carrying out what they say they will.

It indicates that they are weak or they just don’t care enough for you to keep it. Their promise is empty just as the results they get are empty. They do not care. They are not loyal. Their word or promise is of no value. It sucks!

When someone breaks their promise to another person s/he lets the other person down. As a result of that disappointment and the bad feelings negative associations pile up. The person gets a reputation of being a ‘let down’, ‘a disappointment’ and of being an untrustworthy person. You don’t want that, do you?

Always Keep Your Word

You should always keep your word! Your word should be golden! It should be unbreakable! You should never give your word unless you keep your word. You should place a high-value on doing what you say you will.

If you won’t do what you say you will then you shouldn’t make any commitment in the first place. NEVER give your word unless you absolutely intend to keep it. Do not disappoint anyone by making a promise you won’t keep.

If you make excuses and blame circumstances you demonstrate you are not in charge of your life. You made a promise, broke it and then whine or complain that it isn’t your fault that something came up. No one cares about your reasons for failure they only know YOU did not deliver.

When you promise something you are claiming you will follow through. You are stating implicitly that YOU will deliver.

What Constitutes A Promise?

IS it only a promise when you say, ‘I promise’? HELL NO!  A promise is implied whenever you say you will do anything or offer to do anything. The promise is always inferred. It is understood that you intend to deliver. If you won’t deliver don’t say you will.

If you said, ‘Today, I’ll buy lunch’ but when the bill comes you say ‘Forget it’ what do you think people would think of you? Why would you offer if you weren’t going to? If you say, ‘I’ll meet you at noon Friday’, but don’t show up do you think they’d think you were cool?

If you told a child, ‘I will come by after school’ and then didn’t how might the child feel? Do you really want to do that to a kid? DO you want to let anyone down? Do you want to get the reputation that your word isn’t any good? It is important to do what you say you will.

Consider this: IF it is that important to keep your word to another person how  important is it to keep your word to yourself?

You Need To Keep Your Promises To Yourself

If you say today you are going to do the laundry do the laundry.  If you claim today you will not eat donuts DON’T eat the donuts.  If you say you are going to take out the trash every week on Wednesday then take out the trash every week.

It is just as bad to break your promise to yourself as it is to another person. When you break your promise to yourself you betray yourself. You create failure and disappointment. You give yourself a reason to berate yourself and feel negative about you. You lower your self esteem. You injure yourself! After all, you have let yourself down, yet again!

This disappointment can stimulate negative self-talk, you can re-live old disappointing memories. It provides you negative ammunition and takes the wind out of your sails. You don’t focus on the ‘can do’ but on the can’t or didn’t do. You can chalk up another reason why you are a failure.

There Is A High Cost To Breaking Your Promises

When you make a promise or give your word to anyone the expectations are that you will keep it. Your word is your bond! A person only has their word to give and nothing else. If you say, ‘I can give money’ the money is the item you promised. If you don’t give the money you broke your word. Do you get it? It’s what you say!

If you can’t be trusted to keep your word what have you? What are you worth? It would be better to not say or promise anything than to break your word.  If you’re not going to take the trash out every Wednesday, as you promised, don’t say that you’re going to.

The key to keeping your word is to find a way to give it that allows you to win when you do and that doesn’t gnaw away at you if you don’t.

Perhaps, you promise to  take the trash out every Wednesday unless something more important comes up. Then each week at the appropriate time you prioritize. If you don’t take the trash out THEN it is because something truly more important has come up. In this way you have kept your promise to yourself.

You have acted on the first most important item on your list. Then the next. You will take the trash out as you knock off the items before it. This way you are not only taking the trash out but, because you have prioritized, you are doing other important things as well. This makes it a win/win for you.

Following through on what you say you will is important to your health and well being. You  need to work your plans and feel good about yourself. You can’t feel optimum if you are disappointing yourself and others. No one wants to think, feel or be told (by yourself or someone else) ‘See I knew you’d let me down’.

