Tag Archives: Self Improvement

Affirmations, Goals, Gratitude, Joy, Personal Development, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Success, Unlimited Power

Positive Thinking Part 3 What Is Your Excuse?

September 7, 2014 rexsikes Leave a comment

… ” I daily read and filled my mind with positive thoughts. I created some positive AFFIRMATIONS. I thought of these through out the day. Later, I discovered the awesome power of asking DIRECTED QUESTIONS of myself. I have mentioned the power of directing your mind positively through the artful and scientific use of questions at other times in this blog and through the years in my writings and workshops.”

Later on I learned the, even more, awesome and incredible power of FEELINGS.

Part 3

It works like this: the mind (our conscious mind) determines the direction (good or bad) the feelings we have drive us there. Whatever we think and feel we end up magnifying. Our feelings drive everything. Our feelings are what help create our results based on our thinking. I will explore this concept more int depth as we continue.

If we worry and are fearful or anxious, angry, hateful or depressed our thoughts and feelings are paired powerfully. It makes if difficult to get free of either and we usually end up with more of the same. UNLESS sometimes, something occurs to shake us awake and we make a decision to be different. Sometimes it is a cataclysmic event in our life and we decide we must move in a different direction.

The same applies when we are positive and confident, joyous, open and powerful, delighted and living with gratitude. Our feelings and thoughts are powerfully paired. It is difficult to shake a person from this way of being, yet sometimes, cataclysmic events shake us and we find ourselves falling into despair. This is possible, yes.

Both negativity and positivity as habits are difficult to break and that is why we operate as we do. Whichever we are predominantly determines what we see, feel, hear, do and get. Positivity or negativity is the filter we use to label our life experiences. It is as if we have rosy colored glasses or blue tinted lenses with which we see and experience the world.

Our habitual frame of mind determines how we experience life; whether we are mostly happy or not or mostly getting what we want or not. Our mind set, our attitude, influences everything.

Being positive or negative – each is easy and each is difficult.

Frankly, as creatures of habit, we do whatever we have done.

Whatever we are accustomed to, whatever is most familiar and most comfortable to us is what we continue to do.

Whatever we have done we keep doing. We proliferate it most of the time. This is why we stay pretty much as we are and experience living the life as we do.

It is either great or it sucks or it is okay.

We are creatures comfortable with consistency.

Change is difficult for many of us because it means doing things other than how we have been doing them.

I mean consider this, WE like short cuts. We state that the best way is the shortest way, ‘a straight line between two points’, yet nothing is ever actually straight in life, still that is what we want.

We want it quick, easy, fast, effortless, timeless, we want it perfect, yesterday, low cost, convenient and high quality without ever having to life a finger. We grew up thinking these things. We were influenced by media, parents and peers. We have adopted many beliefs about ourself and the world from others.

Well, it is true, isn’t it? Who do you know who says, ‘I want to work and work hard to get what I got? If it takes forever so what? Bring on the effort and the delays I can handle anything?’

Yes, people parrot the phrase, ‘no pain. no gain’ but not because they prefer it. They only mean ‘crap, it is going to take some effort and that is painful’. They think that is the way things are, (like death and taxes) there is no choice, you can’t do anything about it and that is how it is. They put up with it.

Face it, most of us want it to be easy. Especially, those brought up in recent decades. We like fast, convenient, tasty food even when it isn’t the best choice for us because we are USED TO having it.

AT the very same time we want change!!! We want changes!!!

BUT WE DON’T WANT TO CHANGE.

This is a huge issue for people. It is a big issue in the corporate world too. In this way people and corporations (run by people) share some practices in common.

The company takes forever to decide to implement a new protocol (they call this procrastination ‘research’) and they may utilize facilitators (within the company or from without) to help things change BUT NOT TOO MUCH.

Change IS desired but not too much change.

Don’t shake the apple tree because as inefficient and ineffective as it presently is it is preferable to the unknown future and possible consequences.

‘We have always done it this way’. The known, while uncomfortable, IS frequently preferable to the discomfort of the unknown future.

People and companies tend to remain the same.

They don’t really want to change NOR do they want to have to work at it. They don’t want to put in any effort to make it happen? It will be too arduous, to costly (energy wise or otherwise) to maintain the new way of being.

Excuses, excuses, excuses!

People remain the same because of excuses. Call it fear, call it resistance, call it reluctance, call it anything you want to call it but do you know what an excuse really is?

It is a thought!

An excuse is a thought that prevents you and ‘excuses you’ from being accountable and responsible for making positive changes.

It is a thought utilized to defend your present circumstances, conditions and mindset. It is a way of giving yourself permission to not do anything at all.

When you have an excuse you are simply using your thoughts to make a case for why you won’t engage in making anything different.

You are making a case for ‘why not’, why you won’t. Sure, some people say they can’t but that is the same as saying they won’t because the end result is the same.

You could be using your thoughts positively, constructively and powerfully. Ooops you are already using them powerfully to prevent you. Yes, you may be citing reasons or pointing to others and events which you deem as the ‘real’ cause for why you are ‘NOT’, but the bottom line is that YOU, alone, are using your mind to limit you and limit your possibilities.

Okay, again. YOU could be using your thoughts positively, constructively and powerfully to make desired changes and open the doors to wonderful new ways of being and having that, MAY AT FIRST seem uncomfortable for you, but you aren’t yet.

Yes, anything new may be uncomfortable at first.

When you buy a new pair of shoes you may have to ‘break them in’ and get used to wearing them, so they fit right. Once they are comfortable you barely notice them at all, unless something changes, you get a pebble in them, or they break, then your attention again goes to the shoes. The point is once the new shoes are comfortable and fit, you don’t ever think about them or the process of breaking the shoes in.

Okay, you understand that example?

When people learn a new skill typically they are not great from the get go. They are awkward . It is difficult or even uncomfortable at first. The reason for this is because it IS NEW. You never did it before. The learning curve may be steep. Almost anything we do for the very first time is not our best.

Our best comes from doing it again and again correctly over time. We get better that is what progress means. We improve as we go along.

So what if it seems a little unfamiliar at first? So what if it is difficult or uncomfortable why should that stop you?

As you read that previous question did you think to yourself, ‘right lets keep going’ or did you come up with an excuse? Did you mutter, ‘Ya right, easy for you to say’ blah blah blah…

I say, don’t let a thought prevent you from acting in your own best interests.

You see, if fear of the unknown stops you it can stop you whether the change you want to implement is negative OR positive. The same fear mechanism drives the show.

Some people don’t do anything unless the results are guaranteed. That is just another excuse. You can’t move forward unless you are certain the pay off will be what you want.

If you feel uncertain, or fearful, or can’t see the payoff then maybe you just don’t do anything. That is best way to stay exactly as you are. It seems that is what most people want. They want change but they really want to stay as they are. They don’t want to have to change anything.

Do you get it? We want change but not really. We don’t want to give up our comfort. We don’t want to have to work for it. We do not want to shake up our current situation. Maybe, we are better off just as we are? they think. Then they find all the reasons to justify staying the same.

My guess is that you have done this countless numbers of times over countless numbers of things. Is it possible I am correct? I bet I am because I sure have done this.

We’ll discuss more next time.

Right now concentrate on those things that you enjoy about yourself and others, Take time to stop and smell the roses and really be grateful. Look for what is good about your life and what you want more of. Focus on finding delight. Continue to practice gratefulness and make your list each evening.

Pause to think throughout each day, how wonderful today is. Think this is the perfect day no matter what is going on. Keep your thoughts positive. Steer to center whenever you discover yourself off course. Enjoy it. Take time to enjoy it. DO this repeatedly.” Rex Sikes

Make it simply marvelous for yourself and others today!

Subscribe to Daily Inspiration and Gratitude! Visit often & please share with others!

Affirmations, Friendship, Gratitude, Joy, Learning, Personal Development, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Success, Unlimited Power

Why me? Why Should I Go First?

September 6, 2014 rexsikes 3 Comments

One of the quickest ways to begin changing yourself for the better is to adopt The Golden Rule. The Golden Rule states ‘Do to others as you want others to do to you.’ or ‘Treat others the way you want to be treated.’ This REALLY TYRULY means that you treat others as you want them to treat you. That is the simple instruction. It doesn’t mean you give lip service to it or that you intend to do it, it means you actually do it.

If you want to be respected you respect them first. If you want to be listened to you listen to them first. If you want help with the groceries you give them help first. If you want them to stop nagging you you stop nagging them. The list is potentially endless.

Why should we do this? Because it is powerful? Why s this so important and so powerful?

Because it begins with you. No one else. There is no waiting for anything or anyone else. It is up to you!

It is powerful because it starts with your thoughts. It begins with how you think about others and it puts the responsibility squarely on you. If it is going to happen you are going to have to do it. You initiate it and you maintain it. You begin it and you follow through. It isn’t up to how you are treated in return it is what you are able to do all by yourself.

