We pretty much use our eyes every single second of the day, that is of course unless we are sleeping, so I think most people would agree they are pretty important to us! Our eyes start taking in information from the minute we are born and during the first 2 -3 years they learn to recognise every conceivable shape, colour and shade. It is advised that we have our eyes tested every 2 years and this is regardless of whether we feel our vision has changed or not. Even people who have had laser eye surgery should still get regular checkups to ensure their eyes are healthy. We only get one pair of eyes and we should look after them. As an Optometrist I regularly get asked certain things about the eyes and it surprises me just how much bad information there is out there. During this post I am going to list my top 5 things that people get wrong about their eye’s so here goes!

1. Floaters are caused by things blowing into our eyes: Around half of the population have floaters in their eyes, so this point should be relevant to at least 50% of people who are reading it! Floaters are the speck or thread like (people describe them in all sorts of ways!) particles that we notice floating around in our vision from time to time. They are normally more noticeable if we are tired and if we are looking against a white back ground. People often assume that floaters are caused by something externally blowing in to the eye but this is absolutely not true. Floaters are formed in the inside of the central part of your eye, in the jelly like substance called the Vitreous. They have a variety of causes but the most common one is just old dead cells breaking down.
2. Computers damage our eyes: This is another myth and people often talk about computers like they are this all conquering evil when it comes to our eyes! It is true that doing a lot of close work such as computer work, can make us more likely to become short sighted, or for our short sightedness to deteriorate but it is no worse than us reading a book. Put another way, if you replaced your computer screen with a piece of paper at the exact same distance it would be just as likely to cause your short sightedness!
3. 3. Cataracts only occur in really old people: It is true that as we get older we are more likely to get cataracts but people of all ages can develop them. People quite commonly get cataracts in their early 50’s but the average age to get the start of cataracts is around 67 years old. Children can be born with cataracts which need early surgical intervention so their eyes can fully develop.
4. 4. Cataracts are a skin growing over the eye: No skin grows over the eyes with cataracts and they are merely a slow clouding of the lens in your eye. We all have a natural lens in our eye which focuses objects at different distances and over time it goes from being completely transparent to being cloudy. Cataracts are easily removed with a simple operation.
5. 5. Wearing glasses makes our eyes worse: This is a very common assumption and it can be difficult to convince people that it is not true! What actually happens is when you wear glasses you realise how much better your vision can be.  Imagine you have been walking around in a blur for the past few years and then you suddenly put glasses on and the world suddenly becomes clear and in focus. When you then take your glasses off you feel like your eyes have got worse but it is merely a case of you now know what you are missing!

It just goes to show things aren’t always what they seem and you shouldn’t believe everything you hear! I hope this blog post has been interesting and I hope it inspires you to get your eyes checked regularly. . You can read more about your eyes at Treatment Saver which provides easy to understand and independent information

Keir Kei's Self Help Blog

Everybody has issues that they have to work through. And for some of those things, we’d like help working through them. Some decide to work through their difficulties with a therapist. Others choose to use eastern remedies, such as acupuncture, as a way to work through their issues. Some people rely heavily on hypnosis to help them come to terms with the issues they need to work through. Hypnotists and various other professionals can be expensive to hire, though. This makes learning to hypnotize yourself valuable. Use these tips to begin to do self hypnosis.

It is helpful to understand what you will be doing when you’re hypnotized. A hypnotic trance can be likened to doing very intense meditation. Hypnosis is simply going into a deep trance like state. Entering and exiting that state is usually done with the help of another. With self hypnosis, the trance may not be quite as deep and you have more control over what is happening to you. But, this still isn’t something to take lightly. If you are not comfortable going that far into your head, then we would recommend starting with meditation and working up to self hypnosis.

