Living Wellspring

Overcoming Shyness and Getting Rid of Anxiety

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:21:00 +0000

An important part of personal growth is learning how to overcome shyness and control anxiety. Being shy and socially awkward is a terrible affliction. Nearly everyone will experience shyness to some degree. If you suffer from shyness and feelings of anxiety, there are steps you can take to become more confident and self assured.

Photo by dusdin

In order to stop being shy and gain confidence in yourself, it helps to understand what causes you to be shy. Shyness—like confidence and anxiety and cheerfulness and depression and any other emotional experience—is a neurological condition. Every experience creates or reinforces a neurological pathway. If you suffer from shyness, you inadvertently created and reinforced certain neurological pathways that cause you to behave shyly. And every time you feel anxiety or respond in a shy manner you reinforce those pathways.

It makes the task of overcoming shyness and putting an end to social anxiety a bit tricky, but it can be done. Learn the actions and behaviors that create self confidence, get rid of shyness, and reduce anxiety, and apply them over and over, day after day. Be patient and persistent, and positive change will happen.

Get Confident and Self Assured With Posture

Your neurological system extends throughout your body, and the way you use your body has a tremendous effect on your neurological state. Stand up straight, put your shoulders back and your chin up, and you will feel more confident. Go ahead, try it. Don't cross your arms, though. Crossing your arms can make you feel more self assured, but it can also be a way of blocking, putting a barrier between yourself and the world, which is a defensive gesture that comes from and reinforces anxiety. It all depends on the individual's interpretation. As you develop more self confidence within yourself you can begin crossing your arms confidently.

Photo by judepics

There is a connection between awkwardness in body and feeling socially awkward. You can increase your level of confidence by learning to move gracefully. Take up yoga, tai chi, or dancing. All of these activities retrain your body's neurological system to move and hold yourself with more self confidence and assurance and poise.

Proper Diet Reduces Anxiety and Helps Overcome Shyness

Your neurological system depends on your physiological well being. Everything you ingest has an effect on your neurology. It's obvious with drugs and alcohol, though perhaps less so with cigarettes, which can cause you to feel more anxious. But even the food you eat creates a physiological state that supports specific neurological states. Proper diet and exercise is essential if you want to stop feeling shy, reduce stress, and feel confident and self assured. Eat less red meat and less meat overall, less fat, and only fat from good sources, a lot more vegetables and some fruit, no refined sugars or processed flour, whole grain only, and you may want to cut out sources of gluten—gluten intolerance is much more common than many people realize. You also need to become more active, even if that just means taking frequent walks. Physical fitness is tied to neurological fitness. You will feel more confident if you support positive neurological states

There is much more to learn about reducing stress, overcoming anxiety, and how to stop being shy, but this will get you started in the right direction. You can do it. Decide to start living a better life today and get yourself moving forward to your goals.

Zensday: The Meaning of Life

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:50:00 +0000

The world is round; it has no point.
- Adrienne E. Gusoff

I once asked a Zen master about the meaning of life. We all get around to that question eventually, don't we?

"Life is empty and meaningless," he told me.

I said, "No! That can't be right!"

He said, "And it doesn't mean anything that it doesn't mean anything."

And still I said, "No!"

Then he said, "And that gives you the freedom to make it mean anything you want it to mean."

And I said, "Ahhhhh."

Hacking Your Brain

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 06:37:00 +0000

You are a machine made of meat. You have a head filled with a very powerful computer made of meat. The most important thing a person can do is to learn how to operate their meat computer.

The brain is self-programming, and will do it all on autopilot if you don’t control the process. The results of uncontrolled programming can be disastrous. Phobias, neuroses, erratic and destructive behavior, anxiety, depression, and on and on.

You alone are responsible for the programming that runs on your brain. It’s up to you to see that bad programs are deleted and good ones are installed and run.

There are many tools to help facilitate the programming of one’s brain. NLP, hypnosis, meditation—especially when accompanied by music that uses binaural beats to produce specific brainwave states—and more. Learn all you can and apply what you learn. You’ll be amazed at the results.

Definitions: NLP

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 12:20:00 +0000

What the heck is NLP, anyway? NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming. It is a very powerful way of self improvement via reprogramming your brain.

Your brain is a self-programming computer made of meat, pure and simple. Your thoughts and personality and behavior are the result of programs and subroutines that run on your meat computer. These programs were coded rather haphazardly, of course. They grew out of your experience.