You treat others the way you want to be treated whether or not they ever actually treat you the way you want to be treated.

WOW, that may have stopped a few readers! Your concern is not their actual response your concern is your mind set, your attitude, and your actions. You have to realize that YOU need to be the change you want to see in the world. You need to become fully responsible.

It isn’t about the other person returning anything to you.That would be you manipulating them. That would be you doing something just to get something back and that is selfish.

The idea is to consider how others want to be treated and then to treat them that way because that is the right thing to do. That puts you in the right frame of mind. It also takes you out of your own limitations of thinking and has you expand what you are capable of considering. ‘How might this other person want to be treated? Hmmmmm, How would I prefer to be treated? Oh, okay, so how might I better be able to treat them in that way?” Just taking a moment to consider these questions when facing situations with others, stops you from reacting on autopilot and possibly begin to do new things. It opens you up, it opens your thinking up to be more positive and inclusive.

When you begin to really appreciate the power behind ‘Treat others how you want to be treated’ d o not be concerned with whether they reciprocate. That is not your concern. Just take care of you by doing good for them. Treat them well. You will do so much to transform everything about yourself when you are able to.

When you can adopt this attitude then you have shifted your mind powerfully!

When you realize it is completely up to you to think well and treat others well first, you are not depending on anyone to do anything for you. You aren’t relying on others to change you are relying on yourself. You are making it happen. This is powerful because now you are taking charge. You aren’t relying on circumstances to make a difference or what others do, you are just doing it.

You put yourself in the driver’s seat. You are not a passenger taken wherever someone else takes you. You determine the route, you decide where to go and what to see. This makes an incredible difference for people.

You are also ‘the other person’.

If you treat another person with respect, love, kindness, and appreciation then you should treat yourself the same way. Do not skimp on you either. You are important and deserve the best treatment. Stop getting down on yourself and start lifting yourself up. Inspire yourself and fill yourself with wonderful thoughts and feelings. When you first make it a prime concern to treat others well then you must make it your same concern to treat yourself well. AND when you make it a prime concern to treat yourself well then you must make it your same concern to treat others well.

When you first seek to ‘do to others as you want others to do to you’ you create the opportunity for them to reciprocate. You put your energy and focus into making others feel good (and important and happy) and FOR YOU to think and feel and act the same.

When you think and feel your very best you ARE more of your best. You become more open, happy, confident, upbeat, enjoyable and a person others may want to be around more. When you first treat others well they ARE more apt to want to return to you what you did for them. They are more apt to want to be around you.They are more apt to treat you better.

Some people say you vibrate at a higher level. Okay, I’ll go with that. You vibrate at a higher level. Your energy is more positive. When these things are true you attract others who have a similar energy or vibrational level. You radiate who and what you are positively. When you put this kind of energy out there you attract this kind of energy back. It will happen!

The point is you don’t just do it because you get something back in return you do it to do it! You do it because it is the right thing to do, the smart thing, the wise thing. When you do you will get it back. You may not always get it back from the person you give it to but you will get it back in return.

If you do something nice for someone and they don’t do anything back or they are mean to you THAT is an opportunity for you. Yes, of course it is a challenge and you may be inclined to get hurt or angry but then stop and think, if you were that person how would you want to be treated in this situation? What would YOU want the others to understand about you? If you were being difficult or nasty what do you really wish others would think about you and do for you to help you out?

Take the higher ground as best you can. They may wound you but do not let it fester. Aim high in your thinking. Aim to generate good will in your thoughts. The reason for this is that it isn’t up to the other person what happens it is all in how you respond. When things occur that you don’t want and don’t like what goes on in you that you can change for the better?

If you can learn that it is how YOU respond to life when life goes well or when it goes awry that will be a major learning for you. That will be a true highlight moment!

When you discover that you are able to evolve your thinking and feelings, so that no matter what it is that comes your way you are able to transform the moment, you become free. You are not tied to old negative habitual thoughts, feelings or actions you now have choice. You can chose which way you want to go and my guess is you choose the higher road. You chose that which is best for you and for others too. When life doesn’t dictate how you are to be but you decide then you are free and you are powerful. You are in charge.

When you are in charge you have more responsibility. You are responsible for your thoughts, your feelings and your actions. You are responsible for the results you get. As you take charge and take the high road you get better results too. You attract more positive people and all around and your life improves.

Evolution begins in us. It doesn’t come from the outside it begins within. It is up to each of us and no one else. If you want your life to change for the better you must do it. Now is always the only time we have. We make a decision for what we want the future to be but now is the time we create that future. If you want your life to be better down the road you must act in this moment. If you want to transform this moment you must do something differently that will bring you a positive result.

It begins with your thinking. So ‘Do unto others the way you want them to do unto you’. Guard your thoughts, make them work for you and serve you well instead of being their servant. Everything begins with thought. When you can control your thought you control the results you are able to get.

As I have discussed in precious posts thoughts attract like thoughts. You want to control your thoughts because the first thought you think leads to others of a like nature. If it is negative you will get more negativity. Just as a snow ball traveling down a mountainside can trigger an avalanche so can your fist thought. It takes effort at first to train the mind and your thinking but you can do it. If you are going to have an avalanche at least think positive thoughts. It always matters what you do first. This is why I emphasize going first. Think positive thoughts first! Do for others first! Give First! You will find an incredible world open up to you.

Become the person in charge you will enjoy the change. When you are filled with happiness, love, compassion, understanding, patience, tolerance, acceptance and all sorts of other wonderful qualities you and those around you benefit. You may benefit the most, but you won’t care, because you will be reaping what you have sown. That will be more than enough.” Rex Sikes

Enjoy you day! How many people can you make smile today?

Subscribe to Daily Inspiration and Gratitude! Visit often & please share with others!

Affirmations, Get Rich, Goals, Gratitude, Joy, Personal Development, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Success, Unlimited Power

Learn to Wait and Wait Well! Then You Will Get It!

September 4, 2014 rexsikes Leave a comment

“It is said, that ‘Patience is not the ability to wait, but the the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting’. (Joyce Meyer). How true that is.

When we begin to create a new life and future for ourselves by keeping focused on positive thoughts and feelings things inside us begin to change. They do! But they may not change fast enough or we may not see indications of these changes right away. We set a goal and work towards it but the outcome is not readily apparent.

This is understandable. When you plant a seed it takes time to grow. It grows in the invisible darkness underground for quite some time before it breaks through the ground and reaches toward the sun. Farmers know that there is a time for planting and a time for harvesting. You don’t plant Monday and harvest Tuesday. Seeds sown take time to grow.

So it is with all good things. We focus our attention consciously on what we want, we maintain it positively and infuse it with positive wonderful feelings and we wait.

It may seem like nothing is happening out there in the real world. Our inner world is transforming but we don’t see the results yet.

Well, they will come in time as long as you remain true. As long as you remain committed and continue to focus your life will change and you will eventually see the positive results come to be. SO maintain a positive attitude.

It takes time for the artist to conceive of the painting and complete it. However long that process is (or isn’t) it still takes some time. Nothing is instant. A building is still made brick by brick. Can you imagine how long it must have seemed to lay the track and create the East West railroad in the U.S.? Can you imagine the hardships endured to make that railroad a reality? It certainly wasn’t easy and it didn’t happen over night.

‘For everything there is a season’. It takes time so hang in there.

We become what we think about most of the time. We are today where our thoughts have brought us. We will be tomorrow where our thoughts take us. If you can see it in your head you can hold it in your hand.

And it takes time.

That is why the quote I cited in the very beginning is so relevant. Patience is not the ability to wait, but the the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting’.

We always have to wait but how we wait matters.

We need to keep the faith and believe it will happen and not lose site of what we are positively creating. We must keep going even when it does not appear that anything is happening or changing. We stay focused on the positive images and feelings. We know there will come a time when we will harvest the seeds we planted. These seeds are currently growing.

‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.’ Faith is knowing that the invisible processes are taking place. Faith is knowing they are taking place even when we can see them. Faith is knowing that somehow it will all work out okay even when there is no reason to actually think that it will. In other words we can’t see what we can’t see yet.

We live by faith that the processes we initiated will continue to grow and come to fruition. We live by faith that we will accomplish our goals no matter what. We will go after and get what we want even if it appears that nothing is changing. We will stick with it no matter how many obstacles or challenges rise up in front of us to prevent us from reaching.

We need to believe and know that we will.

That is attitude! That is a positive determined attitude!! ‘If you can conceive it and believe it you can achieve it’.

You can’t let circumstances get you down. Even if everything is presently crumbling around you stay focused on what you want to make happen for yourself. Do not give in to the temptation to give up or feel bad. Stay strong, stay positive and feel your best. You will come through it but you must know that you will.

You can’t look back, you can’t look at the difficulty you must look ahead to what will be. You must stay focused on the future you want to create for yourself.