Counting backward from 100 is one of the simpler methods for you to utilize in getting yourself to a self hypnotic state. Some experts will tell you to envision yourself walking down a set of stairs as you relax yourself. Others will suggest that you picture yourself strolling through a hallway. A good form of repetition that keeps your mind awake is counting. In addition, it give you a set amount of time to focus on the breaths you take and really become relaxed while trying to get to your headspace. It may not be a necessity for you to count every number between 1 and 100, although

There are many people who are under the belief that self hypnosis works excellently just before going to sleep or first thing when you wake up in the morning. The simple truth is that, if you are tired, you are more likely to simply fall asleep than you are to enter a hypnotic state. This is why the pros say that hypnosis works ideally at the time of day that you are most awake. The sharper and more alert you are, the easier it will be to relax your body, focus on your breathing and really pay attention to the issues that you are trying to work through during your session.

Self Hypnosis is not meant to be hard. The simple fact of the matter is that you will see many benefits of hypnosis when you have worked through your underlying issues. Many experts recommend hypnosis for working through deep issues. I hope these tips have helped you grasp what you are trying to achieve.

Until next time,
Be your best,
Keir

Keir Kei's Self Help Blog

Affirmations are like software programs that can literally “re-wire” your brain’s programming. Actually this analogy is a lot more accurate than many people think. Calling affirmations software sounds like a metaphor, but there is more truth than just on the metaphor level.

When repeated over and over again, under the right circumstances, affirmations actually create new pathways in the brain. These new pathways change the way we think, act and react to stimuli around us.

When I first started using affirmations, I repeated each one to myself over 50 times a day. And, I might be working on up to ten affirmations at a time (hey, I wanted to change my entire life around and I didn’t want to wait).

But is shear brute force repetition the only way to get affirmations to work and do this job of creating new pathways?

1. Record your voice. Record your own voice speaking with enthusiasm your affirmations, then you can listen to them again and again.
2. Record your voice to music. Music allows the brain to create different states. Choose peaceful music like Johann Bach to reach an alpha state if you want to create a new belief system, or choose something powerful with a strong beat if you want to create power within yourself.

   An example might be to play Bach if you are trying to improve your golf swing and Queen if you are trying to improve your play on the football field.

3. Write out your affirmations at least 20 times a day. The kinesthetic movements of your hands engage a different part of your brain.

   Do you remember that harsh elementary school teacher who made you write out, “I will not throw spit wads in class,” thousands of times? Actually, maybe you shouldn’t remember her since I am trying to create a positive connection to writing and self change, but you get the point that writing out affirmations really engages the brain (by the way, did you throw spit wads in class after that?)

4. Use subliminal technology. This requires a purchase, but there are software programs that can record your affirmations at sub audible levels. Go online and you can find many great tools for subliminal audio recordings, subliminal software that plays on your computer or subliminal video messaging systems.
5. Get another person to record your affirmations. Ask someone you respect as an authority figure or someone who you know has your best interests at heart. I knew a therapist who regularly did this for her patients and the results seemed to occur much faster than if they recorded their own voices. Make sure to change the affirmations from first person to second person.
6. Use your affirmations as hypnotic suggestions. Learn self-hypnosis and then read the affirmations to yourself in a state of hypnosis or play your recorded voice. Self hypnosis is not difficult to learn. You can pick up a book, CD or DVD at the bookstore and be practicing it tonight. The reason hypnosis works so well is that it puts your brain into a receptive state that makes you much more suggestible. This cuts out on all the filters and skepticism your conscious imposes to challenge new ideas.

Affirmations are powerful tools to change your life. Experiment with different ways to use them and will soon find yourself putting less food on your plate, throwing away your cigarettes, making more sales or whatever change you are seeking to make in your life.

Just a few years after attempting suicide, Charles Brown has learned to literally “re-wire” and “re-program” his brain to achieve success in everything he attempts. He now teaches others how to use neuro-linquistic programming (NLP), subliminal technology, self hypnosis, The Law of Attraction and other methods to make major changes in their lives. He is the author of the free downloadable ebook, The Science of Change: How To Re-Program Your Mind and Transform Your Life [http://www.geocities.com/chbrown56]. This ebook has 49 pages of transformational information and can be downloaded at [http://www.geocities.com/chbrown56]

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By Charles Brown

How to make best use of your subliminal affirmation software

Subliminal affirmation software are what we refer to as computer programs that create either a visual or audio representation of your affirmations. The visual affirmations are displayed using a screen saver like tool, the only difference is that you don’t see the messages flashing on the screen because it happens too fast for your conscious mind to react to it. Your unconscious, on the other hand, has no problem whatsoever with the speed and takes it in just like anything else it is registering at the time.