Make Keeping Your Word A Habit

You can learn to make anything a habit if you want to. Start simple, start small and keep it easy. Each day make a short list of four or five taks you want to complete before the day’s end. If you prefer do it the night before.

Keep these things ones you can achieve. They should not be overwhelming or time consuming. They could be things like take the trash out. Call a friend or make that business call. Walk your pet. Straighten up your desk or work area before leaving. Practice piano, read a chapter in a book. Keep it easy enough to do.

Once you complete a task cross it off your list. When you have completed all on your list of things to accomplish notice how good it feels. Pat yourself on the back. Enjoy and celebrate your success. You might be amazed at how good you feel. Repeat this process the next day.

Spaced repetion is what makes a habit. Repeat the behavior your want to learn, again and again, each day and soon it will be a habit. As it becomes a habit your confindence will become stronger just as your muscles do when you exercise them repeatedly.

Soon you will be up to handling larger tasks and more important promises. You will have made follow through and completion a habit. When you want to or have to accomplish something really big or important you will be able to.

You will follow through and keep your word. You will do whatever it takes because you are a’can do’ person. That will make you feel even better again! You will build for yourself a success cycle.

You will feel better about you, believe in and trust yourself. You will enjoy and get known for keeping  your word. You’ll develop the reputation as one whose word is golden. Place a high priority on doing what you say you will and you will absolutely transform your life!” Rex Sikes

Have a great day!

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Attitude, Blessings, Faith, Focus, Gratitude, Happiness, Joy, Positive Thinking, Responsibility, Self Improvement

Either You Are OR You Aren’t: Knowing This Is Great Power!

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start living your life fearlessly

“The concept is quite simple. Frankly, as simple as black and white, hot or cold, up and down. Think of it this way: you are either saving money or spending money. Your money either works for you or you work for it. You either are living fearlessly or you are not. It is simple!  What ARE you doing?

Possessions are either a feeder, contributing to your wealth and well being, or an eater, detracting from your wealth and well being. A car either appreciates in value or depreciates.

That is a pretty easy concept isn’t it? Your positive thoughts energy  ball is either larger or smaller than your negative thoughts energy ball. You either think positive or not. You either feel good or you don’t. You are either happy or you aren’t.

It Is Either One Way Or The Other Way

You are either nice to people most of the time or you are not. You either give and contribute to others or you don’t. You are either supportive and encouraging or you are not AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT. What are you?

What are you thinking, feeling and doing? What are you thinking, feeling and doing at any given moment? What are you thinking, feeling and doing RIGHT THIS MOMENT?

You need or want to notice which it is and whether that is what you want OR NOT. You are either doing well or you aren’t. You are either getting closer to your target destination or you are not.

All it takes is for you to be aware and notice what it is you are doing or mostly getting. If it is NOT what you want you have to change it for it to be otherwise. It is that cut and dried. It is that simple and straight forward. It is not complicated in the least.

We Become What We Think About

We become what we think about and focus on most of the time each day. Whatever consumes the mind is what we get. Either those are wonderfully powerful joyous thoughts or they aren’t.

If you want to think and feel better you need to make the decision about what you will concentrate on and then do it.

No one can do it for you. No one can think your thoughts or feel your feelings for you. No one can rescue you only you can. If you don’t like the results you are getting you CAN do something to get better results. You can change what you are doing.

If you are spending more than you are saving you can change that.

If you are focused on blame and worry and fear you can change that.

If you are eating the wrong foods for your health you can change that.

It Is Your Responisibility Alone

YOU have to take responsibility and correct the course you are on. It may be true, you have never done it before now, but you can learn to do it and you can be successful at it.

The decision is yours. You either decide to do it or you don’t do it. To not decide is to make a decision against doing anything. It will always be your choice and yours alone. The choice will always stare you in the face until you do something about it. Ignoring it is a choice.

If you want to be happier, healthier, wealthier you must think and do what brings that to you. You don’t move foward looking backward. If you want more happiness and enjoyment in your life you either take big steps or little steps towards it.