This is why we train our minds to remain positive so that no matter what occurs we live with the very best positive attitude. Attitude is everything.

It doesn’t matter what you don’t have you stay focused on what you want. Let’s say you want a brand new car, just as an example. Give yourself permission to want it and to have it. Accept that it is going to be yours because you deserve it. Imagine yourself driving it, see it, notice how good it feels to be in the driver’s seat your hands on the wheel. Smell it, hear what you are saying to yourself and thinking as your drive around in it. See it in your driveway. Imagine living with it. Doesn’t it look and feel great?

NOW it doesn’t matter if you don’t have money or a job, and have mounds of debt. None of that matters. NONE of it!!!

YOU focus on WHAT – YOU – WANT.

You keep the images alive and the feelings great because even if things currently suck (to use a scientific term) you still are entitled to get your dream car. I hope this makes sense. Many people will think ‘wow things suck so I will never be able to get my dream car’. That is not the attitude to have.

You have to keep the faith. You have to stay focused and not waiver. Believe that no matter what some day you will have the car you want. Feel great about having the car! Enjoy and savor these feelings. Keep it alive and stay passionate about it.

What you are doing is waiting well.

You have set your mind on course, in a direction, and you are traveling in that direction no matter which way the wind blows. When you keep the focus and the energy on what you want you are literally telling yourself ‘figure out how to make this happen’.

That servo-mechanism I mentioned in previous posts takes over and works at getting it. Your brain works on making a plan finding the opportunities to earn the car. Most probably it isn’t going to be magically given to you but by staying focused on your goal and not giving in to negative feelings or thoughts you optimize your chances to figure out how to get it in the future.

It takes time. However long it takes is what it takes. So…

If you have to wait, and you will, you might as well wait well.

I repeat: You have to keep the faith. You have to stay focused and not waiver. Believe that no matter what some day you will have the car you want.You can’t look back, you can’t look at the difficulty you must look ahead to what will be. You must stay focused on the future you want to create for yourself. Feel great about having the car! Enjoy and savor these feelings.

I used the example of a car to try to provide you with something you could easily imagine – a possession. It could be anything you want for yourself.

Be patient! You will make it happen!” Rex Sikes

Make your day and all your thought outstanding!

Subscribe to Daily Inspiration and Gratitude! Visit often & please share with others!

Affirmations, Friendship, Gratitude, Joy, Personal Development, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Success, Unlimited Power

Gratefulness: How do you live?

September 3, 2014 rexsikes 2 Comments

“What can you put your attention on today that delights you and causes you to celebrate? Hmmmmm.

Won’t you take a moment to look for and find those small, seemingly insignificant, moments that put a smile on your face?

What wonderful things might you discover if you were to relax and search, in a positive way, for the many good things you appreciate in your life?

Could you look to the people who surround you, the things you have, what you have done and are able to do that make you happy?

Imagine what it would be like to feel grateful more of the time.

How would you like it if you were filled with much more gratitude and appreciation each day? Can you imagine how much better this would feel?

Do you suppose you could take a few moments each day to count your blessings and to spend a few moments feeling grateful?

Would you be willing to make it a point to count your blessings? Take an inventory.

Couldn’t you begin by spending only a little while each day to review and validate what makes you feel happy and fulfilled?

Because if you will you will get back much more in return.

As you collect and validate these special moments savor the feelings that accompany each. When you do this you will open up the ways and the means to find more good feelings. You will begin to feel more marvelous.

You don’t know how much more wonderful your life may be until you actually try it.

Your life c an become even more incredible when you do little things that make a significant difference. You did know that, right?

It doesn’t take much to make great improvements but it does take something. It requires that you bring your attention to some positive things, at least for a little while, each day.

You could do this, could you not, if it meant your life would improve? Wouldn’t you, at least want, to?

Here is something that can make an amazing difference for you.

Each day, find at least 25 things you are grateful for and think about them and write them down before you go to sleep. Make a list, focus on these and enjoy them. Yes, count your blessings? Focus on these.

As you do will find other positive things begin to come into your mind. You know the saying ‘Seek and you shall find.’

I have suggested this to people in my seminars and workshops and writings for over 30 years and almost without fail many have said at first , ‘WHAT 25 things!!!’ They seem to think this may be impossible.

After a few days during my training programs participants would come to me and ask, ‘can we write down more if we think of them?’ OF COURSE YOU CAN. That is the point!

Some days you will be grateful for the same things as yesterday. Other days new one’s will pop into your head. Whatever you come up with that you are thankful for put down on your list.

Your capacity to discover and enjoy increases with exercise. Your attention and ability to focus improve and increase as you use them.

Once you begin looking you will find much more. What seems to be ‘too many ‘ at first becomes a small amount shortly because you open up to finding good things and wonderful things. Just like my students you can do more than ‘just 25’! Enjoy this, because I know you will!

As you find more to appreciate you begin to feel better and your life begins to change. Something so simple can have great power. It is amazing! Wouldn’t you like to experience more of this for yourself?

It is one thing to read about it or be told about it. It is quite another thing to do it. You can get results that astound you but only when you actually do what I am describing.

In recent years some people have taken a 100 day challenge to find some things to be grateful for. This is marvelous because whenever you engage in an activity over and over again through time you may develop a habit.

This is especially valuable WHEN you do this TO develop a positive habit for yourself. 100 days of emphasizing what you appreciate in your life is a fantastic start.

You can’t yet know how your life will change when you do this, but could you begin to see, begin to imagine how different you may feel if you did decide to carry out this program?

What if you were to reflect on these positive moments before you go to bed and whenever you are able to through out each day? What do you suppose that would be like?

So stop, and consider for a moment how your life will improve when you build a collection of things you feel really grateful for and positive about. Imagine how it can be different. That would be worth doing wouldn’t it?

All you have to do is think about 25 things you feel grateful for prior to going to sleep. Write them down, make that list, think about these.

I mentioned in a previous post that your energy flows where your attention goes.

This is important to remember. What you focus on, what you pay attention to and accentuate actually enlarges and expands. It gets bigger or more prominent. It becomes a larger part of us. We spend more time with it.

When you focus your attention on appreciation and gratitude your energy concentrates there, and you get back more of the same. Your ability to find things to appreciate increases AS does your ability to appreciate increase. You begin to feel more grateful and more wonderful more of the time. Isn’t that something you would like?

Do you realize how much more enjoyable life would be if the bulk of your time was spent delighting in things you appreciate and value? If most of your thoughts were along these lines, positive, happy, and grateful wouldn’t you like it that much more?

Consider how your life may improve as you do this.

Can you image what it can be like to live in gratitude?

Can you imagine how incredible it might be for you to feel more wonderful and delighted each and every day?

How many wonderful feelings could you discover as you look for those moments, those people, those things, those abilities, those events in your life that you are feel really thankful for?

When you make it a point, and a habit, to fill you day with more inspiration and gratitude you will discover more happy, joyous, wonderful moments each day.

Wouldn’t this be a good thing?

Start today! Before you go to sleep make a list, it doesn’t matter what is on it, the only thing that matters is that you feel thankful for it. Large or small write it down.

Find at least 25 things you feel grateful for. Reflect on these and then go to sleep. Do it again tomorrow and the next day and the day and after that. Yes, you can continue for more than 100 days, because I know you are going to want to.

It is really, actually, quite simple to do something this easy. Keep at it.

Don’t delay. Begin today!” Rex Sikes

Have a fabulous fun filled day!

Subscribe to Daily Inspiration and Gratitude! Visit often & please share with others!

Affirmations, Goals, Gratitude, Joy, Personal Development, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Success, Unlimited Power

Positive Thinking Part 2 What’s In Your Garden?

September 2, 2014 rexsikes Leave a comment

The garden doesn’t care what you plant. It does not make a difference to the soil whether you plant flowers or weeds, food or poison. Once planted the seeds grow.

Nature will take care of the growth if you don’t tend to the garden. Left alone it will grow. Wild weeds will arise that can take hold and overwhelm the flowers and food. The garden left alone and wild may not produce the garden you hoped for.

When one tends to the garden the weeds are removed and the garden is manicured both for health and beauty. This garden can become what you intend it to be, what you imagined it to be.

Some people just throw seeds on the soil, hoping they come up and that nature will do the rest. Sometimes, that is how it works. Some people throw seeds around without much thought as to how it will turn out. They let whatever will be, be. You can do this too, perhaps you have.

Some people make plans. They imagine the garden they want to have. They know where it will be, what size it will be, how it will look. They know what will grow in the garden. You can do this too, perhaps you have done.

If you have no plan or no idea, if you give no thought to what the garden will look and be like, it will be whatever it is. You will end up with whatever you end up with. You may be surprised or disappointed because it is not up to you.

There is another way.