When your subliminal affirmation software is creating audio, the situation is different. In this case, affirmations using subliminal audio messages are usually sound files that have the affirmations registered in a special way. The positive affirmations are coded in such a way that when you listen to the audio, you can not recognize them. However, your powerful unconscious mind is able to process the information and stores it.

The characteristic of subliminal affirmations in general is that it bypasses your conscious mind’s barriers, sending the message directly to your unconscious mind. Your unconscious mind simply takes these positive affirmations as a matter of fact and stores it along with everything else. Both audio and visual affirmations using subliminal messages work the same way, but depending on your personal case, you could have different levels of success with one or the other.

We still have a lot to discover on how the brain works but we already know that most of the processing takes place outside our awareness. subliminal affirmation software taps into this almost limitless potential and feeds you with an abundant flow of positive statements. Eventually those positive affirmations will become a part of your reality as the unconscious assumes the information to be true.

Using subliminal affirmation software to create your own subliminal affirmations can be tricky. In the same way as you should take care what you put in your body, you should do the same with what you put into your mind, especially your unconscious mind. Make sure your affirmation is positive, that it is something that you really and honestly desire and want to believe in. If your affirmations were to be true today would there be any side effects? Make sure you’re aiming at the right target because you will most likely hit it!

Most subliminal affirmation software comes with a pre-recorded set of positive affirmations. Even though you may be tempted to fire them off immediately, do yourself a favor and take a step back. More often these are so generic that they don’t light the spark necessary to bring out the necessary to bring out the change. Use your subliminal affirmation software wisely and don’t expect the software to do all the work for you. You still need to put in the time to choose your affirmations that are congruent with what you want to be. Make sure your software has the flexibility to use your own affirmations to create subliminal messages.

In the meantime, be your best,
Keir

Keir Kei's Self Help Blog

Learn how to re-program your mind with the power of subliminal messages and change your life.

If you are unsure about subliminal messages I would ask, have you ever heard a piece of music in the morning without paying much attention to it yet had it in your head all day, perhaps even humming or singing it throughout your day?

Have you ever been in a crowd totally unaware of all the conversations that were taking place until someone mentions your name? Are you also aware that you are receiving subliminal messages every day? The vast majority of advertising campaigns are filled with subliminal messages in the form of visual input designed to bring out a specific response from you.

The term “subliminal” refers to anything that exists just below your conscious awareness i.e. at the subconscious level.

It has long been known that in order to create lasting measurable change in yourself it is necessary for you to access the subliminal or subconscious part of your mind. One excellent method of doing this is through the use of subliminal programming. By using subliminal recordings you can bypass the conscious mind and reprogram your inner mind through the use of carefully selected subliminal messages.

The subliminal messages that are passed to your subconscious mind really do begin to change your thinking patterns and physical habits.

Subliminal messaging can be constructed for a great many things like reducing stress, inducing relaxation, creating motivation, for better study habits, stopping smoking or losing weight and many more.

Subliminal programs contain positive affirmations that are designed to help the listener achieve a change in a specific area they have chosen or to achieve a particular goal they have set. The physical brain receives these affirmations at a subconscious level and because there is no interference from the critical conscious mind the subconscious mind, which is where beliefs are and attitudes are stored, immediately begins the work of making the subliminal messages a reality in your life.

Subliminal messages accelerate the process of changing your attitudes because they bypass the analytical critical conscious mind and begin to reprogram the subconscious mind much like reprogramming a computer.

When subliminal messages, which are usually embedded in a piece of music or masked with ocean waves, are played, the beliefs that are stored in the subconscious mind are slowly and gently replaced by powerful new positive beliefs. It is an automatic and effortless method of changing yourself from the inside-out. Nowadays you can have subliminal programs on your computer screen running unseen in the background.

However, having said that, you should be aware that most of your subconscious programming has taken place over an entire lifetime and it is unlikely to be changed in a few hours or days.

Reprogramming of the subconscious mind takes time and you will usually see tangible results after about 28. Experience has shown that it takes 28 days to change a habit.

Subliminal reprogramming can be achieved through the use of subliminal software for your computer that allows you to create your own custom subliminal recordings.

Honest introspection is needed to determine what area of your life needs changing before you decide which subliminal messages are right for your particular circumstances and needs.

Would it not be better to ensure the subliminal messages reaching your subconscious mind are of your choosing and that they are creating the, life you want? Then why not give them a try?

My name is John Mullens and I am presently living in London, England.
I am a full time internet marketer specialising in list building and affiliate marketing.
My article writing is mainly on wealth building, personal development and some health issues.

My aim is to set men and women free by achieving financial freedom.
Visit my website at: http://www.MyMillionaireWealthSecretsdvd.com

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By John Mullens

Why should you consider subliminal affirmation software?

Subliminal affirmation software is a computer program you use to create subliminal affirmations for your own use. You may come across two distinct forms of affirmations utilizing subliminal technology.The 1st is visual, where the application displays the message so rapidly that you simply don’t see it, even although your unconscious perceives it. In the second case, the software creates a sound file which is usually an mp3 file that you can put on your ipod and listen to it whenever you choose.

The characteristic of subliminal affirmations in general is that it bypasses your conscious mind’s barriers, sending the message directly to your unconscious mind. Your unconscious mind simply takes these positive affirmations as a matter of fact and stores it along with everything else. The overall process is relatively the same for affirmations using subliminal messages, although there are some important aspects to consider if you want the best results.

We nonetheless have a great deal to discover on how the brain operates but we currently know that most of the processing occurs outside our awareness. Subliminal affirmation software taps into this practically limitless potential and feeds you with an abundant flow of positive statements. As the affirmations are repeated, your unconscious considers these as reality. This is the way our unconscious works; if the information keeps coming in and is the same, then it assumes it to be true.

While you can use subliminal affirmation software to create an unlimited amount of affirmations, you should be very careful how you do this. In the same way you take care to hydrate yourself, breathe fresh air and eat healthy foods, you need to be even more careful when it comes to talking directly to your unconscious. Are your affirmations positive statements? Are these truly what you want for yourself? Only you know what you really want and you need to take full responsibility once you get what you want.

Make sure you are true to yourself when you start making your own subliminal affirmations. You should deal with what goes into your mind the same way you deal with what goes into your body. It’s all about the ecology of one’s mind and you, at the end of the day, need to take on full responsibility. Your subliminal affirmation software needs to have the flexibility to choose your personal affirmations. You also should look at features including update frequency for visual affirmations or various options to encode audio, if you’re working with the software to create subliminal affirmation mp3s.

In the meantime, be your best,
Keir

Keir Kei's Self Help Blog

Subliminal messages have now become popular as a tool in changing negative patterns of behavior that hinder us to achieve the life we want. In fact, you can already make your own subliminal messages with the help of subliminal recording software that are also readily available these days.

Subliminal messages are hidden messages embedded in mediums like videos and audios and are not perceived by the conscious mind. They are short statements that are flashed quickly on your screen that you don’t even know what they mean, but they go directly into your subconscious. Repeated exposure to these subliminal messages are said to change patterns of behavior and attitude that is often hard to do consciously.

Overcoming anxiety problems, increasing self-confidence, increasing motivation, improving health and attaining happiness are just a few of the benefits of subliminal messages. Another major benefit of these hidden messages is overcoming negative thinking which is a major hindrance in living the life we want.

As these messages go directly to your subconscious, they also affect your behavior and thought patterns in the long run. Repetition is a language of the subconscious and as subliminal messages are repeated, you will eventually achieve what you want to do. Indeed, you can purchase a ready-made subliminal video these days – you can even find them being shared online. However, one downside of getting a ready-made subliminal video is that, you will not be able to tell what those hidden messages are – if they really are the things you want to do in life. Of course, if you want to re-train your mind, you have to make sure you know what you are training for.

In making your own hidden messages in a subliminal recording software, you have to first learn how to make the message. These should be short statements of what you want to happen. State your sentences as if they have already happened. If you are aiming for abundance in life, write down ‘I am rich!’ rather than writing, ‘I want to be rich.’ If you aim for self-confidence, write down ‘I am confident’ rather than ‘I want to be confident.’ State it as if you already have it.

Another thing to keep in mind in writing messages for your subconscious is to state it positively. Instead of writing down ‘I am not stressed’ do write ‘I feel good’ or ‘I am happy.’ Do not write the negative form of what you want. Your subconscious will eventually pick up the word ‘stressed’ and not the idea about it.

You can also group your messages according to your purpose and make one video for each. With your subliminal recording software, you can then add a title to each video and add a relaxing music to it. Usually, binaural beats are added as music for these videos.

It is important to keep in mind that the subliminal thing is effective if repeated and thus it is important to watch these videos every morning or listen to it frequently to make it more effective in reaching out to your subconscious.

Carolyn Anderson makes use of subliminal videos to help increase her motivation. To learn more on how you can make your own subliminal message, check out Subliminal Cookbook. Also check out My Mind Shift, a set of binaural beats audios that you can listen to help maximize the potentials of your mind.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carolyn_Anderson
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By Carolyn Anderson

How to make subliminal affirmation software work for you

These days you can use subliminal affirmation software to create your own self talk. You will come across two distinct kinds of affirmations using subliminal technology.The 1st is visual, where the software displays the message so quickly that you just don’t see it, even though your unconscious perceives it. In the second case, the software creates a sound file which is usually an mp3 file that you can put on your ipod and listen to it whenever you choose.

These days technology is coming to help us in many different ways. subliminal affirmation software is a great example of how technology is used for self help. Using this specialized software, you can take positive affirmations and digest them through subliminal technology, delivered to you either visually or in audio. The best part is that while you can use your conscious mind to choose an create the positive affirmations, you leave it to the software to deliver the messages to your unconscious.

We probably know more about the conscious mind than about the unconscious mind; yet we need to understand some of the important differences of the unconscious mind in order to make our subliminal affirmations more effective. Our unconscious is like memory with infinite capacity, recording everything that has ever happened to us. Another characteristic is that our unconscious processes only positive statements and simply ignores the negative.One good example to illustrate is the following: if I ask you NOT to think about a cute pink rabbit, you unwillingly think about one, even though your conscious mind perfectly understands the instruction. Fascinating as these are, essentially the most important attribute of the unconscious mind is how it relates to reality. As far as your unconscious is concerned any and all information it possesses is true, and therefore, real.

You should be careful when you choose your positive affirmations. Let’s be clear here: We’re stepping under our conscious mind’s radar and planting seeds in our unawareness zone. Whatever you put there will be considered to be true. So don’t start a self talk with yourself saying things that are untrue to who you really are. Your conscious mind will detect it as a core value violation and will ignore it. You won’t benefit from your investment if you’re not careful.

When creating your own positive affirmations, make sure you are choosing statements that are honestly what you really want for yourself. You really should deal with what goes into your mind the same way you treat what goes into your body. It’s all about the ecology of one’s mind and you, at the end of the day, need to take full responsibility. Your subliminal affirmation software needs to have the flexibility to choose your own private affirmations. You also need to look at features including update frequency for visual affirmations or various options to encode audio, if you’re working with the software to develop subliminal affirmation mp3s.

In the meantime, be your best,
Keir

Keir Kei's Self Help Blog

Subliminal affirmation software is what we refer to as computer programs that create either a visual or audio representation of your affirmations. The visual affirmations are displayed using a screen saver like tool; the only difference is that you don’t see the messages flashing on the screen because it happens too fast for your conscious mind to react to it. Your unconscious, on the other hand, has no problem whatsoever with the speed and takes it in just like anything else it is registering at the time.

When your subliminal affirmation software is creating audio, the situation is different. In this case, affirmations using subliminal audio messages are usually sound files that have the affirmations registered in a special way. The positive affirmations are coded in such a way that when you listen to the audio, you can not recognize them. However, your powerful unconscious mind is able to process the information and stores it.

The characteristic of subliminal affirmations in general is that it bypasses your conscious mind’s barriers, sending the message directly to your unconscious mind. Your unconscious mind simply takes these positive affirmations as a matter of fact and stores it along with everything else. The overall process is relatively the same for affirmations using subliminal messages, although there are some important aspects to consider if you want the best results.

We probably know more about the conscious mind than about the unconscious mind; yet we need to understand some of the important differences of the unconscious mind in order to make our subliminal affirmations more effective. The unconscious basically remembers everything since you came into existence. Another interesting property is that it does not process the negative. A well known demonstration of this is when I ask you to NOT think about a pink elephant, you first think of it before your conscious mind comes to the rescue and tells you to cancel the thought. Fascinating as these are, probably the most important attribute of your unconscious mind is how it relates to reality. As far as your unconscious is concerned any and all information it possesses is correct, and therefore, real.

You should be careful when you choose your positive affirmations. Let’s be clear here: We’re stepping under our conscious mind’s radar and planting seeds in our unawareness zone. Whatever you put there will be considered to be true. So don’t start a self talk with yourself saying things that are untrue to who you really are. Your conscious mind will detect it as a core value violation and will ignore it. You won’t benefit from your investment if you’re not careful.

When creating your own positive affirmations, make sure you are choosing statements that are honestly what you really want for yourself. You ought to treat what goes into your mind the same way you deal with what goes into your body. It’s all about the ecology of the mind, and you, at the end of the day, have to take on full responsibility. Your subliminal affirmation software needs to have the flexibility to decide on your own personal affirmations. You also should look at features for example update frequency for visual affirmations or options to encode audio, if you’re using the computer program to generate subliminal affirmation mp3s.

In the meantime, be your best,
Keir

Keir Kei's Self Help Blog

Subliminal affirmations are effective techniques that you should be considering as a part of your personal development plan. The caliber of your thoughts and feelings acts like a guide that the universe uses to generate situations that you experience. Typically, positive thoughts and feelings will produce positive situations, while negative thoughts and feelings will manifest negative situations.

Using affirmations to reinforce beliefs has been around for a long time. In the early days, affirmations were basically a repetition of positive words you would say to yourself. There are lots of examples of this in movies where you see the hero reciting in front of a mirror, just before the decisive event. Recently we’ve discovered that delivering these affirmations in subliminal messages actually works just as well, if not better, than the original way.

Positive affirmations are essentially phrases you repeat to yourself to affirm something to be real. Subliminal affirmations are similar to positive affirmations. The fundamental difference is that for positive affirmations, you are conscious of what you really are saying to yourself. Subliminal affirmations, on the other hand, bypass your conscious mind so you are not aware of it at the conscious level. Your brain, nonetheless, is able to process this information. Your conscious mind will not hear them because they are registered at a subliminal level, but you can be sure that your powerful subconscious mind is picking up every single one of the suggestions.

Subliminal affirmations fed into your subconscious mind tell the negative thinking to hold off and let it work on the new information it’s getting. Therefore, your conscious and subconscious mind will both be processing the new positive thoughts at the exact same time. For lasting change to occur, a new belief must take root in your mind where your conscious and subconscious are in harmony.

Affirmations using subliminal messages are becoming more popular nowadays as we discover how powerful they are in changing our lives. In fact all areas in your life can use the power of subliminal affirmations. Some of the more popular ones are weight loss, stopping smoking, building up your self esteem, just to mention a few. Listening to subliminal affirmation mp3′s on a regular basis are proving to become an effective, convenient, cheap and pleasent way people produce outstanding personal change in their lives.

If you believe in the power of thinking positively, subliminal affirmations is certainly something you should go for. You have nothing to lose except maybe some limiting beliefs.

Before you take a deep dive into subliminal affirmations, take time some time to do your research. Some of the search phrases you may want to consider are:
- subliminal affirmations software
- subliminal affirmations download
- free subliminal affirmations

Until next time,

Take care and be your best,

Keir

Keir Kei's Self Help Blog

Affirmations are powerful and if you get them right, they are an invaluable tool for self improvement. Yet, if it were so easy then why don’t we all just affirm our dreams and realize them? Well, one of the reasons is that we are a bit more sophisticated and evolved than most of the personal development gurus would want you to think. Just because you repeat a positive phrase to yourself over and over does not mean you actually believe it.

Beliefs govern our lives. One of the ways of looking at this is understanding our learning process. We either generalize information, or suppress it, and often it is a combination of both so that we distort it. We unconsciously tend towards “a more of the same” type of information processing, which means that the first beliefs we created are often the strongest and the most difficult to change.

While beliefs are subjective: i.e. they are true for us, they may or may not be true for others. Knowledge, on the other hand, objective in the sense that you can prove it and so can others. We often confuse the two, thus loosing a very important ally that is our rational mind.

Modern psychology suggests that there multiple levels of consciousness and that there are different parts to our personality. Without going into any detail or preference of these abstractions, one model which resonates well for beliefs is to imagine that we have a dreamer, a realist and a doubter part to our persona.

Walt Disney was well known for applying this technique for problem solving and creativity. He would gather his team and get them all going so that everyone was in a dreamer mood. Then they would go into the realist mood and finally the “devil’s advocate” mood. Records state that they actually changed rooms to enforce the different modalities and used this technique to come up with the most amazing ideas.

The approach I would like you to test for yourself is the following. Take a blank piece of paper and write down your ultimate goals. Be a dreamer by all means, imagine everything is possible, and let your creativity blossom. Make sure you leave a good amount of space between each item; you should have something between three to eight phrases on your list. Then take a break, and I mean it. Stand up, walk around, move your body and get back to your piece of paper.

Now be a realist. Read what you’ve written and only ADD whatever comes to your mind to make your goals more realistic. You can not change what you wrote down in the first round but you can add to it. Make sure you go through each one and still leave enough room on the paper for the third round. Now take another break like you did before.

This time, you are a doubter. Let your doubting part express itself. Whatever you come up with write it down, again you can only ADD, no cancelling or changing what you’ve written. If you’ve played it by the rules then compliment yourself, well done! Keep this paper in a safe place; you’re going to go back to it later on.

There are several purposes to this exercise. The first one is to accept yourself for who you are. We all have these parts in our personalities and often they all talk to us at the same time. By giving each of these their separate voice you free them from competition. You’re also educating yourself so that you give your creative self freedom to express itself without criticism. At the same time, you’re also developing trust in yourself because asking your realistic and doubtful parts to contribute to the creation process.

You should repeat this exercise once a week for a couple of weeks. Each time, you’ll feel an alignment building up and your congruence with regard to your goals will increase. Now you can go back and choose your affirmations. You’ll be amazed how good these affirmations will sound to you. And because you won’t be fighting back at the unconscious level, these affirmations will actually sink in and get you moving towards your goals.

So go ahead, give your creative part the freedom to speak first, add on your realism and critics then choose your affirmations to pave your road of self improvement.

Live your dreams to the fullest and be your best,

Keir

Keir Kei's Self Help Blog

One of the common issues when we’re working on our personal development plan is to keep ourselves motivated. While we’re working on defining our goals and building the plan, our motivation level is high. Then when we come to implementing the plan, reality kicks in and we start to hesitate. We are living in a period of instant gratification, everyone wants results now. This quick and easy approach to everything creates superficial judgment and we only add another negative item to our self talk list, lowering our self esteem. So how do we keep motivated and gets things done?

The first thing is to focus on the outcome and not on the tasks. The task is a list of actions to achieve what we want; by itself it does not motivate us but what we want does. Visualize how your life will be when you realize your goals; anchor the goal in front of you, like a heads up display for pilots. Keep your goals on screen, regardless of what else is going on. Imagine the good things people will be saying to you. Imagine how your body will feel when you get there. Associate positive thoughts and feelings to your goals and focus on the good vibes.

The second is to use positive affirmations constantly. Just like our body becomes what we feed our body, our mind becomes what we feed our mind. Pay attention to your self-talk, every time you say something positive to your self; you are building your self esteem. Remember, no one cares about you more than yourself, treat yourself well and you will be the first one to benefit. If you hear yourself saying something negative to yourself, stop! Weed out the limiting belief, plant an empowering belief and let it grow. Look forward to listening to your positive self talk; give yourself a compliment the first thing in the morning and enjoy the rest of the day.

Finally, take action each and every day. Consistency is crucial to building momentum. Practice is the key to perfection and you need to keep going at it. You’ll notice that as you continue to act towards you plan; your self confidence will grow. Celebrate your successes along the way, build on the positive energy and you’ll find that your self growth will accelerate beyond your expectations.

If you do the above consistently, not only will you be more motivated to realize your personal development plan, but your motivation will become contagious for those around you and you will become a role model for others to follow. Treat others as you would treat yourself, and treat yourself well.

Until next time, be your best.

Keir

Keir Kei's Self Help Blog

I’ve always wondered what motivates people. One of the typical metaphors we use is “the carrot and the stick”. The carrot is your reward for achieving your goal and the stick is the punishment if you fail. We all relate to this because it brings together the two major types of motivational behaviour. Think about the metaphor for a moment, what is more important for you: the carrot or the stick?

In NLP, there is the concept of meta-programs, which are basically behavioural patterns commonly used by an individual across a wide range of situations. In this context, NLP refers to the “towards” meta-program versus “away-from” meta-program. Even though we all use both, in general we have a preference for one. In our example, if the carrot is more important for you then you are probably a “towards” person, otherwise you are probably an “away-from” person. You can find al sorts of information on NLP online, just make sure you read high quality articles.

While there is obviously truth to the metaphor, the carrot and stick don’t necessarily translate into motivation for most of us. A part of that is because we are more evolved than this animalistic metaphor would suggest. Our ability to make a commitment is a key factor for motivation.

So how do you make a commitment? Let me ask you another question, what is the number one item in any personal development plan? It is, of course, that you need to write it down! Writing your objectives on paper is very important and I want to expand on this. You can test this out for yourself and let me know how it works for you.

The first thing is that you write the goal, on paper, in handwriting. Yes, I know we have computers these days, so the pen and paper may seem old fashioned. But trust me, writing with your own handwriting is very personal, and so is commitment and motivation.

The second thing you do is you write it down every day, and you read it to yourself aloud. From a neurology point of view, you’re activating different parts of your brain and this creates alignment, which enforces the commitment you’re making.

The third thing you do is you write it down and send it to people who are dear to you. No, you don’t send them an email, or ping them, tweet them, IM them or any other high-tech instantaneous thing. You send them a snail mail, with the envelope and the stamp. You’re better off writing them a letter as well, telling them what you’re doing. They will be delighted to be on your dear person list.

The fourth thing you do, after you send the letters, is that you write a letter to yourself with your objectives. Awkward as it may seem, the fact that you have all these letters going around is an incredible commitment and you’re motivation will skyrocket.

Once you get the letter you sent yourself, review where you are. My bets are on the fact that the public commitment will have increased your motivation beyond your expectations. You will be happy that people are counting on you and you will not want to disappoint them. You’ve just amplified the carrot and stick effect by a hundredfold.

Self improvement requires you going out of your comfort zone. Each time you push you comfort zone, it will expand and things that previously were difficult for you will become easier.

Until next time, be your best,

Keir

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Keir Kei's Self Help Blog