NLP is a way to hack the programming of your brain, to rewrite ineffective and harmful code, to uninstall useless and destructive programs, and to clean up the system and install powerful and effective programs.

LoA in the News

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:24:00 +0000

The Law of Attraction has been in the news a lot lately. What's it all about? It sounds like a personal development dream come true. The Law of Attraction is based on the idea that you create your reality by way of intention. If you make an intention for lots of money or romance or a new car or better health, and then fuel that intention with positive energy, you get what you intended. Can't get a much better promise of self improvement than that, can you?

This is known as magical thinking. As with any delusional belief, it can be distorted so that any outcome is proof. Something good happens to you? It was the Law of Attraction at work! Something bad happens? Ohhhh, you must have been doing it wrong. Bad energy! It's a great way to scam gullible people into buying worthless junk.

It certainly is true that you create your reality to a large extent, in that your thoughts and beliefs and attitudes shape your experience of reality. If your outlook is miserable, your experience of life is going to be pretty miserable. If your outlook is cheerful and positive, well guess what? That's what your experience of life will largely be.

So go right ahead and "create positive intentions," which is sort of a New Agey way of saying "set goals." But then if all you do is sit around wishing for them to come true, you've got a long wait ahead, and a lot of disappointment. If you want to achieve your goals and actually improve your health or get more money or find romance, you better get off your butt and take action to move toward those goals. All the positive energy in the world isn't going to do you any good unless it is paired with positive action.

Loituma - Ieva's Polka

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:22:00 +0000

Have a listen, it's great.

There She Is!

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:08:00 +0000

This is an awesome flash animation by SamBakZa, featuring the Korean band, Witches. Enjoy!

There She Is!

And the follow up animation, Cake Dance, with music by another Korean band, Bulldog Mansion.

Cake Dance!

NLP News and Information Resources

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:16:00 +0000

Click to read the latest news

Eating Healthy

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:11:00 +0000

Click to read the latest news

Latest News and Information

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:47:00 +0000

Click to read the latest news

Basic Meditation Exercises

noreply@blogger.com (vbob) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 02:56:00 +0000

A Taoist poem begins

CLose your eyes and you will see clearly,
Cease to listen and you will hear truth

Understanding how to meditate is one of the most important and powerful self improvement methods available. Medical research shows time and again the health benefits of meditation, but many are confused about how to start a meditation routine.

Photo by Dave Hogg

There are many different forms of meditation. An easy way to get started meditating is to simply sit comfortably, back straight but not rigid, eyes closed or partly open and unfocused, and concentrate on your breathing. In... out. You should take your shoes off and not wear any constrictive clothing.

When you're just strarting to learn how to meditate, little distractions can be a problem. Find a comfortable, quiet spot where distractions can be minimized. With practice you will soon be able to ignore any little distractions.

You can create a calm state of mind by imagining yourself in a peaceful scene, a cabin in the woods by a lake with the sun sparkling on the water. Gradually let your mind stop trying to imagine anything. If it loses focus and starts chattering, just let your thoughts go, like releasing a balloon. Don't try to stop them, just ignore them, they are unimportant, just little birds chattering in the trees. Bring your mind back to calmness. As you gain experience meditating it will be easier and easier to find that calmness and let go of the mind's chattering turmoil. And that turmoil will begin to disappear from your mind, even when you're not meditating.

Meditation has a very positive effect on a person's neurology. It promotes clearer thinking, inner peace and happiness, and a sense of focus and presence. A common objection people have is that they simply can't find time to meditate, but when you begin regular meditation practice you discover that you seem to have more time available because the increased focus and lack of inner turmoil and anxiety allow you to you use your time much more effectively.

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour

—William Blake

Living Wellspring

Overcoming Shyness and Getting Rid of Anxiety

Get Confident and Self Assured With Posture

Proper Diet Reduces Anxiety and Helps Overcome Shyness

Special Deals For Improving Your Life

Zensday: The Meaning of Life

Special Deals For Improving Your Life

Hacking Your Brain

Special Deals For Improving Your Life

Definitions: NLP

Special Deals For Improving Your Life

LoA in the News

Special Deals For Improving Your Life

Loituma - Ieva's Polka

Special Deals For Improving Your Life

There She Is!

Special Deals For Improving Your Life

NLP News and Information Resources

Special Deals For Improving Your Life

Eating Healthy

Special Deals For Improving Your Life

Latest News and Information

Special Deals For Improving Your Life

Basic Meditation Exercises

Special Deals For Improving Your Life