Since it is your garden you can decide how you want it to look and what kind of garden you want it to be. You decide where you want the plants and what kind. You may landscape it any number of ways. Perhaps, you include a bench or a pond. What kind of garden do you see?

It is in your mind the garden first originates. Once you see it in your mind you might draw it on paper. Some people do this. Architects and engineers work this way. They see a room or a building or highway in their mind, they envision it and then draw it out according to the specifications. You can do this too.

You plan and design the garden. You prepare the soil, sow the seeds and you take care of it. You cultivate the garden and help it grow so that it will become what you intend it to be. You take care of it. You do not leave it to chance. You do not leave it alone.

Remember, everything begins as a thought. Everything in the human world, created by humans, first originated in the mind before it became became physical reality. There is a translation process from the head to the hand. The thought reality IS transformed into a physical reality. You first think it and then ultimately you craft it or you carry it out.

What is interesting to note is that the mind, just like soil, does not care what is planted!

Let’s back step slightly. In my previous post I likened attention to a flashlight. Your conscious mind IS the mind with volition. You direct your attention consciously, with purpose. You choose where to aim the flashlight with you conscious mind.

Your unconscious mind or your subconscious mind (some people like the phrase ‘other than conscious mind’ is the garden. It is the like the soil. It doesn’t matter what is planted in the subconscious mind. It doesn’t care what seeds are sown.

The subconscious is as a ‘servo mechanism’ which is just like it sounds – a servant mechanism that carries out functions regardless of what you consciously choose. It beats your heart, fills your lungs, digests your food, circulates your blood, regulates your body functions with none OR very little participation from you consciously. Imagine what life would be like if we had to remember to beat our heart or breath?

The unconscious mind carries out functions and habits with no regard as to whether they are positive or negative, good or bad. If you learned to smoke you will smoke it doesn’t matter to the unconscious mind although consciously you may decide you wish to quit. It doesn’t matter if the habit is over eating, drinking, chewing your nails, picking your nose in public; any habit good or bad this servo mechanism carries it out reliably.

It is claimed that we mostly function at the unconscious level all of the time in everything plus we have a portion of awareness for conscious thought and determination. We are creatures of habit, have an order for how we shower, what we wash first, we get dressed the same way each day, we eat food the same way, we take the same route to work, unless otherwise necessary, we get angry the same way, get happy predictably in the same way, most of everything we do we can do without much conscious thought.

Try to change a habit and you know how difficult that may be. That is because the servant mechanism works reliably not haphazardly. It is completely 100% dependable no matter what, except it the rarest of circumstance. It works 24 hours a day 7 days a week non-stop, And it does not care. Frankly, it doesn’t care about you. All it cares about is keeping on keeping on. Survival. It functions to keep you alive and it will carry out whatever it has learned to carry out.

We tend to personify our unconscious processes, we tend to think of these as another human within ourself, or as an ‘it’, or an ego or an id. We try to imagine it many different ways and all of our analogies may be partly accurate and partly wrong.

I am using the notion of the soil and of the servant mechanism because they are useful to demonstrate the principles being discussed. Your unconscious mind is like a computer (another poor analogy but useful) in that it will run whatever programs you put into it just as your computer will.

Whatever they programs are designed to do ‘it’ (the computer) will do.

If the programs were designed to destroy the world or build a ferris wheel or design a garden that is what it would do without conscience. It’s only function is to carry out the programs. It has no choice.

In the very same way this aspect of you will return to you negative or positive thoughts, feelings and behaviors with no regard for you whatsoever. It will do so reliably over and over again just as it beats your heart.

If you program it with less than glorious material that is what it will give back to you. So this is why I have used the analogy of a garden and the seeds.

It does not care whether you plant good or bad thoughts, positive or negative. Whatever is planted IS what will grow.

Negative thoughts will produce negative thoughts, feelings, actions and negative results. It will not magically result in positive thoughts. You would not expect to get acorns if you planted peas, would you? You wouldn’t harvest corn if you planted wheat. You get back whatever you plant. You plant rice you get rice You plant poison you get poison. You will not get something else.

Don’t you find it odd that people do one thing yet expect different results?

Actually, it is a bit sad. People hope for something different yet they continue to do the very thing that insures they will remain the same. You get what you plant.

The popular definition of insanity IS doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. It would indeed seem to be insane if you said ‘I planted acorns and I am going to get celery when I harvest’.

This next point is critical to keep in mind.

Typically, the seed will become a plant that can produce many other plants and countless numbers of seeds. Rex, you speak the obvious you may be thinking and yes that is true. Still, it is important to understand.

One apple tree may produce hundreds of apples. One tree could produce thousands of apples during its life time and hundreds of thousands of seeds. Some of these seeds become other apple trees. These trees, in turn, produce more offspring that produce more seeds and other offspring. The potential return is enormous off of just one single seed that grows.

Talk about a Return On Investment (ROI). One seed can produce a tree that can create a potential forest of apple trees.

Thinking and thoughts work in the very same manner.

Thoughts return more of the same kind of thoughts which continue ad infinitum. One of the ways our memories and minds works is by associations. For example, I say the word ‘dog’ what comes to mind. Stop, think about it.

DOG.

From that one word you can generate an image of many different types of dogs or many different images of different dogs or even the same dog.

You may have a number of experiences with dogs that you remember as you consider ‘dog’. Experiences from your recent past or from long ago.

Watch now how this will change.

What happens when I say ‘ BAD DOG!!!’ Examine what happens in your mind.

Are you aware of your image changing? Did it bring up different images of dogs, or maybe a specific dog? Or specific instances. Again memories from long ago or recently could be recalled? What happened for you in considering this?

Alright how about you consider ‘wet dog’.

Again, same or different dog, same or different memories, same or different times?

How many dogs, different dogs and different memories and different times and places and people and situations might you have recalled just thinking about what I asked you to think about?

All I gave you were three different words yet these words trigger associations or memories of many other examples.

I gave them to you in a particular order too. Maybe it depends on however I give them to you. Perhaps order has relevance. I gave you dog, bad, and wet. I could add COLD, or HOT or FUN. What happens?

If you thought about any of the memories or associations or thoughts you came up with perhaps you ended up of thinking about other pets, or people or places or times too. Anything is possible.

The point is nothing exists in isolation. Thoughts return other similar thoughts. These in turn may lead to other similar thoughts. The possible connections could be endless. From one thought many more may follow. Like thoughts produce or attract like thoughts.

Negative thoughts return more negative thoughts!

Your enjoyment of the garden is determined by what kind of garden you create. How you think about it and feel depends on what you planted.

It all boils down to what you are planting.

What kind of garden do you want to have? What is it you want to harvest? What do you want more of? What do you want your life and your experience of life to be like? WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Positive thoughts return more positive thoughts. The potential return is enormous. Like thoughts produce or attract like thoughts.

The soil of our mind is already returning whatever it is we have planted.

If what you have planted in the past resulted in weeds or poison it is time to decide to change what you are planting. Unless of course, that is what you want for yourself. But, most of us have much better taste than that, we just aren’t sure how to make it different.

So we do the same things over and over (we do the things we know to do or think we are supposed to do) thinking we will get different results. We won’t, but we keep trying. It as if we keep banging our head against the wall trying to get out of the room because the door is locked. IT doesn’t work.

The results you are presently getting getting are a result of what you thought and felt in your past. The results you get in days to come will be the result of what you thought in your past and in your present.

If you do not change something in your thinking nothing will change. If you want your life to change you have to change things in your life.

IF you have negative results it is because you were planting negative seeds.

So what does it mean to plant seeds. How do you plant a thought? We will continue this discussion as we move into other posts. For now, if you don’t like the results you are getting you need to decide to change that. You will have to do things differently to get different results. Some people just don’t know how to change, or what to change but they still want to.

We will continue to examine what you can do to get what you want. You will learn how to plant positive thoughts to get positive results.

I have shared with you a small portion of how the subconscious mind works. It is the servant that carries out orders. You might wonder where these orders come from or how you ended up doing (or thinking and feeling) whatever it is you do, in the way you do it, whether you want to or not. Carrying out orders IS the domain of the subconscious mind.

CHOICE is the domain of the conscious mind.

We will discuss these further and how you can make positive powerful changes in posts to come.

In the meantime look to the positive, find what is good and new, what delights you and what you have in your life that you appreciate. Count your blessings. Enjoy your day!” Rex Sikes

Make this day a wonderful day of newness for yourself? Discover if you can open up to positive new ideas and ways of being? Look for how much fun you can have today.

Subscribe to Daily Inspiration and Gratitude! Visit often & please share with others!

Affirmations, Gratitude, Joy, Learning, Personal Development, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Success, Unlimited Power

Positive Thinking Part 1 What Doors You Can Open When You Explore?

August 31, 2014 rexsikes 1 Comment

“There are at least two forms of positive thinking that I consider beneficial. In one you target a goal, develop or adopt a success oriented attitude, and go after your goal until you reach it regardless of what hardships you may encounter along the way. In this case, you know exactly what you want and you go get it because you are positive you can. So you pursue it until you succeed. This is a powerful and positive use of your mind, your feelings and abilities.

