Your habits will either help you or hinder you in achieving your goals. Here are some advice on that subject.

Achieve Your Goal – Forming Habits By Eric Eliacin

One of the most effective ways to achieve a goal is to make it a habit to practice, usually on a daily basis. Unfortunately, this method can also be extremely difficult as well as frustrating. We find ourselves saying, “I wish I had some motivation,” or “If only I had the discipline to keep at it.” Luckily, there are a few strategies available to make the process less stressful.

How Habits are Formed
The human body is very good at adaptation. This includes the mind’s ability to identify processes in one’s life that are repetitive and provide subconscious reminders to perform these actions. For example, if you do not eat, your body automatically creates pains in your stomach to let you know it is hungry. This type of reaction is the same with daily habits such as taking a shower or sleeping.

On average, it takes approximately 3 weeks (21 days) for a habit to develop. This means that if you are able to repeat the same action every day for 21 days, your body will begin to familiarize itself with the process. Three weeks is not a very long time at all. With a little bit of dedication for a short duration, your body can help you to learn just about anything!

The Benefits
Once you are able to create your own habits, the opportunity to learn new skills is wide open! Losing weight is a sinch if you are committed to exercising daily. Same with learning an instrument or working a muscle. And by writing a little every day, you can easily complete the next great novel! All you have to do is spend some time every day working toward your goal for three consecutive weeks. After that, your body will automatically remind you to practice.

Finding the Motivation
Three weeks is not a very long time; however, it can still cause a lot of stress. Here are a few methods to help you work through it.

1. Leave Yourself Notes
This can be done in a number of ways. It can take the form of sticky notes or even a message you leave on your answering machine. The trick is to capitalize on habits you already have. If there is something you already do daily, leave a note for you to find when you are doing it. For example, leave a note on your computer if you check your emails everyday, or one on the bathroom mirror for you to see when you’re brushing your teeth. Be creative!

Also, be mindful that, once you start to take the note for granted, you may overlook it. One way to overcome this is to leave a variety of notes in different places. Or change the location/form of the note once in a while or each time you see it. For the same reason, it is dangerous to skip days. If you do not perform your habit once, it could mean having to completely restart your three-week process, so don’t take it lightly.

2. Wear a String on Your Finger
This is an old technique, but still very useful. Of course, you don’t necessarily have to tie a string around your finger; other methods are just as helpful. For example, wearing a special bracelet has been a method that has worked for me. Just make sure the accessory you wear is both comfortable and unfamiliar. Using something you already wear wont work because, you won’t remember to attach a meaning to it. However, seeing/feeling a foreign object tied to your body is a perfect way to force yourself to ask, “Why did I put this here?”

3. Keep a Tally
Keeping a written record of your progress is also a good idea. It helps to keep the process in your mind and also serves as a reminder of how long you have until the three weeks are up. Then you can judge how deeply embedded into your daily schedule your new habit is. Be sure to keep track of dates and if you’ve skipped a day. Sometimes skipping is no big deal, but for some habits it can make all the difference, so keeping a record is helpful.

Have Faith!
Be sure to always have faith in yourself. Don’t start questioning your motives or making excuses. Even if the habit you form does not end up being as advantageous as you had hoped, the experience you gain in forming it is beneficial in the long run. Most of all, be sure to constantly remind yourself of where you are and how great it will be once you’ve finished. This will motivate you to keep trying and to stay active.

Remember that determination goes a long way. Be confident in your self and most of all, don’t give up!

For more on the benefits of goals and positive thinking visit: http://www.healthmad.com/Mental-Health/Finding-Happiness-What-the-Pursuit-is-All-About.56478

Find more articles by Eric Eliacin (The Street Saint) on Triond: http://www.triond.com/users/Street+Saint

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Eliacin

TODAY’S TIP: Look at the things you consistently do over and over. Are they helpful or do they hinder you?

What are your habits?

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Habits can make us or break us. We all have many habits, some cultivated and some ingrained. Have you ever asked yourself what habits you have that are helpful? How about habits that are harmful.