No steps won’t bring you what you want. Little steps will! You have to move toward what you want. What are you doing each moment? What are you moving towards this moment? Are you getting closer to what you want OR closer to what you don’t want? Figure it out and do what you need to do in order to get what you want!

You Determine What You Want And What You Will Get

If you want a life filled with gratitude and joy. Count your blessings every day. Look around for things and people to celebrate! Fill your mind and time with all that is good and joyous. Let gratefulness and joy consume you.

THEN you will get back what you put out. THEN you will become what you think about. THEN you will get what you want. If you want it make it happen. Decide Now! The miracle happens in the decision! More coming up on this topic! ” Rex Sikes

Make the most of this marvelous day!

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How To Get Through Rough, Tough Times

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“What helps get us through difficult times? What are we to do when things don’t go the way we hope? What do we do when it downright sucks and circumstnaces turn for the worse? Is there anything at all that can make it better or easier?

I think the answer to my last question is yes and no. I think there is something that can help us through any difficulty at any time but whether or not we rely on it or are capable of accessing it makes the difference. I think my answer will unfold here as one element or maybe more.

Attitude Makes A Difference

I believe attitude makes a major difference. I believe that sets a framework for how we encounter and navigate difficult times. It is easy to say, of course, and I do not mean to be flippant about this for people who experience difficult times, loss of loved ones, or any problem or issue that is of concern.

Attitude, however, seems to be the ability to paint with a broad brush all things as potentially good or potentially not so good. So what is attitude? It seems to be a larger all encompassing result of our beliefs. It may have to do with our faith. It certainly seems to have  much to do with our focus and what we say to ourselves.

For longer than this blog has been around, for many years, I have been stating and sharing on the power of focus. I did not invent the notion but have co-opted it for my life and have worked to make it work for me. I have managed to instill in me an ability that works much better now than it has at times in the past by dedicating myself to make it a habit.

I speak from my experience and from decades of working with others. I share the experience of others who have led me too. The principle that we become and we get what we focus on has had such great impact on me that I have felt compelled to share and discuss it for a very long time.

Where We Put Our Attention, How We Do It, For How Long We Do It, Makes A Difference

Perhaps, it IS the very difference!

When things become less than glorious or when we discover ourselves off track we need to return our thoughts back to the positive. To return to ‘can do’ thinking. We need to discover a way to feel even just a little better. The turning back to center or turning back to the positive IS the ability to cultivate that makes the difference.

Please go back and read through this blog many times. I have shared prodeures and methods in every article on how to make positive changes for yourself and direct your attention. Put these to work and you will begin notice the marvelous changes you can make for yourself!

We practice returning to center in all cases, in all types of circumstances and all types of weather. We practice it when times are good and we don’t need it and when times are less than glorious. We practice it so that when it does storm we get what we have practiced.

Build A Skill. Lay A Strong Foundation For Positive Change

I have been discussing laying a foundation, a solid one, that holds everything together when the winds get rough. When the storms come the house still stands. The foundation you build is as strong as the materials you use to build it and how well you put it together. I think this is true too of our attitude and positive capabilities.

I think faith plays a part. I don’t mean religous faith or faith outside of oneself, although that can too. I mean our belief in ourself and our abilities. I mean the expectatons we hold in mind when we practice our focus. Do we expect to succeed or not? Do we expect it to take a long or short time? Do we really believe or do we doubt instead?

The story is told of the person who says,’I am told I can move mountains if I have the faith of a mustard seed.’ So she prays for the mountain to move and when she opens her eyes and sees it still there she exclaims, ‘I knew it wouldn’t work.’

Faith Means Knowing It Will Work And Trusting For As Long As Necessary Without Wavering Until It Does Work

I think hard times can knock the wind out of anyone. I think it is okay when one takes a blow that one takes time to recover from it. I don’t believe anyone is under ANY obligation to anyone or anything to be other than who and what they actually are at any moment.