The other form is maintaining a sense of gratitude and appreciation for everything you experience. You look for and find the good in everything, the very best there is in your past and present and you accentuate it. You fill your everyday moments with the best thoughts you are able to. You choose happy thoughts and thoughts of well being and you expect things to work out well for you regardless of what life has to offer. You remain cheery and optimistic. You feel good and you enjoy life. You feel an overall sense of wellbeing and you wish others the the same. You experience life as glorious. This, too, is a powerful and positive use of your mind, your feelings and abilities.

For me, both forms are important and work hand in hand.

I think of it this way. I want life, overall, to be more pleasant and enjoyable. So whatever I can do to help make it that way I am all for it.

I think of life as a garden and there are many types of gardens. Some grow wild others are well manicured. While I do want it to grow naturally, I realize that you have to ‘tend to it’ to keep it healthy and looking good. In order to have the garden I prefer I must work at it. I must prepare the soil, plant what I want, provide nutrients and water, weed and remove unwanted materials or pests, protect it and manicure it as necessary. I help make it the garden I desire.

This, too, is how I think about positive thinking.

Life goes on. Life is whatever it is. Life everywhere on the planet occurs largely without me doing anything. Days and nights come and go, events happen, some of which I am directly impacted by and others I am not. Life IS whatever it is.

Regarding my life in the world, I will have to ‘tend to things’ to make it more to my liking.

For me, positive thinking isn’t about magic or wishing for things to magically appear while I do nothing at all. Positive thinking requires my active participation to get precisely what I want. Magical thinking puts the power outside of me (or us) onto circumstances or others. I then am not in control (we are not in control) something else is. I prefer to ‘be the captain of my soul and the master of my fate’. Don’t you?

I do not mean to say that I control the world or events or others, rather, I choose how I move through the world regardless of what is going on. I am learning to RESPOND to the world as I DECIDE to respond, rather than to REACT to the world as I have been CONDITIONED to.

I think of positive thinking as being able to choose what I want to think, feel and act instead of operating from ‘no choice’ and prior conditioning. It is not about ignoring negativity. It IS about changing what I don’t like or what I don’t want for something better thereby creating the circumstances (and the conditions) I do want to live with.

It is about being in charge of oneself as much as is possible without dictating to others how they should be or what they should do. It is the ability to go after what I want and to achieve that while celebrating the life I already have.

Years ago I never thought this was possible. I thought we had to live with and accept the cards we were dealt.

What I discovered radically changed my life. My eyes and heart were opened to new ways of being and doing. A transformation within me took place. As I continue to transform inside of me the amazing thing is that the outside of me transforms as well. I have found that life responds to me, too.

It turns out, it always did. It reacted to me as I reacted to it.

I thought life sucked – so it did. Life sucked – so I thought it did.

One gigantic cycle! The more I thought it sucked the more it did suck. The more it sucked the more I agreed that it did. On and on it went.

Then of course, I would wonder, when waxing philosophical on occasion, which came first, life sucking or me thinking it did? Which influenced which?

When I realized we influenced each other was when I decided to do something about it. I decided to act as if I influenced all of life (as an experiment) I would pretend, or I would assume that I had choices I previously never thought I did. I would assume I could influence the world and attract goodness by changing my attitude. I didn’t really believe it possible but I was going to experiment.

You have to open a window, however small, to possibility, in order to begin to try something different. Even though I didn’t fully ‘buy it’ I had to create a space whereby it might be possible. I had to suspend my disbelief as best I could in order to entertain the thought of being different. This is not necessarily easy to do, but I found I could do it just enough.

I decided too immerse myself in a positive world of thoughts regardless of whether any of it was true or whether anything would change of not. If nothing changed I probably wouldn’t be any worse off for attempting it and if it did change for the better then that would be wonderful.

I decided to read positive inspirational material each day, morning and night, for no less than thirty days. I would begin and end each day with at least a page. I actually ended up reading more but I started small with something manageable.

I decided to keep in mind, through each day, this statement to guide me: ‘We become what we think about most of the time’.

I decided I would fill MOST of my time with positive thoughts and materials.

I read and I thought about what I read. I attempted to put into practice what I was learning. I filled my mind. I filled my day, as much as I could, with good thoughts and good feelings. I listened to inspirational audio while driving. I used every moment I could to focus on the positive and what I wanted.

Then it occurred to me, ‘If we become what we think about,’ then I am and I have in my life that which I ALREADY thought about. I am a product of my past way of thinking!!! My present is a result of all I thought or DIDN’T think previously. If I enjoyed it or if I didn’t like it I was responsible for it.

Whew, that was big for me!

Do you get that? If ‘we become what we think about’ I am (WE ARE) already what I (we) have been thinking about previously. My now, my very present circumstances, this moment, is because of my past thoughts and actions. My thinking brought me to where I am.

I am where I am because of what I thought and did. It is ALL a result of my thoughts and actions.

Another alternative is that I somehow haphazardly ended up here because of what I didn’t think or do. Regardless of which it might be, I realized that it was MY thinking, it was ME, who got me to this moment. I was responsible, in every way, for my present moment.

WOW!!! That blew me away.

I got it! I REALLY needed to change my thinking. I had to change what I focused on. There were many things about my life I did not like and certainly wouldn’t choose for myself (if I knew I was doing the choosing).

I decided to accept (at least for the purpose of the experiment) that I was ALREADY responsible for creating my life. I accepted that I AM the creator. It was not a matter of whether I was or was not creating my life. I would just accept it! Even then I was not completely sold but it seemed to make a lot of sense.

If I was the creator and I brought all this about, and I did it without realizing it, maybe I should take deliberate charge of creating what I really DO want.

I no longer had to create what I didn’t want. I no longer had to go on allowing or accepting whatever I was getting I could determine in advance what I was going to get.

Since there was a lot about my life I didn’t like I took responsibility that I was really good at creating or attracting what I DID NOT WANT. WOW, that hit me!!!

I was incredible at getting what I did not want. I was creating it all. I determined all the outcomes. Again, I remind the reader, that I did not know whether this was actually the case or not but I decided to act as if it were. Part of me still didn’t believe it, and another part wanted to stay away from mystical abundance mumbo jumbo.

The only thing I found that I COULD CHANGE was the direction of my attention. I could not stop being a creator or attractor but I could more consciously decide to run and manage the creation process. I decided to focus my attention on creating what I wanted. This was a cataclysmic shake up for me.

I was responsible for the results I had been getting all along I just never thought about it that way. I put it on others, on circumstances on bad luck, on anything and everything OTHER than on me.

I embraced the notion that I TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY for my future results? What if I determined what I would get instead of it letting it being haphazard could that change things?

Change things it did!! IT changed everything the moment I recognized I was responsible and was in charge of the outcomes. EVEN if it is not true, by adopting this mind set, miracles began to occur.

I daily read and filled my mind with positive thoughts. I created some positive AFFIRMATIONS. I thought of these through out the day. Later, I discovered the awesome power of asking DIRECTED QUESTIONS of myself. I have mentioned the power of directing your mind positively through the artful and scientific use of questions at other times in this blog and through the years in my writings and workshops.

I found that by fully immersing myself with powerful positive messages over and over during the day that may moments transformed. Since the moments transformed the days did and the weeks and months and years. Every moment was a choice point and a positive possibility. I could go in either direction. Where I went would be up to me. Sometime, I got caught up and found myself moving into negativity and had to find away to turn around and head back toward focusing on the positive.

I found by taking control and managing the moment I had incredible power. That power is having a choice in how I think and respond, how I feel and act. I discovered I was becoming the captain of my soul and the master of my fate. I found things to begin to feel good about and appreciate that I had not considered before. Many things changed for the better quite quickly and other things took some time but positive changes did occur.

Later on I learned the awesome and incredible power of FEELINGS.” Rex Sikes

More on this next time. We will pick up with feelings and much more. Meanwhile, make today the most wonderful day you can, and then some!

Subscribe to Daily Inspiration and Gratitude! Visit often & please share with others!

Affirmations, Friendship, Get Rich, Goals, Gratitude, Joy, Personal Development, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Unlimited Power

Why this? Why Now? Positivity? Really?

August 29, 2014 rexsikes Leave a comment

I’ve been up for 10 hours, fed my self, then my son, and have been working on today’s Daily Inspiration and Gratitude blog. I will publish it soon.

I don’t consider myself a writer. Nope, not at all. Some of you are going, ‘well Rex if truth be told, nope you are definitely not a writer.’ You would be correct.

I am simply sharing my discoveries in life as I would share them over coffee with a friend. Okay, so yes, you have to get your own coffee too.