We start developing habits as soon as we are born. As babies we soon learn that we can get attention when we cry. After seeing this work for a time it will become a habit that whenever the baby wants attention, it will cry.

We are not even aware of many of our habits because they are so deeply ingrained that we just do them without thinking about them.

Many of the habits we form as we grow up may inhibit our grow, such as habits formed from feelings of low self-esteem or lack of self worth.

Many of the habits we form as we grow up will depend on how we are treated by our parents and peers. If our parents were supportive the habits will probably be positive, if they were not the habits could possibly be harmful.

As the quote says, many of our habits go unnoticed until they become so strong it becomes very hard to break them if they are harmful. Many people think that they have some habits that need to be changed.

However, habits cannot be changed, they must be replaced. You replace the habit by consciously choosing another action at the time you would ordinarily start the habit you wish to stop.

The first step is becoming aware of the harmful habits. To do this it is good to stop and take a look at your life every once in a while. If you are not where you want to be, ask yourself why not? Try to determine those habits that are preventing you from moving forward in your life as you would like to.

Practice awareness and when you notice yourself in a situation where you would usually exhibit actions of habits that hold you back, make a conscious effort to start a different action that will help you move forward.

It is not easy to replace many of our habits, but it is possible. It takes commitment and discipline. You must set you intention and work at it.

How mush do you want to change your life? Most people would like to change, but are not willing to put the energy necessary into effecting the change. They will continue on their present path and blame their shortcomings on parents or luck.

How committed are you? Be honest with yourself and decide where you want your life to go. Cultivate the courage to effect the changes in your life that will lead you to the realization of you goals and desires.

Anything is possible, if you only believe.

TODAY’S TIP: Take some time to be with yourself. Perhaps in a nature setting and do an honest evaluation of your life. If you are not happy where you are change.

Are you willing to put the energy into replacing your negative habits?

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I will end the week with a technique to make sure you are visualizing what you really want. The technique is scripting.

The Art of Scripting Your Life By Jaelin K. Reece

Writing a ‘life script’ is like writing a movie script. You need to create a feeling, evoke emotional responses and create the scenarios. You dream up the story, you write the lines and act it out. Why? Because you have the ability to create your life as you would like it to be. So many people live their life with the concept that they play whatever hand is dealt them. This can feel
un-empowering, depressing and instill feelings of resignation and pain. You have so much more to do with your life plan than you realize.

What is a life script? It is the written version of the story about your WANTS that is so vivid and real that you can see/feel/taste/touch it as you think about it and write it. In other words, it’s the written story of your life as you desire it to be.

What is the purpose? Scripting your life gives your life direction, meaning and purpose. Scripting bring pure positive energy to that which you desire. It is the act of co-creating with a Higher Power.

We aren’t here to just live our lives according to fate and putting out one fire after another. We have the ability and inherent power to create the life we choose. It’s like putting your order in to the Universe. If you go to a restaurant you don’t eat whatever they decide to bring you- you place your
order! This process is very similar. It follows the principle of “Energy follows Thought.”

If you give enough of your thoughts and attention to a particular set of circumstances or outcome, then the energy fuels that creative form.

By writing the script the way we choose, we create our life as we want it. It takes conscious focus, intention and attention however. Just writing a script isn’t enough. You need to read it every day, think about it, feel yourself living it everyday… and feel passionate about it! The more you can feel yourself living the new role, the more the energy creates it in your life. Your Life Script becomes your everyday intention to create extraordinary results in your life.

It sounds complicated, but it’s very simple. Perhaps the most challenging part is making the daily commitment to know that you are already living your new life script. This process involves determination, attention to detail and feeling the feelings. Feeling how it feels to move forward and live your life in a new way is powerful and exciting.

You have all the tools you need to create your life the way you want it to be. So why not take the initiative and step into your new role as co-creator?

Why ‘co-creator’? Because you partner WITH the Universe to create the new life you want. No longer are you just living whatever is handed to you as a child of the Universe. You step into an adult role, taking new levels of responsibility for your life. You become the writer. You are no longer just the actor taking directions from the Director; you begin to create the direction yourself!

This is truly an exercise in self empowerment. Taking the leap to create your future is how you step into your full potential.

© 2005 Jaelin K. Reece

Jaelin K. Reece, is a whole life coach, intuitive and guide. Jaelin uses her complementary skills as a gifted intuitive to facilitate people in realizing their true potential in their personal lives, relationships, career, and prosperity. She assists people in transforming their lives and creating the life they love to live.

Jaelin serves as a mentor, consultant and success partner for her clients. She is also the featured columnist Ask a Life Coach for About.com Holistic Healing. If you are interested in partnering with Jaelin as your mentor and life coach you may arrange a session with her through her website: Jaelin K. Reece, Life Coach [http://www.lifecoach-jaelinkreece.com] or by visiting her blog Intuitive Innovations [http://jaelinkreece.typepad.com]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jaelin_K._Reece

TODAY’S TIP: Script you life as you would want it to be then use that script to visualize each and every day.

How is your script coming?

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Our goals sometimes come with obstacles. Here are some thoughts on using visualization to help reach our goals.

Reach Your Goals Through Visualization By Nelson Berry

They say that a man without a goal is a person who does not know how to live. Virtually everyone believes that they are born for a purpose. However, goals are not enough. What is even more important is you do something to reach them. You accomplish them. Otherwise, they remain to be wishful thinking.

This is the part where things become quite hard. Your objectives can be quite difficult to reach, especially if you are bombarded with a lot of challenges. In fact, many would confess how they are always working against the tides, which will compel them to quit and just stop dreaming.

Whether you like it or not, there will be plenty of problems along the way. Moreover, the more you feel their presence and intensity as the more you persevere. Nevertheless, there are ways on how you can soften their impact, make them more manageable, and find it much easier to attain your goals. One of these is through visualization.

How to Do It

There are different ways on how you can do visualization for prosperity and confidence. A lot of people do utilize devices such as mp3s to help them develop excellent visuals. They also come with subliminal messages or affirmations, as well as very soothing music to help you calm down.

Here is an example of what you can do:

Imagine yourself climbing up golden stairs. Each of the steps represents the goals you want to achieve in life. It can be something short-term or small such as owning a house or a car to something very huge and grand such as opening up your own business, having a family, retiring in a country you love the most, or even forgiving someone or getting rid of a particular kind of fear.

While you take every step, you pause for a moment and say one of your subliminal messages, for example, “I will earn $5,000 a month next year,” “I will own and drive a red sports car,” “I will meet the lady of my dreams,” etc.

You take each step until you reach the highest peak. There, take a deep breath and allow the success of each step you take to fill you up and make you feel victorious.

Now if you can go back to the example above, you will notice that the subliminal messages used are very specific. This is highly important since you want to address the things through the visualization, in this case, your objectives or goals.

You also do not have to push yourself into cluttering your mind with as many goals as you can. If you want to, you can focus on a single objective for certain duration or until you are able to fulfill it.

It also helps if you develop your own subliminal messages, since you are the most perfect person to know what is best for you. Needless to say, you can make use of the special devices we talked about earlier for some inspiration.

Nelson Berry is The Pioneer of Subliminal Messages Audio & Video Online and Subliminal Messages Expert for More Than Two Decades! You Love The Way That YOUR Life *Flows* and LOVE the Feelings, Fun, Fortune and Happiness it gives YOU! YOUR Dreams Really Do Come True!! Click Here for a FREE Subliminal Messages Video Download ($39.95 Value) Right Now — Today! Try It: http://www.subliminalmessagesdownloads.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nelson_Berry

TODAY’S TIP: Today’s post mentions subliminal messages. Subliminal messages may help you, but if you try them be sure what you are listening to.

What are your goals?

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As I mentioned yesterday, using visualization to manifest your future is an art. Here are some ideas on creative visualization.

Creative Visualization By Dino Delano

Creative visualization is no doubt one of the most magical and powerful techniques that you can learn to create your reality.

Creative visualization is a mental technique that uses the imagination to make dreams come true. Used in the right way, creative visualization can improve our life and attract success and prosperity. It is a power that can alter our environment and circumstances, cause events to happen, and attract money, possessions, work, people and love into our life. Creative visualization uses the power of the mind, and is the power behind every success.

Using visualization you reprogram your mind-body system for success.

The how of it, as a baby before you could walk you watched the big people around you and in the process you downloaded the images into you mind-body system. Brain and body are one the nervous system is like a spider web that interconnects the whole of you.

Then you began to try it out, stumble, fall, stand and a few steps eventually you walked. If you had been brought up by primates you would have mimicked what they did, a monkey see monkey do.

This is a marvelous understanding that you can program your expressions through visualization just as and actor would do. Your brain and nervous system can model any expression that we see with in the limits of what a human body can do.

We also learned negative and positive ways of behaving in relationships, money, communication and so many other things in the exact same way.

This is important there is nothing wrong with the human system, but often times we have had dysfunctional downloads that lead to failure.

A story, I will call her Maria she took on of my workshops at the Center for Mind Ecology in Sacramento, Ca the workshop went from Tuesday through Friday 7pm to 10pm and all day Saturday and Sunday.

Maria was very quiet and reserved she didn’t ask questions and didn’t come through the Saturday and Sunday segment of the workshop. I wondered what had happened to her, I am usually a little concerned when people don’t finish thinking possibly it didn’t work well for them.

About ten months later Maria came and repeated the program, I asked her what had happened to her and why she didn’t finish.

Oh Dino she said my physician recommended your workshop to me at the time I had bone marrow cancer and could no longer tolerate the drugs. After taking the workshop I started using visualization to imagine see and feel myself healthy. About six months later I went in for a check up and they discovered I was completely clear of the cancer.

I have experienced dramatic results such as this hundreds of times over the last forty years. I have seen it in sports two students of mine won the equivalent of All American in Canada for the javelin and shot put and American River College teacher Larry healed himself of high blood pressure and arthritis, the list of amazing experience is so extensive it would take at least fifteen hundred pages of a book to come close to telling them all and that is just from my experience can you imagine what it is now on a world wide basis.

You can put creative visualization to work right now today creating abundance, speed up the healing and learning process and so much more.Go to http://www.coolzenmagic.com and receive a free copy of the mp3 Creative Visualization guided meditation.

J Dino Delano International lecturer, author, poet, photographer. Considered and authority in the use of Alpha states of consciousness and altering behavior for more positive outcomes.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dino_Delano

TODAY’S TIP: To get the most out of your visualizations, practice them through out the day, whenever you have a few minutes.

What do you see when you close your eyes?

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Visualization is an art. The art is easy to learn but does require energy and direction. Here are some tips to make visualization easier.

Tips for Mastering Visualization Techniques By Scott White

Visualization is creating a mental picture of something. Visualization is important because it makes the future become more clear. Seeing yourself already achieving your goal makes your brain believe that attaining that goal is possible. Focusing consistently on any given goal will enable you to manifest it far sooner than if you didn’t focus on it at all. Focus brings the goal closer to you.

Have you attempted visualizing, but find it difficult or impossible? Try this. Pick up a photo and study it closely; then close your eyes and tell me what you see. If you see anything resembling the picture, you are visualizing. It’s that simple. If this doesn’t work, or if you want to improve your visualization skills, take the same picture and while looking at it, close your eyes and open your eyes and close your eyes again. Do this as many times as possible for a few minutes. Soon you’ll be seeing the picture, but you won’t know if your eyes are open or closed — and you will be visualizing better than before. Practice this technique often. You can focus on anything: people’s faces, pictures, buttons. Get creative and have fun with it.

Additional Visualization Tips

§ When visualizing, it’s important to view the action from the first person — that is, see yourself achieving your goal through your own eyes, rather than watching yourself from the outside. This method is very powerful because this is the way you already see and experience everything.

§ Less powerful is viewing your goal from the third-person perspective, seeing yourself achieving the goal as if you were watching a movie. It still works, but it’s not as effective as viewing from the first-person perspective.

§ Make visualization fun — the more real your image is, the better this works. Make the image not just a still picture, but a full-length movie staring you. Replay it over and over, seeing yourself as the hero, achieving your goal. Create background music, pump it up, make it feel real, and have fun with it. This is how you want to see your goal — in vibrant Technicolor on an IMAX screen — not in dim, dreary, out-of-focus scenes shown on a shoebox-size theatre in the multiplex.

§ Your goal is a picture located somewhere in your mental image frame. When you close your eyes and see the image of your goal, determine where your mind is locating the picture: top, bottom, right, upper left, etc. Now, recall an important goal you have already accomplished, and find out where that goal is located in your mental image frame.

So now you have two goals in mind: one you’ve already achieved and one you want to achieve. Note every little detail about these goals: Where are they located? What are the colors of the images? Are they big, bright, and clear — or are they small, blurry, and distant?

How do these images feel to you? Does one make you feel happy, excited, and thrilled? Does the other make you feel depressed, wistful, etc.?

Once you’ve noted every detail about the two images, take the goal you have not yet achieved and give it the same qualities as the goal you have achieved. Make it bigger and brighter; move it to the same location as the image of the already-achieved goal; make it feel the same by inserting every detail. Adjusting your mental image of the current goal to mirror one you’ve already achieved makes your new goal seem easier and gives you the feeling that you have already achieved it.

Physically act out your goal in action moves. For example, with your eyes closed, envision yourself buying a new home, walking through every detail. First, you get on the phone and talk to your realtor; later you shake his or her hand (yes, pick up an actual phone and really shake a hand). Greet the realtor and explain, in detail, what you want your house to look like. Take them to the house you want to buy (yes, really walk in place and explain the details out loud, using lots of gestures). I know this seems silly, and you may feel like a kid playacting, but this is a great visualization technique, not to mention a great stress reliever. Go through all the motions and experiences, as if they were really happening. Notice your emotions, and have fun with this!

Allow yourself 10 to 30 minutes every day or every other day for visualizing your goal. Set aside time to rest and remove yourself from everything else going on. Find a quiet, uninterrupted area to perform these techniques. Remember, the more you focus on your goals, the sooner you will achieve them.

Scott White is a certified professional trainer and nutritionist, located in Scottsdale. To contact him, visit him on the Web site http://www.personalpowertraining.net; phone him at 480.628.1607; or e-mail him at swhite@personalpowertraining.net.

Article Source: http://EneArticles.com/?expert=Scott_White

TODAY’S TIP: If you meditate and visualize in the same session, practice you visualization first. This opens the door for insight during meditation.

Are you visualizing your future?

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Can you see the future? The answer is definitely yes. What you see in your mind is your future. Can you control what you see in your future? The answer again is definitely yes.

Before anything happens in the physical, it begins in the mind. Every technological advance in the history of mankind began in someones mind. All of creation began in the Mind of God.

Can you control what is in your mind? Of course you can. All it takes is some effort on your part. You can form the pictures that you think about and with practice you can make it a habit to see only that which you want to see, to see that which will make your future become what you want it to be.

This week we look at visualization. Visualization is another fantastic tool that is available to us along with meditation. Learning and practicing the art of Visualization will go a long way in helping you to manifest the life of your dreams.

First we need to be clear that meditation and visualization are not the same thing. Meditation is sitting in silence and putting all thoughts and pictures out of your mind. This allows you to hear the voice of God and your higher self.

Visualization is thinking and forming the pictures in the mind that you chose to see. You can use visualization to see your future and form it as you wish it to be.

Remember the saying, “what the mind can see and believe can become reality.” Your visualizations along with your belief that they will manifest will shape your future as you wish it to be.

God created Heaven and Earth. You are the expression of God, created in his image and likeness. You have the ability to create you own individual, “Heaven and earth.” You decide how you want it to be.

If you don’t consciously decide and make it so, then sub-consciously it will be created for you using the, as Bob Proctor puts it, paradigms of your pass.

The paradigms are the conditioned responses that were imposed on you by family, society, and our institutions such as school and church. This conditioning does not care if you realize your dreams or not. It’s only purpose is to mold you to fit into the society without friction.

You should establish both a practice of daily meditation and a practice of daily visualization. Although they are not the same, they can be done in the same session if you wish. You can devote time to visualize the follow with time for meditation.

I would suggest doing them separately. Schedule time for meditation and time for visualization. However, practice visualization whenever you find the time. It is preferable to practice several times a day whenever you have the time.

The more often you practice visualization the faster it will become habit and the longer you will be able to hold the visualizations in your mind. The more you visualize the sooner your dreams will become reality.

TODAY’S TIP: Write a script of how you want your life to look and visualize that script each and every day.

What do you see in your future?

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We end the week with 3 types of meditations that are easy and can be fun.

Answers to How to Do Meditation – 3 Simple Meditation Methods Anyone Can Use By Trevor Johnson

Meditation is getting mentioned more and more nowadays. It’s a great way to relax and unwind without having to resort to artificial help. But short of buying a meditation book, where else can you find information on how to do meditation?

The good news is that there are several easy ways to start meditating that you can do right now:

1. Walking meditation

With this method, you focus on your walking. Pay attention to what is happening as you walk. Notice how the ground feels beneath your feet. Feel the gentle breeze created by the air as it flows past your face and hands. Pay attention to the way your clothes move as you walk. See how your arms and legs and the rest of your body feel as you walk along.

2. Breathing meditation

This is another easy way to meditate. As you’ve probably guessed, this method concentrates on your breathing. Because everyone breathes, it’s possible to do this meditation literally anywhere and not feel self conscious as you’re doing it. Usually you’ll take longer than normal breaths in, maybe hold your breath for a second or two and then slowly exhale. Some people visualize all their stress and tension flowing out of their body when they breathe out but you don’t need to “see” this happen, simply getting a sense of it happening is normally enough.

3. Music meditation

We all have some music tracks that we find relaxing. Teenagers relax to the sound of heavy metal or drum’n'bass music but most of the rest of us find that more stressful than a method of relaxation. But you’ve almost certainly got a track or two that almost always relaxes you. Put it on your favorite player and allow the music to envelop you. Pay attention to the sounds as they come out of your headphones or speakers. Notice how the different instruments sound and contribute to the overall “feel” of the track. Allow yourself to fully participate in the experience in much the same way as you allow yourself to get fully involved with an enjoyable movie.

These are just three of the simple methods of meditation that you can use in your daily life. There are plenty of other ways to practice meditation – you may find a local class or you could use one of the many resources on the internet. Whichever method you choose, make meditating part of your daily routine and you’ll find that you become a calmer, more relaxed person.

Find more ways of how to do meditation and claim your free meditation guide here.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Trevor_Johnson

TODAY’S TIP: Begin your meditation practice today. Remember the rewards are nothing short of miraculous.

Have you started you meditation practice yet?

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Here are some tips on how to begin to meditate with emphasis on focus.

Meditation Tips – 5 Factors of Focus By Benjamin Langley

It is important for all students of meditation to get on the path of ever deepening focus!

This allows you to constantly work on long term growth, no matter what activity you use to practice focus.

It is also useful to know the different ways the term ‘focus’ is used.

• It is very valuable to have something to hold your awareness on (sometimes referred to as ‘focusing’).
• Where you choose to hold your awareness is called the object of meditation (but it is also sometimes called the ‘focus’ of meditation).
• When you practice meditating and get good at holding more and more of your attention on a single object for greater and greater periods of time, it is referred to as concentration or mindfulness (but it is often sometimes said that you have developed ‘focus’).

Focus (v): the activity of holding your awareness on something.

Focus (n): the object (physical or otherwise) your awareness is directed to during a meditation (where you hold your awareness).

Focus (n): the developed ability of directing more and more of your awareness over time.

These are simplified, but functional definitions.

Clearly, the term ‘focus’ can be used in several different ways. Keep this in mind when you study and practice meditation.

The following tips and techniques are the primary factors to keep in mind when developing focus through meditation or any other activity:

Focus Factor 1 – Pick a focus, and stick with it: This is particularly important in the beginning. It can sometimes be challenging to stick with a single focus. Our society seems to be built around the ever shortening span of attention. When you practice meditation, it is critical that you give a single focus/object enough time to really begin to develop the momentum of concentrated awareness. Once you start to develop this… you can branch out and play with variety as much as you like as long as you are satisfied with the continued building of momentum in your ability to focus.

Focus Factor 2 – Narrow your focus down to a single, specific aspect: Find the most specific element you can focus on, and hold it there. When it drifts, bring it back. This is the ultimate way to eliminate distractions. This is an incredibly easy way to focus in scope, but it can be rather challenging in practice. If it is an image, bring it down to a single aspect of the image. If it is a sensation, focus on one small spot or area of the sensation. Play with sharp focus. Once your focus develops here, it will be much easier to move on to other meditations.

Focus Factor 3 – Once your focus develops, branch out: Now that you have started to develop the momentum of your focus, it is useful to learn to become focused on anything you want at anytime. Practice building your focus everywhere during your day-to-day life. While going about chores, paying bills, interacting with a loved one, etc. start to bring a little bit more focus into a specific aspect of the activity.

Focus Factor 4 – Returning your awareness is the point of the exercise: If you choose to meditate for any length of time, then at some point your awareness will drift. If your focus never drifts, then you are not challenging yourself. The point is, when your awareness drifts, bring it back to your focus (whatever your object of meditation is). Most people live in a world of constantly drifting focus, and most of the time, they are not even aware of it. When you are aware of your focus drifting, you can direct it back to the object of meditation… and this is the very skill you are developing.

Focus Factor 5 – Work towards Samadhi: Depending on what tradition you practice, Samadhi could mean “any state of high concentration”… or it could mean “absolute absorption in the object of meditation”. I tend to use it both ways. You will first start to notice your Samadhi arising when it becomes easier to hold more of your awareness on the focus for longer periods of time. Eventually, you will notice that your awareness no longer drifts at all, it flows in a continuous stream of focus into whatever object you direct it toward. The goal of these exercises is a highly concentrated mind, whether you go for just a little bit more concentration, or you decide to go for complete concentration. With a little playful practice, you might surprise yourself with how quickly you achieve some level of Samadhi… it will usually take more practice to develop complete Samadhi… but I encourage you to remain open to rapid results.

These 5 factors of focus may not be all that you need to achieve all your goals in meditation and concentration, but they are more than enough to get started.

Enjoy your practice!

Benjamin Langley has been studying meditation, self-hypnosis, energy work, and other healing methods for over 15 years. He has taken the time to study, practice, and integrate these methods, and he has written over 400 articles on these subjects, as well as numerous podcasts and videos that can be found on his site and others.

If you want to get a deeper understanding of meditation quickly, you can find the best free meditation tips and techniques on the web at http://PeacefulProsperity.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Benjamin_Langley

TODAY’S TIP: Set aside time and place to meditate daily.

What do you focus on?

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Today I present another article by Kevin Schoeninger. I think you will find it interesting as he explains some of the things that are going on in the body as you meditate.

Increase Your Health, Happiness, and Success With Energy Meditation By Kevin Schoeninger

Energy psychology and energy meditation are becoming increasingly prevalent as tools for personal development and spiritual growth.  An energetic viewpoint has been researched for over 3000 years in India and China. Today, modern physics and biology have joined the study. It is now known and accepted in the East and the West that “everything is energy.” From the computer that I am typing on, to the cells of our bodies, to the thoughts and feelings that we entertain-all is energy.

Why is this important?

An energetic view of reality means that our world is much more fluid and flexible than we once thought. Instead of being “hard inflexible matter” determined only by material forces, our world is made up of vibrating energetic possibilities. Our lives are far from determined by genes and brain chemistry.

The nature of reality as energy opens the way for us to consciously intervene to shape our life experience. Most importantly, elements of consciousness (intention, thought, feeling, and belief) are some of the most powerful forces in this energetic reality. According to Dr. Bruce Lipton, consciousness, including our beliefs about what is real and possible, has as much as 100 times more power to affect our well-being than any “material” force including drugs and surgery.

Core Energy Meditation(TM) is an example of energy meditation.  This practice teaches you to master the inner technology of consciousness by working with your internal energy system. To understand how this is so, let’s look a little more deeply into the nature of energy.

Think of the smallest units of matter as swirling tornadoes of energy or think of reality in terms of interactions of energetic waves. How we perceive these energetic forces makes them appear solid.

We find representations of the wave-like form of reality in many of our measurements of physical processes. An EKG read-out plots the wave-like form of your heart-rate. An EEG shows the wave-like patterns of the electrical activity in your brain. An audio mixer shows a visual read-out of sound waves. When you look at these patterns you’ll see that they have amplitude, frequency, clarity, and coherence.

Amplitude has to do with the intensity, or strength, of a wave pattern. A strong heartbeat or a loud sound has large amplitude. You can think of amplitude in terms of energetic strength or the intensity of effect that a wave can have in its surrounding environment. By practicing energetic meditation you will strengthen your personal energetic vibration so that it has a powerful effect in your life and in the world around you.

Frequency describes the number of wave cycles per unit of time. It is a measure of the quality of a wave-like vibration. You can observe the different qualities of different frequencies in sound waves. A low frequency note has a certain feel to it, while a high frequency note has another feeling altogether. We refer to different frequencies of different people or environments when we say that a person or a place has “good vibes” or “bad vibes.”

When we talk about frequency in energy meditation we’re referring to the feelings that we generate. In energy meditation you learn to shift into a state of positive feeling at will.

Clarity has to do with absence of noise or interference in an energetic system. Think of the sound wave example again. A sound comes through loud and clear when there is quiet in the surrounding environment. Your personal energetic vibration has clarity when you have effectively reduced subconscious interference.

In energy meditation you learn to focus on your positive energetic vibration and release yourself from the tensions, negative emotions, and limiting beliefs that interfere with the actualization of your best and highest potential. You learn to quiet the voices in your head so that you clearly sense your inner guidance.

Coherence has to do with the orderliness of a wave’s pattern. A system is coherent when all the parts are working together with integrated force. You can learn to strengthen, purify, clear, and align your energetic vibration so that you function internally as a harmonious whole. This enables you to be at your best in the outer world as well.

To give you an example of coherence in a physical system, a coherent respiratory pattern occurs when your in-breath and out-breath are approximately the same duration. The deeper you breathe (greater amplitude) and the more consistently your inhalation matches your exhalation (greater coherence) the stronger and more coherent your breathing pattern becomes.

A strong, coherent, breathing pattern will bring your heart-rate into coherence as well. A coherent heart-rate pattern is characteristic of a heart that is in good working order. When your heart-rate is coherent it also positively affects other wave patterns in your body such as your brain-waves. A coherent heart-rate tends to produce coherent brain-wave patterns.

This brings us to a most important point about the wave-like structure of energy:

When one energy system is strong, positive, clear, and coherent it tends to bring the other systems around it into a like state of coherence as well.

This effect is called resonance.

Resonance occurs when one energetic system vibrates in tune with another. Resonance is the basis of the Law of Attraction. Here’s the key to enabling the Law of Attraction to work for you: When you are able to raise your vibration into a state of strong, positive, clear coherence, you align the systems in your body to work together and you align the energies in your environment to work for you.

Because of the energetic nature of your existence, you have a phenomenal opportunity to consciously step into the energetic matrix of your life and transform your experience. Core Energy Meditation(TM) gives you the means to do just that.

You can check out Core Energy Meditation for no charge at http://www.CoreEnergyMeditation.com

Kevin Schoeninger graduated from Villanova University in 1986 with a Master’s Degree in Philosophy. He is certified as a Reiki Master Teacher, Qigong Meditation Instructor, and Personal Fitness Trainer. Kevin has worked with clients in the field of holistic fitness, meditation instruction, and spiritual growth for the past 27 years. He is Editor of SpiritualGrowthMonthly.com and the author of the “Learn Qigong Meditation Home Study Program,” “The Power of Practice Program,” and the visionary novel, “Trackings: A Message for the Third Millenium.” Kevin is also the developer of Core Energy Meditation. Kevin can be reached through his website: http://www.thepowerofpractice.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Schoeninger

TODAY’S TIP: Make meditation a part of your life and your life will get better.

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