We are human which includes the ability to feel a  range of emotions and react to what happens. All of the possibilities are human possibilities.

To be able to get up after having been knocked down is the goal. We should get up and not live the rest of life from the floor. How long that takes for anyone is how long it takes for anyone. I believe we should not criticize ourselves for how we respond when we get knocked down. Nor should we criticize others.

We should allow and accept and understand it may take some time for a person to regroup.

If one has been practicing returning their focus to center that person may or may not respond as one might expect. Anything  is possible. The ability to shift focus and to feel better by shifting that focus bit by bit is an incredible thing to have developed into a habit. It is worthwhile and does help get one through the toughest storms and times of life.

Positive Focus Is A Skill That Can Be Developed

I recommend that people practice it daily as often as possible to acquire the skill. Anyone can learn it. How quickly depends on the amount of time one spends practicing. Just as any other skill is developed this skill is developed.

If you have gotten good at anything; a sport, music, acting, a hobby or craft, art, oration, cooking, sewing, working a computer program, ANYTHING, you can get good at running your brain purposefully.

You can excel at developing a positive attitude and making for yourself an incredible life. You can find an inner strngth and ability you didn’t realize was possible prior to developing powerful habits. You can discover life is awesome no matter what comes your way by chosing what to give your attention to.

Do Not Deny Anything.

You don’t try to fool yourself. If there are problems there are problems. Your choice to focus on solutions and what works, or what is good in your life that you can celebrate, in spite of the problems is not denial. You recognize what is there and you chose where to put your attention.

You don’t want to deny or deceive yourself ever but you can celebrate in the midst of sadness and even devastation.

There are countless examples of happy people who have nothing. There are countless examples of people who have lost everything and everyone and yet they remain positive and hopeful. Of course, these people are not the ones you see on the news. These are people the news doesn’t air. They go about their lives when times are easy or times are hard.

I am not ever attempting to tell people how they must be. I am simply pointing out possibilities that exist that we may not think exist for us. There are possibilites that we don’t even know about yet. There is a way to live that makes life wonderful even during the tough times.

It isn’t about pulling ourselves up by one’s own bootstraps although I don’t have a problem with this when it is appropriate. Sometimes we need to be tougher on ourselves to get things going.

Life is not one static thing. Life is change and upheveals. In order to be alive you have to take the good and the bad. Calamity happens, evolutions happen. Coal is converted to diamonds under great pressure, heat and stress. Anything and everything is possible. We need to discover how we can appreciate it, celebrate it or naviagate it. I think these are some opportunities life offers us.

You Can Feel Blessed Beyond Belief

What you chose to focus on will determine how you feel. It will determine how deeply you feel it and for how long. This is the great lesson: whatever it is, whatever it will be is determined by each of us. It is determined by our attention and our thoughts about what is going on. Our thoughts determine our current feeling state and our reality.

Our thoughts are either positive, nuturing, supportive, uplifting, OR they are not. We are either celebrating and are grateful or we are not. We are either moving forward or we are not. We either have a large positive energy ball or we have a large negative energy ball.

Without judging anyone that is just the way it is. The question each of us face is: what do we want to be able to do more of? What do we want to include in our life?

If we don’t like what we are getting then we must make some changes to get something else. That is just how it is. I don’t mean to preach I mean to share. Life can be incredible no matter what is going on. It is up to each of us to discover that for ourselves.

Sometimes we have to find the thinnest of positive threads and hang on to it in order for us to make it better. Whatever you and I chose is what we do. Again, we shouldn’t judge ourselves or others. We allow, accept and understand. We support and nuture. We encourage positively.

Focus On What You Can Celebrate And Are Grateful For

The goal of course in life is to feel the best we can, to  enjoy life the absolute most, and to be, do and have anything we want. We are creators and we make our lives whatever we want them to be regardless of the outer influences. The one thing we can control is out thoughts and our attitude. If it is important to you, you will.

Live a blessed, wonderful, marvelous life. You deserve it! We all do. I think it is up to each of us to live the best we are able and to help others live the best they are able to as well. We are all in it together and we can make our life and world a beautiful garden to enjoy. It can be whatever we decide it will be. Celebrate and enjoy!” Rex Sikes

Focus your day on fun!

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Experience The Incredible Presence And Power Of NOW!

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“There is plenty more to discuss about energy, visualization, affirmations and living powerfully. There is much more to talk about making your dreams come true. Life is a process and we are always somewhere in the middle of it. We are in a flux, a flow and if you think about it you are always right where you are.

That seems like a weird thing to say but you are always in the perfect place EVEN when you don’t think so. If you were to take a trip in a canoe you would always be right where you are on the river. What causes us pain or joy is wanting to be elsewhere than where we are at any given instant.

Accept Right Where You Are

If we’d rather be elsewhere we experience discomfort. If we are in a hurry we may be in pain. If we are completely happy and content to be right where we are on the river all is good. We can relax and notice the beauty surrounding us.

We can be alert to anything wonderful or not so wonderful that requires our attention. We can be totally present and that means we can be fully alive right. We can enjoy being where we are fully. The same thing is true about right now!

We Can DelightIn Right Now 

In this instant you and I  are in the right place. If we don’t think we are it is only because we are making a judgement. Actually, it is fairly egotistical to think we might not be, as if we knew better what the right place to be in the moment is.

When we think we know better and criticize ourselves for not being enough, or for the moment not being the right moment we cause our own suffering.

Surrender Is About Giving In To Whatever IS Right Now

Drop into the moment fully. Appreciate NOW for whatever is or isn’t going on. No judgement, just acceptance, allowing, awareness, appreciation, alertness to this moment. Right now! You are alive! Can you feel it?

Don’t think about it just experience it. Let this moment be everything there is and nothing else.

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing NOW is the only time you actually have. Live in the present moment! One can be filled with gratitude right this second. One can feel positive and more alive and feel blissful this very second. This IS good, high, positive energy to be filled with.

Today, Appreciate NOW Whenever You Can.

Bring your awareness to the moment and just experience the pleasantness of now. In that instant it can seem eternal. Take a deep breath and relax into it. Savor the now. Whenever you remember to remember this moment, drop fully into it. It is all awareness.

Celebrate today. Live in gratitude. Be more silent, listen to the world around you. Notice the sounds and the sound of silence. Allow the energy inside you to bubble up and overflow. Accept.

Whenever you notice yourself pushing it or resisting relax and allow. Notice how it feels  when you stop effort-ing or striving and allow, accept, and receive instead. Create a gap, a space, between you and ‘trying’ and just BE for a while.  Find the joy of nothingness.

Let Today Be Filled With Joyous Moments.

Moments pass. If you encounter less than glorious moments let them pass too. Don’t hang on to them. Notice how it feels to let them go when you stop re-living the old, or the painful. Notice what it is like when you stop clutching onto them. Live and let go!

Celebrate and enjoy! Find bliss wherever you are. You are now and this is the only moment you actually have. Dive into this moment. Live in the now, not in the past or the future,.

Live NOW Because NOW Is When You Live!

Today, live, love, laugh and celebrate!” Rex Sikes

May today be incredible for you!

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How To Have More Positive Enjoyable Energy

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looking at the same world difference is what u see

“DO you vibrate low or high or at all? Some people, some spiritual practices and quantum physicists, believe we are energy and vibrate at certain frequencies. Based on experience and every bit of research I have I have looked into in the past 40 years I can accept this premise. After all,  we are made up of vibrating atoms.

When we add heat to a liquid (we add energy) the energy, the molecules and atoms, of the liquid move faster. When frozen they move less (although they still are vibrating). It seems it is the nature of the universe to be one vibrating energy in many forms or frequencies and actually nothing else.

Everything is energy.

Just as there is day and night, good and bad, up and down, hot and cold there is positive and negative, high and low, energy.  It seems to be the case that whether we vibrate high and positive or low and negative we are attracting the same kind of energy to us. We get back more of the same.