Some of these thoughts come from my books in progress or my other works. These blogs are written somewhat extemporaneously off the top of my mind, without the benefit of heavy editing. Yes, I go back to smooth some things out but having an actual editor OR learning to write and edit better may be preferable.

These blogs are rough. The lack of elegance or eloquence is not accidental nor intentional it simply is.

Hopefully, these blogs are more conversational in the feel, but I know people have preferences when it comes to writing. I hope the style does not obscure the substance. I hope the messenger can deliver the message even when imperfect.

What I am sharing I think far outweighs how I am sharing it. Again, I know some people do judge a book by its cover and that is okay. These are my musings and there may not be any value at all to anyone. It is true to say another person may articulate the concept better or more efficiently than I. Certainly.

Whatever the case, I wanted to share with those who may enjoy this sort of material and this sort of approach.

This daily blog take lots of time and effort even in the form it is. It is something I chose to do.

I hope you find value in the thoughts shared here. I hope my words touch you in positive ways. I hope that you live your life better and make your dreams come true. For me, this is what it is about, after all is said and done.

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

These are questions I find important. We should ask ourselves questions that stimulate us to positive actions.

The purpose of this blog is to help us ask the questions that bring us more wonderful results and better answers.

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

Have an incredible day!

Subscribe to Daily Inspiration and Gratitude! Visit often & please share with others!

Affirmations, Forgiveness, Friendship, Get Rich, Goals, Gratitude, Joy, Learning, Personal Development, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Success, Unlimited Power

Train Your Mind – It Works!!! Part 2

August 28, 2014 rexsikes 1 Comment

“… I discovered that the wonderful things don’t come from having more things. It comes from being more wonderful. It comes from having less stress, depression, anxiety, anger, frustration. It comes from taking the bull by the horns and deciding to do something for myself and to keep on doing it no matter what. I decided I would never ever quit or give up. If I had to boot strap it I would, if the going got tough if I had to be tough I would get going. I decided that the end result was worth the price, whatever that price was I had to pay. AND it is! I am getting so much more back than I pay for it is incredible!

Part 2

I have used the analogy of a buffet. You put on your plate what you like and enjoy, that which brings you pleasure and whatever you don’t want or don’t like you leave it on the buffet table. You delight in what is on your plate. You don’t sit there thinking about the food you do not care for. You do not lament that you don’t like brussel sprouts, or broccoli or whatever. I mean, this should make sense to most people I would think. At the buffet you focus on enjoying what you like. You go to get the foods you like not to worry about what you don’t want. You never even give it a second thought.

I have learned to treat myself as if a baby or at best a toddler. I have a pet phrase I have used for decades when conducting seminars and workshops and that is, ‘You don’t punt the baby’. When you have a child learning motor skills, whether learning to walk or feed itself, you nurture and encourage the child, you get all excited and act weird. If the child falls or misses its mouth with a spoon you don’t punt it out of the room and scream at it and shame it, you don’t if you love it. No, you encourage it to continue in the behavior you want the child to learn. When the child does anything close to what you want it to learn you get wildly enthusiastic, goofy even so that the child feels wonderful.

So when I screw up I think of myself as a baby learning anything new and encourage myself instead of criticizing myself. Instead of thinking of myself as stupid or useless and never able to learn, I celebrate the awareness I have that I recognized I was off base, and give myself a pat on the back. Then gently, positively I steer myself back on track. It is much nicer being gentle, loving and kind to me. Hey, I was an expert in self criticism I just decided to stop that and do something better for myself.

See, I am just making my way through this world like anyone else. I decided though at one point that I was going to act as if I were totally in charge of everything that happens to me, whether that is actually the case or not. Did you read that and get it. I decided to act as if I were totally in charge of everything. In control, me and no one else. That means I alone am accountable and responsible for everything good and bad. It means I am the creator, everything I have or don’t have is because of me. (Whether this is actually true or not, I decided I was going to adopt this frame of mind and live as IF IT IS the case).

What happened when I began to live this way is everything changed. It is as if I am actually in charge. I create everything. Good, bad I create it.

Whether this is true or not doesn’t matter to me. Let’s say I am pretending to be in charge. By pretending to be in charge I am making positive choices for myself every moment I can.

Why?

Because I am the person in charge. I am the creator so I need to decide what I want. I need to decided how I want to think and feel. I decided what I want to be, who I am and what I do and have. It is all up to me. Since I AM IN CHARGE I chose the very best.

When things happen I chose how to respond. I determine what I will pay attention to and focus on and feel.

Do you know what? I am a work in process. Sometimes I do better than at other times but, as I have stated, I adjust for it and gently steer back. Yes, I repeated myself because I am attempting to point out, as all my friends and family know, I am not perfect. I am not perfect by any means but now I have choice.

It is absolutely freeing.

Instead of blaming others, I look at what I can adjust about myself to think or feel better about it. I put a guardian at the gate, and make it a point to only think and speak about things that bless, heal and help prosper. I am protective of my thoughts and feelings. I like the positive attitude and the feelings that come from it so I want to preserve these and encourage these. I want more of it.

It wasn’t easy to begin thinking and doing these things but it is easier now. I have trained my mind to find the good in every situation. I have trained my mind to be my own best friend and to act in my own best interests instead of running wild or acting randomly. I have trained my mind.

I like it when I write that or say ‘I have trained my mind’, because at one time I was a victim of my own thoughts and feelings. NOW I have choices. Actually, I may have always had the same choices and others available, but I was unaware of them so I never chose them. Previously, I did not know to exercise my choices. Now I do and now I choose.

I said before that when things go awry and crap happens I don’t have to choose to be unhappy. I can choose to be happy regardless of what is going on. If all of everything around me is crumbling it DOES NOT MEAN that I have to be unhappy about it. It doesn’t mean that at all because I have learned that my real happiness is not related to what happens but rather to who I am. It is who I am not what goes on where my happiness is.

I stay focused on creating what I want, attracting it and manifesting it. Call it what you want, I stay focused on what I want to be and have instead of noticing what isn’t there yet. I learned that if I worry I attract and/or create more worry. Unhappiness attracts more unhappiness. Worrying about not having enough money doesn’t help me have or create more money it only keeps me in a state of poverty. Being dissatisfied only creates less satisfaction.

Instead I focus on what I want. I focus on being happy because happiness creates more happiness. Love attracts more love, gratitude attracts more gratitude, kindness attracts more kindness. I want to fill my life with what I want, I want to become these, feel these and have theses. Success attracts more success, money attracts more money, peace attracts more peace. So I focus on these, am grateful for these and think on these things. We become what we think about.

So even when things are not presently going my way, my training is to stay focuses on what I want to create instead of what I don’t want. I stay focused on what I want to become and do and have instead of what I don’t have. This keeps me in an action phase and provides me with the opportunity to continue to move forward instead of wallowing in being stuck and forlorn.

Maybe, all I am thinking and doing is a fantasy, a lie, a delusion. So what?

If everything I am thinking is a lie, I prefer it this way.

Some people talk about the law of attraction, they say ‘be positive, think what you want and you will attract it, the universe will provide’. That scared me because I used to think ‘well what if I think it and it doesn’t happen then I will only be more disappointed.’ I did, I acutally used to think that.

I used to think, ‘ok I will think be positive, but I don’t want any religious infinite intelligence talk, or god is good talk, I don’t want to go there , I just want to make good things happen for me’. So don’t get metaphysical or magical with me, I don’t want to be surrounded by purple protective bubbles and amulets. I want practical, down to earth, scientific, everyday reality sort of thinking that if I engage in it is sure to happen so I won’t be disappointed.

You know what I found? Magic but not the new agey wacky flavor of the moment magic but real true transformative magic. I found that if I want it to be it is actually up to me. It is up to how I think and how I feel and what I do. It is up to me to create a plan, utilize my resources, partner with others and wish all good things because when I do I create for myself a better way to move through the world.

When I am feeling positive and wishing others well I am attracting positive feeling people who also wish others well. I am resonating with other like minded people who are seeking positive opportunities to create wonderful things in their own lives and the lives of others.

The magic isn’t outer magic it is inner magic. Inner magic relies on oneself to make adjustments in positive ways instead of expecting the world to conform to your wishes. Inner magic is about having control over yourself so that you think and act more clearly and are thus better able to recognize opportunities as they occur. Inner magic is being true to oneself and living positively no matter what occurs around oneself. There is real magic but it isn’t the kind of fairy tale magic we grew up hoping for.

I am no expert. I live my life day to day.

I have more choices available to me now than ever before. Sometimes, I chose wisely and other times I don’t. Whenever, I find myself off track I steer back on and appreciate that I discovered I was off track. IN itself, this is a powerful way for me to live. I am now able to positively self correct instead of negatively beating myself up when off course.

