Valuable information and occasional musings from Stin-- to enhance the guided meditations, workouts, and affirmations from mythoughtcoach.com, her podcasts and mobile apps.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Let Breath be your Guide
We can miss many of the moments we have to live because we are not fully here for them.
If you start paying attention to where your mind is from moment to moment throughout the day, chances are you will find that good chunks of your time and energy are spent clinging to memories, being absorbed in reverie, and regretting things that have already happened and are over. You will probably also find that as much or more energy is expended in anticipation, planning, worrying, and fantasizing about the future.
When you begin paying attention to what your mind is doing you will probably find that there is a great deal of mental and emotional activity going on beneath the surface. These thoughts and feelings can drain a lot of your energy, and are often obstacles to experiencing even brief moments of stillness and contentment.
The best way to really be present in any moment lies no farther than your own body and mind and your own breathing. This territory is always accessible and always here, independent of your problems. Whether you are facing heart disease or cancer or pain or just a very stressful life, its energies can be of great value to you.
With meditation the breath functions as an anchor for our attention. Tuning to it anywhere we feel it in the body allows us to drop below the surface agitations of the mind into relaxation, calmness and stability. The agitation is still at the surface just as the waves are on the surface of the water, but when we shift our attention to the breath for a moment or two, you get out of the wind and protected from their buffeting action and their tension-producing effects. This is a great and effective way of locating a peaceful center within yourself and enhances the overall stability of your mind.
When you touch base in any moment with that part of your mind that is calm and stable, your perspective immediately changes. Any moment during the day that you bring your attention to your breathing becomes a moment of meditative awareness.
You are the world expert on your life, your body, and your mind, or at least you are in the best position to become that expert if you observe carefully.
If you start paying attention to where your mind is from moment to moment throughout the day, chances are you will find that good chunks of your time and energy are spent clinging to memories, being absorbed in reverie, and regretting things that have already happened and are over. You will probably also find that as much or more energy is expended in anticipation, planning, worrying, and fantasizing about the future.
When you begin paying attention to what your mind is doing you will probably find that there is a great deal of mental and emotional activity going on beneath the surface. These thoughts and feelings can drain a lot of your energy, and are often obstacles to experiencing even brief moments of stillness and contentment.
The best way to really be present in any moment lies no farther than your own body and mind and your own breathing. This territory is always accessible and always here, independent of your problems. Whether you are facing heart disease or cancer or pain or just a very stressful life, its energies can be of great value to you.
With meditation the breath functions as an anchor for our attention. Tuning to it anywhere we feel it in the body allows us to drop below the surface agitations of the mind into relaxation, calmness and stability. The agitation is still at the surface just as the waves are on the surface of the water, but when we shift our attention to the breath for a moment or two, you get out of the wind and protected from their buffeting action and their tension-producing effects. This is a great and effective way of locating a peaceful center within yourself and enhances the overall stability of your mind.
When you touch base in any moment with that part of your mind that is calm and stable, your perspective immediately changes. Any moment during the day that you bring your attention to your breathing becomes a moment of meditative awareness.
You are the world expert on your life, your body, and your mind, or at least you are in the best position to become that expert if you observe carefully.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Help the Children!
Wouldn't it be great to hear things like this coming from our kids?
"I can do this!" "I am smart!" "I am great at stuff like this." "I always try my hardest." "I am good at sharing things."
Our biggest job as parents is to empower them to become capable, fully functioning, emotionally healthy adults one day. It is to help our children do life better than we did.
When we use affirmations and positive self-talk, our children learn how to do this for themselves. Affirmations work very rapidly with young children because they still remember the truth of their inner power, abundance and love. Reinforcing these positive thoughts and feelings gives children the self-confidence, positive attitude and beliefs which help them create joyful experiences.
Our self-talk has an undeniable effect on the attitudes and outcomes in our lives. What we think, we create! Our thoughts, words and beliefs are powerful creating tools that are at work all the time, whether we realize it or not. Add emotion to these thoughts, and they are manifested into physical reality that much faster. This applies to all of us, grown-ups as well as children.
Affirmations are positive statements about who we are, and what we can become and experience. They help us focus on what we want. The key in using affirmations effectively is to have them evoke positive emotions within us. At an energy level, the vibration of our emotions makes the universal Law of Attraction work for us, attracting experiences with similar energy vibration to ourselves. Similar to the phrase, “When it rains it pours”; it is the same concept. Only in this situation the focus is typically on negative events cascading one after the other, but this truth exists in all situations. This is why it is so important to monitor and choose our thoughts as much as possible.
When our children are feeling down, angry or upset, using affirmations and positive visualizations can change their focus from what they do not want to what they DO want. Changing their thoughts to positive, happy ones, puts them in a good vibrational place to attract that which they desire. And the good news is that pretty soon, they will likely be the first to call us out on OUR self talk. When your children come back and then teach YOU the things that you once taught them, that's when you know that you just might have done okay after all.
"I can do this!" "I am smart!" "I am great at stuff like this." "I always try my hardest." "I am good at sharing things."
Our biggest job as parents is to empower them to become capable, fully functioning, emotionally healthy adults one day. It is to help our children do life better than we did.
When we use affirmations and positive self-talk, our children learn how to do this for themselves. Affirmations work very rapidly with young children because they still remember the truth of their inner power, abundance and love. Reinforcing these positive thoughts and feelings gives children the self-confidence, positive attitude and beliefs which help them create joyful experiences.
Our self-talk has an undeniable effect on the attitudes and outcomes in our lives. What we think, we create! Our thoughts, words and beliefs are powerful creating tools that are at work all the time, whether we realize it or not. Add emotion to these thoughts, and they are manifested into physical reality that much faster. This applies to all of us, grown-ups as well as children.
Affirmations are positive statements about who we are, and what we can become and experience. They help us focus on what we want. The key in using affirmations effectively is to have them evoke positive emotions within us. At an energy level, the vibration of our emotions makes the universal Law of Attraction work for us, attracting experiences with similar energy vibration to ourselves. Similar to the phrase, “When it rains it pours”; it is the same concept. Only in this situation the focus is typically on negative events cascading one after the other, but this truth exists in all situations. This is why it is so important to monitor and choose our thoughts as much as possible.
When our children are feeling down, angry or upset, using affirmations and positive visualizations can change their focus from what they do not want to what they DO want. Changing their thoughts to positive, happy ones, puts them in a good vibrational place to attract that which they desire. And the good news is that pretty soon, they will likely be the first to call us out on OUR self talk. When your children come back and then teach YOU the things that you once taught them, that's when you know that you just might have done okay after all.
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