Or perhaps, when we are vibrating at a high positive rate we create and attract more high positive energy and when we are at a low negative rate we repel and are not open to receive high positive energy. We are resistant to it unless we change how we are vibrating.

Whether or not you chose to believe this as reality it still makes perfect sense to adopt as an analogy or metaphor for what goes on within us. It gives us a way to calibrate or evaluate how and what and where we spend the bulk of our time. It can explain what we are doing. Once we recognize what we are doing we can change it for our benefit.

Think of it like this. You have a positive energy ball or cloud above you and you have a negative one too. Whichever one is bigger is where you spend the predominant amount of your time. The goal is to have one larger than the other. Which do you think would be better to have bigger?

Yes, I think the positive ball too. So the goal is to think our thoughts and feel our feelings in the best possible ways to make the positive ball bigger and the negative ball smaller. If we really had these in the physical world the larger the ball the more mass it has.

This is not necessarily accurate. It could be larger and lighter depending on what it is made of and how it is made.  Still, most of the time the larger something is the more gravity pulls on it so the more potential momentum it has. We want a big positive energy ball for this reason!

We want a massive, positive, energy ball with lots of momentum.

We want out thoughts and feelings mostly positive so we live our life mostly feeling wonderful and creating good things.  It makes perfect sense that how and where and what we spend most of our time doing is what we get back.

We could call you a ‘water person’ if you spend the bulk of your time in the pool, the sea or on and around the water. If you spend most of our time loving, feeling peaceful and joyful what is your experience versus if most of our time is spent complaining, blaming and quarreling? How do you prefer to live your life? What do you want?

When we keep our energy positive we attract and create good things, happy things, positive events, experiences and people. When most of our time is thinking and feeling negative ball we get negative people, experience and things. It really is a simple concept.

If all this talk about positivity and vibration is accurate and real it makes a lot of sense. Even if it isn’t actually real, but only a useful analogy for how to live, it still makes a lot sense in how we approach life and getting what we want. It gives us a practical means for determining how we are getting the results we are getting.

The more time we spend feeling good the MORE TIME we spend FEELING GOOD.  While that seems like a redundant sentence there is truth in it. Adopting these analogies for ourselves helps us to know where we need to put our attention more frequently.

The better we live the better life we have.

Complaining and whining does what? It deflates our good mood. It zaps us of our positive energy. Criticism and blame brings us down. Fear and worry and negativity do not help us to feel better. Yes, it can help us to realize and recognize what we do not want but we can not wallow there if we want to feel wonderful.

We need to turn our attention away from what we don’t want and put it on what we do want instead.

For this reason it is up to us to take 100% responsibility for controlling our thoughts and feelings. No one else can do it for us. This IS why WE put effort into managing our thoughts so we remain positive and powerful create or attract what we do want.

This IS WHY we make positive glorious pictures and supportive self-talk and affirmations because we become what we think about, focus on and do most of most often. The more time we spent thinking and feeling and doing what we want the more of it we have. The more of it we will do automatically as we make positive thinking and feeling a habit.

The more we do the more we can to do.

Hopefully, now you understand the reasons for taking control of your mind and body, your thoughts and words, your actions. They have a cumulative effect and produce the results you are getting in your life. If you don’t like the results you have gotten you need to change what you are doing and what you are focused on.

In these blog pages I have discussed precisely how to do this. Go back a read through posts. I’ll share more upcoming too. We want to keep our ball of energy large and positive. They key to the good life is how we use our minds and how we feel.

Any time you you, at any moment you can become aware, and  do a self check to discover to which ball are you contributing? Are you adding to the positive energy ball or the negative? This is important!

This can help you stay on track with what you want and help you live the life you prefer! Focus on what you want more of! Take the positive steps you need to bring that about. If you can hold it positively in you head and heart you can some day soon hold it in your hand.” Rex Sikes

Have a delightful today!

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