When I am not busy self correcting on the course I am busy enjoying the journey. I am busy appreciating myself and the people around me. I find small and large things to be thankful for throughout the day and that contributes to my overall well being. The journey is no longer a burden but a pleasure. Instead of looking for mistakes, things that are wrong or unjust I look for miracles each day, large or small, to celebrate. Why? Because we get what we focus on. We attract or we create what we think about. Do you get it? If not, some day you will.

We become whatever we think about. What we can conceive and believe we can achieve. Whatever feelings I am feeling today inside of me I am attracting tomorrow. So I fill my mind with what I want for myself and that includes for others. I fill my mind and my being with more happiness, love, peace, acceptance, joy, confidence, competence, talents and abilities, health, wealth, positive power and achievement.

I concentrate on these things. I daydream about them. I make it a point to see them, entertain them in my mind. I talk about them to myself, and I fill my moments with as much that is good and feels good and benefits myself and everyone as I am able. I know more will come tomorrow because of what I am doing today.

I have trained my mind.

No, I am not perfect, nope not at all. Don’t have to be. I am happier, healthier, wealthier all around better off because I feel more joy, acceptance, love, enjoyment and all sorts of marvelous things. Life is grand. I am so happy I decided to train my mind. It is more than worth it, it is ever so valuable. It is absolutely priceless because no matter what effort it takes to train it, you get back so much more, infinitely more!

What I discovered when I decided to train my mind is that it works! It really, truly, actually works.” Rex Sikes

More to come, enjoy the day. Discover what you might do today to begin to find more incredible ways to appreciate each moment. Delight and celebrate.

By the way – as you read these blogs, if they speak to your heart, I hope you will implement what I have been sharing. It is life transformative. Go back and read these blogs again and again.

Fill your mind with positive messages and become inspired. Inspire others too! Share and help others feel better not just because you get back what you put out there but just because… celebrate and enjoy!

Subscribe to Daily Inspiration and Gratitude! Visit often & please share with others!

Affirmations, Goals, Gratitude, Joy, Learning, Personal Development, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Success, Unlimited Power

Stay Positive: You Can’t Move Forward Looking Backward

August 27, 2014 rexsikes Leave a comment

“Remember, you can not move forward when your mind is traveling in the opposite direction. It is impossible to travel in both directions at the same time. Pay close attention to which direction your mind is going because that is what you are going to become. ” Rex Sikes

“If you never do anything about getting your goals, or if you quit going after them then don’t expect too much. But if you stick with it, even though it doesn’t appear to be happening right now, if you stick with it you will make it happen. Persist!

Everything has a season. Whatever you plant, grows invisibly and then sprouts later. What is invisible now that can’t be seen is just around currently developing. Everything takes time and there is a time for everything. Always remember this. What you are creating now manifests later. It may not happen when you hope it will but it will happen if you stay with it” Rex Sikes

“Habits are reliable, they are dependable. We do them without thinking. Habits are part of us. Our unconscious mechanism is consistent. We never forget to do a habit. Because of this habits are difficult to break.

Most of the time people think of habits as something negative, and unhealthy. Smoking, eating or drinking to excess, too much TV or computer games and they can be. What this tells you is that your brain doesn’t care if something is positive or negative, good or bad, it will carry it out reliably. It will engage in destructive behavior or positive constructive behavior. What you get just depends on what you cultivate.

Just as the soil doesn’t care if you plant nutritious food or poison your unconscious will deliver whatever has been planted over and over again. We become whatever we think about most of the time.

Whatever fills our mind and occupies our attention over and over is what we get. Our thoughts become things, feelings and behaviors. AGAIN – we become whatever it is we habitually think about.

The good news is we can learn new positive habits. When we do they become reliable and consistent and hard to break.” Rex Sikes

“Since we become what we think about and we get what we focus on fill your mind with the best you are able to each and every moment. Your life will change for the better when you do. Begin and end each day in gratitude and delight. What occupies your mind is what you manifest in your life.” Rex Sikes

Have a delightful day!

Subscribe to Daily Inspiration and Gratitude! Visit often & please share with others!

Affirmations, Get Rich, Goals, Gratitude, Joy, Learning, Personal Development, Positive Affirmations, Positive Thinking, Positive Thoughts, Self Improvement, Success, Unlimited Power

Don’t Let The Past Or The Present Define You – You Are So Much More!

August 26, 2014 rexsikes 2 Comments

Consider this, regardless of how bad it may have been, how difficult you have had it, you have made it through those times. You have! You have come this far in spite of everything attempting to hold you back. Whatever mistakes you may have made, poor decisions, ‘failures’ and disappointments you have had, any tragedies you encountered you still have made it to this moment, to right now. That is incredible because no matter what the odds have been you are here right now, and that is a testament to your ability to persist. Through everything you have stayed in there and made it through.

You may never have thought to do this, but you should pat yourself on the back, congratulate yourself and give yourself a big huge. It is time to celebrate all of this as an accomplishment. It is time to begin to see it differently in your mind’s eye and recognize the seeds of success all along the way. The journey may have been arduous but you have continued on AND you are still taking steps forward.

There is only one thing you need to understand. First, you are strong and you are tenacious. Though you may not have yet realized it you are stubborn enough to succeed at anything you put your mind to. Tough times build character. You have proven yourself tough too. Congratulations!

Second, do not let the past define you. Do not give power to the mistakes of the past. That is behind you. Since you have overcome significant challenges in the past build on that. Recognize this about yourself and BUILD on it.

Don’t let the present moment disappointments define you either. Do not let whatever is going on right now concern you. Instead think about the life you want to have instead. If you could make your greatest dream come true what would that be? What is it that would excite you and make you ecstatic? Picture this in your mind and focus on it.

No matter what is happening now that may be less than glorious, shift your focus to the time ahead. Be open to the possibility that things can get better for you. Be willing to explore a new way of being, and doing, and having.

It takes a mind that is willing to explore possibilities and expand options. Ask yourself what you might think and do differently. If you want things in your life to change you have to change things in your life. What can you begin to think and do differently that can move you in a positive direction? Build on this and realize you can accomplish so much more when you concentrate on the positive resources inside of you.

Our problems are not the problem! It is our thinking about our problems that is the problem. It is what we entertain and what we keep in our mind and how we are focused. Whatever we focus on expands, whatever we focus on is what we get. What we think about is what we become. Do not focus on past or present day limitations instead focus on what you want and how you can and will attain it. Have faith, keep believing and expecting it to get better. It will. Believe it!

Create wonderful thoughts and feelings about the future and imagine having all of it right now. Focus on these thoughts and these feelings. Find things to be grateful about and find the most wonderful good feelings you are able to. Nurture these, promote these. Keep doing this again and again.

Even a small change in the right direction is better than no change at all. If you are really sad it does not mean you have to feel overwhelming joy right now. Right now that may be too big a step. Find out what you can feel that would make you feel a bit better. Maybe that would be feeling anger or frustration or bored. Whatever is a baby step or two away from really sad IS a baby step toward finding that joy. inch yourself there if you must, but you must begin to inch away from the less than glorious feelings. Move yourself ever so slightly in the positive direction.

People talk about the Law of Attraction but the LOA is second to the Law of Vibration. How you are vibrating is what you are attracting. If you are filled with doubt, anxiety, fear and depression you tend to attract more or create more of these in your life. It is a downward spiral. When instead, you are filled with positive, powerful, joyful energy you are more in the right place to go after and get what you want to have.

It isn’t important to me whether it is about ‘vibrations’ at all. Some people find that concept to cosmic. I could care less. It is just words used to describe processes, so why get hung up over the choice of words.

I just understand that when I am feeling optimal I bring my best game to life and when I am not optimal things seem less than glorious. It is a simple concept to understand. Feel good and you get more good feelings, feel bad and you get more bad feelings. You are better off and more productive when feeling good and worse off and less productive when feeling bad. Get it.

Feeling good works better for us than feeling bad. SO find the ways and means to feel better. It is up to you, no one else can do it for you. It is not out of your hands, no cosmic zapper is going to fill you with great things magically. If you want to feel better you have to chose to take control. You have to decide to begin to act in your own best interests even if it is difficult. Start small, the pay off is huge. BUT YOU HAVE TO START. If you don’t you will keep on getting what you have been getting. It is that simple. It is that straightforward.

You want you life to change you have to change some things in your life!!!

Exercise, play, sing, dance, think better, walk, garden, meditate, repeat affirmations (the correct way would be useful) whatever you have to do to begin to feel better and think better more of the time – begin now to do it.

Thoughts and feelings go hand in hand. Your thoughts affect your feelings, you CAN think yourself happier it is true! AND your feelings affect your thoughts – you CAN change your body and activities and discover that you think more positively by how you stand, sit, walk or move. It is true! Let’s forget the chicken egg exploration about thoughts and feelings and just make it a point to do those healthy beneficial things that put us at optimum more of the time. You do want to feel better more of the time, don’t you?

When we feel optimum more of the time we do better more of the time.

Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew just make it a point to feel better a little bit more each day. When you do you will discover amazing things await you. You will think and feel and do better. If you fall off the positivity wagon don’t get all dramatic about it just get back on and proceed from there. Keep it simple, easy, manageable and keep doing it. Take baby steps in the direction of your dreams and keep taking them on a daily basis. Repetition is the mother of skill. Give birth to new habits by doing things that are good for you over and over and over again.

The change will take place inside you before you notice it on the outside. For mot of us the changes are gradual. Be patient, allow it, accept everything in a spirit of gratitude, and keep at it. Have fun, relax about it. It is much more FUN and easy when you let it be that way. So approach it in a light and gentle way.

Look at how you are thinking and feeling and behaving differently and more positively and nurture and encourage and celebrate this. Recognize and validate your positive baby steps!

Think Law of Attraction now. When you do these positive things you ARE vibrating more positively, more powerfully and energetically and so you attract, create or get back more of the same. It increases. Notice it and own your observations. Play with it and stay with it!

Allow yourself to move forward without judging or criticizing. Accept wherever you are along the way and have faith that as you continue to move forward in a positive way you will become more positive and more able. Your abilities will grow. Don’t be impatient. Stick with it and trust. Move forward with your eyes on what you are creating and attracting, not on whatever isn’t working right now. Celebrate all. Celebrate everything and you will get through the now and move into your dreams and make them come true.

Decree your destiny and make it happen. Build the image of what you want. See who you are, the positive powerful you. See what you are doing, behaving, how you are living and feeling wonderful. See what things you have included in your new life. Run these movies in your head. Infuse these images with positive wonderful feelings. It is the combination of the positive movies and positive feelings that work to make your future image come true.

A major point here: We already do this all the time. We think things good or bad and feel good or bad about them. For example, we fear something happening, we feel anxious about it or dread that something bad is going to happen. It does and we feel worse. We try to think positive and we do. As a result we feel a little bit better but then we think about something bad or how something is less than glorious and then we feel bad again. By doing this we create what we don’t want and we perpetuate it because we vacillate back and forth. We get hopeful and then doubt that things will change then feel bad and when things don’t change we think, ‘yup I knew it’. It is a form of self fulfilling prophecy. Our expectations were that it wouldn’t work out anyway. This limited thinking and lack of commitment keeps us where we don’t want to be.

This cycle keeps us in limbo: We think about what we want and feel good for while. Then at some point we begin to doubt that we can get it and we start feeling bad about how we are not getting what we want. We then again think about what we want and feel worse because we feel far away. On another day we feel hopeful and positive and work towards what we want again, but then something happens and we feel feel bad and hopeless. This goes on and on. We are like a ship tossed about on the sea, or a cork bobbing in the water. Instead of being in control and moving toward our destination we get closer and then move further away constantly. We never make any real motion towards accomplishing our goals.

We need to commit to what we want and concentrate on it to the exclusion of all else.

We need to stay focused on it no matter what else may currently be going on. We need to think again and again what we want and not let other thoughts intrude. To be able to do this means we have to take charge of our own thinking and feeling processes. For many people THIS CONEPT will seem most foreign because most of us do not grow up being told we are in charge. Instead we think ‘things happen’ and we have to feel certain ways because of these things happening. We don’t, we just think we do. That is why our problems are not the problem, but how we THINK about our problems IS the problem.

What we think about most often during the day is what we become and what we get. What we think about most of the time is what we become and what we get. Are we mostly positive or mostly negative, 51/49, 60/40, 80/20, 90/10? What we are mostly determines what we get. So decide to tip the balance in your favor. 50/50 keeps us exactly where we are. Move to 80/20 positivity.

You create your life by what you think and feel most of the time. It is a growth process. Just like growing a plant it takes time for it to get strong so be patient with yourself. It is most likely not going to happen over night, but then, who knows? Just remember, this is not a contest, you are simply out to improve your life and your conditions in a positive way so have fun and be positive about it.

Just keep advancing constantly in the direction of your dreams. Thoreau stated, ‘If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours’.

You can make your life anything you want it to be. Go ahead dream big that is fine. Just move forward toward your big dreams steadily. If you chose a big dream and you can’t yet believe you can make it happen, pick something smaller and more likely and go for that first. Better to trick yourself into it than out of it. If you pick something you don’t believe fully and you 50/50 vacillate on it you end up staying stuck. So pick something you can work on and get! Once you have that move on to something else. Create a track record of successes for yourself until you are ready to believe you can make the big one happen. Once you can conceive it AND BELIVE IT you can achieve it!

You can chose to do this. It is your life. You are the co-creator in your life. Ask yourself, “Where do I want to go from here?”

What do you want to be? What do you want to become? What do you want to do? What do you want to have? What is truly important to you? If you could have the perfect life, where you had everything you want and all those around you had what they wanted, (no one is harmed or deprived by you getting your goals) what would it be like? Imagine it, live it in your mind’s eye, improve on the images, tailor the movie, and feel how good it feels to have all this?

THE FEELINGS ARE CRITICAL they drive the entire mechanisms. If you don’t feel like you deserve it, or that you can have it yet, or believe that will get it, you have other work to do first. If when you think about it you feel a huge YES inside and eagerly anticipate it coming to be, and you believe it and know that it will definitely happen, THEN that is for you. As long as everyone else experiences well being too you are on the right track.

Feelings are a signal for us. Our feelings let us know where we need work or what we need to change. Less than glorious feelings are only an indication that something needs to change. It is a way to get our attention so we can get back on track, to feel better and feel more harmonious inside. We want to feel inner harmony with ourselves AND it is important to feel harmony with others as well. So don’t create waves for yourself or others. Use your feelings to guide you back to the positive. Take baby steps back towards feeling good.

Again, this is where you must, and ONLY YOU can, make changes to change things for the better. Take a walk, read inspirational material, talk it out and let it go, work in a garden, dance, if you hurt someone or are feeling guilty do whatever you can to repair the situation or make restitution, own up, sing, celebrate, shift into gratitude and focus on what can be done that is positive. Whatever baby step is necessary to free oneself from the less than glorious feelings and move incrementally toward more positive feelings you must take. You may only inch forward BUT that is valuable, inching forward IS what you want to be able to do.

Better to inch forward than remain stuck. So don’t worry about whether it is enough, just move forward.

So when feel down do something to feel better. If you feel angry or frustrated or guilty or confused there is something you can to do to feel better. Remember, take feelings as an SIGNAL that you can shift something you are thinking about, or focusing on, or doing.

At any moment you can decide to revolutionize your life.

You can ask yourself, ‘What can I do, what could I do, what should I do or what must I do, or what will I do that will move me closer to my dream?’ ‘What is the first step I can take to move me in a powerful positive direction?’ Ask yourself. Consider what small steps you can consistently take that move you closer to achieving your goal.

If it is going to happen it will be up to you and no one else. So you must engage these processes and do the work. I remind you to be gentle, have fun, notice what you notice, play and keep at it.

You have come this far. Perhaps, you went through some hell to get to today. No matter what you have gone through you have succeeded in getting this far. The journey continues and you can decide now where you want to go. Set a positive destination and go towards it. That is what explorers do. Sailors, pilots, vacationers, all decide where they want to go and then they go to it.

You will get there as long as you do not stop short. As long as you continue all along the way you will arrive at your destination. Whether the way there is delightful or not is also up to you. It is your decision. So decide now where you want to go and how you want to get there. Then do it and keep on doing it. Enjoy the adventure and make all your dreams come true.” Rex Sikes

Have an incredible day! Enjoy and make it wonderful for you and others.

Subscribe to Daily Inspiration and Gratitude! Visit often & please share with others!

|Rex Sikes| Daily Inspiration | Gratitude | Positive Thinking | Positive Attitude | Get Rich | Make Money | Success | Positive Thoughts | Live Your Dreams | Get Your Goals | Become Rich| Become Wealthy | Law Of Attraction | The Secret | Wealth Creation | Abundance | Unlimited Power | LOA | Neuro Linguistic Programming | NLP | Think and Grow Rich | Secret |

	riempitrice di olio… on Do You Know You Have This Abil…
	rexsikes on Be A Deliberate Creator And Ge…
	echoes on Be A Deliberate Creator And Ge…
	Values and What We D… on Knowing Comes From Doing: The…
	mahi on If You Want To Be A Failure Ju…
	mahi on If You Want To Be A Failure Ju…
	mahi on If You Want To Be A Failure Ju…
	mahi on If You Want To Be A Failure Ju…
	saymber on Visualize Your Goals And Dream…
	rexsikes on Be A Deliberate Creator And Ge…

Sharing IS Caring:

Sharing IS Caring:

Sharing IS Caring:

Sharing IS Caring:

Sharing IS Caring:

Sharing IS Caring:

Sharing IS Caring:

Sharing IS Caring:

Sharing IS Caring:

Sharing IS Caring: